CONCERT BAND
Dr. Michael Stewart, conductor

Galop
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
trans. Miller

Rest
Frank Ticheli (b. 1958)

Alex Jett, graduate assistant conductor

Beyond the Horizon
Rosario Galante (b. 1967)

Ghost Train
Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)

SYMPHONIC BAND
Dr. Fuller Lyon, conductor

Zing! (2008)
Scott McAllister (b. 1969)

Children’s March (“Over the Hills and Far Away”) (1919/1995)
Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961)
ed. Rogers

Matthew Waymon, graduate assistant conductor

Poema Alpestre (1999)
Franco Cesarini (b. 1961)

CONCERT BAND

Galop

Galop from “The Limpid Stream” (1935) was originally written by Shostakovich for his third ballet, The Limpid Stream, a story about a group of ballet dancers who are sent to provide entertainment to a new Soviet collective farm in Kuban, known as The Limpid Stream. After complicated amorous intrigues, it turns out the country-folk have more to teach those from the city than the other way around. The Limpid Stream was by far the most popular of Shostakovich’s ballets. Its deliberately simple-minded melodies, banal harmonies, straightforward rhythms, and garish colors had the work playing successfully in both Leningrad and Moscow from June 1935 through February 1936.

However, The Limpid Stream and, by implication, its suite were condemned in Pravda in an editorial in early February 1936. Of the three ballets, The Limpid Stream was punished most grotesquely by the Soviet government - the co-librettist, Adrian Piotrovsky, was sent to a gulag and never heard from again, and the creative career of its choreographer, Fedor Lopukhov, was all but terminated. Fortunately, Shostakovich was able to salvage some of the music from the ballet and the suite in the first four ballet suites he and his friend Levon Atovmyan compiled in 1949-1953. Galop from "The Limpid Stream" became the sixth movement of the Ballet Suite No. 3.

Rest

Rest for Concert Band was composed in 2010 as a concert band adaptation of the composer's work for chorus, There Will Be Rest. In making this version, the composer wanted to preserve almost everything from the original including harmony, dynamics and even the original registration. He also endeavored to preserve carefully the fragile beauty and quiet dignity suggested by the words of the poet Sara Teasdale:

There will be rest, and sure stars shining
Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,
A reign of rest, serene forgetting,
The music of stillness holy and low.
I will make this world of my devising,
Out of a dream in my lonely mind,
I shall find the crystal of peace, above me
Stars I shall find.

Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

Beyond the Horizon

Beyond the Horizon was commissioned by and dedicated to the Point Pleasant Boro High School Band, Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey, Paul Caliendo, Director. As the composer states, Beyond the Horizon is a dynamic composition encompassing majestic brass fanfares and sweeping melodic lines. The piece is comprised of two themes that musically paint a picture of the Earth’s breathtakingly beautiful horizon.

Ghost Train

The legend of the Ghost Train, a supernational machine that roars out of the night through forgotten towns and empty canyons, is deeply rooted in American folklore, and it was this spirit which the composer tried to capture. Ghost Train was premiered in 1994 by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Wind Symphony, Tom Leslie conducting.

Born in 1970, Eric Whitacre has become one of the bright stars of the American music scene. He has received awards from ASCAP, the American Choral Directors Association, the Barlow International Foundation, and the Dale Warland Singers commissioning program. Whitacre, who studied with John Corigliano and David Diamond, holds a Masters of Music degree from the Julliard School of Music.

SYMPHONIC BAND

Zing!

Scott McAllister writes, “Zing! was commissioned by Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma at Baylor University. Zing! is the first work in a series of short band pieces that are inspired by catchphrases of different band directors who influenced the composer in high school and college. These phrases were often used during rehearsals to illuminate an image in order to create a special sound. Jim Croft, retired Director of Bands at Florida State University, inspired Zing’s fanfare-like motives juxtaposed with lyrical melodic lines and “shiny” color emulate his catchphrase.”

Children’s March (“Over the Hills and Far Away”)

Children’s March “Over the Hills and Far Away” holds a special place in the composer’s works for band. Children’s March was not his first original work for wind band, for that honor goes to Lads of Wamphray March. Nor is it the first published work for wind band as Irish Tune from County Derry and Shepherd’s Hey appeared in 1918.

Children’s March is the first composition of his maturity originally composed and scored for wind band and, indeed, one of his few compositions that does not exist in any full-length version suitable for performances by symphony orchestra. In contrast to many of Grainger’s other compositions, the march was provided with no program notes. The score bears the dedication, “For my playmate beyond the hills,” which is understood by many Grainger scholars to reference Karen Holton, who shared a lengthy relationship with him during the first decade of the twentieth century. With instrumental demands unlike any band work before its time and few since, and with matching technical challenges made to the entire performing ensemble, Percy Grainger’s Children’s March remains one of the most original and satisfying parts of the wind band essential repertoire.

Poema Alpestre

For someone like Franco Cesarini, born in a land of which every horizon is dominated by the majestic Alps, mountains are in one’s heart and soul throughout every moment of life. Therefore, the question as to why Cesarini chose to write a piece dedicated to mountains can have a thousand answers or none.

The true spirit of mountains is described in the words of Alan Hovhaness: “Mountains are symbolic meeting places between the material and the spiritual world.” It is a sentiment with which the composer fully agrees, which also helps explain the titles of succeeding episodes of the composition. These alternate moments of reality, of matter, with those of the ethereal, the spirit. Certain subtitles also refer to Thomas Mann’s classic novel, The Magic Mountain. As in the book, the triumvirate of illness-love-death becomes the key to trying to understand the mystery of life.

Another factor that compelled Cesarini to write this piece is the 50^th anniversary of the death of Richard Strauss (1864-1949). For Cesarini, Poema Alpestre is a modest tribute to his memory.

Dr. Michael Stewart, conductor

* principal
+ co-principal

Names listed alphabetically

Flute
Joanna Gardner
Elizabeth Hamilton
Jordyn Robbins
Abby Smith
Maddie Stewart *
Shelby Wilkerson

Oboe
Caroline Storch

Clarinet
Skye Agard
Jackson Banks
Grant Barron
Tyler Best
Patrick Flaherty
Jose Lucas Francisco *
Courtney McHan
Evan Norris
Dylan Smith
Elle Wlas

Bass Clarinet
Christiana Campbell
Ploomie Messer

Bassoon
Macy Porter *
Patrick Sealy
Will Suydam

Alto Sax
Dylan Colston
Luke Robertson
Brady Vermillion *

Tenor Sax
Jordan Cannon
Sarah Vernetti

Bari Sax
Matthew Sexton

Trumpet
Aidan Amphonephong
Shandi Dice
Bryson Goss
Thomas Hooper
Kamden Lindsay
Koehl Lindsay
Jacob Long
Ethan Samuelson *
Kara Ussery

French Horn
Emily Baker
Garrett Booth
Sydney Flenniken
Xander Harms
Chase Hart
Alex Medearis
Sam Shoemaker*

Trombone
David Hernandez
Terrance Jones +
Thomas Kenner
Austin Kerr
Tagen Lowery
Luke Mercado
Ian Myers
Ian Searcy
Emily Stewart +

Euphonium
Mustafa Arkawazi *
Eli Atkin
Constance Baker

Tuba
Tommy Bond
River Cox
Jacob Schafer *
Isaiah Towns

Percussion
Hunter Franklin
Carson Hudson
Kayla King
Sadiq Mohammed
Shelton Skaggs *

Dr. Fuller Lyon, conductor

* principal
+ co-principal

Names listed alphabetically

Piccolo
Emily Piedot

Flute
Madalynn Adkerson *
Ava Chambers
Sarah Cox
Julianne Moss
JJ Nauman

Oboe
Aubrey Holland
Katherine Means *

Clarinet
Andrew Bassett
Ethan Cheatwood
Absa Dia
Asher Dunlap
Matthew Mihalic
Jack Myers
Brayden Payne +
Andrei Sabula +

Bass Clarinet
Joshua Adedokun
Natalie Rundblade

Contrabass Clarinet
Ashley Melvin

Bassoon
Austin Hill *
Peyton Morgan
Daniel Sippel

Contrabassoon
Daniel Sippel

Alto Sax
Anna Caten
Tristan Cook
Dawson May *

Tenor Sax
Gavin Morris

Bari Sax
Preston Turner

Trumpet
Hope Butler
Christian Carroll *
Gwen Hutchinson
Ian Krueger
Eli Oliver
Carlos Ortiz
Micah Purvis
Dylan Sacksteder

French Horn
Rylie Allen +
Duncan Clever
Carson Duckworth
Grace Estes
Rocky Foster
Cole McFarland +

Trombone
Noah Allard
Jack Cowart *
Tyler Guthrie
Jacob Ross
Nathan Whittington

Bass Trombone
AJ Duhaime

Euphonium
Sammie Beverley
Zack Donovan
Levi Gayso *

Tuba
Elijah Ailey
Paul Muirhead *
Hudson Scott

Percussion
Elliot Baldwin
Jackson Boeskool
Brooke Duez
Colston Oldham
Zac Swafford *
Chandler Webb

Piano
Stephanie Hensley

Harp
Cindy Emory

Assisting Musician
Aaron O’Donnell

November 24, 2024
Wind Ensemble Concert

February 1, 2025
UT Conducting Workshop

February 25, 2025
Volunteer Concert Clinic/SB and CB Concert

March 13, 2025
Wind Ensemble Concert

March 27, 2025
Wind Ensemble Concert @ CBDNA National Conference

April 24, 2025
Symphonic Band and Concert Band Concert

April 27, 2025
Wind Ensemble/University Band Concert

Want to know more
about the bands at UT?
Please visit: utbands.utk.edu

We hope you enjoyed this performance. Private support from music enthusiasts enables us to improve educational opportunities and develop our student artists’ skills to their full potential. To learn more about how you can support the Natalie L. Haslam College of Music, contact Nikki Darrow, Associate Director of Advancement, (865) 974-0020 or ndarrow@utfi.org.