"Stories With and Without Words"
November 20th, 2005
Program Notes
"Hoe Down" from Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
I. one
Written In: 1942
Ballet Premiere: Metropolitan Opera House on October 16, 1942
Symphonic Suite Premiere: Boston Pops Orchestra, 1943
Written in 1942, originally composed
as one of "Four Dance Episodes" for string orchestra, and based in part on the
American folk song "Bonaparte's Retreat".
Scored for: 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons,
4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion, timpani, and strings. [3[1.2.pic] 3[1.2.opt Eh] 3[1.2.opt bcl] 2-4331-tmp+3-pf-str]
Quiet City
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
I. one
Last SEKSO Performance: March 5th, 2000
Written In: 1940
First Performed: Saidenberg Little Symphony, January 28, 1941
Based On: Incidental music from the play by Irwin Shaw
Program notes are posted as they become available.
Scored for: solo English horn, solo trumpet, strings.
Russell L. Jones received a B.A. degree from Duke University ,and M.M.E. and Ph.D degrees
from Indiana University. He taught band, chorus, and general music in the North Carolina public
schools prior to his graduate work. He has been at Pittsburg State University since receiving his
doctorate. His duties at Pittsburg State include teaching Instrumental Music Education, bassoon,
Woodwind Techniques, and some graduate courses. In addition to bassoon, he continues to be
an active performer on clarinet, saxophone, oboe and English horn. He has performed with the
Southeast Kansas Symphony, the Springfield Symphony, the Northeast Arkansas Symphony,
the Fayetteville (N.C) Symphony, the Iola Symphony, the PSU Band, as well as bands and
orchestras at Indiana University and Duke University . He continues to be an active performer
in chamber music, jazz, musical theater, large ensemble, and as a soloist. He recently performed
the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, K.191, with the SEK Symphony.
His teachers have included Leonard Sharrow (NBC Symphony
and Chicago Symphony), Wilfred Roberts (Dallas
Symphony), Roy Houser (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra),
Eric Barr (Dallas Symphony), Earl Bates, Allan Bone, and
Charles Veazy. He has attended summer camps in oboe with
John Mack and Joseph Robinson. He has published articles
in "The Instrumentalist," "The Journal of Research in Music
Education," "The Bulletin of the Council for Research in
Music Education," and "The Midwest Double Reed Society Newsletter.
Russell
Jones faculty page.
Todd J. Hastings is a native of
North Tonawanda, New York and is Associate Professor of Trumpet at Pittsburg State
University. Before coming to Pittsburg, Todd was visiting instructor of trumpet
at Texas A & M University in Kingsville, Texas.
Dr. Hastings is an acclaimed performer and clinician in both the classical
and commercial fields. His credits include performances with the Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, American Ballet Theater,
New Texas Festival Orchestra, Victoria Bach Festival Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Doc Severinson,
Aretha Franklin, Henry Mancini, Joe Williams, Curtis Fuller, Bob Mintzer, Woody Herman
Orchestra, Claudio Roditi, Kenny Wheeler, Charlie Haden, Bernadette Peters, Ben Vereen and has
performed as Lead Trumpet for the Broadway Touring company's production of Chicago.
Todd maintains an active performing schedule. Dr. Hastings is currently second trumpet with the
Fort Smith Symphony, Arkansas. Other recent performances have included the world premiere of
From The Mountain-Top, a new work for two trumpets and organ by composer Persis Parshal Vehar,
a guest solo recital at Berry College, Georgia, and a tour of Michigan's upper peninsula as a member
of the Michigan Chamber Brass.
Todd frequently appears as soloist and principal trumpet with the Victoria Bach Festival and New
Texas Festival Orchestras and has also performed as part of the Strings in the Mountains Festival in
Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Todd was also an award winner at the National Trumpet Competition
at George Mason University.
Dr. Hastings holds degrees from SUNY Buffalo, The University of Kentucky, and The University
of Texas at Austin. His studies have also taken him to the Eastman School of Music and the Aspen
Music Festival, where he was a fellowship recipient for three consecutive years.
Todd can be heard performing as principal trumpet on the Victoria Bach Festival's newest compact
disc recording titled, FIERY NOBILITY, featuring a performance of Dvorak's Symphony no. 7 in
D minor. Dr. Hastings is the featured jazz trumpet soloist on a new compact disc release by A Sure
Thing, which he also co-founded. This jazz group has performed extensively across the mid-west
region. He can also be heard as soloist on Soli Deo Gloria and Singet, (20th Anniversary Recordings
of the Victoria Bach Festival, Counterpoint Records) and 1994 TMEA, with The University of
Texas Wind Ensemble (Mark Records).
Todd, his wife, Stella, and son Aiden, have recently welcomed a second son, Daniel, to their home
in Pittsburg where they enjoy the four-state community along with their Brittany, Chet Baker.
Todd
Hastings faculty page.
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Prelude to
Afternoon of a Faun) for orchestra, L. 86
Claude-Achille Debussy (1862-1918)
Trés Modéré
Last SEKSO Performance: May 7th, 1989
First Performed: Paris, December 1894
Inspired by: a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé
Program notes are posted as they become available.
Scored for: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons,
4 french horns, 2 harps, 2 crotales (antique cymbals), and strings [3 3[1.2.Eh] 2 2-4000-perc-2hp-str]
Air for Strings for string orchestra, 1967
Norman Dello Joio (1913-2008)
I. one
Program notes are posted as they become available.
Scored for: strings.
Calina Ciotlaus was born in
Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She started
the studying violin at the age of seven seven. She worked with
Mariana Persa and Michael Wunderlich. After graduating high
school, she was accepted at Gheorghe Dima Music Acdemy in
Cluj-Napoca, where she studied Music Education and Instrumental
Education. After the completion of her undergraduate degree, she
was appointed as violin teacher at Augustin Bena School of Music
in Cluj-Napoca, where she worked for two years. Currently, she is
completing her Master's in Instrumental Education at Pittsburg State University.
"Va! laisse couler mes larmes" from "Werther"
Jules Emile Frédéric Massenet (1842-1912)
I. one
First Performed: the Hofoper in Vienna. February 16, 1892
Based On: "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe.
Program notes are posted as they become available.
Scored for: 2 flutes, oboe, English horn, 2 clarinets, alto saxaphone, 2 bassoons,
4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion, timpani, and strings. [2222-4222-tmp-str]
Markel Porter began her performing
career while in high school performing Contemporary Christian concerts in churches. After
high school, she studied voice at Coffeyville Community College
under Vaughn Lippoldt and enjoyed being in the Show Choir.
During her sophomore year, she began her career in church music
serving as Minister of Music. Markel continues to serve in that
capacity when the opportunity arises. She is currently directing
the children's choir at Trinity Baptist, Pittsburg. Before returning
to school, Markel taught voice and beginning piano for three years.
Markel's passion is in performing. Since returning to school in 2002, she has had many
opportunities to perform both art songs and operatic material. One of her highlights was
performing the role of Hansel in Hansel and Gretel in 2004. During her undergraduate work,
she studied with Brian Woods and Patrick Howle. Now working on her Masters degree, she is
studying under Jessie Wright Martin.
Markel is married to Steven L.J. Porter and has three sons, Thomas, Steven W., and Caleb
Porter.
Peter and the Wolf: A children's story for Narrator and Orchestra, Op. 67
Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Introduction
The Story Begins
The Bird
The Duck
Dialogue with the Bird
Attack of the Cat
Grandfather
The Wolf
The Duck is Caught
The Wolf Stalks the Bird and the Cat
Peter Prepares to Catch the Wolf
The Bird Diverts the Wolf
Peter Catches the Wolf
The Hunters Arrive
The Procession to the Zoo
Last SEKSO Performance: September 30th, 1990
First Performed: Nezlobin Theater, Moscow. May 2, 1936
Text By: Prokofiev
Russian Title: Petya i volk
Program notes are posted as they become available.
Scored for: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon,
3 horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, 2 percussionists (cymbals, triangle, castanets,
bass drum, snare drum, tambourine), and strings [1111-3110-tmp+2-str]
A native of New Jersey,
Ross received training in composition at Florida
State University and the University of Iowa; his principal teachers were
John Boda and D. Martin Jenni. Thanks to a Fulbright grant, he has
also studied with Philippe Manoury in Lyon, France. His music has been
performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. National Forums, several
university music schools, and in France. His awards include the first
Abraham Frost Prize from the Univeristy of Miami, several ASCAP
awards (including a young composer grant), a summer residency at
Yaddo, and the 2002 Rudolf Nissim Award. After a Line By Theodore
Roethke, a work for soprano and orchestra, was one of three works chosen for the Sixth International
Composer Readings by the Riverside Orchestra of New York City and was performed at the
Mid-American Center for Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University.
Of Ross's piece Passages, Daniel Ginsberg of the Washington Post has said, "a beguiling exploration
of color and melody ... soaring figures nestled in a dreamlike haze of sound."
His music is published by Cimarron Music and by himself. Encore, a work for cello and piano, is
recorded on Innova and After a Line will be released in 2003 on Albany Records. Currently, Ross
teaches aural skills, theory and composition at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas.
John
Ross faculty page.
and...
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