Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band

The UW Wind Ensemble (Timothy Salzman, director) and Symphonic Band (Shaun Day, director) present their Spring Quarter concert, performing music by Peter Mennin, John Paulson, Cindy McTee, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and others. 

Masks are recommended in all indoor spaces. Proof of vaccination remains a requirement for everyone 12 and over at Meany Hall and all ArtsUW Ticket Office events, including Meany Center, DXARTS, Dance Department, School of Drama, and School of Music. Individuals unable to be fully vaccinated, including people with a medical or religious exemption, must have proof of a negative provider-administered COVID-19 test (taken within 72 hours of the performance). UW staff will check for proof of vaccination and negative COVID tests at the doors as a condition of entry. Proof of negative test result must come from a test provider, a laboratory or a health care provider. Home or self-administered tests will not be accepted.  Details of these policies and procedures are at: https://artsevents.washington.edu/covid-protocols 

Program

University of Washington Symphonic Band
Shaun Day, conductor

Peter Mennin (1923-1983): Canzona (1951) 

John Paulson (b. 1948): Epinicion (1975) 

Sydney Guillaume (b. 1982): Renesans (2019)

University of Washington Wind Ensemble
Timothy Salzman, conductor

Cindy McTee (b. 1953): Notezart (2016/18)
Shaun Day, conductor

Rodney Rogers (b. 1953): The evidence of things not seen (1991) 
Corey Jahlas, conductor

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Variations for Wind Band (1957/2013), 

Combined Ensembles

Pavel Tschesnokoff (1877-1944)/arr. Bruce Housenecht: Salvation is Created (1912/1957) 

Oleksandre Konysky (text)/Mykola Lysenko (music): Prayer for Ukraine: Molytva za Ukrayinu (1885)

PROGRAM NOTES

Peter Mennin served as the director of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, then for many years held the same post at the Juilliard School where he succeeded William Schuman. Before his administrative career he was a composition faculty member at Juilliard and, during his life, wrote nine symphonies, several concertos, and numerous works for wind band, chorus, and other ensembles. His style became more chromatic and astringent with time, but was always essentially tonal, relying heavily on polyphony. He only composed one work for wind band Canzona, a brisk work that opens with a syncopated fanfare-like motives accompanied by powerful rhythmic figurations.   

John Paulson is an American composer who received music education degrees from both the University of Minnesota and the Eastman School of Music. While serving as an active music clinician and guest conductor, he is also the creator and founder of SmartMusic and the CEO of MakeMusic Inc., which is the company that developed Finale and SmartMusic. Epinicion, an aleatoric work, is based on an ancient Greek song of victory, sung at the conclusion of a triumphant battle. This dramatic work reflects the 1970’s when composers were actively responding to the societal afflictions of the Vietnam War.

Sydney Guillaume is a composer and conductor from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His compositional works are mainly for choir and film and are often challenging and highly spirited. Renesans is Guillaume’s only work for wind ensemble to date. The piece premiered on the ninth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that took place in his native country and is reflective yet uplifting. The word “renesans” is Haitian Creole for “rebirth,” and the work displays Yanvalou rhythms and Haitian Rara band celebratory musical material. 

Cindy McTee is an American educator and composer holding degrees from Pacific Lutheran University, the Yale School of Music, and the University of Iowa. Her compositions have been featured around the world by leading orchestras, bands, and chamber ensembles. Notezart was originally commissioned by the Brass and Percussion Ensemble of the National Orchestra of Lyon, and the wind symphony version is dedicated to Eugene Corporon. This work features many 12-tone passages as well as quardal, quintal, and triadic harmonies. Specific moments from Mozart’s third movement from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik provide the inspiration for Notezart.

Rodney Rogers was professor of composition at Arizona State University, previously having taught at Lawrence University and Louisiana State University. He holds degrees from the University of Iowa and Arizona State University and his wind music has been performed at institutions such as the Cincinnati Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, Florida State University, Indiana University, the Juilliard School, Northwestern University, the Royal School of Music in London, the University of Michigan, the University of North Texas, and the University of Washington. Rogers has been commissioned by the College Band Directors National Association, Music Teachers National Association, and National Endowment of the Arts. The musical basis for the evidence of things not seen is the hymn tune Prospect, found in Southern Harmony (1835), a collection of tunes, hymns, psalms, odes, and anthems attributed to William Walker. The composer writes the following about the title's implication:

The title interests me for its premise that there are unseen events. Music, while invisible, is still discussed in terms of form – almost as if it were a concrete entity. Yet for the listener it remains unseen. Since the theme is sacred, it also seemed appropriate to use a sacred reference in the title (Hebrews 11:1), though most people are not aware of its origin. The text I association with the Prospect melody is The Lone Wild Bird from a choral arrangement of the tune by David N. Johnson. That text is from the same period of Prospect. (Program Note from Teaching Music Through Performance in Band)

Variations for Wind Band is a transcription by Donald Hunsberger of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Variations for Brass Band.The original piece was composed in 1957 as a test piece for the annual brass band competition in London that culminated in a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The work stands apart from other brass band test pieces of the era because it does not provide moments to feature soloists in the band, and it is also the first brass band contest piece to be set in Theme and Variation form, inspiring composers to subsequently write in the same form. Although the piece is not separated by movements, it is composed of eleven variations that follow the initial theme which moves through various moods and styles, ultimately creating a sense of exhilarating movement through a waltz, Polonaise, chorale, canon, Arabesque and fugue. The work was one of the last pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams, written concurrently with his Symphony No. 9 in E Minor. This edition was prepared by Gary Thomas Brattin as part of his DMA degree completed at the UW in 2012 under the supervision of Professor Salzman. Dr. Brattin, who passed away suddenly in 2015, created a new score and parts that corrected over 900 errata.

Salvation is Created is by Pavel Tschesnokoff who belongs to a late-Romantic group of Russian “spiritualist” composers that included Bortniansky and Gretchaninoff. Tschesnokoff wrote an important choral conducting text and produced more than 500 choral works, 400 of which were based on sacred texts. This arrangement is almost an exact transcription of the original choral work composed in 1912, before Tschesnokoff was forced to turn to only composing secular works by the Soviet government. It is a communion hymn based on a chant from Kiev and Psalm 74: "Salvation is made in the midst of the earth, O God. Alleluia." Although he never heard this composition performed, his children had the opportunity to in the years following his death.   

Prayer for Ukraine is a patriotic Ukrainian hymn which has become the spiritual anthem of Ukraine. The song became the regular closing hymn in services of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and other churches. It gained national significance when it was performed by mass choirs during the Ukrainian War of Independence in 1917–1920. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine the work has been performed world-wide. This past February 26th, the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York, a group founded in 1949 "to preserve and cultivate the rich musical heritage of Ukraine", performed the hymn as the ‘cold open’ of Saturday Night Live, standing behind a table of candles that were arranged to spell "Kyiv"

O Great God, Eternal!
Protect our beloved Ukraine,
Freedom and light of wisdom
You shed upon her. 

Enlighten us with learning and knowledge
Us, your children inspire,
In pure everlasting love to our country
You, O God, allow us to grow.

We pray to you, God almighty,
Protect our beloved Ukraine,
All your grace and bounties
To our people direct!

Grant her freedom, grant her wisdom,
Grant illumination,
Prosperity grant, O God, to the nation
And grant many, many, prosperous years!

Director Bios