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Interlochen, Michigan 24th Program of the 55th Year * FACULTY RECITAL Keith Aleo, percussion Friday, September 30, 2016 7:30pm, Dendrinos Chapel/Recital Hall PROGRAM Temazcal .......................................................................................... Javier Alvarez (b. 1956) Butterfly Effect ................................................................................. John Murphree (b. 1976) A Stillness that Better Suits this Machine .................................................... Casey Cangelosi The Elephant Looks Back ................................................................................. Ben Wahlund Warning: This piece contains strong language and vivid descriptions of war discretion is advised. If anyone is uncomfortable, feel free to leave for the duration of the piece or during the piece. ~ PAUSE ~ Tambourines .................................................................................. Rupert Kettle (1940-2005) Lament for Paper and Pen ................................................................... Brian Nozny (b. 1977) Premiere Performance Gong Tormented ....................................................................................... Eric Moe (b. 1954) * * * PROGRAM NOTES by Keith Aleo Florida Philharmonic Since my high school years at Interlochen Arts Camp and Academy, I have been in love with orchestral percussion playing and it was my goal to play percussion in a symphony orchestra. I spent my college years working toward this goal, practicing all the orchestral percussion instruments and short orchestral excerpts. I was fortunate enough to win a position with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra when I graduated college. I spent the next 20 years living my dream. For about 10 of those years I also enjoyed teaching part time at the University of Miami. However, in 2003, the Florida Philharmonic filed for bankruptcy and I lost my job. Zildjian Only months after the loss, I was fortunate enough to be hired by the Zildjian Company as their Director of Education and Orchestral Activities. The company wanted a musician and teacher in this position and I fit right into what they were looking for. I learned from my Zildjian peers and superiors in the world of marketing and the music business industry. After nearly 10 wonderful years with the Zildjian Company, I felt a calling to do more teaching, to share my experience and knowledge as an orchestral performer and music industry person. Teaching and Performing I once again struck by good fortune and was hired by the Boston Conservatory and the University of Connecticut as a percussion faculty member. I was also able to keep some of my duties at Zildjian as a part time employee. As the summer of 2015 arrived, I had the honor to take over for teacher, John Alfieri, at Interlochen Arts Academy and make the move to Michigan to begin year round teaching at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Looking back, during my time in the Florida Philharmonic and, of course at Zildjian, I developed a reputation as the orchestral “percussion accessory guy” - specializing in the small percussion instruments; tambourine, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, etc. I have always enjoyed these instruments and have found that students lack knowledge or experience on these instruments, as they usually focus on more of the mainstream percussion instruments like snare drum, marimba, etc. I teach the small percussion instruments quite a bit and present classes on these instruments at multiple schools and conventions on behalf of Zildjian. I even went so far as to write a book of exercises, etudes and short duos specifically for the tambourine, triangle, cymbals, and bass drum. I called the book Complimentary Percussion (2012) to emphasize the importance of these instruments and to diminish the use of the term “accessory instruments.” Solo Pieces Soon after I wrote Complimentary Percussion, I started to think further about the solo possibilities of these instruments. Could one of more of these instruments actually be featured in a solo recital? Are there any solo pieces for these instruments? Could they be combined to form an entire recital of complimentary percussion instruments? The thought initially seemed silly. However, as I began my research, to my surprise, I found that there were many outstanding pieces for most of these instruments! I found multiple pieces for tambourines, triangles, and bass drums. As I broadened and deepened my search, I also found a multitude of excellent pieces for other small percussion instruments such as solo glockenspiel, solo maracas, solo gongs, and even a bass drum concerto by Gabriel Prokofiev, Sergei Prokofiev’s grandson! Solo pieces existed for almost every complimentary percussion instrument I knew except, to my astonishment, cymbals. Commissioning In the fall of 2013, I began a commissioning project to increase the number of pieces for solo percussionists, using cymbals as the predominant instrument. There are currently eight composers from the United States, Sweden, and France committed to the project. A collection of six out of the eight works will be released at the Percussive Arts Society’s International Convention in the fall of 2016, published by Bachovich Publishing. The other two pieces will be published independently by the composers. I want to acknowledge the generous support of the University of Connecticut School of Fine Arts Dean’s Grant and the Office of the Vice President for Research in helping to make this project possible. Solo Recital This evening you will hear a solo percussion recital completely comprised of complimentary percussion instruments. This recital is a culmination of a four year project and tonight’s performance will include three of the newly created works for cymbals, one of which will receive their world premiere. * Temazcal Javier Alvarez In the words of the composer: Temazcal was written in 1984 and is scored for solo maraca player and electronic sounds. The word temazcal stems from the Nahuatl (ancient Aztec) word literally meaning “water that burns.” The maraca material is drawn from traditional rhythmic patterns found in most Latin American music. In this music, the maracas are used in a purely accompanimental manner as a part of small instrumental ensembles. The only exception is, perhaps, that of the Venezuelan flatlands, where the role of the maracas surpasses that of mere cadence and accent punctuation to become a more soloistic instrument in its own right. It was from this instance that I imagined a piece where the player would have to master short patterns and combine them with great virtuosity to construct larger and complex rhythmic structures which could then be juxtaposed, superimposed and set against similar passages on tape, thus creating a dense polyrhythmic web. This would eventually disintegrate clearing the way for a traditional accompanimental style of playing in a sound world reminiscent of the maracas’ more usual environment. The sound sources on tape include harp, a folk guitar, and double bass pizzicatti for the tape’s attacks, the transformation of bamboo rods being struck together for the rhythmic passages and rattling sounds created with the maracas themselves for other gestures. The piece is dedicated to Luis Julio Toro who first performed it at the East Mountain Artist Series in London in January 1984. ~ Javier Alvarez Born in Mexico City in 1956, Álvarez studied clarinet and composition with Mario Lavista before moving to the United States in the early 1980s and subsequently to Great Britain, where he attended the Royal College of Music and the City University in London. A number of Alvarez’s works incorporate elements from Latin American dance genres and his works have been performed throughout the world. He was a founding member of Sonic Arts Network and served as the Artistic Director of the Society for the Promotion of New Music in 1993. He now lives in Mérida, in the Yucatan, combining activities as a freelance composer and project animator. Butterfly Effect John Murphree In the words of the composer: Collaborative exchange is the theme of Butterfly Effect. One of my close colleagues at The Boston Conservatory, former percussion faculty member Keith Aleo, asked for a piece featuring the cymbal family. So this work is scored for two, amplified, suspended cymbals, and three bell plates and was completed in the fall of 2014. Keith also works for Zildjian, the world’s oldest manufacturer of cymbals. He invited me to spend time at their factory where he and I picked the specific cymbals that were used at the premier. Keith also introduced me to volume control pedals. I use them here to change the cymbals’ microphone levels. This allows the performer’s hands to make and exchange ideas over the grooves made by the volume pedals at his feet. There are no effects added to the sound of the cymbals, just amplification. Composer, instrument maker, and sound installation artist John Murphree was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1976. He holds a B.M. in Composition from Berklee College and a M.M. in Composition from The Boston Conservatory. During graduate study, John also took welding classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Murphree’s concert works have been performed in Europe and the United States. His installations have been staged at the Mobius Gallery, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and he was commissioned to install a work at the Boston Conservatory in 2012 entitled Doppler Piano. John was a Fellow in the Arts at the St. Botolph Club from 20092012. In 2011 he was selected to collaborate in the Juddertone Choreography Concert. He also led a team that built a xylophone made of ice and aluminum for Boston’s annual “Chisels and Chainsaws” ice sculpture competition. He is on the composition faculty at the Boston Conservatory, where he has taught since 2009. A Stillness that Better Suits this Machine Casey Cangelosi A Stillness that Better Suits this Machine was commissioned by the Grover Pro Percussion Company in 2013 and is written for three triangles, two wood blocks, a desk bell and a Billotti Trinome. The Billotti Trinome, built in the early 1960’s, is one of the most unusual metronomes ever created. It has the ability to produce three different and totally independent rhythms at the same time at a multitude of tempos. The performer’s rhythms interact with the 50 year old vintage metronome and the performer even uses the metronome as a percussion instrument. Casey Cangelosi is a versatile percussionist, composer and educator who has gathered many honors for his work. He is the Director of Percussion at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He has earned degrees in percussion performance from Rice University, The Boston Conservatory and Utah State University. Since 2011, he has been commissioned to write over 20 compositions by many performing institutions, universities, companies, ensembles, and individual soloists. The Elephant Looks Back Ben Wahlund Scored for solo cymbal and spoken voice, The Elephant Looks Back was completed in November 2014 for Keith Aleo. The piece is inspired by a March 2013 article in GQ magazine by Matthew Power entitled “Confessions of a Drone Warrior.” The article is based on conversations with Airman First Class Brandon Bryant, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force Predator Drone Program diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the article, Bryant describes in detail what he saw, did, and his feelings regarding this new and experimental kind of warfare. Bryant was one of the first recruits for the Predator Drone Program. Ben Wahlund is the Director of Percussion at the College of DuPage (Glen Ellyn, Illinois) and music education faculty at North Central College (Naperville, Illinois). Ben also conducts the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Percussion Ensemble and is program director for the Birch Creek Music Center Percussion Session, in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. Wahlund is an international, award-winning music composer, educator, and performer of percussion. His works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, Poland, Japan, Australia, France, Taiwan, China, and most recently, Jordan. Additionally, his compositions have placed twice in the Percussive Arts Society International Composition Contest, first place for the Quey Percussion Duo Annual Composition Contest, first place in the international Methanex "Symphony and Steel Composition Contest" for a concerto for steel pan and orchestra, and second place in the Keystone Composition Contest. Tambourines Rupert Kettle Tambourines is a solo percussion work for three tambourines, played with the performers hands, fingers, feet, and fists. The piece explores a wide variety of sound colors and requires nearly virtuosic tambourine playing. The main rhythmic theme is repeated using a multitude of techniques giving the piece a playful and almost comical character. Rupert Kettle was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1940 and passed away in 2005. He studied both percussion and composition with numerous teachers including John Cage. He taught percussion at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids from 1972-2005, where he founded the Aquinas College Percussion Group in 1979 and served as its director from 1979-2005. He received a D.F.A. honoris causa from Aquinas College in 2000. As a percussionist, he often performed his own works and jazz pieces, as well as music by John Cage, Joseph Celli, Philip Corner, Malcolm Goldstein and Lou Harrison. He served as lead percussionist of the First Army Band on Governors Island in New York, New York from 1960-62. Lament for Paper and Pen Brian Nozny In the words of the composer: Handwriting has always fascinated me. There’s something visceral and quite personal about it. I’ve always felt like I know a person better when I see something they’ve handwritten. Perhaps this comes from my parents, both of whom have beautiful handwriting, or maybe because my penmanship (as my grandmother used to call it) is absolutely awful. The use of handwriting has become somewhat of a lost art in our digital age. If you think about what we actually write by hand now, the list is growing quite short. Even our signature is starting to get replaced with “digital signatures” on documents. While I rarely write anything to another person by hand (because of my previously mentioned penmanship deficiency), receiving a handwritten item from another person is something I always appreciate. When Keith Aleo contacted me about writing a solo piece for only cymbals, a few thoughts came to mind. The first was how individual each cymbal is. Even cymbals that are manufactured to be identical tend to be different, sometimes quite significantly. The second was how rarely we listen to just a cymbal. To let a cymbal sound alone and just enjoy that sound for what it is seldom occurs in music today. These connections of individuality and rarity between handwriting and cymbals were the genesis for Lament for Paper and Pen. Many thanks to Keith Aleo for his dedication and passion to this project, as well as his patience throughout the slow creation and development of my piece. Brian Nozny (b. 1977) leads a diversified career as a percussionist, composer, and educator spanning a wide array of musical styles, including classical, jazz, world, and popular genres. As a composer, his original works and arrangements have been performed at respected academic institutions such as Indiana University, Northwestern University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Notable ensembles that have premiered Nozny’s compositions include the Caixa Trio, the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, and NEXUS. Currently Brian is on the music faculty at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. Gong Tormented Eric Moe In the words of the composer: The title comes from the ending of Yeats’ Byzantium: “That dolphin-torn, that gongtormented sea.” I have been fascinated by gongs for as long as I can remember, and for over twenty years have kept at least one in my studio to whack for inspiration. Gong Tormented was commissioned by the extraordinary Dominic Donato, who is even more obsessed with gongs than I am. It was a pleasure to write this work for him, and it is thus to him that I gratefully dedicate the piece. ~ E.M. Astraddle on the dolphin’s mire and blood, Spirit after spirit! The smithies break the flood, The golden smithies of the emperor! Marbles of the dancing floor Break bitter furies of complexity, Those images that yet Fresh images beget, That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea. ~ W. B. Yeats, Byzantium Eric Moe (b. 1954), composer of what the NY Times has called “music of winning exuberance,” has received numerous grants and awards for his work. A founding member of the San Francisco-based EARPLAY ensemble, he currently co-directs the Music on the Edge new music concert series in Pittsburgh. Moe studied composition at Princeton University (A.B.) and at the University of California at Berkeley (M.A., Ph.D.). He is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Pittsburgh and has held visiting professorships at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania. * * * KEITH ALEO has a multifaceted career as a performer, educator and administrator. Beginning in the fall of 2015 he was appointed the Director of Percussion at Interlochen Center for the Arts, encompassing Interlochen Arts Camp, Percussion Institute, Adult Band Camp and the Academy. He is also an Education and Orchestral Consultant for the Zildjian Company in Norwell, Mass. His playing credits include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and, in 2004, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of the percussion section of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra from 1989-2003, and a member of the percussion faculty at the University of Miami from 1994-2003. His teaching credits also include The Boston Conservatory, The University of Rhode Island and University of Connecticut. Aleo has given master classes and workshops on percussion instruments at numerous universities conventions. Highlights have included the Percussive Arts Society State and International Conventions, Paris France, the Paris Conservatory, the PAS Italian Percussion Festival and multiple Music Educator Conferences. He is published by Bachovich Publishing. * * * In consideration of the performing artists and other patrons, the use of flash photography is not permitted. Federal copyright and licensing rules prohibit the use of video cameras and other recording equipment. In order to provide a safe and healthy school, Interlochen maintains a smoke-free and alcohol-free campus. Michigan law prohibits any weapons, including concealed weapons, on Interlochen property because we are an educational campus. Thank you for your cooperation. www.interlochen.org