PianoVoce: Kevin Sharkey, Richard Duning, Nancy Correll, Annette Gurnee Hull and Virginia Ryder. Not pictured: Kamala Stroup Rocher.

Music of Sorrow, Fear, Transcendence and Transformation with PianoVoce

“What better way to explore the nature of death than through its expression in music?” asks North Coast pianist Nancy Correll. Her answer is this carefully selected program presented by the North Coast ensemble known as PianoVoce on March 12 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Pianists Correll and Annette Gurnee Hull created PianoVoce in 2001. They were the “piano” and vocalist Sue Mullen was the original “voce” or voice. “She passed away in September 2010, but we still hear her voice,” said Correll. This concert is dedicated to her memory.

Over the years the group added vocalist Kevin Sharkey, HSU woodwind professor Virginia Ryder, and text reader Richard Duning. This year PianoVoce introduces soprano Kamala Stroup Calderoni.

Noting that death is the universal human experience and therefore a universal subject of the arts, Correll described the rationale for this evening’s program. “From our culture’s music for piano, voice and oboe, we’ve chosen pieces that explore various aspects of death,” she said. “Sorrow, fear, transcendence and transformation are some of the feelings expressed in these piano duets, song and oboe music.”

A religious response to death is reflected in selections from Bach’s Cantata #127. The Sonata for Piano and Oboe by modern French composer Francis Poulenc is an elegy for his friend and fellow composer, Sergei Prokofiev.

“There are also lighter ways to consider death,” Correll said. “The ‘danse macabre’ was once a terror-inspiring art form, but in the hands of Saint-Saens, it becomes a semi-comic ragged dance of clattering bones and blowing shrouds.”

Other selections are from Franz Schubert, Edvard Grieg, Roger Quilter, Aaron Copland, Gian Carlo Menotti, Hugo Wolf and Cody Wright. The music is often paired with poetry by Henrik Ibsen, Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Mary Oliver, Ogden Nash and other authors.

“All of these images, and more, can be found in art where the artist is exploring this basic condition of our lives,” Correll concludes. “There are no answers, only the thoughts and feelings of those who have struggled with this reality... We believe that some of our tradition’s most beautiful music and poetry comes from the struggle to come to terms with death, in all its forms.”

PianoVoce performs on Saturday March 12 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets: $8/$3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Produced by HSU Department of Music.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal

Commentary

Death is an experience that all humans have. Each culture, each individual has its own way of dealing with this reality. Our own long heritage of music and poetry has a rich and varied response to the issue of death.

From our culture’s music for piano, voice and oboe, we’ve chosen pieces that explore various aspects of death: the pain of loss, mourning, various ideas and images on what we think might happen after death; some images of the horrific and macabre; and even some religious imagery.

Our religious heritage has some very definite ideas about death and afterlife, which we have represented with a selection from a Bach Cantata. However, most of this recital’s music comes from a more individual perspective. The pain of loss is expressed in Poulenc’s Sonata for Piano and Oboe, which is an elegy for Poulenc’s friend Serge Prokofieff. The song “Befreit” is addressed to a dying spouse.

There are also lighter ways to consider death. The “danse macabre” was once a terror-inspiring art form, but in the hands of Saint-Saens, it becomes a semi-comic ragged dance of clattering bones and blowing shrouds. The composer uses the medieval chant “Dies Irae” from the requiem mass, which was originally solemn and awe-inspiring, but in this Danse Macabre it is transformed into snippets of remembered horror.

Death has been used as a metaphor, too. Consider the so-called “little death” of sexual climax, which is often the meaning of the word death used in love songs. In Le Colibri, the hummingbird drinks so much nectar that he “dies”. Other concepts used as metaphors for death include sleep, night, and darkness.

A curious legend linking death and music is the notion of the “swansong”. The swan is, supposedly, silent throughout its life. Then, at the end of life, the swan sings and dies. In “Ein Schwan”, Grieg uses the legend itself as a poignant eulogy for a loved one.

All of these images, and more, can be found in art where the artist is exploring this basic condition of our lives. There are no answers, only the thoughts and feelings of those who have struggled with this reality. The dialogue is rich. We believe that some of our tradition’s most beautiful music and poetry comes from the struggle to come to terms with death, in all its forms.

The sense of transformation is strong in much of this music. We are not as we shall become. Although we don’t know what that will be, it is a belief as universal as it is varied. Beliefs include everything from a physical life after death to a wave disappearing into the ocean. We will be different. It is also the nature of music to transform. After we have heard a compelling piece of music, we are different. So, what better way to explore the nature of death than its expression in music?


A Brief History of PianoVoce

Nancy Correll and Annette Gurnée Hull created PianoVoce, a group that performs art songs and piano duets, in the fall of 2001. They both have B.A.'s in music from HSU where they studied piano with Charles Fulkerson. As the senior accompanist in the HSU music department, Nancy allowed Annette to share her office until they retired in the Spring of 2001. Three months later, on the first day of the fall semester, they giggled their way through their first piano duets together. Annette was introduced to piano duets as a young girl when her father, also a student of Fulkerson, played rousing renditions of Mozart with her. “Charlie” was an avid duettist; and after his death, his daughter Julie invited Annette and Nancy into his music library to take whatever music they wanted. They wanted duets.

Sue Mullen was the original voce of PianoVoce. She passed away in September 2010, but we still hear her voice. Their first concert, "Voyage à Paris," was a benefit for the Humboldt Community Breast Health Project, and as Nancy is a breast cancer survivor, many of their concerts have been benefits for the project. Kevin Sharkey, owner of Threadbare Dancewear in Arcata, joined the group when they performed Leonard Bernstein's "Arias and Barcarolles" for two singers and piano duet. He refused to leave.

"Pagine di Guerra" explored music in times of war, and the next year's "Friendship" concert added HSU woodwind professor Virginia Ryder to their entourage. Annette and Nancy’s trip to France for the duo piano conference, Musique à Beaumont, inspired "PianoVoce Goes to France." They returned to France last summer to perform Bach’s Duo Piano Concerto BWV 1062 which they reprised in Fulkerson Recital Hall in January. Richard Duning, Nancy's husband, is an integral part of the group reading the poetic translations of the songs and offering insightful thoughts on the music being performed. Soprano Kamala Stroup Calderoni joins us this year from Montpellier, France to celebrate the spirit of life. Newlywed Calderoni is a graduate of Humboldt State University and has performed in Paris, London, and the San Francisco Bay area. In addition to solo performances, she has sung various opera roles with San Francisco Lyric Opera, Golden Gate Opera, Oakland Lyric Opera and other ensembles.


The concert will also be performed at the following locations:
Sunday, March 6, 4 pm at The Unitarian Fellowship, Ashland, Oregon;
Old City Hall, Redding, California, on Friday, March 11, 7:30 pm

The Program

Death: Part the First: Fear and the Macabre
Dies Iræ/Danse Macabre ..................... Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Richard Duning ~ Kevin Sharkey
Nancy Correll & Annette Gurnée Hull
Der Tod und das Mädchen ........................... Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Kevin Sharkey & Nancy Correll
Ein Schwan ..................................................... Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Kamala Stroup Calderoni & Nancy Correll
Vos me matasteis ....................................... Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999)
Kevin Sharkey & Nancy Correll
Le Colibri .................................... Amédée-Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
Kamala Stroup Calderoni & Nancy Correll
Fear no more the heat oʼ the sun .................... Roger Quilter (1877-1953)
Kevin Sharkey & Nancy Correll
Befreit .......................................................... Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Kamala Stroup Calderoni & Nancy Correll
Sonata for Oboe & Piano, Opus 185 .......... Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Dedicated to the memory of Serge Prokofieff
I. Elégie - Paisiblement
II. Scherzo - Très animé - le double plus lent - Tempo I
III. Déploration - Très calme
Virginia Ryder & Nancy Correll
~ Intermission ~
We dedicate this concert to our dear friend and colleague,
Suzanne Mullen
1956-2010
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Death: Part the Second: Acceptance and Transcendence
Cantata #127 .................................. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
I. “Herr Jesu Christ, wahrʼ Mansch und Gott”
II. Recitativo “Wenn Alles sich zur letzten Zeit entsetzet”
III. Aria “Die Seele ruht in Jesu Handen”
Virginia Ryder
Kevin Sharkey ~ Kamala Stroup Calderoni
Nancy Correll & Annette Gurnée Hull
Ich bin der Welt abhanden bekommen .......... Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Kamala Stroup Calderoni & Nancy Correll
The World Feels Dusty ................................. Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Kevin Sharkey & Nancy Correll
The Swing ............................................... Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007)
Kevin Sharkey & Nancy Correll
Sleep is supposed to be ............................... Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Kamala Stroup Calderoni & Nancy Correll
Zur Ruh, zur Ruh ................................................. Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)
Kamala Stroup Calderoni & Nancy Correll
Morgen! ....................................................... Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Kamala Stroup Calderoni & Nancy Correll
Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht .............. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Kevin Sharkey & Nancy Correll
Inori (Prayer) ............................................................. Cody Wright (1977-)
In memoriam Nabeshima Tadao
Nancy Correll & Annette Gurnée Hull

Soprano Molly Servidia, soloist with the Humboldt Symphony

A Pretty Night with the Humboldt Symphony

Two soloists highlight Humboldt Symphony’s early spring concert on Saturday and Sunday, March 5 and 6 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Soprano Molly Severida, this year’s winner in the HSU student Aria Competition, will perform a song from Susannah, the most famous opera by American composer Carlise Floyd. Premiering in 1955, this opera became the American work taken to the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels. The song, “Ain't It a Pretty Night?" is about “a young woman in the Tennessee Valley who is looking up at the stars and dreaming of a different life,” according to Humboldt Symphony conductor and HSU Music professor Paul Cummings.

HSU Music professor Dr. Dan Aldag is the soloist on Concerto for Trombone by 20th century Danish composer Launy Grondahl. “Though the composer isn’t well known, this piece is a popular one,” Cummings said. “Of all the pieces written for orchestra and trombone there are only about ten that are regularly performed, and this is one of them. The second of the three movements is particularly haunting.”

While both of these pieces involve the entire orchestra as well as the soloists, the orchestra itself is the star after intermission with Franz Schubert’s Symphony #8. “It’s an early Romantic piece, with a lot of heartfelt melodies,” Cummings said. Even though it is only two movements, this “Unfinished Symphony” is Schubert’s most famous. The Humboldt Symphony will play the first movement for these performances, and will finish the Unfinished Symphony in its May concert by playing both movements.

The March 5 and 6 concerts begin and end with a dance. As England prepares for a royal wedding, the Symphony starts off with several of the Courtly Dances that Benjamin Britten composed for the coronation of the current Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. “There’s a Renaissance flavor to these dances,” Cummings said, “suggesting the refined court dancing style of the late 16th century.”

Capping the concert is one of the quite different Slavonic Dances by the 19th century Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. This dance—identified as Op. 46 No. 8 in G minor—is “very fast, very lively. There’s always something melodic happening.”

The Humboldt Symphony with guest soloists Molly Severdia and Dan Aldag performs on Saturday and Sunday, March 5 and 6 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Conducted by Paul Cummings, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, Humboldt Beacon

Dr. Dan Aldag, soloist for the Humboldt Symphony

Humboldt Symphony: The Program

Benjamin Britten
Courtly Dances from Gloriana

Carlisle Floyd
"Ain't It a Pretty Night?" from Susannah
soloist: Molly Severdia

Launy Grondahl
Concerto for Trombone
soloist: Dr. Dan Aldag

Intermission

Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 8 in B minor (Unfinished)

Antonin Dvorak
Slavonic Dance, op. 46 No. 8 in G minor

The String Poetic: Two Premieres with Cindy Moyer and John Chernoff
A rollicking Beethoven, a lyrical Brahms, modern madrigals and a fresh new work by the latest Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winner in classical music--all on a Humboldt Sunday afternoon (February 27) with violinist and HSU professor Cindy Moyer, and HSU piano accompanist John Chernoff. Plus a brand new grand piano.

This concert presents one premiere in String Poetic, a recent work by Jennifer Higdon never heard in Humboldt before. Higdon won both the Pulitzer Prize for Music and a Grammy Award in 2010. Both innovative and accessible, she is one of the most performed contemporary composers in America. "Jennifer Higdon's vivid, attractive works have made her a hot commodity lately," wrote Steve Smith in the New York Times. "Much of Higdon's music makes use of two very different styles--perpetual motion and slow, improvisatory material," Cindy Moyer observed. Higdon wrote “String Poetic” for violinist and recording artist Jennifer Koh, who played locally in a recent Center Arts concert.

This concert features a second Humboldt premiere, though not of a new composition: it will be the first public appearance for the HSU Music Department's new studio-sized grand piano. "The gift of an exceedingly generous donor, the Feurich model 197 is only 6'6" in length, but it lacks nothing in fullness of sound,” said HSU Music Department piano technician Greg Granoff. "Feurich pianos are very expensive, limited production instruments with very precise, highly responsive action and a warm, clear and elegant tone that is ideal for chamber performances in a small venue such as Fulkerson Recital Hall.”

To give this piano a classic workout, the concert also includes important works by two familiar composers, Ludwig von Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. In preparing the Sonata in G Major for Piano and Violin, Moyer came to the conclusion that it is “definitely my favorite Beethoven sonata.” She noted the second movement has “a wonderfully funny moment where the violin plays a sublime melody while the piano plays inappropriate accents in the wrong places. The last movement is the highlight—it’s a rollicking barn dance. Think Beethoven meets country fiddling!”

Brahms’ Sonata in A Major for Piano and Violin is “the second of three Brahms sonatas and the only one I haven’t played before, although John has played it many times,” Moyer said. “It has lots of lyrical and gentle moments typical of Brahms.”

The duo also performs Five Madrigal Stanzas for Violin and Piano by modern Czech Bohemian composer Bohuslav Martinu. Though also an accessible composer, “Martinu tends to juxtapose completely different rhythmic patterns in the different parts,” Moyer notes. “Working out how everything aligns is interesting and challenging for the performers. Hopefully it’s interesting for the audience as well."

Cindy Moyer on violin and John Chernoff on the new Feurich piano will perform in this Faculty Artists Series Concert on Sunday February 27 at 2 p.m. in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $8/$3 from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal

Photo by Ken Burton

Program and Notes

Faculty Artist Recital
Cindy Moyer, violin
John Chernoff, piano

Sonata in A Major for Piano and Violin, Op. 100 Johannes Brahms
Allegro amabile
Andante tranquillo
Allegretto grazioso

String Poetic Jennifer Higdon
Jagged Climb (b. 1962)
Nocturne
Blue Hills of Mist
Maze Mechanical
Climb Jagged

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Five Madrigal Stanzas for Violin and Piano Bohuslav Martinu
Moderato (1890-1959)
Poco allegretto
Andante moderato
Scherzando, poco allegro
Poco allegro

Sonata in G Major for Piano for Violin, Op. 30, No. 3 Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro assai
Tempo di Minuetto
Allegro vivace



The Poetry for String Poetic:

Jagged Climb: Jagged run…rise, running, sidle up the side of the climb-jagged-climb
Nocturne: …that piece of night-night of peace
Blue Hills of Mist: in the glaze of light between dawn…sunset, blue’s hills have mist—a
covering of song and mystery that belongs not to any person, but to other places
Maze Mechanical: Amazing maze; maze that is mad; mechanical machine…putzing and stalling along…made to chug; amazed at the maze; steaming forward; stalling; racing;
maniacal…lost in the maze?…mechanical maze
Climb Jagged: Rise above, in jagged climb…climb, arise, in jagged run…running, rise, jagged fun...

Notes by Cindy Moyer

Brahms: This is the 2nd of 3 Brahms Sonatas and the only one that I have never played before. (John has played it many times.) It has lots of typical Brahmsian lyrical and gentle moments but fewer intensely passionate climaxes than is found in much of Brahms’ music. The first movement is also notable for the extent to which the piano carries the melody while the violin simply provides accompaniment.

Higdon: Jennifer Higdon is a professor at the Curtis Institute of Music and the winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music. String Poetic was written in 2006 for violinist Jennifer Koh (who played earlier this year on a Center Arts Concert), so this is a fairly new piece (definitely a Humboldt county premiere). Much of Higdon’s music makes use of two very different styles –perpetual motion (found in the 1st, 4th, and 5th movements), and slow, improvisatory material – often with complex rhythms that obscure the beats (2nd and 3rd movements). Although she uses some interesting modern tone colors created by the violinist playing near the bridge and the pianist reaching inside the piano to dampen the strings, her tonal language is fairly accessible.

Martinu: Martinu was a 20th-century Czech composer. His tonal language is also usually fairly conservative and accessible; often the complexity in Martinu’s music comes from the rhythm. Martinu tends to juxtapose completely different rhythmic patterns in the different parts – the violinist may have a 7-beat pattern, while the pianist is playing a 4-beat pattern. Working out how everything aligns is interesting and challenging for the performers; hopefully it’s interesting for the audience as well.

Beethoven: As we’ve been working on this, I’ve concluded that this is definitely my favorite Beethoven Sonata. I really enjoy all three movements. The first has an enjoyable variety of themes and moods. The second has several really good melodies including a wonderfully funny moment where the violin plays a sublime melody while the piano accompaniment plays completely country-bumpkin-like inappropriate accents in the wrong places. The last movement is the highlight however; it’s a rollicking barn dance - think Beethoven meets country fiddling (apparently the country bumpkin from the 2nd movements finds a more appropriate niche in the 3rd.)

Note on the New Piano by Greg Granoff:

This evening's performance is the premiere public appearance of HSU Music Department's very recently acquired Feurich model 197 studio sized grand piano. The gift of an exceedingly generous donor, it is the product of a small German piano maker founded in 1851, and continuing to this day with Julius Feurich, a direct descendant of the founder at the helm. Feurich pianos are very expensive, limited production instruments that exemplify the modern German/Viennese manner of artisan piano making, offering a very precise, highly responsive action, and a warm, clear tone throughout the keyboard. Though only 6'6" in length, it lacks nothing in fullness of sound, and its elegant tone is ideal for chamber performances and accompanying in a small venue such as Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Commemorations and Flexibility with the HSU Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra

HSU’s largest jazz ensemble performs more like the smallest, in a concert the Jazz Orchestra shares with the Symphonic Band on Saturday February 26 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The Jazz Orchestra will play a Charles Mingus tune (“E’s Flat, Ah’s Flat, Too”) "Moten Swing" by Bennie Moten's 1930s Kansas City Orchestra and two works by British composer Graham Collier, "Ryoanji" and "Under The Pier."

“What all of these pieces have in common is that they give the performers a level of control over the music rare in big band jazz,” said Jazz Orchestra director and HSU Music professor Dan Aldag. “What we're after is much the same kind of flexibility that a small jazz group can have.”

"’E's Flat’ consists of 5 different melodies or riffs which the band has created an arrangement from in rehearsal,” he explained. “With "Moten Swing", the band is starting with the arrangement that Ernie Wilkins wrote for the Count Basie band in the 1950s, but we've altered it in rehearsal and some elements will be improvised during the performance. The Collier pieces give the players a great deal of latitude, so each performance of them can sound quite different.”

On the same evening the HSU Symphonic Band plays three selections that were each written for a specific person. David R. Holsinger wrote “Havendance” for his young daughter, Haven. “Its driving rhythms are a reflection of the energy of an 8-year-old, who loved to dance and twirl around the house and dreamed of becoming a ballerina,” said Symphonic Band director and HSU Music professor Kenneth Ayoob.

Australian-born composer Percy Grainger wrote “Molly on the Shore” as a birthday gift to his mother. “It is an arrangement of two contrasting Irish reels,” Ayoob said, “that presents the melodies in a variety of textures and orchestrations.” “Elegy for English Horn and Band” by noted American wind ensemble composer Jack Stamp was commissioned by Kenneth Ayoob in memory of his father. It was first played by the Northeastern University Band, with current HSU Music professor Virginia Ryder as English horn soloist.

The Symphonic Band also plays “Paris Sketches” by contemporary English composer Martin Ellerby, a four-movement tribute to the City of Light.

The HSU Jazz Orchestra and the HSU Symphonic Band perform on Saturday February 26 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Symphonic Band directed by Kenneth Ayoob, Jazz Orchestra directed by Dan Aldag, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal

Notes

Kenneth Ayoob on the Symphonic Band program:

Molly on the Shore by Percy Grainger

Molly on the Shore is a composition of Percy Aldridge Grainger. It is an arrangement of two contrasting Irish reels, "Temple Hill" and "Molly on the Shore" that present the melodies in a variety of textures and orchestrations, giving each section of the band long stretches of thematic and countermelodic material. "Molly on the Shore" was written in 1907 by Grainger as a birthday gift for his mother. Originally composed for string quartet or string orchestra, this piece was arranged in 1920 for wind band by the composer, as well as for orchestra.

Grainger said in a letter that "in setting Molly on the Shore, I strove to imbue the accompanying parts that made up the harmonic texture with a melodic character not too unlike that of the underlying reel tune. Melody seems to me to provide music with initiative, wheras {sic} rhythm appears to me to exert an enslaving influence. For that reason I have tried to avoid regular rhythmic domination in my music - always excepting irregular rhythms, such as those of Gregorian Chant, which seem to me to make for freedom. Equally with melody, I prize discordant harmony, because of the emotional and compassionate sway it exerts".

"Molly on the Shore" mostly features the woodwind section of the band, especially the clarinets and saxophones.

Havendance by David Holsinger

This overture was written by American composer and conductor David R. Holsinger for his daughter, Haven. Its driving rhythms are a reflection of the energy of an 8-year-old, who loved to dance and twirl around the house and dreamed of becoming a ballerina. Although the work evolves through a variety of meters, constantly shifting accents and several changes of tempo and mood, the intensity never lets up.

Paris Sketches – Homages for Band by Martin Ellerby
This four movement work is a tribute by the composer to a city he loves, as well as other composers who have been associated with one or more quarters of the historic French capital. A unifying theme of bells runs through the score.

Elegy for English Horn and Band by Jack Stamp
Elegy was commissioned by Kenneth Ayoob and the Northeastern University Band with Virginia Ryder as English Horn soloist in 1988 in memory of Dr. Ayoob’s father. It is solemn and powerful, showing off the timbre of the English Horn.

Dan Aldag on the Jazz Orchestra program:

We'll be playing "E's Flat, Ah's Flat, Too" by Charles Mingus, "Moten Swing", a very old tune first recorded by Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra in 1932 and two compositions by the British composer Graham Collier, "Ryoanji" and "Under The Pier."

What all of these pieces have in common is that they give the performers a level of control over the music rare in big band jazz. "E's Flat" consists of 5 different melodies or riffs which the band has created an arrangement from in rehearsal. With "Moten Swing", the band is starting with the arrangement that Ernie Wilkins wrote for the Count Basie band in the 1950s, but we've altered it in rehearsal and some elements will be improvised during the performance. The Collier pieces give the players a great deal of latitude, so each performance of them can sound quite different. What we're after is much the same kind of flexibility that a small jazz group can have.

From Pineapple Poll to Golden Bear: North Coast Wind Ensemble

At 8 PM on Sunday January 23 in Fulkerson Recital Hall, the North Coast Wind Ensemble returns for its third season with a concert featuring Pineapple Polly, a Golden Bear, sea songs, Elsa’ s Procession, a Children’s March and Noisy Wheels of Joy.

The Wind Ensemble is a North Coast community group organized in 2009 by Heather Benson and its first and current conductor, Kenneth Ayoob. Members include Eureka Symphony players, university and high school teachers and HSU Music graduates.

The program of band favorites on January 23 includes the buoyant Suite from Pineapple Poll (short for Polly), a show that adapts music by Arthur Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.

The rollicking Sea Songs by Ralph Vaughn Williams combines three nautical melodies from the British isles. The sea was a theme that the prominent 20th century British composer returned to several times.

There’s a traditional British Isles feeling as well to Mannin Veen by another 20th century British composer, Haydn Wood. The title of this lilting tone poem refers to the Isle of Man in its ancient Manx language.

The soaring Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral is an instrumental piece from Richard Wagner’s epic opera Lohengrin. The raucous Noisy Wheels of Joy by contemporary American composer Eric Whitacre is a favorite with players and audiences.

No wind band concert is complete without marches and this program includes two--both by foreign-born composers who relocated to the U.S. The playful Children’s March, subtitled “Over the Hills and Far Away” is by 20th century composer Percy Grainger, who wrote and dedicated this piece to a childhood friend. Born in Australia, Grainger lived in various parts of the U.S.

The Golden Bear March is by Joseph John Richards, who first gained fame with his marches written for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus bands. Born in Wales and raised in Kansas, he became a well-known conductor and teacher in southern California.

North Coast Wind Ensemble performs on Sunday January 23 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $5/$2 from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Directed by Kenneth Ayoob, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal

Going Baroque for HSU Music Scholarships

A brand new ensemble of 27 North Coast community musicians is going Baroque for HSU student scholarships, in a benefit concert on Saturday January 22 in Fulkerson Recital Hall, at the special early time of 7 pm.

With its exuberance and its webs of harmony, music of the Baroque era has become a popular form of classical music. The ensemble conduced by Justin Sousa performs concertos by three of the best-known Baroque composers: Vivaldi, Telemann and two works by Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach is often hailed as the greatest composer of all time as well as of the Baroque period, and his six Brandenburg Concertos are among the most acclaimed Baroque works. The ensemble performs the last of these. It features two violas, played by Sherry McHurd Hanson and Holly MacDonell.

In addition to this famous piece, the evening includes an unusual Bach double concerto for two keyboards and orchestra. This Concerto for Two Harpsichords is played instead with two pianos by soloists Annette Gurnee Hull and Nancy Correll.

Justin Sousa on bassoon and April Sousa on flute are the soloists for La Note (The Night), a concerto by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, composer of The Four Seasons. Holly MacDonell is the viola soloist for a concerto by the most prominent German composer of the Baroque era, Georg Phillip Telemann.

Other soloists during the evening include violinists Marilyn Page and Mary DeAndreis. The orchestra members are Karen Larkin, Kit Morris, Julie Fulkerson, Bill Swackhamer, Carson McHaney, Jet Glover, Janet Futrell, Don Morris, Penny Sohrakoff, Les Shiaman, Kira Weiss, Katy Hartridge, Charlotte Swackhamer, David Aldinger, Mie Matsumoto, Westin McHaney, Bear Winkle, Peter DeAndreis and Greg Granoff. Most of the musicians are HSU Music alumni.

Proceeds from the concert will benefit the HSU Music scholarship fund, including the Deborah Clasquin Memorial Scholarship.

The evening of Baroque concertos performed by North Coast musicians is Saturday January 22 at 7 PM in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. $8/$3 from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Justin Sousa, conductor.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Tri-City Weekly, Arcata Eye.

Baroque Concert Preview

The Bach Concerto for Two Harpsichords, BWV 1062 is an unusual concerto. It is a double concerto for two keyboards and orchestra. This piece is familiar as a double violin concerto, in d minor; but it’s believed that Bach also arranged it for two keyboards, in c minor. Originally played on harpsichords, this recital will present it with 2 pianos.

The soloists are Annette Gurnee Hull and Nancy Correll. These two duet partners played this concerto in France last summer, with an orchestra from the Conservatory of Blois. A thrilling experience, the two are now presenting it on home ground, with friends and colleagues.

Antonio Vivaldi’s concerto, La notte, depicts “The night,” tinged by supernatural fears, in seven short movements. In the guise of an overture the opening Largo is dominated by an obsessive dotted rhythm in the accompaniment and long disconcerting trills in the flute. Suddenly in the Presto, ghosts (Fantasmi), represented musically by rising triplets, make their appearance. A short Largo subsequently leads to a brief, calming Andante. In a Presto interruption the ghosts reappear and the mood of agitation once again asserts itself (string tremolos). Sleep (Il sonno) arrives and is depicted by long note values. Dissonances, however, betray an agitated soul. Dawn follows and with it awakening (Allegro). The dream has run its course but the nightmarish visions of the night persist. Justin and April Sousa are the soloists.

Georg Phillip Telemann was Germany’s most prolific, respected and sought-after composer, regarded on even higher terms than his contemporary, J.S. Bach. The viola concerto, with its stately opening march, brilliant energetic second movement, lyrical third movement, and exuberant fourth movement, is a staple of the viola repertory. Holly MacDonell is the viola soloist.

In the last of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, the lack of violins leads to an overall low pitch and sombre sonority, both traditionally associated with death. In lieu of the two viola da gamba parts, we decided to have a viola festival with Bach’s favorite instrument. In one sense, the work is a concerto for two violas and displays Bach's love of the instrument and its full range of expressive possibilities. Yet, it is their interplay, both with each other and with the cello and continuo, that characterizes each of the three movements. Bach considered the essence of a polyphonic composition to be a symbolic tonal discussion among instruments, each presenting arguments and counterpoints, variously talking and lapsing into silence to listen to the others. Sherry Hanson joins Holly in the solo parts.

A Double Fantasy at Humboldt Symphony and Singers Christmas Concert

Special guests join the annual combined concert of the Humboldt Symphony, University Singers and Humboldt Chorale on Friday and Sunday December 9 and 11 at Fulkerson Recital Hall, in a program that includes a double fantasy. But the emphasis as always is on music for the holiday season.

The first fantasy--Ralph Vaughan Williams’ soaring Fantasia on Christmas Carols--makes full use of the orchestra and singers. Beginning modestly with a single cello and a single voice (baritone soloist Kevin Richards) it expands into richly rendered elements of traditional Christmas melodies. “It’s beautifully strong writing for orchestra and voices,” noted Symphony conductor Paul Cummings, “and a very audience-friendly piece.”

The second fantasy--Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy--also exploits the full potential of orchestra and chorus, but with an addition of solo piano, which originally was played by Beethoven himself. “This is one of the few works in all of music to include chorus, orchestra and piano,” Cummings said. “We’re excited to have Daniela Mineva join us as piano soloist, especially on this piece because Dr. Mineva studied with teachers who trace their lineage back to Beethoven. She brings some real insights as to how Beethoven would have performed this improvisatory piano part.”

Another seasonal work on the program is the Christmas Cantata by American composer Daniel Pinkham. Though written in 1957, it was heavily influenced by early baroque sacred music. “This is Pinkham’s most popular choral work,” Cummings said. In addition to the University Singers and Humboldt Chorale, it features ten members of the Humboldt Bay Brass Band, with HBBB founder Gil Cline playing the trumpet lead.

The Humboldt Symphony alone performs two works for the first half of the concert: the complete Ballet Suite by Jean Baptiste Lully, and the complete Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg, including the familiar melody of “Anitra’s Dance.”

Paul Cummings conducts the Humboldt Symphony, Harley Muilenburg directs the HSU University Singers, and Carol McWhorter Ryder directs the Humboldt Chorale, a community group.

The combined Humboldt Symphony, University Singers and Humboldt Chorale Christmas concert is Friday December 10 and Sunday December 12 at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Tricity Weekly

Kevin Richards, baritone soloist for Fantasia on Christmas Carols

December 10 & 12: The Program

Humboldt Symphony:

Jean Baptiste Lully - Ballet Suite
arranged by Felix Mottl

Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite

Intermission

Daniel Pinkham - Christmas Cantata
University Singers, Chorale, Symphony, and members of Humboldt British Brass Band

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on Christmas Carols
University Singers, Chorale, and Symphony
Kevin Richards, baritone

Ludwig van Beethoven - Choral Fantasy, opus 80
University Singers, Chorale, and Symphony
Daniela Mineva, piano

An Ellington Jazz Christmas with HSU Jazz Orchestra

The HSU Jazz Orchestra presents a rare treat, the entire Duke Ellington version of the Nutcracker Suite, along with a composition by an Arcata High grad and a possible world premiere of a rediscovered piece by a jazz pioneer, on Saturday December 11 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Duke Ellington and his composing partner Billy Strayhorn arranged Tchaikovsky’s famous nine-movement Nutcracker Suite for jazz orchestra in 1960. “This was no mere ‘jazzing the classics’ novelty,” said HSU Jazz Orchestra director Dan Aldag. “They treat the original with respect but not reverence. The suite is witty in places and sublimely beautiful in others.”

Also on the program is “Recollection” by Arcata native and Arcata High graduate Nathan Smith, who leads a 10-piece band in New York and has won several composition awards.

Then the Jazz Orchestra plays what Aldag believes may be a world premiere of a long-lost work by the first great jazz composer and pianist, Jelly Roll Morton. A star in the 1920s, Morton attempted a comeback in the late 30s by writing music for the big band format. He put together a band to play it but collapsed the night it was to be performed. One of these compositions, called “Ganjam,” has only recently been published for a large ensemble, “so it’s possible that this will be the first performance of ‘Ganjam’ as Morton wrote it,” Aldag said.

Two nights before the Jazz Orchestra concert, the smaller ensemble called the AM Jazz Band plays arrangements of jazz classics by Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Shavers and Mongo Santamaria, as well as Maria Schneider’s “This ‘n That.”

The AM Jazz Band performs on Thursday December 9 and the HSU Jazz Orchestra plays on Saturday December 11. Both concerts start at 8pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets for each concert are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Dan Aldag directs the AM Jazz Band and HSU Jazz Orchestra, produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, TriCity Weekly

MRT Singers: Fall 2010
‘Tis the Season for the Madrigal Singers and MRT Jazz

Once again the HSU Madrigal Singers in Renaissance costume jumpstart the Christmas spirit, and the smaller ensemble of MRT Singers swing tunes from the jazz era to U2 and Neil Young, in their combined concert on Sunday December 5 at Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The Madrigal Singers perform two carols with different aspects of Christmas as their subjects. “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day” is the best-known work of contemporary British composer John Gardner. “Wolcum Yole!” is from the often- recorded 1942 chorale work, Ceremony of Carols by famed 20th century English composer Benjamin Britten.

True to their name, the Madrigal Singers begin their program with madrigals popular in Shakespeare’s time. This year the emphasis of the Singers’ selections is young love, in madrigals by three of the eminent composers in this form: “Sweet Come Away My Darling” by Robert Jones, “Though Philomela Lost Her Love” by Thomas Morley and “Fa una canzona” by Orazio Vecchi. They end with a Baroque choral work, “Sing Sing Ye Muses” and a lyric ballad by John Rutter using a poem by Shakespeare, “Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind.”

Then the Mad River Transit Singers take the stage with a rhythm section of Darius Brotman on piano, Charles Welty on bass and John Thomas on drums. MRT specializes in various forms of jazz, blues and gospel singing. Among their tunes are special arrangements of “Wail” by Bud Powell, “Here’s That Rainy Day” by Jimmy Van Heusen, “MLK” by U2 and “After the Gold Rush” by Neil Young.

MRT soloists include Lucas Reichle, Sara Scibetta, Elena Tessler, Jessi Shieman, Gabriel Holeman and Jo Kuzelka. Both ensembles are directed by Harley Muilenburg, HSU Music professor of choral and vocal music.

The shared pre-Christmas concert by HSU Madrigal Singers and Mad River Transit Singers is Sunday December 5 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Directed by Harley Muilenburg, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, Humboldt Beacon.

HSU Madrigal Singers 2010

Madrigal Singers & MRT Singers Concert: The Program

Festive Madrigals:
Sweet Come Away My Darling by Robert Jones
Though Philomela Lost Her Love Thomas Morley
Fa una canzona Orazio Vecchi

Carols:
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day John Gardner
Wolcum Yole! (from Ceremony of Carols) Benjamin Britten

Madrigal Songs
Sing Sing Ye Muses John Blow
Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind John Rutter

The Singers:
Tiffany Guenter, Anna Coleman, Rachael Heller, Aubrey Costa, Jacqui Hernandez, Caitlin Dennning, Selena Johnson, Marg Hart, Cheryl Lincoln, Tina Toomata, Sarah Richmond, Ellen Vilchez, Jessica Bittner, Cole Buxton, Chelsea Rothchild, Edress Nassir, Danielle Van de Wetering, Elliott Pennington, John Pettlon, Joshua Schultz.

Mad River Transit


Moanin’ by Lambert Hendricks & Ross
Lucas Reichle, Bass

Wail (Vocalise by Darius Brotman) Bud Powell

MLK U2 arr. Bob Chilcott
Sara Scibetta, Alto

You Can Always Count On Me arr. Dave Barduhn
Elena Tessler, Soprano

Late Night Blues arr. Susan Moninger
Sara Scibetta, Alto & Gabriel Holman, Tenor

Here’s That Rainy Day Jimmy Van Heusen
Jo Kuzelka, Soprano

After the Gold Rush arr. Elliott Shay
Jessi Shieman, Soprano

Full Moon Sharon Broadley
Jo Kuzelka, Soprano

MRT Singers:
Jessi Shieman, Jo Kuzelka, Amy Chanfant, Elena Tessler, Kelsey Guest, Sara Scibetta, Gabriel Holman, James Swarts, Dolan Leckliter, Colin Wagner, Joseph Welnick, Lucas Reichle, Numair Khaled.

Rhythym Section:
Darius Brotman, Piano
Charles Welty, Bass
John Thomas, Drums

A Birthday Party with HSU Calypso Band & Percussion Ensemble

The Humboldt State Calypso Band celebrates its 25th anniversary with a composition appropriately called Birthday Party by Len “Boogsie” Sharp, during its December 4 concert in the Van Duzer theatre. The Calypso Band was founded in the spring of 1986 by Dr. Eugene Novotney, who is still the groups’ leader and director. This is the first of a series of concerts all year celebrating this milestone.

But before the celebration starts, the HSU Percussion Ensemble tackles a major work, Toccata for Percussion Instruments by the Pan-American composer, Carlos Chavez. Dr. Novotney notes the variety of instruments used, from native Mexican claves and maracas to Asian gongs and standard European orchestral instruments such as timpani, snare drums and xylophone. “Musically, Chavez combines exciting rhythmic passages and sudden dynamic changes with slower passages that employ exotic scales and timbres,” Dr. Novotney said. “The result is a piece that is both fascinating and profound.”

The first half of this joint concert ends with the World Percussion Group performing a suite of traditional Mandeng Drumming of West Africa, as well as Afro-Cuban folkloric music with all indigenous instruments.

Then after the break the Calypso Band takes over with Birthday Party and its patented program of high-energy dance music exploring traditional and contemporary music from the Caribbean, Africa, Brazil and the United States.

The Humboldt State Calypso Band prides itself in maintaining an accurate and authentic connection to the roots of the steel band movement and the innovative musicians of Trinidad, the island on which this unique percussion phenomenon was born. In addition to its regular performances at Humboldt State and throughout Northern California, the band has undertaken tours to San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Oakland, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Eugene, OR and Seattle, WA.

The joint performance of the Calypso Band, Percussion Ensemble and World Percussion Group is Saturday December 4 at 8 pm in the Van Duzer Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. First 50 HSU students free with ID.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal, Humboldt Beacon.

Percussion Ensemble & Calypso Band Concert: Director's Notes

Percussion Ensemble
The featured work on the program is TOCCATA for Percussion Instruments, composed in 1942 by the Pan-American composer, Carlos Chavez. Chavez was born and died in Mexico City, and at the age of 29, he was named the director of Mexico’s National Conservatory ands the director of Orchesta Sinfonia de Mexico.

In this piece, Chavez calls for native percussion instruments, such as claves, maracas, bombo, and Indian drums, mixed with standard European instruments, such as timpani, snare drums, field drums, chimes, bells, and xylophone. He also adds Asian gongs into the mix to create a true “mixed-world” instrumentation. Musically, he combines exciting rhythmic passages and sudden dynamic changes with slower passages that employ exotic scales and timbres. The result is a piece that is both fascinating and profound that will certainly be a memorable experience for all in attendance.

The first half of the show will end with the World Percussion Group performing a suite of traditional Mandeng Drumming of West Africa as well as an inspiring arrangement of Afro-Cuban folkloric music presented to the Humboldt audience in its classic form using all indigenous instruments. This is a show that will have something for everyone!

Calypso Band
The second half of the concert will feature the festive dance music of the Humboldt State Calypso Band. The band will feature several high-energy dance compositions from the Caribbean in their set, including the classic panorama composition by Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, BIRTHDAY PARTY. The composition, BIRTHDAY PARTY, has significant meaning for the group, as this year marks the 25th anniversary of the Calypso Band at Humboldt State. The Calypso Band was founded in the spring of 1986 and will be celebrating all year with a series of concerts of which this will be the first.

The Humboldt State Calypso Band prides itself in maintaining an accurate and authentic connection to the roots of the steel band movement and the innovative musicians of Trinidad, the island on which this unique percussion phenomenon was born. The band is dedicated to the performance of traditional and contemporary music from the Caribbean, Africa, Brazil, and the United States.

--Dr. Eugene Novotney

A Christmas Festival with the HSU Symphonic Band

At the climax of its December 3 concert, the HSU Symphonic Band reveals again the full if often hidden power of some classic Christmas songs with Leroy Anderson’s vibrant collage called A Christmas Festival.

“When Anderson arranged this in 1950, it was a new idea,” said Symphonic Band director Kenneth Ayoob. “Many composers have set Christmas music for band since then, but none are better than this—the granddaddy of them all.”

This work completes a varied program of suites, dances and a march by an intriguing mix of composers.

Early 20th century English composer Gustav Holst uses English folk songs and dances in his Second Suite for Military Band. Director Ayoob calls it “one of the keystone works of the band literature” and “a joy to play and to hear.” Dutch composer Jan Van der Roost’s Puszta is another suite that uses a folk tradition in four original Gypsy dances.

American composer Caesar Giovonnini focuses his attention on modern urban life in the concert overture Jubilance, which Ayoob describes as “by nature a sunny and optimistic work.” Sinfonia III by Timothy Broege, a contemporary midwestern U.S. composer, adds shadows to light in a tribute to the composer’s late father.

American composer Henry Fillmore is best known for his marches, and “His Honor” remains among his most popular.

The HSU Symphonic Band performs on Friday December 3 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Directed by Kenneth Ayoob, produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal Christmas Events, Humboldt Beacon.

Symphonic Band Concert: Director's Notes

Music of Holst, Giovonnini, Broege, Anderson, Fillmore and Van der Roost.

Holst’s Second Suite for Military Band, one of the keystone works of the band literature, uses English folk songs and folk dances throughout. It is a joy to play and to hear.

Puszta by Dutch composer Jan Van der Roost is also a suite. Although its four Gypsy Dances are related to the Slavic Folk tradition in the same way that the Second Suite is related to English, all four tunes are original compositions. The character and sounds of the pieces are reminiscent of the Hungarian and Slavic Dances of Brahms and Dvorak.

Sinfonia III by Timothy Broege is a tribute to the composer’s late father. Broege said about this work:"There are in Sinfonia III both light and shadow, both humor and seriousness in an attempt to depict in sound ….. something of the nature of this man who showered so much love upon his wife and four sons and enriched the lives of the many people who knew him.”

Jubilance a concert overture by Caesar Giovonnini reflects the many moods of modern life – our restless, impatient, impulsive energetic existence. Thoughts are never fully brought to completion, new ideas intrude before the previous ones finish. Jubilance is by nature a sunny and optimistic work with soaring melodic lines over kinetic ostinatos.

His Honor by Henry Fillmore is popular with both audiences and performers. The title refers to Mayor Russell Wilson a man who impressed Fillmore with both his executive ability and sense of humor. With its unexpected melodic and rhythmic changes, it remains among his most popular marches.

A Christmas Festival by Leroy Anderson. Anderson was a high school music teacher in Massachusetts who was asked by Arthur Fielder of the Boston Pops to do some arrangements and original light music compositions. When he arranged “A Christmas Festival” in 1950, it was a new idea. Many composers have set Christmas music for band since then, but none are better than this – the Granddaddy of them all.

--Kenneth Ayoob

top: "Remembrance of Things Past" by Morris Graves; photo of Morris Graves.

Free HSU Music Concert Honoring Morris Graves

To help celebrate the centennial year of Humboldt artist Morris Graves, nine HSU Music Department faculty and staff will join in a free afternoon concert on Saturday November 20, in the building that bears his name: the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka.

Beginning at 2 pm, the concert includes solo performances by guitarist Nicholas Lambson and pianist Robin Miller. Pianists Daniela Mineva and John Chernoff play a selection by Brahms; Gilbert Cline on trumpet joins Mineva for a sonata by the Italian Baroque composer Pietro Baldassare.

Especially appropriate for performance in an art museum is “Triptych” by contemporary composer Robert Sirota, who created this work in tandem with a painting of the same name by Deborah Patterson. The string quartet of Cindy Moyer (violin), Karen Davy (violin), Sherry Hanson (viola) and David Davis (cello) plays all three movements, which commemorate the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

This free concert is on Saturday, November 20 at 2 pm in the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka. This HSU Music Department event is held in conjunction with the Humboldt Arts Council. A reception for the public follows the concert.

Media: TriCity Weekly, Humboldt Beacon

Morris Graves Concert: The Program

1.Suite Venezolano by Antonio Lauro
I Registro
II Danza Negra
III Cancion
IV Vals
Nicholas Lambson, guitar

2.Triptych by Robert Sirota
Desecration
Lamentation
Prayer

Cindy Moyer, violin
Karen Davy, violin
Sherry Hanson, viola
David Davis, cello

3. Prelude "Ondine" by C. Debussy

Robin Miller, piano

4.Symphony #2 second movement, transcription for four hands by J. Brahms

John Chernoff, Daniela Mineva: piano.

5. Sonata in F #1 for Trumpet and Piano by Pietro Baldassare

Gil Cline: trumpet, Daniela Mineva: piano

Humboldt Bay Brass Band—Plus 50 Vuvuzelas—Honors World Cup and Veterans Day

Humboldt Bay Brass Band concerts are known for adding audience fun to the musical menu. On November 13 in Fulkerson Hall the prime candidate is “Groovuzela,” an original piece that features some 50 vuvuzelas—the instrument that millions around the world learned about during this year’s World Cup.

“What can I say?” said HBBB director Dr. Gilbert Cline. “This is about the only time in a century that a brass instrument has gotten such public attention. So we had to do this.” The piece will feature jazz solos by Branden Lewis and George Epperson, as well as all the vuvuzelas the HSU bookstore could find. “However, it will not be nearly as loud as the World Cup!” Cline promises.

In addition to this World Cup tribute, HBBB honors Veterans Day, with an original arrangement of “American Patrol,” a nineteenth century tune that Glenn Miller turned into a World War II swing hit. The theme continues with “The Liberty Bell” by John Philip Sousa, a battle of the timpanis in the sixteenth century piece “Die Schlacht,” and a somber chorale commemorating December 7, 1941.

After what Cline describes as the “fantastic crescendos” of Rossini’s “Overture to the Barber of Seville,” HBBB plays its major work of the evening, the three-movement “Pageantry” by twentieth century English composer Herbert Howells.

The band also presents another Cline composition, “Four Dot Flourish,” the second work in a series that began with his tribute to San Francisco columnist Herb Caen, “Three Dot Fanfare.” It is included on the Humboldt Bay Brass Band CD, which is on sale at the concert to help defray travel costs to the Northwest Brass Band Festival in Seattle in January.

Another tradition of these concerts is the return of a vintage instrument to active playing. This year it’s an 1895 tuba that once belonged to Humboldt County Supervisor Len Yocum, brought back from its Missouri exile. “I now have a half dozen of these nineteenth century instruments,” Cline said. “When playing them I feel we’re bringing them back to life. How cool is it to play an instrument 115 years old which still sounds great?”

Humboldt Bay Brass plays on Saturday November 13 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Directed by Gilbert Cline and produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Tri-City Weekly, Humboldt Beacon

Get It Wet Quartet: Dan Fair, Charles Welty, Thatcher Holvick-Norton and Branden Lewis.

From Miles to a Space Oddity: Jazz Combos Groove

Three all-star HSU jazz combos perform classics and original tunes in their fall concert at Fulkerson Recital Hall on Friday November 12.

The Get It Wet Quartet plays “Four” by Miles Davis, the early '60s pop hit "Our Day Will Come" plus a medley of Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" and "Haitian Fight Song” by Charles Mingus." The players are Branden Lewis on trumpet, Dan Fair on guitar, Charles Welty on bass and Thatcher Holvick-Norton on drums.

Sam Roberts and His Silky Woots is a quintet of Sky Miller on tenor sax, Ari Davie on trumpet, Aber Miller on piano, Sam Roberts on bass and John Thomas on drums. They feature two tunes by their pianist Miller: "A Little Potato Music" and "Waltz for Mulligan." They also play "So Long Eric" by Charles Mingus, David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Herbie Hancock's "Driftin'."

The Monday Quintet is Danny Gaon on bassoon and alto sax, Jordan Rykert on guitar, Cody Callahan on piano, Tyler Plass on bass and Avetis Chalaganyan on drums. Their set includes Ray Bryant's "Cubano Chant", Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay" and Kenny Garrett's "Beyond The Wall."

Members of the jazz combos are chosen by audition and each combo develops its own style and repertoire of tunes.

HSU Jazz Combos perform on Friday November 12 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Directed by Dan Aldag and produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon

It’s Not Over Until Red Riding Hood Sings: Opera Workshop Presents Operatic Fairy Tales


Pinocchio sings Mozart, Jack and the Giant do Gilbert and Sullivan, and the evening’s not over until Little Red Riding Hood sings Offenbach: It’s the HSU Opera Workshop performing four classic fairy tales using music by operatic greats.

“It’s a fun and education romp through the realm of opera and a new angle on familiar fairy tales,” said Opera Workshop director Elisabeth Harrington. “Nothing serious here!”

The show will be performed in Fulkerson Recital Hall twice: at 8 PM on Friday (November 5) but at the child-friendly time of 6 PM on Saturday.

Opera singer and director John Davies put together music from his favorite operas with fairy tale scenes, primarily for children but with a history of delighting audiences of all ages since they were first performed in 1982. The Opera Workshop is doing shorter versions of Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio, Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red’s Most Unusual Day.

“The text is all in English, and dialogue has been added to keep the story moving,” Harrington said. “Our singers are having fun with it, adding their own vocal sounds.”

Thirteen students will act out the tales, and sing arias, duets, trios and ensemble numbers. Former HSU Music student Christopher Hatcher directs Pinocchio, student Danielle Van De Wetering directs “Little Red,” and Harrington directs Jack and the Beanstalk and Three Little Pigs. Pianist John Chernoff accompanies throughout.

Opera Workshop members will wear costumes of their own invention but with a mobile set built by HSU Theatre, Film & Dance MFA students Elizabeth Uhazy and Rachel Parti.

Though the fairy tales are familiar to everyone, audience members who know the opera repertoire will find another level of fun not only in the music but the opera parodies. For example, the Big Bad Wolf goes to dinner with the Three Little Pigs in a scene spoofing Mozart’s Don Giovanni. “It’s a wonderful introduction to the world of opera,” Harrington said, “both for the complete novice and the advanced university student.”

After the two weekend performances at HSU, the Opera Workshop will take the show on the road to entertain high school and middle school students in Sacramento and Redding.

HSU Opera Workshop performs on Friday November 5 at 8 pm and a child-friendly 6 pm on Saturday November 6, in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 children/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Opera Workshop is directed by Elisabeth Harrington, and produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon.

Members of the fall 2010 HSU Opera Workshop

Opera Workshop: Program

From Opera Tales by John Davies
(note: not necessarily performance order)

Three Little Pigs
based on scenes from operas by Mozart
with music from Mozart's Don Giovani and Cosi Fan Tutte
Directed by Elisabeth Harrington

Pinocchio
From the story by Carlo Collodi, based on scenes from operas by W.A. Mozart, G. Donizetti, J. Offenbach, and G.B. Pergolesi.
with music from Mozart’s Die Entfuehrung Aus Dem Serail and Offenbach’s: The Tales of Hoffmann.
Directed by Christopher Hatcher

Jack & the Beanstalk
based on scenes from the operettas of Sir Arthur Sullivan
with music from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida, The Gondoliers, and H.M.S. Pinafore.
Directed by Elisabeth Harrington

Little Red's Most Unusual Day
An operatic version of the story of Little Red Riding Hood based on scenes from operas by J. Offenbach and G. Rossini
with music from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann and La Vie Parisienne.
Directed by Danielle Van de Wetering.

Treats and a Trick with the Humboldt Symphony

The Humboldt Symphony ushers in Halloween this fall with some spooky music treats and an extra-musical trick. It’s all part of a family-friendly concert on Saturday October 30 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

In the evening’s bag of symphonic music are two works with a Halloween resonance—especially the rousing Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky, as orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Generations have heard major elements of Night on Bald Mountain in movies from The Wizard of Oz to a disco version in Saturday Night Fever, and have seen it illustrated in Walt Disney’s Fantasia and a famous Bugs Bunny cartoon (“What’s Opera, Doc?”) Its association with Halloween was recognized recently as a theme in one of the "Nightmare on Elm Street”movies.

“We get this combination of inspired music orchestrated by one of the best orchestrators who ever lived,” said Humboldt Symphony conductor Paul Cummings. “It’s the best of both worlds.”

Inspired by a short story by Gogol that involves witchcraft, and with a melody originally conceived for an opera called “The Witch”, it depicts (in the composer’s words) “subterranean sounds from supernatural voices” and “spirits of the dark.”

Last on the evening’s program, its performance will include a surprise that relates to the Halloween theme. Symphony conductor Paul Cummings won’t reveal more, except that he hopes it’s something that families in the audience will enjoy.

Before that, the Symphony plays The Peer Gynt Suite #1 by Grieg, a musical depiction of a fantasy involving the hero’s adventures among trolls, including a euphoric dance and a frantic escape.

“Much of the suite is quite famous,” Cummings said. Elements of it have been used in many movies, television shows and even a video game. The “In the Hall of the Mountain King” section has been reinterpreted by pop groups such as the Electric Light Orchestra and Apocalyptica. But the original suite “has some beautiful orchestral music,” Cummings said, “and it features some terrific playing by our HSU students.”

The concert also includes a prelude by Johannes Brahms in a form developed by J.S. Bach, and a baroque ballet suite by Jean-Baptiste de Lully.

The Humboldt Symphony performs an all-family concert on Saturday October 30 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Symphony conducted by Paul Cummings, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Tri-City Weekly, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal, Humboldt Beacon.

Humboldt Symphony: The Program

With comments by conductor Paul Cummings...


1.Balletstucke (Ballet Suite) by Jean-Baptiste de Lully

“Lilly was most active in the 1670s and 1680s, the middle of the Baroque period. He was the chief court composer for Louis XIV, and was known as the dictator of the musical scene for decades, keeping other composers out of the picture. At the time he conducted, he didn’t use a baton but a large staff—like a walking stick—that he pounded on the floor to keep the beat. Unfortunately he hit his own foot and caused an infection that killed him.

This piece is classic dance music of the 17th century in four movements. It’s not exactly in its original form, because the Baroque orchestra was smaller. F. Mottl arranged it for a larger orchestra.”

2. Chorale Prelude: "Oh God, Thou Holiest" by Johannes Brahms.

“This was transcribed for orchestra by Erich Leinsdorf, probably from a composition for organ. It’s a hymn using long, slow notes played by a variety of instruments, while everyone else in the orchestra is embellishing and commenting on the hymn. This is a form developed by J.S. Bach, and in this piece Brahms is expressing his reverence for Bach.”

3. Peer Gynt Suite #1 by Edvard Grieg

“Grieg was a 19th century Norwegian composer, an ardent nationalist who wanted to celebrate the culture of Norway, and bring the great folk music of the culture to the attention of modern audiences. The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen asked him to write incidental music for Peer Gynt, his play about a Norwegian folk hero. He wrote 22 movements for the three hours of the play, but this music is never performed now. Grieg extracted two suites from this music, and we’re playing the first.

As a folk hero, Peer Gynt is kind of a scoundrel who travels around and has adventures, getting in trouble everywhere he goes. This suite follows some of those adventures. The fourth movement is In the Hall of the Mountain King, a very famous piece. Peer is being entertained by a group of trolls who serve the Mountain King. He joins them in a celebration but when he realizes they expect him to marry the King’s daughter, he tries to escape, and the trolls chase him. The music evokes this very well.

Much of the suite is quite famous. There’s some beautifully written orchestral music, and it features terrific playing by our HSU students—many solo passages are beautifully executed.”


4. Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky

“Mussorgsky was also a 19th nationalist, very Russian in character. This piece was conceived as an opera from a story by Gogol. It takes place on St. John’s Eve, which is just before the summer solstice, but has become associated with Halloween.

Mussorgsky wrote a little about what he was imagining when he wrote it, and you can hear it all in the music: ‘subterranean sounds from supernatural voices,’ ‘spirits of the dark,’ the Underworld. There’s vivid writing for the instruments capturing these dark tone colors and effects—you can hear wind blowing fiercely and picture flames and fiery scenes. It’s program music at its height.

The version we’re doing is quite an amazing orchestration by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who literally wrote the book on orchestration that was used in the 19th and 20th centuries. So we get this combination of Mussorgsky’s inspired music orchestrated by one of the greatest orchestrators who ever lived—the best of both worlds.

It’s a well-known piece, and since it is now associated with Halloween, we’re presenting an extra-musical surprise during the performance. Part of the reason is that in the classical music world, we’re pretty conservative in our presentation. We’re downright stuffy. You come in, sit down, be quiet, don’t clap between movements, don’t talk at all—but enjoy yourself. So part of our effort is to lighten up a little, at least for this one piece. We do want to encourage people to come to concerts who might not otherwise come. At the same time, the music can stand on its own. We’re just going to be a little adventurous.”

HSU Student Composers Free Concert

New music by HSU composition students will be performed by faculty, Music Department staff musicians and students in a free concert on Friday October 29.

David Adkins, Sara Scibetta and John Garritano are among the composers participating.

According to composition teacher J. Brian Post, students experiment with both new and traditional approaches in composing, and typically reflect influences from American folk music, jazz, rock & roll, film scores and European art music.

Some of the evening’s music will be electronically produced, and some performed on traditional instruments.

The fall Composers Concert is Friday October 29 at 8 PM in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. There is no admission charge. Composers Concert directed by J. Brian Post, produced by the HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, Humboldt Beacon.

Impress Your Family with the Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra

Just in time for Homecoming and Family Weekend, the HSU Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra share the first (mostly) student concert of the school year on October 16 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The Symphonic Band directed by Dr. Kenneth Ayoob features the dynamic suite adapted for band and brass quintet from Leonard Bernstein’s epic Mass, which Jacqueline Kennedy commissioned for the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. The Humboldt Bay Brass Quintet led by Dr. Gilbert Cline joins the Symphonic Band for this striking work. Composer of West Side Story as well as orchestral pieces, Bernstein used multi-cultural and popular influences to energize his music.

Also on the Band’s program is the popular Undertow by the very young contemporary composer John Mackey (he just turned 21.) “It’s an exciting overture,” said Dr. Ayoob. “It has an infectious bass line and a compelling melody.” Mackey’s music has been hailed by the New York Times as “a terse, powerful explosion of transformative energy.”

Then in what Dr. Ayoob calls a “spectacular and brilliant composition” ideally suited to the Symphonic Band, there’s music to accompany a marching army in an excerpt from a work by French composer Hector Berlioz.

The Band’s final piece is Variations on a Korean Folk Song, a short but important work by American composer John Barnes Chance, based on melodies he heard while serving in the U.S. Army in Korea. There are five variations with different tempos and moods, with a powerful ending.

Then after the break the Jazz Orchestra directed by Dan Aldag takes the audience on a couple of train rides—on a fast New York subway in “GG Train” by Charles Mingus, and a more leisurely romp through the South on Duke Ellington’s “Happy-Go-Lucky-Local.”

The Orchestra also plays one of Ellington’s best-known melodies, “Mood Indigo,” but in a new arrangement by contemporary composer and jazz bassist John Clayton—one of three tunes by jazz greats with new arrangements. The others are Charlie Parker’s bebop classic “Anthropology” as arranged by Seattle saxophonist Mark Taylor, and Jimmy Heath’s “Gingerbread Boy,” with an arrangement reminiscent of New Orleans jazz by saxophonist Mike Tomaro.

The Jazz Orchestra completes its set and the evening with some actual old school New Orleans jazz: Jelly Roll Morton’s “Black Bottom Stomp.”

The HSU Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra perform on Saturday October 16 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Symphonic Band directed by Kenneth Ayoob, Jazz Orchestra directed by Dan Aldag, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye.

Finding Home: An Eclectic Evening with Soprano Elisabeth Harrington and Friends

With HSU faculty and graduates collaborating—including one of her own former students—soprano and HSU Music professor Elisabeth Harrington sings an eclectic program of opera, art songs, musical theatre and jazz, in concert at Fulkerson Recital Hall on Saturday October 9.

Harrington’s former student is baritone Christopher Hatcher, and their music together suggests the range of this evening’s program. They perform selections the 19th century comic opera Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti, with Jonathan Webster—another recent HSU graduate--on piano. They combine earlier on a piece by innovative 20th century French composer Gabriel Fauré: his “Pavane,” with a haunting melody that’s been recorded many times on a variety of instruments, with and without the vocal part. HSU Music faculty member Laura Snodgrass joins them on flute, with Jonathan Webster again on piano.

Harrington begins the evening with one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s earliest published works, written when he was 17. Exsultate, jubilate has been described as his first masterpiece. Harrington sings the final “Alleluia” section, which a Mozart biographer called "a jewel of a piece with its high spirits and its wit.” HSU faculty members Gil Gline and Robin Miller join in, on trumpet and piano.

With HSU staff pianist John Chernoff accompanying, Harrington sings Les adieux de l’hôtesse arabe, a song with a Middle Eastern flavor by Georges Bizet, and ( joined by Laura Snodgrass) Trois Chants de Noël for Soprano, Flute and Piano by 20th century Swiss composer Frank Martin.

Harrington sings three songs by Ricky Ian Gordon, an eclectic contemporary American composer of musical theatre and song cycles. Gordon is known for creating music for the words of modern poets, and Harrington’s selections include “Heaven” (with lyrics by Langston Hughes) and “Wild Swan” (text by Edna St. Vincent Millay.) She also sings Gordon’s signature song, “Finding Home” from his 1999 show, Dream True. Pianist John Chernoff accompanies.

With HSU faculty member Robin Miller on piano, Harrington ends the evening with a song that combines opera and jazz: “The Girl in 14 G” by Jeanine Tesori, from the Kristen Chenowith album, Let Yourself Go.

Elisabeth Harrington and friends perform on Saturday October 9 at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets: $8/$3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Faculty Artists concert produced by HSU Department of Music.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye Online, Humboldt Beacon, Tri-City Weekly.