Busy times....

Sometimes it seems like months (or at least weeks) may pass between gigs and then everything hits at once.  Such has been the case of late with this erstwhile, freelance conductor.

May 10:  Quad City Wind Ensemble concert at St. Ambrose in Davenport:

• Smith/Jack Stamp: Star Spangled Banner (the most beautiful setting ever of what should be considered our nation's hymn.
• Thomas Knox: American Pageant.  The patriotic medley to end them all.  Written for the Marine Band, therefore it is a tour-de-force.
• Morten Lauridsen:  O Magnum Mysterium.  The composer's stunning setting of the ancient text, arranged by his colleague, H. Robert Reynolds.
• Ralph Vaughan Williams:  Sea Songs.  A classic.  Need one say more?
• Satoshi Yagisawa:  Machu Picchu--City in the Sky.  This piece defies description; it needs to be experienced.
• Paul Hindemith/Wilson:  "March" from the Symphonic Metamorphosis.  Works a helluva lot better with a band.
• Mark Camphouse:  Yosemite Autumn, captures all the grandeur that is that magical place.
• Wolfie Mozart:  the first movement (Allegro) of the Bassoon Concerto, performed by the amazing winner of our concerto competition, Gabrielle Hartman, a 14-year-old from Muscatine.
• Julie Giroux:  Vigils Keep.  Something about this piece keeps bringing me back to it.

To me, concerts are a bittersweet moment.  While we have the opportunity to experience the culmination of our process with an audience, the event itself signifies that we're finished with this set of music and preparing for another.  Such was not the case this time, as we performed much the same music at the Iowa Bandmasters Conference on May 15 in Des Moines.

Minus the SSB and Vigils Keep (a difficult decision), the program was the same, albeit in a slightly different order.  We opened the program with Machu Picchu, a performance which one audience member described as "balls to the wall."  And how could I possibly forget our encore performance at both concerts?  Karl King's Barnum and Bailey's Favorite.  The commentary on this one?  "I've never really like a Karl King march until I heard your performance?"  Can't beat that.

A late Thursday (arriving home after midnight) and a long Friday (commencement at UW-Madison--I'm now a Doc) and I'm still tired.  But the Tri-State Wind Symphony starts rehearsing tonight.  There is little time to rest.  I probably wouldn't have it any other way.

Here's a little something of our own from the IBA concert.  And why not this one as well?

The Maryland Manifesto

(Stolen from Greg Sandow)  These guys at the University of Maryland have really got it all together.

The UMD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA and UMD WIND ORCHESTRA are led with a shared vision based on the following bedrock principles which influence every aspect of our large ensemble program including what we play, why we rehearse, how we define the symbiotic roles of conductor and player, and how we give concerts:

1. We believe there is no difference between playing chamber music, playing in orchestra, and playing in an ensemble of winds except the number of people around you. Musicmaking in all ensemble settings requires the same essential skills of active listening and co-shaping that characterizes great chamber musicmaking. We believe in leading while following and following while leading — not just for our players but also for ourselves as leaders of players.

Jim Ross

2. We believe in the conductorless large ensemble experience.

3. We believe in encouraging active verbal input from players throughout the rehearsal process and in soliciting their ideas for programming future seasons.

4.  We believe in mixing the skill levels of our players for maximum educational benefits, and in the primacy of process — i.e. that good rehearsals are their own reward.

Mike Votta

5. We believe that every concert must be a simultaneous celebration of the past and of the future.

6. We believe in our New Lights initiative, which asks questions like: What is a concert that people should want to come to it? What is it about the ritual of concerts that may keep people from wanting to come? How can we enhance the impact of the music we play? What forms might concerts take 50 years from now? What is good music of any genre — and why does music of different genres so rarely appear together on concerts? Beyond playing the notes well, what might be asked of young musicians to help build the kind of musical life they would want to inhabit? Our concerts are our attempts at responses to these kinds of questions and the result of putting these bedrock beliefs into action.

James Ross, Director of Orchestral Activities

Michael Votta Jr., Director of Wind Activities

In Memoriam

Carlo Maria Giulini, who conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic for all too short a time, would have been 100 years old this past week.  He is remembered as one of the great "gentlemen" of our profession.  Here is a beautiful and fitting tribute.

Where are the Huey's? A preview

Readers may (or may not) be awaiting my yearly analysis and critique of area orchestra's 2014-15 concert programs, the "Huey" Awards.  As a reminder, the Huey's--first awarded in 2011--are totally arbitrary, based upon my own criteria which include possible thematic content, inclusion of both contemporary and American composers and overall creativity and originality. The latter would imply programs that step out of the Overture - Concerto - Symphony box. Also of important note is the presentation of works outside the standard repertory; i.e. why offer yet another performance of Dvorak 7 (or 8 or 9) or Shostakovich 5--regardless of my own love for those works--when there are hundreds of neglected works that may be favored by audiences (and surely the players). Do we need yet another performance of Beethoven 5 instead of say, the Bizet Symphonie? Or what about the Franck--long a staple of the repertoire that now seems to be rarely played? I could make a long list of neglected works and that's just the works of the "masters."

The 2011 "prize" was awarded to no one.  Not a single orchestra met the criteria, which I deemed that It is incumbent upon the modern day symphony to be a proponent of the music of our time BECAUSE that is the heritage of the medium. It was not until the mid to late nineteenth century that works of the past started to form any kind of "repertory." In the time of Mozart and Haydn, people were "discovering" the works of Bach and Handel as if they'd been composed in another millennium, rather than some one hundred years previous. In Mozart's time (and Beethoven's and many other's) the music presented on a concert program had to be new. There were no "interpreters" of the music of the past; most performers were led by the composers themselves. But, somewhere along the way (the early twentieth century and the rise of serialism?) the audience became disconnected from the music of its time. If we are to remain viable, we must espouse the changing milieu in which we live.

The orchestras under consideration are simply those within "easy" reach to my own locale and include the orchestras of Cedar Rapids (the so-named "Orchestra Iowa), Dubuque, the Quad Cities, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls.  This year I strongly considered expanding in Wisconsin and considering the Madison Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Upon examination of their programing, I decided not to waste the bandwidth.  Here's why:

MADISON SYMPHONY:

The Madison Symphony onstage at the Overture Center

September 19, 20, 21:  Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra; Frank Martin: Concerto for Seven Winds; Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony).  All long dead.  BTW, Saint-Saëns wrote more than one symphony.

October 17, 18, 19:  Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky:  Suite from Swan Lake; Sergei Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 1 for Piano; Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6 (at least its not the way-overplayed No. 5).  But again, all dead.

November 7, 8, 9:  Edvard Grieg: Lyric Suite; Jean Sibelius: Concerto for Violin; Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 (The Inextinguishable).  Dead, dead, and dead.

February 13, 14, 15:  (It's NOT a love-based Valentine's show!)  Benjamin Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (they're a year late celebrating Britten's centennial); Frederic Chopin: Concerto No. 2 for Piano (yawn); Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 4.  Still dead.

March 6, 7, 8:  Franz Waxman: Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani, "Ride of the Cossacks" from Taras Bulba; Miklós Rózsa: Theme, Variations and Finale; "Parade of the Charioteers"and "Love Theme" from Ben Hur; "Love Theme" from Spellbound.  La mort.  Why not Waxman's "The Song of Terezin" (1965), based upon poetry by children trapped in the Nazi's Theresienstadt concentration camp; many consider it his finest work.  Oh, but we're limiting to film music (sort of….)

April 10, 11, 12:  Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto No. 4 for Clavier; Franz Liszt:  Concerto No. 1 for Piano; Anton Bruckner:  Symphony No. 7.  If one concerto by a dead guy isn't enough, play two!

May 8, 9, 10:  Leonard Bernstein: Serenade (after Plato's Symposium)--the lone American on the entire season and he is, of course, dead.  Ludwig van Beethoven:  Symphony No. 9 (Choral).

Need anyone say more?

WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA:  The ensemble that brings the popular favorite "Concerts on the Square" doesn't fare much better.

The WCO "on the square"

October 10:  Mozart: Marriage of Figaro Overture; Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No.5 in A minor; Saint-Saëns: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso;  Britten: Concerto for Violin and Viola (WCO missed the birthday party as well.)  Haydn: Symphony No. 96 in D major ‘The Miracle’ (I wish they'd jettison that moniker).  Rachel Barton Pine, the featured violinist, is a modern music specialist--even plays Chicago-area clubs in a rock band.  Now THAT would probably wake up all these dead guys!

January 23:  Paul Lewis: English Suite; Bach: Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor; Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 2; Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor.  Again, let's have TWO keyboard concertos (Bach is obviously NEVER enough).  Not to be confused with the pianist Paul Lewis, this Paul Lewis (is alive!) writes primarily for television.

February 20:  Two(!!!) piano concertos by Haydn(!!!):  No. 4 in G major and No. 11 in D major (I'm dozing off at the thought);  Schubert:  Symphony No. 2 in B flat major.  Tod.

March 20:  Bridge: Suite for String Orchestra; Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor: Schubert: Arpeggionne Sonata; Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor.  Oh well…..

May 1:  All Beethoven (what else?) Leonore Overture No. 1, the "Emperor" concerto and Symphony No. 7.

To sum it up, one (little-known but undoubtedly safe) living composer and not an American in the bunch.

This is MADISON, WISCONSIN folks; the liberal bastion surrounded by the likes of Paul Ryan.  If any community was going to support innovative program, it would be here.  Go to the university and cheer on their symphony.  Nearly as good and, oh yeah, it's free.

The Dubuque Symphony has yet to announce their season, thus holding up the real Huey Awards.  The QCSO is celebrating a 100th anniversary; will they emerge from the pack or will it be Orchestra Iowa or the newly-renamed WCF Symphony?  Stay tuned.

A Tale of One City, and its Two Orchestras

Is this really inviting?

Today's posting of Adaptistration, the blog by arts management consultant Drew McManus, focuses on the twin calamities faced by the symphony orchestras in Detroit and Minneapolis (the Minnesota Orchestra).  Both survived near-crippling labor problems: in Detroit a six-month-long strike and a sixteen-month lockout of musicians by orchestra management in Minnesota.  While the results were difficult and Detroit has come a long way since its disastrous (mostly) cancelled 2011-12 season, both ensembles face a period of rebuilding, as ensembles and in renewed levels of trust among players and their respective managements.

It seems as though news of arts organizations shutting their doors (the San Diego Opera--maybe) or scaling back their seasons (the Indianapolis Opera--definitely) has taken on a life of its own, with dire news appearing on an almost weekly basis.  The most recent casualty appears to be the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble with a 101-year history.  A capsule summary of a recent article in the Green Bay Press Gazette notes:

Green Bay Symphony to play one last season

“It was a very difficult decision to make,” GBSO executive director Dan Linssen said in a statement released Friday. “However, we cannot continue offering high-quality, professional performances not knowing from concert to concert if we’ll be able to cover our costs.”

Music Director Donato Cabrera has apparently thrown in the towel and is skipping town, but not as a result of the announced closure, Linssen said.  

Right.

The reasons for the orchestra's demise are simple:  financial, as the organization never really recovered from the economic turmoil of 2008, a year in which the orchestra was relatively flush with cash.  In examining the GBSO's IRS 990 forms (found here), its been in steady decline ever since.  One has to understand, however, that we're talking about a $30-50k deficit in a budget of approximately $600,000.  This is not a big budget ensemble, nor does the resultant deficit seem overwhelming.  Surely this rate of fiscal decline could have been mostly solved without next year's planned residency and performance with violinist Midori. 

It is also important to note that Executive Director Linssen, when appointed in 2013, had no previous experience in non-profit arts management.  And yet, as the GBSO's press release of January 11, 2013 noted:  Linssen will be responsible for leading the GBSO as it enters its second century. The upcoming 2013/2014 season will be a celebration of GBSO's 100th anniversary and many of the organization's efforts will be directed at positioning for the next century. A key focus will be expanding the Orchestra's relevance to a broader audience, and Linssen will be instrumental in achieving that transformation.

So much for that...

The ensemble is apparently playing to half-sold houses at the 2800-seat Weidner Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.  So they're attracting some 1400-1500 patrons to concerts; that's nothing to sneeze at, but it is a matter of public perception.  That many empty seats tells concert-goers that somehow the orchestra isn't what it once was.  They may actually play much better than in the past.  A different (and less costly) venue would be the obvious solution here.  Some possibilities might be the 724-seat Walter Theater at St. Norbert College in nearby DePere (a pair of concerts anyone?)  The beautiful 1500-seat (perfect!) Ralph Holter Auditorium at West High School serves as home to the successful Brown County Civic Music Association performances (it appears as though the Milwaukee Symphony makes a yearly appearance.   

Now, I'm no arts administrator but it seems as though I've probably saved the organization somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 (or more?)

Why not here? (Holter Auditorium)

UW-GB's Weidner Center

* * * * * * * * * *

As a point of comparison, a much different story emerges from the Green Bay Civic Symphony, which was formed some 20 years ago when the GBSO decided to ditch its "amateur" players in favor of "professionals" (which, of course, includes union wage scale).  The ensemble notes that 

The Civic Symphony of Green Bay has as its mission to maintain a community-based organization offering area volunteer musicians (students and adults) the opportunity to perform symphonic literature
in partnership with skilled professionals and to offer these performances to the general public at a price that minimizes financial barriers to attendance.

Further, the Civic Symphony holds as core values the following beliefs that our organization:

• Makes the live symphonic experience accessible to the greatest number and diversity
of persons in this area.
• Strives for artistic excellence in a fiscally prudent manner.
• Provides an opportunity to showcase local talents as soloists.
• Generates education outreach opportunities for adult and student groups.
• Fosters cooperation with other local arts organizations in joint performance.

The Meyer Theater

The Civic Symphony performs in Green Bay's historic 1000-seat Meyer Theater.  It has a part-time staff and performers pay "dues" to participate.  The organization appears to be in good health, judging by a recent "sold-out" performance of Carmina Burana and the ensemble's programing for the 2014-15 season:

CONCERT I – Oct. 4, 2014

Overture to Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Abduction from the Seraglio) … W. A. Mozart
Violin Concerto in D major… Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky

     Wei-Lei Gu, soloist
Symphony No. 5 “Reformation” … Mendelssohn

CONCERT II – Nov. 14, 2014

A Grand, Grand Overture… Malcolm Arnold
Tap Dance Concerto … Morton Gould
Spanish Dance No. 1, from La Vida Breve … Manuel de Falla
Raise the Roof … Michael Daugherty
Pizzicato Polka …Johann Strauss, Jr.
Toreador Song and Aragonaise , from Carmen Suite No. 1… George Bizet
Typewriter Concerto … Leroy Anderson

CONCERT III – Feb. 21, 2015

Overture to West Side Story … Leonard Bernstein
In the South … Edward Elgar
Capriccio Espagnol … Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Performance by winners of Pansky Concerto Competition

CONCERT IV – Apr. 19, 2015

Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla … Mikhail Glinka
Clarinet Concerto in A major, K.622 … W. A. Mozart
     Eric Hanson, soloist
“Build a Symphony” (Combining movements from several popular works)
     Movement I: from Symphony 6

Online and Ballot Voting for movements II and III: $1 per vote

Movement II Options: Symphony 2, 3, and 7
Movement III Options: Symphony 1, 4, and 9
Movement IV: from symphony 5

While this isn't really cutting-edge stuff, it is a far cry from next season's offerings from the professional orchestra:

September 13:  A Star Spangled Celebration

“It’s easier to understand a nation by listening to its music than by learning its language.”

On a September night 200 years ago, Francis Scott Key captured the independence and defiance that characterized the spirit of our young nation as he penned the Star Spangled Banner. Over the past 200 years American music has often defined who we are as a people.

This concert will honor the 200th anniversary of our national anthem (actually, the SSB was adopted as our national anthem in 1931) with music of great American songwriters who always seemed to understand the soul of our country. Whether in war or peace, in cities or under the big sky, during prosperity and desperation, these songs reminded us of the bonds that connect us all.

The website offers no other program information.

December 19 and 20:  Holiday Pops

Few events evoke the Christmas Spirit as thoroughly as the annual Holiday Pops concert. The Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, The Dudley Birder Chorale, and Birder Studio of Performing Arts all team up to present a program of Christmas Carols and Holiday Favorites. For two decades this concert has been a tradition in the Green Bay area, and continues to leave audiences with a glow that lasts throughout the Holiday.

(Again, no program info)

January 10:  An Evening with Midori

Midori is an extraordinary violinist who has achieved fame throughout the world for her brilliant performances and recordings. Few world-renowned artists have invested so much of themselves in engagement with smaller communities and their youth. For her work, Midori received the prestigious Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Science, and named a Messenger of Peace by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. From January 7th through the 11th, Midori will be in Green Bay working with area youth orchestra and school music programs. She will also perform (WHAT?) for a public concert on Saturday, January 10th.

February 14:  All You Need Is Love (If I have to write of another Valentine's related orchestra program, I think I'll SCREAM!)

Few musician-songwriters evolved as rapidly as the Beatles during the 1960s. From very simple 3-chord pop tunes in their early years to complex lyrical themes and orchestral arrangements later in the decade, the evolution of their music contributed to the revolution of rock music across the planet. Two albums in particular, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Magical Mystery Tour, pressed the edges of the envelope with the integration of complex musical arrangements into their hit songs.

On Valentines Day, Canadian rock band Jeans ‘n Classics will team up with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra to revisit this era of Beatles music. Show your Valentine that “all you need is love” by bringing him or her to a night of great Beatles music you will remember long after you’re sixty-four.

Ugh.

April 11:  Greatest Hits of the Opera

Dedicated to the memory of Miroslav Pansky – GBSO’s longest-serving music director, and founder of the Pamiro Opera – this concert will feature great works from the world of opera.  (WHAT???)

This performance comes with a proviso, however:  Note: In order to produce this concert, GBSO will need to secure full-cost sponsorship of the concert.

* * * * * * * * * *

It is unfortunate when any arts organization ceases to exist.  In this case, however, at least the city by the bay has another--and, at the moment, more viable--choice for the art we so much love.

Done too soon….

The Pittsburgh Symphony

Carnegie Hall's Spring for Music begins its fourth (and last) incarnation this week.  In the New York Times, James Oestreich writes:

Conceived as a grand experiment and intended to encourage programming that is both ambitious and somehow representative of the orchestras’ individual purposes and goals — and to showcase the richness of the North American landscape — Spring for Music first appeared in 2011, to general acclaim. But a year ago, it was already a lame duck, its founders having failed to secure sponsorship to continue beyond this season, and further efforts throughout the year have proved futile.

This is particularly sad as the festival has featured a number of ensembles far from the Big Apple.  Last year's appearance by the Detroit Symphony ("An Ives Immersion") , a scant couple of years removed from an almost crippling strike, was--by all accounts--a triumph.  "What a night—surely the height of the festival!" wrote reviewer Sedgwick Clark of Musical America.  Past festivals have included the likes of the National Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Albany Symphony, and orchestras from Houston, Edmonton (Alberta), Milwaukee, and many more.

This year's festival includes no new orchestras but will feature the kind of fascinating (and unexpected) programing for which the short-lived series has become known.

Monday, May 5:  The New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, Music Director; with Jacques Imbrailo, baritone, the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus

• Christopher Rouse:  Requiem (NY Premiere)

Tuesday, May 6:  The Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot, music director

• John Luther Adams: Become Ocean (NY Premiere)

• Edgar Varèse: Déserts 

• Claude Debussy: La Mer

Wednesday, May 7:  Michael Christie, conductor, with Richard Zeller (baritone, Wrestling Bradford) Sara Jakubiak (soprano, Lady Marigold Sandys) Charles Robert Austin (bass-baritone, Praise-God Tewke) Christopher Pfund (tenor, Sir Gower Lackland) Eastman-Rochester Chorus (William Weinert, director) Bach Children’s Chorus of Nazareth College (Karla Krogstad, director)

• Howard Hanson: Merry Mount (concert performance)

Thursday, May 8:  The Winnepeg Symphony, Alexander Mickelthwate, music director, with Tanya Tagaq, Throat Singer and Dame Evelyn Glennie, percussion.

• R. Murray Schafer: Symphony No. 1

• Derek Charke: 13 Inuit Throat Song Games

• Vincent Ho: The Shaman: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra

Friday, May 9:  The Cincinnati Symphony, James Conlon, Cincinnati May Festival Music Director, with Latonia Moore, soprano; Ronnita Nicole Miller, mezzo-soprano; Rodrick Dixon, tenor; Donnie Ray Albert, baritone and the May Festival Chorus.

• John Adams: Harmonium

• R. Nathaniel Dett: The Ordering of Moses (NY Premiere)

Saturday, May 10:  The Pittsburgh Symphony, Manfred Honeck, Music Director, with Sundae Im, soprano; Elizabeth Deshong, mezzo soprano, Benjamin Bruns, tenor; Liang Li, bass; F. Murray Abraham, speaker; and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, along with the Schola Cantorum of St. Agnes Church.

• Anton Bruckner: Motet Ave Maria

• Francis Poulenc: Final Scene from Dialogues of the Carmelites

• James MacMillan: Woman of the Apocalypse (NY Premiere)

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem and Death in Words and Music

Anthony Tommasini aptly expressed his near-grief at the closing of Spring for Music:  "It is with gratitude and sadness that I am looking forward to the fourth annual Spring for Music festival. Gratitude because each year this weeklong series of orchestra concerts at Carnegie Hall has been so exciting. Sadness because this spring’s festival (running from May 5 to 10) will be its last."

Oh, to be in NYC this week.  Tickets are a mere $25 per concert.  Would that someone pick up the mantle of Spring for Music and give it another go...

                       

It's May! (and starting to look and sound like it)

Springtime is Iowa, especially after what seemed like an interminable winter, is a gloriously beautiful awakening.  Our annuals here at 201 West 17th have been in bloom for several weeks now, adding color to the quickly receding brown patches of green leftover from the endless Polar Vortices.  Spring also ushers in the blooming of community bands (Iowa is, after all, truly a "band state"), and music festivals.  It is a busy but enjoyable time for freelance conductors such as myself.

Next Saturday (May 10) completes the regular season of the Quad City Wind Ensemble, although we're making an encore appearance at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference on the 15th.  I am very pleased and excited about the program (Oh, the Places We've Been!), which includes:

• John Stafford Smith/Jack Stamp:  StarSpangled Banner:  our "new" version of our traditional concert opener.  Subtitled “A Love Song to Our Country,” Stamp (b. 1954) wrote this hymn-like treatment of our national anthem when he was in graduate school.  Some 13 years later, he brought it back in the aftermath of the events of 9/11. This is a hymn-like treatment of the Star Spangled Banner.  There are different harmonies present at times, and it captures an entirely different emotion than the version we are all used to hearing, but it is entirely still appropriate.

• Thomas Knox:  American Pageant:  Knox (1937-2004) joined the cornet-trumpet section of the United States Marine Band in 1961 and was subsequently appointed chief composer-arranger.  American Pageant was written for the second inauguration of President Richard Nixon in 1973 and has been performed at each subsequent inaugural.  The composer noted that all the tunes contained herein are melodies that all of us “grew up with.”

• Morten Lauridsen/Reynolds:  O Magnum Mysterium:  A long-time faculty member at the University of Southern California, Morton Lauridsen (b. 1943) has a Grammy-nominated recording to his credit and two of his works, including O Magnum Mysterium are the all-time best-selling octavos published by the Theodore Presser since its founding in 1783!  About this 1994 setting, Lauridsen writes, “For centuries, composers have been inspired by the beautiful “O Magnum Mysterium” (O great mystery) text with its depiction of the birth of the new-born King amongst the lowly animals and shepherds.  This affirmation of God’s grace to the meek and the adoration of the Blessed Virgin are celebrated in my setting through a quiet song of profound inner joy.”  H. Robert Reynolds, one of the composer’s USC colleagues, transcribed it for winds in 2003.

• Paul Hindemith/Wilson:  "March" from Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber:  The music of Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) expresses the range of the compositional schools of the 20^th century.  His style of neo-classicism differed from Stravinsky’s in its contrapuntal language, exploring the radical world of 20th century dissonance, but always constructed around a tonal center.  Hindemith wrote his monumental orchestral work Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber in 1943 (Keith Wilson's transcription, prepared with the permission of the composer, appeared in 1950). The themes are taken from piano pieces as well as the incidental music Weber composed for the Carlo Gozzi play Turandot (the same legend that had inspired the well known Puccini opera.  Originally a funeral march, Hindemith doubles the tempo, creating a “catchy tune” that is, nonetheless, a bit fast for marching.  (N.B. The link takes one to a performance by my alma mater.  I couldn't resist!)

• Mark Camphouse:  Yosemite Autumn:  Naturalist John Muir wrote, “No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite.  Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life.”  Mark Camphouse (b. 1954) and his family were vacationing in northern California in 2003.  They found excitement and unfound beauty in places like San Francisco, Big Sur, and Lake Tahoe.  “Then we reached Yosemite….The remaining portion of this family vacation was doomed.  I was there physically with my family, but the creative part of me was definitely somewhere else—absorbed in thinking about ways I might try to go about capturing musically the awe-inspiring sights and sounds of Yosemite.”  Commissioned by the Miami Coral Park High School Wind Orchestra, Yosemite Autumn is dedicated to the memory of the composer’s mother-in-law, Daphna Lodean Wilson (1930-2003) “whose spirit will always seem to glow with life. 

• Satoshi Yagisawa:  Machu Picchu—City in the Sky:  Archeologists believe that Machu Picchu, the glorious mountaintop city in Peru, is the place to which the Incas escaped following Pizzaro’s ransacking of the golden capital city of Cuzco.  Composer Satoshi Yagisawa (b. 1975) has described, in colorful music, that magnificent citadel in an attempt to trace some of the mysteries sealed in Machu Picchu’s past.  He writes that “Three principal ideas dominate the piece:  1) the shimmering golden city of Cuzco set in the dramatic scenery of the Andes, 2) the destructiveness of violent invasion, and 3) the re-emergence of Incan glory as the City in the Sky again reached for the sun.

• Ralph Vaughan Williams:  Sea Songs (led by Conductor Emeritus Charles DCamp):  Although originally a part of the English Folk Song Suite of 1924, Sea Songs was removed (whether by the composer or publisher is actually unknown) and subsequently published as a separate work.  Written in the typical three-part march form (this time with a da capo—a repeat of the opening), it includes the British tunes, “Princess Royal,” “Admiral Benbow,” and “Portsmouth.”  While it was transcribed for orchestra in 1942, the version for wind band is the mostly widely known and heard.

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:  Bassoon Concerto, I. Allegro (Gabby Hartman, bassoon):  what will be a wonderful performance of this classic by the winner or our annual concerto competition.

• Julie Giroux:  Vigils Keep:  Julie Giroux (b. 1961) has composed orchestral, choral, chamber, and numerous concert band works. She is a three-time Emmy Award nominee and in 1992 won an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction.  Ms. Giroux has an extensive list of published works for Concert Band and Wind Ensembles. [The QCWE performed her Christmas and Sousa Forever in December 2012].  Commissioned by the Auburn University Symphonic Band and premiered in 2005, Vigils Keep is not a theme and variation based on “Wayfaring Stranger”, nor is it a collection of Sacred Harp Songs. It is an original celebration of southern Life and tradition, a tradition of generations steeped in hard physical work, tests of the human spirit and for many, black and white alike, poverty. The melody of “Wayfaring Stranger” spiritually weaves through Vigils Keep like faith has woven through southern history, holding everything together. All the rest of the notes are inspired by stories, family, the southern way of life, and its music. It is my attempt at drawing a musical picture of what the south looks and sounds like both then and now.

While this may appear to be somewhat a "departure" from my own programing "norm" (we're playing the music of four dead composers), these are all significant contributions to the repertoire.  We're playing music from four countries on three continents.  I am certain that band music history will shine its future light on these works.

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In other important news (at least to me!), the Tri-State Wind Symphony kicks off its 20th season (!) with a May 29 concert at Dubuque's Eagle Point Park.  The time is, as usual, 7:30 p.m., but many seem to enjoy showing up early to catch the antics of the conductor in pre-concert warm-up.  The program is entitled "First Nights" and is a retrospective of the ensemble's season-opening performances over the last decade.  I've even included one work from our very first show way back in 1995.

• Cole Porter, arr. Moffitt:  "Another Op’nin’, Another Show", from Kiss Me Kate 

• Franz von Suppe/Takahashi: Poet and Peasant Overture 

• George Kenny:  Coat of Arms

• Malcolm Arnold, arr. John Paynter:  Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo 

• David Holsinger:  On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss

• Leroy Anderson:  The Wearing of the Green 

• Alan Menkin, arr. Jerry Nowak:  "Under the Sea", from The Little Mermaid 

• Andre Waignein:  Czardas 

• John Williams, arr. Curnow:  Olympic Fanfare and Theme

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Recently, the Iowa House proclaimed May 9 and 10 as "Band Music Days."  Does it get any better than that?

A RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING MAY 9 AND 10, 2014 AS IOWA SCHOOL BAND DAYS.  

WHEREAS, From the works of Robert Meredith Wilson to the marches of Karl L. King, Iowa has a long, strong, and proud tradition of band music; and

WHEREAS, music education within school band programs has repeatedly been proven to positively influence student achievement in all curriculums; and

WHEREAS, community support for quality school music programs shows a dedication to the sense of pride and community that school bands can provide; and

WHEREAS, school band programs demonstrate that a well-rounded music education can be key to a student’s success in life and learning; and

WHEREAS, the weekend of May 9 and 10, 2014 are state band contest days; and

WHEREAS, recognizing organizations like the Iowa Bandmasters Association and the Iowa Chapter of the American School Band Directors Association will encourage music excellence throughout our state; NOW THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, that the House of Representatives recognizes May 9 and 10, 2014 as Iowa School Band Days and congratulates the talented and dedicated young musicians who are members of Iowa’s school bands.

Passed by unanimous vote by the House of Representatives on March 31, 2014

And the list could go one….Bettendorf Park Band season starts June 6.  Let the games begin!