CONCERT BAND

Dr. Fuller Lyon, conductor

El Gato Montés  
Manuel Penella Moreno (1880-1939)
arr. Hanson

Classic Overture in C
Francois-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829)
ed. Goldman and Smith

Dances from "Estancia"
Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)
arr. Lyon

  II. Danza del trigo

Carmina Burana
Carl Orff (1895-1982)
arr. Krance

  XIII. Fortuna, Empress of the World

SYMPHONIC BAND

Dr. Michael Stewart, conductor

A Mother of a Revolution!
Omar Thomas (b. 1984)

William Byrd Suite
Gordon Jacob (1895-1984)

1. Earle of Oxford's March
2. Pavana
3. Jhon come kiss me now
4. Mayden's Song
5. Wosley's Wilde
6. The Bells

El Gato Montés

In a famous moment from Spanish composer Manuel Penella’s 1916 opera, “El Gato Montes (The Wildcat),” a matador sings exuberantly to his beloved young gypsy woman that he will fight the bulls for her. The “Wildcat” which gives the opera its name does not refer to an animal but is a nickname for an honorable man who became an outlaw when he killed a man in defense of his true love, the gypsy woman. Enormously popular in its time, the opera had a highly successful ten-week run on Broadway in 1920.

Classic Overture in C

In 1789, a group of forty-five wind and percussion players, gathered together by a young musician named Sarrette, formed the band of the National Guard. A year later the band had increased to seventy members with Francois-Joseph Gossec as bandmaster. Gossec’s interest in the wind band was demonstrated by three symphonies, several marches, and many hymns for choir and winds which he wrote while living in Paris.

Classic Overture in C, written in 1794, is one of the many works written for large wind ensemble during the Classical period. The wind band had become immensely popular in the revolutionary period of French history and occupied an important place in the many festivals, parades, and rallies held by the revolutionaries. This overture shows the wind band at its best. The tripartite structure is simple and unadorned, without lengthy codas or extended developments. It remains throughout a work of beauty and charm that is thoroughly idiomatic of the group for which it was composed.

Dances from "Estancia" - Danza del trigo

While Ginastera was still a student at Argentina’s Williams Conservatory in 1937, conductor Juan José Castro premiered an orchestral suite from the young composer’s ballet, Panambi. The performance generated substantial attention for Ginastera, and just three years later the complete ballet was staged at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Lincoln Kirstein, director of the American Ballet Caravan, attended a performance of Panambi while visiting Argentina. He was so impressed with the brilliant and colorful music that he immediately commissioned Ginastera to write a new ballet for his company, and Estancia was completed just a year later. Unfortunately, Kirstein’s American Ballet Caravan was disbanded before the premiere, leaving Estancia in limbo. Ginastera reworked four of the episodes into an orchestral suite that was introduced in 1943. The second movement of this suite, “Danza del trigo (The Wheat Dance),” provides a lyrical interlude between two more rhythmically sophisticated dances.

Carmina Burana - Fortuna, Empress of the World

Carl Orff’s first stage work, Carmina Burana, was composed in 1935/36 and premiered at the Frankfurt Opera one year later. Orff drew the inspiration for his grand vocal and orchestral work from 24 poems of the 200 found in the 13^th century monastery of Benediktbeuern, near Munich in Bavaria, and published in 1847 under the title of Carmina Burana. Carmina is the plural of the Latin word “carmen” and in early time, carried the implication of student songs. Burana was the Latin name for the area we know today as Bavaria.

Both sacred and secular, the texts are frank avowals of earthly pleasure: eating, dancing, drinking, gambling, and lovemaking. They proclaim the beauty of life and the glory of springtime. The music is simple in harmony and range, consistent with 13^th century music, with a driving rhythm to which the listener instinctively responds. John Krance, who worked with Orff on this arrangement, has incorporated the vocal melodies into a setting entirely instrumental in structure.

A Mother of a Revolution!

Omar Thomas' music has been performed in concert halls across the country. He has been commissioned to create works in both jazz and classical styles. His work has been performed by such diverse groups as the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, the San Francisco and Boston Gay Men's Choruses, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  He was awarded the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award in 2008 and was invited by the ASCAP Association to perform his music in their highly exclusive JaZzCap Showcase, held in New York City.

Mr. Thomas accepted a position in the composition area at the University of Texas in Austin in the fall of 2020. Previously he was a member of both the Harmony and Music Education departments at Berklee, where he taught all four levels of harmony offered, in addition to taking charge of the "Introduction to Music Education" course. Omar was an active member of the Berklee community, serving on the Diversity and Inclusion Council, the Comprehensive Enrollment Strategy Workgroup, and acting as co-chair of the LGBT Allies. Omar was nominated for the Distinguished Faculty Award after only three years at the college and was thrice awarded the Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from Harvard University, where he served as a teaching fellow.

A Mother of a Revolution! was commissioned in 2019 by the Desert Winds Freedom Band, Dean McDowell, Director.  It was written in commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and honoring Marsha P. Johnson.

William Byrd Suite

The music of the William Byrd Suite first appeared in the 16th Century William Byrd (1542-1623) collection entitled The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. The virginal was a keyboard instrument of the Elizabethan age, a relative of the harpsichord and a precursor to the piano. Byrd, a pupil of Thomas Tallis, was a significant figure in the late Renaissance Period. The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book was largely unknown until the turn of the 20th Century, and prominent composer Gordon Jacob used the occasion of the tercentennial of Byrd’s death to compose the suite in 1923. Jacob’s genius lies in his ability to “re-compose” this 16th Century music, utilizing the coloristic and dynamic capabilities of a modern wind band, yet not obscuring the beauty, clarity, and technical artistry of the original music.

Dr. Fuller Lyon, conductor

* = principal

+ = co-principal

Piccolo

Madison Smith*

Flute

Maddie Stewart
Amanda Stawick
Shelby Wilkerson
Joanna Abbott
Thomas Peplow
Julia Nauman
Rebecca Terc

Oboe

Nathan Ebbs*

Clarinet

Tiffany Black+
Chris Campbell+
Leopold Larsen
Dylan Smith
Evan Norris
Kayla Brien
Hannah McGill
Chloe Levering
Claire DeFriez
Raylee Mitchell
Harley Brown

Bass Clarinet

Jessie Williams
Ploomie Messer

Bassoon

Christopher Williamson*
Andrew van Dalen

Alto Sax

Reed McAmis*
Alan Cook

Tenor Sax

Sarah Vernetti

Bari Sax

Shane Estes

Trumpet

Eli Oliver*
Thomas Hooper
Kara Ussery
Evan Mainous
Jackson Daniels
Ian Krueger
Josh Mathison
Olivia Swensen
MaryEmma Regen

French Horn

Sam Shoemaker*
Emily Baker
Nora Beckett
Melanie Lick
Alex Medearis
Sophie Stinnett

Trombone

Olivia Baker*
Tyler Guthrie
Terrance Jones
Madison Joy
Jacob Ross
Noah Allard
Ian Searcy
Thomas Kenner
David Hernandez (Bass)

Euphonium

Broc Sheehan*
Melissa Brockett

Tuba

Ben Archibald*
Tommy Bond
Hudson Scott

Percussion

Charley Bible*
Lamont Monroe
Chandler DeArmond
Carson Hutson
Noah Foster

Piano

Haiqiao Wang

Dr. Michael Stewart, conductor

* = principal

Piccolo

Iris Fleming

Flute

Kiernan Stuppy *
Aphrael Carrillo
Iris Fleming
Chloe Watson
Julianne Moss
Sarah Cox
Kadijah Tinker

B-flat Clarinet

Julie Bronson*
Abby Shelton
Natalie Rundblade
Evan Laws
Lauren Goldston
Emilee Jerrell
Maria Vite
Savannah Martin
Mckinley Frees

Bass Clarinet

Devin Hopson

Bassoon

Daniel Sippel*
Lena Shoemaker

Oboe

Katherine Means*
Emma Pardo

Alto Saxophone

Jake Ensor*
Matthew Sexton

Tenor Saxophone          

Preston Turner             

Baritone Saxophone

Spencer Cassidy

Trumpet

Autumn Bowling*
Jack Watt
Jayden Robins
Hope Williams
Benjamin Petro
Olivia Watson
Tiffany Braden
Christian Carroll
Matthew Dunevant

Horn

Cole McFarland*
Zac Stanislawski
Sydney Flenniken
Chase Hart
Carson Duckworth
Luke Warren

Trombone

Jaydon Headrick *
Matthew Walker
Ayla Williams
Samuel Thomas
Ethan Erb
Sara Fulkerson

Euphonium

Amelia Helms*
Scotty Hunnicutt

Tuba

Austin Kerr*
Logan Kelly

Percussion

Annika Blackburn*
Burke Rivet
Zac Swafford
Cameron Sluder
Colston Oldham
Shelton Skaggs

March 30, 2023
Wind Ensemble

April 25, 2023
Wind Ensemble and Dobyns-Bennett HS Wind Ensemble

April 27, 2023
Symphonic and Concert Bands

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 School of Music, contact Chris Cox, Director of Development, 865-974-2365 or ccox@utfi.org.

Want to know more about the bands at the University of Tennessee? Please visit utbands.utk.edu.