Acclaimed Pianist Pamela Mia Paul Performs at HSU

As a pianist, she has been hailed as “a star among stars” and performed in major concert halls on four continents, including appearances with the world’s great orchestras. As a teacher, she has presented master classes in Europe, People's Republic of China and throughout the United States. On March 26 in Fulkerson Recital Hall, Pamela Mia Paul will perform a solo concert that includes works by Brahms and Debussy, and an American premiere. She will also teach a master class at HSU on March 25.

Pamela Mia Paul has performed with major symphonic orchestras including the Vienna Symphony, the Dutch Radio Symphony, New York Philharmonic and the symphonies of Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Detroit and other American cities, as well as the Boston Pops and New York Pops orchestras.

As a chamber musician, she has performed in the Salzburg and Bregenz music festivals as well as in other venues in Europe, Asia, Canada and various U.S. cities. Including her work as a soloist, she has received consistent critical praise for her interpretations of the standard classical repertoire as well as twentieth-century and contemporary music. She received her bachelor and master degrees and a Doctor of Musical Arts, all from the Julliard School. She is currently Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas. She is professionally recognized as a Steinway Artist.

At HSU Pamela Mia Paul will perform two works by Johannes Brahms, and selections by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Her concert features the American premiere of a work by contemporary composer Andrew May, who is also her teaching colleague at the University of North Texas. May composed Charnel House (after Frederic Chopin) just last spring.

May’s work is not the first new composition Pamela Mia Paul has introduced. She performed the world premiere of American composer Robert Beaser’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, and its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall. She recorded this concerto with the American Composer’s Orchestra for the Eroica label.

In addition to her concert on Saturday evening, she will teach a master class on Friday, March 25 from noon to 1:30 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU. This class is free and open to the public.

Pianist Pamela Mia Paul performs on Saturday March 26 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. This Guest Artist concert is produced by HSU Department of Music.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye

Pamela Mia Paul: The Program

Sextet Op. 18 - Johannes Brahms
Allegro ma non troppo - transcribed for solo piano by Reuben Allred, 2008

Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel op. 24 - Johannes Brahms

Intermission

Charnel House (after Frederic Chopin) - Andrew May 2010 - American premiere

Valses Nobles et Sentimentales - Maurice Ravel

L'Isle Joyeuse-- Claude Debussy

Pamela Mia Paul: Bio

Pamela Mia Paul is both a brilliant performer and a deeply dedicated teacher. On stage, she has performed with the world’s great orchestras. She has given concerts throughout the U.S., and in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea and Turkey both as soloist and as chamber musician. In the studio, or in the setting of a Master Class, she is an internationally sought-after pedagogue whose students have participated in and won competitions including the Naumburg International Piano Competition.

Ms. Paul has commissioned and premiered works for the piano; Robert Beaser’s Piano Concerto, which was written for her, had its world premiere in the U.S., with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and in Europe with the Monte Carlo Philharmonic under the baton of American conductor Richard Dufallo. The Beaser Concerto had its New York premiere in 1992 at Carnegie Hall, with Dennis Russell Davies conducting the American Composer’s Orchestra.

Miss Paul has received critical acclaim for her appearances with orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, where her interpretations of both standard repertoire and twentieth-century piano concertos have garnered consistent critical praise.Miss Paul's European orchestral appearances include the Vienna ORF Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Berlin Stadskapelle, and the Dutch Radio Symphony; her U.S orchestral appearances include those with the New York Philharmonic, symphonies of Detroit, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Houston, American Composers Orchestra, Boston Pops, New York Pops, the Minnesota Orchestra, and Caramoor Festival Orchestra.

In both orchestral performances and recitals, Ms. Paul has appeared in world’s major concert halls including Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, and the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam.

As a chamber musician, she has been an invited guest artist at the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals in Austria, Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and at Music Mountain in Connecticut. Quartets with which she has performed include Cassatt, Penderecki, Borromeo, Chester, Orlando, Leontovich, Miro and DaPonte.

Recent engagements include master classes at the Prague International Master Classes, guest artist performances in Seoul and Pusan, South Korea, with Fort Worth Chamber Music Society and Corpus Christi Symphony, and at the Vetta Chamber Music Series in Vancouver and Bargemusic Chamber Music Series in New York City.

Pamela Mia Paul has presented master classes in Europe, The People's Republic of China, South Korea, and throughout the U.S. She received a doctor of musical arts, master of music and bachelor of music from the Juilliard School. She is currently Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas.

Ms. Paul is a Steinway artist.

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.