Randall Brady, conductor
Christopher Ramos, conductor
March 6, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Intermission (10 Minutes)
Sofi Child, Percussion
UVU CONCERTO COMPETITION 2024 WINNER
Steve Gravley and Caryl Klemann, Guest Conductors
Wind Band Premiere
In 1853, the question of whether the symphony might be dead was hot in German music circles. Beethoven published his Ninth in 1824, and for many it was the culmination of all symphonic writing. With the inclusion of soloists and a choir singing on universal brotherhood in the final movement, it seemed to some perhaps that absolute music—music without words—had lived its golden age. The Ninth was Beethoven’s last, and since he was regarded as the greatest symphonist, maybe this represented his own thoughts on the genre (many did not know at the time of his sketches for his Tenth, a work which as far as we can tell would have been wordless).
In 1853, the question was strong: “Are we done with symphonies?” And the affirmative was pushed hard by the likes of Lizst and Wagner in favor of tone poems, operas, and other programmatic works. Robert Schumann—symphonist, pianist, and music critic—did not agree. He knew there was more to be discovered in the cosmos of the symphony. He had tasted it in the little-known-at-the-time Great Symphony of Schubert (also a ninth symphony). And then he met Johannes Brahms, a young chap of just 20 years in 1853. In Brahms’s unpublished compositions Schumann heard a new future, and he proclaimed Brahms as their herald to the German world in his article “Neue Bahnen” (“New Paths”). It would be twenty more years until Brahms would finally publish his first symphony, a work without words or story to accompany it, wildly popular, fresh in form and harmony, and nicknamed by conductor Hans von Bülow as “Beethoven’s Tenth.” The symphony was obviously far from dead. On Brahms’s heels would come Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius, Shostakovich, Sessions, Barber, Glass, and more, and more, and more.
The wind band world has gone through its own self-doubt. Composers, especially early on, often ignored or winked at us, in many eyes the band was a cute means of blue-collar entertainment (and truly, without our factory bands, military bands, and town bands, we would not be here playing for you today). With Holst, we got our first popular, and most importantly, original, work for band by a highly esteemed composer, and then composers started to wink less at us and write more: Stravinsky, Hindemith, Grainger, Messiaen, Schuman, Colgrass, Corigliano, Higdon, and more, and more, and more. Sometime in the mid-century, the activity moved into and became preserved in the schools—the middle schools, the high schools, and the colleges—and the band became importantly and inextricably tied with music education in general. Ask any wind player in the world’s top orchestras, and they likely started in the school band. So did Prince, Bill Clinton, Lizzo, Jason Kelce, Ewan McGregor. Oh, and so did Holst (he was a trombone player in the town band, and then a music educator at St. Paul’s Girls School).
Our world is in a tumultuous conversation now, though. Where is the future for this lovely tradition? Since entering the schools we’ve been in a kind of echo chamber, playing music by ourselves, for ourselves. Once, bands brought music to the masses—Patrick Gilmore brought Wagner to the American countryside when Wagner was still considered new and weird. Now, especially at the collegiate level, we play at a lot of conferences for other band directors and to often-near-empty concert halls. There are maybe two places left where bands still bring music to masses: the community band (here’s looking at you Wasatch Winds), and the school band, where parents are willingly held captive, beaming with pride over their children (rightly so!). But this, budget cuts, and turbulent shifts in American culture has led to a host of opinions: we’re teaching music to kids all wrong, the kids play great but that music…, position papers, it goes on and on. A quiet, unheard question lies at the root of it all: “Is the school band movement soon dead?”
I think you’ll see my opinion on full display tonight. We have great, thriving band programs in Utah. Our community is full of life-long musicians thanks to incredible teachers such as Mr. Brady. But I understand the anxieties that lead to such a question. We’re asking that question of a lot of things right now. Part of our own problem has been our echo chamber, and so we must also think about how we can step out of it and include new voices into our practice, while holding on to those we’ve loved in the past. And, yes, things will change. But it’s not an unfamiliar activity. Maya Angelou said in her incredible poem “On the Pulse of Morning,”
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
When the horizon leans, it does not do away with the land on which we stand. I find either/or to be an unhelpful framework to answer to such a question as “Is the movement dead?” I rather think Schumann had a better answer—“New Paths,” emphasis on the S. Let us celebrate Holst. And let us celebrate Coons. And let us celebrate Gould. And let us celebrate Higdon. And let us celebrate our musicians. And let us celebrate our audiences. And let us celebrate our faculty. And let us celebrate our administrators. We all belong here.
-C.R.
American Salute
Morton Gould's music is unique in its Americanism and in the seemingly endless wealth of creativity displayed by the composer. Like much of his music, this work is semiserious in nature -- a reflection of Gould's uncanny skill in thematic development. Using only When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again for melodic resources, he contrives a brilliant fantasy. Originally written for orchestra (in 24 hours) and later set for band, American Salute has become a favorite for both media.
- Program Note by Norman E. Smith
Riften Wed
Riften is a city in Skyrim located in the expansive world of Elder Scrolls, the fifth installment of an action role-playing video game saga developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Skyrim is an open world game that by any video game standard is geographically massive and more closely related to an online mmorpg (massive multiplayer online role-playing game) than to its console and pc competition.
Skyrim is a beautiful world—one can spend hours just walking or riding horseback from one side of the continent to the other doing nothing but experiencing its wondrous environment and lore. It is truly a game worthy of total immersion.
Weddings in Skyrim are about survival as much as fondness or imagined love. Courtship can be as simple a dialogue as “Are you interested in me? Why yes, are you interested in me? Yes. It’s settled then.” Sometimes the dialogue is more along the lines of “You are smart and strong. I would be lucky to have you. I would walk the path of life beside you ‘til the end of time if you will have me.” Although this game feels somewhat like the iron age with magic and dragons, it has a progressive, flourishing society.
In Skyrim, if so desired, your spouse can and will fight beside you. They will die for you or with you. For most of them, that death is permanent. You cannot remarry (not without cheating anyway). What was is over and there will be no other. Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I found the whole situation intriguing and heart wrenching, especially if related or injected into real world circumstances. In one instance while playing the game, I emerged from the chapel with my brand new husband only to have him killed later that evening in a vicious full-on vampire attack right outside the temple. (Hey! No fair! I knew I should have married a warrior and not a merchant. I restarted the game.) Skyrim weddings are happening in the middle of a world full of violence, disease, war and death, something Earth is all too familiar with.
Riften Wed is the music for loves and unions, past and present such as this. A love, a wedding, a lifetime shared by two people in the middle of a storm that threatens to tear them apart. Where “‘til death do us part” is not only a reality, it’s a given. Where love is a gift worthy of all the joy and pain it demands. One life, one love, one ending. This music is for those that are truly Riften Wed.
- Program Note by composer
Radetzky March
Radetzky March (1848/1993) is generally acclaimed as among the greatest of all pieces in the march vein. Strauss wrote it a year before his death in 1848. It was named for Johann Joseph Count Radetzky de Radetz, a venerable Austrian Field Marshall. The title page of the first edition bore the dedications “In honor of the greatest Field Marshall” and “Dedicated to the Imperial Royal Army.” It was commissioned to celebrate Radetzky’s victories, primarily the Battle of Custoza. The trio uses a popular Viennese folk tune of the time, Alter Tanz aus Wien or Tinerl-Lied, which was originally in 3/4 time. It is rumored that Strauss heard the returning soldiers singing the tune and decided to incorporate it into the work by converting it to 2/4 time. Radetzky March was commissioned by Field Marshall Lieutenant Peter Zanini, military advisor to the court, who organized a festival to celebrate the victories in Italy of the Austrian Army under the control of Field Marshall Radetzky.
After the first performance, conducted in Vienna by the composer on August 31, 1848, the piece became the unofficial Austrian anthem along with the Blue Danube waltz. When it was first played for Austrian officers, they spontaneously clapped and stomped their feet during the chorus. This tradition, with a light rhythmic clapping during the first iteration of the melody followed by thunderous clapping during the second, is kept alive today by audience members who know of the custom when the march is played. It has been a long-standing tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic to conclude every New Year’s Concert with the work.
-Program Note by Kelly Desjardins
Shimmering Sunshine
Shimmering Sunshine is a composition that depicts the sun whenever it is positioned at high noon, at its brightest point during the day. Throughout the piece, there are different "shimmers" of bright light that bounce around from instrument to instrument, depicting moments of sunshine both beautiful and, at the same time, powerful.
-Program Note by composer
Lyric for Band
Lyric for Strings premiered in 1947 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, by the National Gallery Orchestra. It is an expansion of the second movement of Walker's first string quartet, completed as a student at the Curtis Institute. The quartet was composed a year after the death of Malvina King, Walker's grandmother. King's life of hardship, which included the loss of her first husband when he was sold as a slave, deeply affected the young composer. Although he retitled the work Lyric for Strings when he scored it for string orchestra, Walker always referred to the movement as his "grandmother's piece."
- Program Note Adapted from Luci Disano
Walker was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, which he received for Lilacs in 1996. Luci Disano arranged Walker’s Lyric for Strings into Lyric for Band in 2023.
Percussion Concerto
The 20th Century saw the development of the percussion section grow as no other section in the orchestra. Both the music and the performers grew in visibility as well as in capability. And while the form of the concerto wasn’t the least bit new in the century, the appearance and growth of the percussion concerto as a genre exploded during the later half of the century.
My “Percussion Concerto” follows the normal relationship of a dialogue between soloist and orchestra. In this work, however, there is an additional relationship with the soloist interacting extensively with the percussion section. The ability of performers has grown to such an extent that it has become possible to have sections within the orchestra interact at the same level as the soloist.
Written for Colin Currie, this work is dedicated to him.
“Percussion Concerto” was commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and The Dallas Symphony Orchestra. This commission was made possible with support from The Philadelphia Music Project (an artistic initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by The University of the Arts), and by a generous gift from LDI, Ltd. and the Lacy Foundation.
- Program Note by composer
Higdon’s Percussion Concerto won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Composition in 2010.
Sonic Pathways
This piece was composed for the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Orchestra. The UNM HSCO is a community, volunteer orchestra whose members are students, faculty, and staff of the UNM Health Sciences Center and UNM Hospital as well as other members from UNM and the Albuquerque community. This piece is designed around the unique qualities of this type of community orchestra (both the positive special traits and the challenges) but may be performed by any large instrumental ensemble. The nature of the material is such that the piece can continue to grow and change with the ensemble. It is my hope that this piece of music allows for a fun and engaging experience for all who are involved.
In the spirit of the Health Sciences as they relate to the ensemble for which this piece was written, I have chosen to use some ideas from the field of neuroscience as a point of inspiration for this piece. Although the music here is in no way intended to describe or imitate ideas from neuroscience, the neural networks and the process of learning within the brain can be used as a metaphor for some of the elements of the piece including the partitioning of the orchestra into hemispheres, groups, and individuals, and the taks of “learning” musical elements from other members of the orchestra.
-Program Note by composer
First Suite in E-Flat
Although completed in 1909, the First Suite in E-Flat didn't receive its official premiere until 11 years later on June 23rd, 1920, by an ensemble of 165 musicians at the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall. However, the work was originally conceived to be performed by ensembles significantly smaller than the one at Kneller Hall. In order to ensure the suite would be accessible to as many bands as possible, Holst ingeniously scored the work so that it could be played by a minimum of 19 musicians, with 16 additional parts that could be added or removed without compromising the integrity of the work.
There are three movements in the suite: Chaconne, Intermezzo, and March. Holst writes, “As each movement is founded on the same phrase, it is requested that the suite be played right through without a break.” Indeed, the first three notes of the Chaconne are Eb, F and C, and the first three notes of the melody when it first appears in the Intermezzo are Eb, F, and C. In the third movement, March, Holst inverts the motive: The first note heard in the brilliant opening brass medley is an Eb, but instead of rising, it descends to a D, and then a G; the exact opposite of the first two movements.
The Chaconne begins with a ground bass reminiscent of those written by Henry Purcell or William Byrd. It is performed by tuba, euphonium and string bass and is repeated throughout the ensemble sixteen full times as varying instrumental textures and variations of the theme are layered within it. Following a delicately scored chamber setting of the theme, the music steadily builds to a brilliant Eb Major chord that concludes the movement.
The Intermezzo is light and brisk and features soloistic passages for the cornet, oboe and clarinet. Holst prominently displays the agility and sensitivity of the wind band through transparent textures and passages where the melody and accompaniment are woven into a variety of instrumental settings.
The March begins suddenly. It consists of two themes, the first of which, performed by brass choir and percussion, is a march light in character. The second theme is dominated by the woodwinds and is composed of a long, lyrical line reminiscent of the original Chaconnemelody. The movement concludes with both themes intertwining as the band crescendos to a climax.
- Program Note by Esmail Khalili
Randall Brady
Conductor
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Flute Adelle Burnside * OBOE Elliot Allgrunn * clarinet Matthew Bosley bassoon alto saxophone Chloe Raines Tenor saxophone |
horn Caleb Dickey TRUMPET TROMBONE EUPHONIUM TUBA |
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* Denotes Principal Players
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Dr. Christopher Ramos
Conductor
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Flute Emily Gabbitas* clarinet Bob Gabbitas* bass clarinet Hannah Brown
Oboe Emily Adams* Bassoon Andrew Apgood* saxophone trumpet Brandon Ard |
Horn Rachel Colton Trombone euphonium Charles Bartlett
Michael Lenderman TUBA PERCUSSION STRING BASS piano/Celesta HARP
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* denotes section principal |
Randy Brady currently serves as Director of Bands at Westlake High School in Saratoga Springs,
Utah where he directs the marching band, three concert ensembles, and two jazz bands.
During his time at Westlake the band has continued its tradition of high achievement
by performing as a finalist in the Bands of America St. George Regional (2018), receiving
Superior ratings at two Music For All Western Regional Concert Band Festivals (2019,
2020), qualifying for State Jazz Band Festival (2020), and performing at the Bands
of America San Antonio Super Regional in San Antonio, TX (2019). Mr. Brady was award
2019-2020 Teacher of The Year by the Westlake High School PTSA.
Mr. Brady is now in his 12th year of teaching that began by teaching in the Snake
River School District in Mooreland, Idaho. During his tenure at Snake River the 6-12
band program increased in size from 36 students to just over 200. He also facilitated
the creation of a fifth grade beginning band, high school jazz band, marching band,
and two percussion ensembles. Mr. Brady wrote several successful grants that resulted
in thousands of dollars of funding to the Snake River band program. In 2011-2012 he
received the Snake River Junior High Teacher of the Year Award and the Snake River
School District Teacher of the Year.
In 2015 Mr. Brady began working as visiting faculty at Brigham Young University-Idaho
teaching courses in band education and supervising student teachers. Ensemble responsibilities
included directed the University Band and Jazz Lab Band. Mr. Brady also served as
interim Saxophone Studio Instructor teaching lessons and directing the Saxophone Ensemble.
Throughout his three-year visiting contract, he assisted with directing the BYU-Idaho
Symphonic Band and was interim director of the ensemble during the 2018 Spring semester.
Mr. Brady is a graduate of Brigham Young University-Idaho where he completed a Bachelors
in Music Education. He later attended the American Band College where he completed
a Master of Arts in Band Conducting through Sam Houston State University. Mr. Brady
has been fortunate to receive conducting instruction and critique from Anthony Maiello,
Robert Ponto, Scott Hagen, and Craig Kirchhoff.
Sofi Child is currently a sophomore studying Percussion Performance and Commercial Music under the direction of Dr. Shane Jones. She has participated in UVU’s Wind Symphony, Percussion Ensemble, Steel Band, Symphony Orchestra, and Sonic Exchange. Since starting college she has performed with the Utah Metropolitan Ballet in the Nutcracker, has been featured as a guest artist with Brighton High School at the St. George UMEA Conference, and has recorded with Big Idea Inc. for the Hogwart’s Legacy Overturewhich was recently nominated for a Grammy this last year.
In 2022, Sofi graduated from Lehi High School under the direction of Brian Parker and Stephen Tullis. Throughout high school Sofi participated in wind symphony, percussion ensemble, jazz band, marching band, and indoor drumline. In all these ensembles, her and her peers received high remarks such as third place in chamber ensembles for the 2021 PAS Festival, multiple wins at marching band state and percussion caption placements, as well as high ratings at band festivals and solo and ensemble festivals. In 2018, Sofi received the Downbeat Award with the Willowcreek Middle School Jazz Band under the direction of Dave Faires.
Sofi Child is aspiring to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in the Spring of 2027. From there she will continue to study Percussion Performance in graduate school.
Lauren V. Coons an interdisciplinary composer, performer, and artist from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lauren synthesizes her unique background in multiple art forms through the composition of intermedia performance pieces which often include instrumental or vocal music, dance, poetry, and visual art within a single work.
She has composed numerous musical works for a broad range of instrumentation, voice, and electronics, many of which incorporate movement, spoken word, and visual art. A strong believer in the power of creativity as a positive means to connect people and share ideas, Lauren has composed works which invite performers and audiences to participate in the creative process either through improvisation, collaborative interpretation of non-traditional notation, or contributing material via social media.
She has composed musical works by invitation from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center Orchestra, the University of New Mexico Art Museum, and New Music New Mexico and has had her work performed at the John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium as the recipient of the 2016 Scott Wilkinson Composition Award.
In addition to her background in music, she has studied numerous forms of classical and contemporary dance including ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, tap, hip hop, and African dance for over twenty years. Her body of work also includes musical composition for dance, choreography, composition of movement and sound-based works, and performance in a variety of formal and community contexts.
Lauren's holds a dual concentration Master of Music degree in Music Theory & Composition and Musicology from the University of New Mexico where she specialized in American experimentalism, improvisation and indeterminacy, post-tonal music theory, interdisciplinarity, and social practice art.
Her current work focuses on composition as a platform for interdisciplinary exchange, innovative approaches to improvisation, collaboration, and performance in social and community contexts outside of the concert hall.
Chris Ramos is currently serving as Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He conducts the UVU Wind Symphony, the Screamin’ Green Pep Band, and directs instrumental studies within the music education area.
He received the DMA in instrumental conducting at The Hartt School, studying with Glen Adsit and Edward Cumming. While at Hartt, he assisted in conducting Hartt's instrumental performing ensembles and the Greater Hartford Youth Wind Ensemble, and as part of the adjunct faculty he taught courses for graduates and undergraduates in conducting, brass methods, diversity and belonging, jazz pedagogy, and in the core music theory sequence. Before Hartt, Chris served as a band director at Dalat International School in Penang, Malaysia where he taught Western classical and jazz music in performing and theory courses across grades 6-12, and his students were invited to perform in international festivals across Southeast Asia.
He is also an active scholar working at the intersection of musicology, wind band studies, and music education. In 2022 he received the Goldstein Award from the University of Hartford, and in 2016 he received the Joanne Kealinohomoku Prize from the the Society of Ethnomusicology Southwest for scholarship combining these interests. He holds degrees from the University of New Mexico where he studied with Eric Rombach-Kendall, and from Texas A&M University-Commerce where he studied with Phillip Clements (conducting), Luis Sanchez (piano), and Mike Morrow (horn).
In addition to his conducting, researching, and teaching, he actively performs both on the French horn and at the keyboard. He has had the opportunity to work and play closely with many incredible artists around the world in both classical and jazz idioms including the likes of Stephen Hough, Wynton Marsalis, Marshall Gilkes, Susan Botti, Allen Vizutti, Bill Watrous, the Boston Brass, Lucy Shelton, Kevin Day, and David Maslanka. He has both produced and performed on records for the Naxos and Summit record labels, and he has performed in and conducted ensembles in concert halls, stages, forests, and patios across the United States and Asia. An avid supporter of new music, he has been part of a number of commissioning projects for solo horn, chamber ensembles, and wind ensembles. He is an active member in the College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, Utah Bandmasters Association, Utah Music Educators Association, American Musicological Society, Society for Music Theory, and National Association for Music Education.
Utah Valley University acknowledges that we gather on land sacred to all Indigenous people who came before us in this vast crossroads region. The University is committed to working in partnership—as enacted through education and community activities—with Utah’s Native Nations comprising: the San Juan Southern Paiute, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Uintah & Ouray Reservation of the Northern Ute, Skull Valley Goshute, Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation, Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute-White Mesa Community, and urban Indian communities. We recognize these Native Nations and their continued connections with traditional homelands, mountains, rivers, and lakes as well as their sovereign relationships with state and federal governments. We honor their collective memory and continued physical and spiritual presence. We revere their resilience and example in preserving their connections to the Creator and to all their relations, now and in the future.
With this statement comes responsibility and accountability. We resolve to follow
up with actionable items to make the School of the Arts at UVU and The Noorda Center
for the Performing Arts an inclusive, equitable, and just space for all. There is
much work to be done, and we are committed to putting these words into practice.
Artwork by Shane Walking Eagle (Sisseton Dakota).
Our mission is to produce and present artistic excellence, which would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. We thank them and express our deep gratitude to all patrons, supporters, and friends of The Noorda.
The arts possess the unparalleled power to inspire, educate, liberate, and transform. They elevate moments, mark milestones, soften edges, and generate profound meaning. Experience the beauty and wonder of the arts with us this season at The Noorda and begin at once to live!
Courtney R. Davis, J.D., M.A.
Dean, School of the Arts
Department Chair
JEFFREY O'FLYNN
Associate Chair
MELISSA HEATH
Administrative Assistant
CHRIS GINES
Choirs
REED CRIDDLE
CHERILYN WORTHEN
Orchestra/Cello
CHEUNG CHAU
Violin
DONNA FAIRBANKS
Clarinet
JEFFREY O’FLYNN
Trumpet/Music Theory
RYAN NIELSEN
Percussion
SHANE JONES
Piano
HILARY DEMSKE
Jazz/Commercial
DAVID BAKER
Voice
MELISSA HEATH
ISAAC HURTADO
Commercial Music
CHARLIE HAN
TODD SORENSEN
Theory
BRYCE RYTTING
Musicology
ROSS HAGEN
Director of Bands
CHRIS RAMOS
