Composers Concert May 2012 - Valley City State University
Composers Concert May 2012 - Valley City State University
Composers Concert May 2012 - Valley City State University
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Eleventh Annual VCSU <strong>Composers</strong> Competition and <strong>Concert</strong><br />
7:30 p.m. Froemke Auditorium<br />
7:15 p.m. Pre-concert talk with ASCAP Foundation mentor, J. David Moore<br />
*Hellbent and Crazy<br />
Andrea Swartz, vocals; Tommy Zinke, guitar<br />
Lyle Hager, bass guitar; Beau Brusnvold, drums<br />
Lyrics and music by the composer<br />
Theme and Variations video<br />
Evan Busch, violin I; Hallie Thyr, violin II<br />
Linda Weddle, cello; Salem Stegemiller, Linda Owens, harp; Emily Thyr, piano<br />
The Age of Roaches<br />
Courtney Pederson, Taryn Wallace, flute;<br />
Tommy Zinke, horn; Sarah Rhyan, clarinet;<br />
Jaime Namminga, piano<br />
*I Need You Now video<br />
Nicole Babbitt, voice and piano<br />
Lyrics and music by the composer<br />
Selcouth<br />
Taryn Wallace, flute; Jaime Namminga, piano<br />
Choosing Joy video<br />
Josiah Caswell, voice; Rianna Caswell, piano<br />
Sarah Caswell, flute<br />
Lyrics and music by the composer<br />
*Fear of What’s Real<br />
Daniel Kietzman, vocals, guitar, and electronics<br />
Lyrics and music by the composer<br />
The Hope of a Nation video<br />
Monica Diaz, piano<br />
Rebirth<br />
Micki Buchholz, soprano sax; Bradyn Good, alto sax;<br />
Danae Hoover, tenor sax; Ashely Gierke, baritone sax<br />
Out to Sea video<br />
Betsy Richards, violin; Graham Richards, cello<br />
Seth Richards, piano
*Run audio<br />
electronics and voice<br />
lyrics and music by the composer<br />
Life Has Loveliness to Sell<br />
Kirci Wagner, Taryn Wallace, Katelin Wadeson, Andrea Swartz,<br />
Micki Buchholz, Courtney Pederson, vocals; Sarah Rhyan, piano<br />
Poetry by Sara Teasdale<br />
*Beloved video<br />
Amy Daniel, vocals and guitar<br />
Lyrics and music by the composer<br />
*Pop Category Collegiate Competition; all others are in the Classical Category Collegiate Competition<br />
************************************************************************<br />
While judges deliberate<br />
Reports J. David Moore<br />
Wind Chill<br />
Flood<br />
Dr. Leesa Levy, soprano<br />
Dr. Sara Hagen, piano<br />
If Amy Jo Paukert<br />
Karlie Matejcek, voice; Amy Jo Paukert, piano<br />
The Music Box Dr. Jorge Variego<br />
Micki Buchholz, alto sax; Bradyn Good, alto sax;<br />
Danae Hoover, tenor sax; Ashely Gierke, baritone sax<br />
VCSU Public Service Announcement IT Mini Grant Competition<br />
Entry #1 Online student Entry #2 On campus student<br />
The IT Mini Grants are available each semester to students, faculty,<br />
or departments who wish to offer supplementary technology<br />
activities or to explore and experiment with new technologies prior to<br />
implementation. The grants are awarded through a blind peer review<br />
process. The VCSU Department of Music received a grant to bring<br />
Mr. Allan Molnar, a jazz percussionist and technologist from New<br />
York <strong>City</strong> and the Lehman College to campus via videoconference to<br />
instruct students through the process of developing a public service<br />
announcement for VCSU.<br />
AWARD PRESENTATIONS<br />
Dr. Sara Hagen, Host
J. David Moore (b. 1962) has been in love with a cappella<br />
singing and the romance of word and melody ever since high<br />
school. Since then, he has written over two hundred arrangements<br />
of vocal jazz, spirituals, barbershop quartet, Celtic mouth music,<br />
Civil Rights marching songs, early American hymn tunes,<br />
sixteenth-century madrigals, and folk music in Ukrainian, Gaelic,<br />
Austrian, Brazilian Portuguese, French, and Latin. His own<br />
compositions are shaped by his voracious appetite for music of<br />
every era and style. He has written art song, oratorios, music for<br />
percussion ensemble, string quartet, wind ensemble, baroque orchestra, and tuned wine<br />
glasses. He has written music for worship, dance, and the stage, including the outdoor<br />
spectacle Solstice River, created by choreographer Marilee Hardenbergh. David has<br />
founded and directed two professional a cappella ensembles since graduate school:<br />
Cincinnati-based The Village Waytes and St. Paul's Dare To Breathe, with whom he<br />
performed, recorded, and was awarded the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Artists<br />
in 2001. He has won numerous grants, awards, and residencies from many organizations<br />
such as ASCAP, the Jerome Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and the American<br />
<strong>Composers</strong> Forum. He has been commissioned by many varied organizations. In addition<br />
to his own company, Fresh Ayre Music, David’s music is published through Boosey &<br />
Hawkes, Colla Voce, Earthsongs, Hinshaw, Mark Foster, Music for Percussion.<br />
Transcontinental Music Publications, and Yelton Rhodes Music. He is currently the<br />
Director of Music at Nativity Episcopal Church in Burnsville.<br />
Mr. Moore was commissioned to write a piece for Dr. Leesa Levy<br />
by Drs. Ted and Sara Hagen on her departure from VCSU after 13<br />
years of dedicated teaching and service as Director of Choral Studies.<br />
The piece, “Reports,” includes two short movements based upon<br />
weather and news reports from <strong>Valley</strong> <strong>City</strong>. “Wind Chill” describes<br />
a message over the radio, a rather ominous foretelling of a very cold<br />
day using poetry from Mark Vinz. “Flood” is a humorous look at the<br />
flooding in 2009 as adapted by Moore from an AGWEEK report.<br />
Dr. Jorge Variego is a composer and performer from<br />
Argentina who obtained his master’s degree with double major<br />
in composition and clarinet performance from Carnegie Mellon<br />
<strong>University</strong> where he attended as a Fullbright Fellow. He also<br />
holds the Ph.D. in music composition from the <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Florida and the JD equivalent from the National <strong>University</strong> of<br />
Rosario. He recently released his solo CD “Necessity” under<br />
the Albany records label from New York and it has received<br />
several outstanding reviews. His dissertation piece, “Colors,” was premiered in August<br />
of 2011 by the Symphonic Orchestra of Rosario, Argentina.<br />
Dr. Variego assisted with the mentoring, providing video and audio feedback for their<br />
draft works. He teaches theory, woodwind and composition at VCSU.
PROGRAM NOTES<br />
Hellbent and Crazy<br />
“I really wanted to sing a bluesy-country song and didn’t have the opportunity, so I<br />
decided to write my own. It’s about a girl not relying on a guy anymore.”<br />
Theme and Variations<br />
This composition is built on a 4-measure theme in G major. Throughout the course of the<br />
piece, the theme undergoes extensions, meter change, tonicizations in the dominant key,<br />
the transfer of the theme to the relative minor, and embellishment through the use of<br />
sequence-like patterns, non-chord tones, and arpeggiations of the harmonic progression.<br />
The Age of Roaches<br />
This piece depicts life on the high plains during the Cold War Era.<br />
I Need You Now<br />
“The words to the song came to me as a result of praying for a friend who was going<br />
through a rough time. It considers how we search for answers and we question where<br />
God is when we cannot see past our situation. In the end, hope and comfort are found in<br />
knowing that God has defeated death and He will help us to overcome our situation as<br />
well.”<br />
Selcouth<br />
This instrumental piece was composed from a twelve-tone row, or the technique of<br />
serialism, which is when the 12 notes in an octave scale are played in a particular order<br />
just one time, with no repeats of the tones until all of the others have been performed.<br />
Then the row itself repeats. This type of music may be a bit jarring and unsettling, but<br />
the composer tried to marry the strange bizarre style with some comforts of traditional<br />
music.<br />
Choosing Joy<br />
This original piece for voice, piano, and flute seeks to express the truth that joy is a<br />
choice; if we trust our unchanging God, our attitudes are controllable. Using imagery and<br />
the medium of music, this piece is designed to make important truths palatable and<br />
memorable.<br />
Fear of What’s Real<br />
This piece is about the loss of a loved one and the pain and fear of moving on. The<br />
background electronics were prepared in the software, GarageBand , by the composer.<br />
The Hope of a Nation<br />
The Hope of a Nation was inspired by the saving grace of Christ who truly is the hope of<br />
every nation. It is meant to depict the hardships in life but also to portray the hope that in<br />
the end we can go home and be with our Lord. This song is dedicated to Samuel Cali aka<br />
“Pa”. Though he had many hardships in life, he has arrived at last to the place he hoped<br />
for. He now rests in paradise with Jesus Christ.
Rebirth<br />
We are all born with a song of life: who we are, our gifts and talents all that we are meant<br />
to be. We begin first as playful children but as we grow we may find ourselves<br />
encountering hardships and difficulties that can change what was a simple playful life<br />
into one of somber seriousness. We may spend our lives wandering and then lost,<br />
copying others, trying to get back to our initial song- and one day we discover the source<br />
of that song and we play our melody once again hence "Rebirth." In concurrence with<br />
Bach. S.D.G Soli Deo Gloria<br />
Out to Sea<br />
“This classical cello and violin duet with piano accompaniment is my perception of the<br />
haunting, fleeting, beauty of the great oceans. When a ship leaves port, the sailors leave<br />
family, friends, and the security of the earth beneath their feet. They may be excited to go<br />
on an “adventure” or they may be feeling the pangs of loneliness and longing for loved<br />
ones, while those left behind may be anxious for their safety, and looking forward to the<br />
happy reunion that lies at the end of the voyage. Through this turmoil of feelings and<br />
emotions, one thing is constant and underlies everything else, the ocean. The moving<br />
piano line is the basis and foundation for my “ocean voyage”. The cello and violin must<br />
convey the range of thoughts and emotions that such a story must includeLife is much<br />
like the sea because it is always moving. There are happy times, sad times, and even<br />
meditative moments and yet life continues and moves forward always moving towards<br />
the destination that each of us individually strives for, be it what it may. In other words<br />
each of us is Out to Sea.”<br />
Run<br />
“Run” is the tale of two criminals whose love for one another has pushed them to a dark<br />
and unforgiving world. The song was primarily inspired by David Lynch’s noir drama,<br />
“Wild at Heart.” This electronic piece is a modern edge on progressive rock meant to<br />
showcase a proficient understanding of multiple instruments. All parts were composed,<br />
performed, recorded and mixed by the composer.<br />
Life Has Loveliness to Sell<br />
This song was composed in honor of Dr. Leesa Levy’s last year at VCSU. She has taught<br />
every one of her students to love music and how to share the loveliness of music with the<br />
world. The Sara Teasdale poem became the basis for the whole song, composing music<br />
to best describe what the words were expressing.<br />
Beloved<br />
The composer’s name means “beloved” and God calls His church “beloved” in the Bible,<br />
so this song is to encourage believers to “be love and be loved.”<br />
If<br />
“My piece is based on E.E. Cummings poem “If” written in 1910. I wanted the music to<br />
have a naive feel to match the outward simplicity of the lyrics. However, the meaning<br />
behind those seemingly simple words is much more complex.”