“TOSCA FANTASY”

TheUniversity

Wind Symphony

April Lucas, SaxophoneFaculty Artist

Kimberly A. MetaxasConductor

Robert G. SmithMusic Director & Conductor

Sunday, December 6, 2009

3:00 p.m. Anderson Chamber Hall

PROGRAM

Festive Overture(1954).....................................Dimitri Shostakovich(1906-1975)

Transcribed by Donald Hunsberger

An Original Suite(1928)................................................Gordon JacobMarch (1895-1984)IntermezzoFinale

Bandancing(2000).............................................................Jack StampI. City Shuffle (b. 1954)II. TangoIII. Waltz

IV. Slow Dance V. Last Dance

The Free Lance March(1905).................................John Philip Sousa(1854-1932)

INTERMISSION

Windsprints(2004)....................................................Richard Saucedo(b.1957)

Tosca Fantasy..........................................................Giacomo Puccini(1858-1924)

Arranged by Ralph Hermann

April Lucas, Saxophone

Symphonic Dance No. 3 “Fiesta”(1965,1967)........Clifton Williams(1923-1976)

THE PERFORMERS

April Lucas earned both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music at Binghamton University and is currently on the faculty at Binghamton University and Broome Community College, and a former member of the Hartwick College music faculty. Ms. Lucas is a founding member of the Empire Saxophone Quartet and has recorded with the Hudson Valley Saxophone Quartet, the Saxophone Sinfonia, the New Sousa Band and the Empire Saxophone Quartet. Former regional director of the North American Saxophone Alliance, Ms. Lucas has served as a clinician and guest conductor throughout New York State. She recently retired from being a full time instrumental music teacher for the Susquehanna Valley School District. Ms. Lucas is a member of the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra, and the Southern Tier Concert Band, and has been a member of the New Sousa Band under the direction of Keith Brion since 1989. April Lucas has been a soloist with the Southern Tier Concert Band, the Binghamton Community Orchestra and the New Sousa Band.

Kimberly Metaxas, a native of Vestal, NY, is a graduate student of conducting at Binghamton University studying with Professor Robert Smith. Ms. Metaxas holds Bachelor’s degrees from Michigan State University in Music Therapy, and from SUNY Fredonia in Music Education. She taught music for special education students during BOCES 2008 and 2009 summer school programs. She is currently an instructor for the marching bands at Susquehanna Valley and Union-Endicott high schools. Ms. Metaxas has been a member of Binghamton University’s Wind Symphony and Jazz Ensemble, BCC Jazz Band, Vestal Community Band, and the Empire Statesmen Drum and Bugle Corps.

Ms. Metaxas’ performance today is in partial satisfaction of the thesis requirements for the Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting.

ROBERT G. SMITH is Music Director and Conductor of the University Wind Symphony. Professor Smith holds degrees from Hartwick College, Binghamton University and has completed course work toward the Doctor of Musical Arts. Prof. Smith also teaches advanced instrumental conducting and graduate wind conducting at BU. His career includes 32 years as a public school music educator. He conducts the annual Triple Cities TubaChristmas and is former conductor of the Maine Community Band, the oldest band of its kind in the United States. He has guest conducted all-county bands throughout New York State. Among other ensembles Smith has conducted are the Goshen College(IND) Wind Ensemble and Orchestra, The United States Army Ground Forces Band(GA), the Southern Tier Concert Band(NY) and the Vestal Community Band(NY). An active performer, he currently plays principal euphonium with the Southern Tier Concert Band and tuba with the Brass Nickel quintet and the Crown City Brass sextet. Smith is the immediate past president of the Broome County Music Educators Association and recipient of the 2005 BCMEA Distinguished Service Award. Professional memberships include The Broome County Music Educators Association, the New York State School Music Association, the Music Educators National Conference, The National Band Association, The Association of Concert Bands, The Conductors Guild, The World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, The College Band Directors National Association and the International Tuba and Euphonium Association.

The University Wind Symphony

PiccoloBb Clarinet III F Horn I,II,III,IVRachel Serwetz Stephen Collins Zack Arenstein

Greg Norman Zack BirnbaumFlute I David Morrissey Kirstie Cummings(Principal)Rachelle Haddad(Principal) Melissa Klepper Natalie RiveraEmily Morris Leanna VerdereseKathleen Spelman Bass Clarinet Alexa Weinberg

Zach StancoFlute II Brianna Palisi Trombone IKimberly Hom Jay BartishevichRebecca Falik Alto SaxophoneIRaquel Goldsmith Alex Horspool Trombone IILaura Demsey Mogana Jayakumar

Alto Saxophone IIOboe John Tanzi Bass TromboneKyle LaGrutta Carter McGriff

Tenor SaxophoneBassoon I, II Dean Papadopoulus EuphoniumDaniel Bessel Damon Dye(Grad. St., Principal)

Paige Elliott Baritone Saxophone Andrew KaufmanBradley Alder

Eb Clarinet TubaHeather Worden(Grad. St.) Trumpet I Matt Gukowsky

Nick Polacca(Principal) Daniel NevinsBb Clarinet I Kevin HannonSarah Fenster(Principal) PercussionKyle Doyle Trumpet II Samuel BaeKerry Goodacre Nick Quackenbush Tom ElefanteMark DelloStritto Brian Lee Boya Gao

Adam GoldenbergBb Clarinet II Trumpet III Ben RamosKristin Hohn Tim O'Brien Andrew WilliamsonAnthony KwonAbby Cohen Piano

Jieun Jang

The Composers and Their Music

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia into a family with musical background, and began taking private piano lessons in 1915. In 1919, he entered the Petrograd Conservatory to study orchestration and composition, and later studied the violin as well as conducting. After the death of his father in 1922, Shostakovich continued to finish his studies, however, also needed to provide financial stability and found jobs including, playing the piano for silent films and writing, under commission, incidental music, film scores and ballets. Later in life, he taught at the Leningrad Conservatory, and became known for his works including, the opera Lady Macbeth, Symphony No. 5, and Festive Overture.

Festive Overture was written in 1954, and was the opening piece for the concert at the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow commemorating the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution. The piece was also performed at the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow. Festive Overture opens with a brass fanfare, followed by a clarinet solo that introduces a fast paced section featuring quick melodic lines played by the woodwinds, which become interrupted by segments containing a more lyrical melody played by the horns. The piece culminates with a return of the brass fanfare followed by a fast push to the end.

Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob(1895-1984) was born in London and educated at Dulwich College. During his army service in World War I he was captured and was one of only 60 of the 800 men in his battalion who survived. Following the war he went to the Royal College of Music where he studied with Vaughn-Williams, Stanford, Howells and Boult. He later returned to the RCM where he lectured for 40 years.

One of the most musically conservative composers of his generation, Jacob preferred the simpler Baroque and Classical models to the Romanticism of his peers. Even in the face of trends toward atonality and serialism he remained true to his aesthetic. A skilled writer for winds, much of his current reputation is due to his embracing the wind band, which was coming into its own as a concert ensemble.

Composed in 1928, An Original Suite is still one Jacob’s most frequently performed works for band. The publishers apparently insisted on the word “original” in the title so that audiences knew that this was not the usual popular fare and that the folk-song like melodies were Jacob’s own. From the elegant March, to the more pensive Intermezzo and the quirky Finale, the three movements offer plenty of contrasts in tempo and mood.

Jack Stamp (b. 1954) currently serves as Professor of Music and Director of Band Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). His teaching experience also included positions in the public school system in North Carolina, Campbell University, Duke University, and the Triangle British Brass Band, which he led to a national brass band championship in 1989. He holds degrees in music education, percussion performance, and conducting from IUP, East Carolina University, and Michigan State University. In 1996, Stamp received the Orpheus Award from the Zeta Tau Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha, and was inducted into the American Bandmasters Association in 2000. Stamp, known for his vibrant and energetic fanfares, composed Bandancing, a multi-movement journey through various dance settings.

Bandancing was described by the composer as follows: “In writing Bandancing, I wanted to fuse elements of popular dance to my own harmonic style-to write a “Suite of New American Dances.” The first movement, City Shuffle, is a type of funk with frequent meter changes. I intended to write a 12-note tango bass line for the second movement, but only got ten notes out of it. The performance should be sultry and remind the listener of the dancer in the red dress in Lord of the Dance. The waltz has been a dance for 300 years or more. As a drummer, I loved playing jazz waltzes. The third movement is a jazz waltz featuring a mini-fugue. The fourth movement, Slow Dance, is more of a ballad than a dance and has some of the most poignant harmony found in the entire work. Last Dance includes a samba and a very difficult fugue. It is

cyclic, as the theme from the first movement returns.”

John Philip Sousa(1854-1932) is of course synonymous with American band music. Known as the “March King” for his 136 marches Sousa also wrote 15 operettas, 11 suites, 2 descriptive pieces, 70 songs, 7 vocal works, 4 overtures, 2 concert pieces, 4 instrumental solos, 12 trumpet and drum pieces and 322 arrangements and transcriptions.

The Free Lance March, like several of Sousa’s marches, is actually from an operetta, The Free Lance(1905). Also known by the title On To Victory, it is classic Sousa in every respect.

Richard L. Saucedo(1957) is currently Director of Bands and Performing Arts Department Chairman at Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana. Under his direction, Carmel bands have received numerous state and national honors in the areas of concert, jazz and marching. Mr. Saucedo did his undergraduate work at Indiana University and finished his master’s degree at Butler University.

Windsprints is a flourish of notes and rhythms meant to stir the kind of emotion one might experience during the running of a 50 or 100 yard dash. The piece gets off the “starting blocks” quickly and immediately involves numerous wind and percussion instruments in a technical “race to the finish line!” The work was premiered by the Carmel Wind Symphony I at the National Concert Band Festival in 2004.

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was born in Lucca, Italy, and his education included the Instituto Musicale Pacini in Lucca and the Conservatory in Milan. Puccini’s musical development was influenced by the Italian composer Verdi, the German composer Wagner, and the French opera composers Bizet and Gounod. Puccini was most known for his operas including, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. Puccini faced pressure from the Italian people to become the most influential composer and revivalist of Italian opera in succession to Verdi. The premier of Tosca in 1900 was expected to be the production that would make Puccini and Tosca, the musical icons that people of Italy desperately wanted.

Tosca Fantasy for solo alto saxophone and wind ensemble is based on Puccini’s opera, Tosca, which was set in Rome in 1800, and first premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome in 1900.Sometimes referred to as a “shabby little shocker,” Tosca has been arranged into a medley of the opera’s most memorable melodies. The Tosca Fantasy will take you through the opera’s storyline: Angelotti (former consul of the Roman republic) escapes and flees to his family’s church; Mario and Floria Tosca sing about their love for each other; Scarpia (chief of police) orders Mario to be tortured as a result of his concealment of information about Angelotti; Tosca surrenders herself to Scarpia in order to save Mario; Mario is marched to the scaffold; Tosca prays and then murders Scarpia; Mario sings a final goodbye to Tosca; Mario is killed; and finally, Tosca leaps to her own death.

Clifton Williams (James Clifton Williams) (1923-1976) was born in Traskwood, Arkansas, and throughout school played piano and the French horn. His music education included Louisiana State University and Eastman School of Music. His professional career included playing with the San Antonio and New Orleans Symphony Orchestras, and the Army Air Corps Band, as well as teaching positions at the University of Texas, and the University of Miami.

Symphonic Dance No. 3 “Fiesta” was originally composed for and commissioned by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra in 1965. The wind band version, was premiered at the 1967 American Bandmasters Association convention in Miami Florida. As noted in the score, “Fiesta depicts the pageantry of Latin-American celebrations-street bands, bullfights, and bright costumes-the colorful legacy of a proud people.”

Binghamton University Music Department’s

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday, December 8th Percussion Ensemble, 8:00 PM – FREEAnderson Center Chamber Hall

Thursday, December 10th Holiday Mid-Day Concert, 1:20 PM,Casadesus Recital Hall, FREE

Thursday, December 10th Holiday Mid-Day Concert, 4:30 PM,University Downtown Center, FREE

Friday, December 11th Singing Chinese Class Recital, 7:00 PM, Casadesus Recital Hall, FREE

Saturday, December 12th Faculty Fireworks: Winter Winds (with the University Symphony Orchestra) – a gala benefit concert for the Music Department, 8:00 PM, Osterhout Concert Theater, $$

Sunday, December 13th Master’s Recital: Jenean Truax, soprano,3:00 PM, Casadesus Recital Hall, FREE

Tuesday, December 15th Master’s Recital: Jana Kucera, soprano,7:30 PM, Casadesus Recital Hall, FREE

Sunday, January 24th University Chamber Chorus, 3:00 PM – FREETrinity Memorial Church, Binghamton

For ticket information, please call the Anderson Center Box Office at 777-ARTS.