ASU Wind Bands Present: Upcoming Events Winds Through Time and Space A Doctoral Lecture Recital Jan. 24, 2018 ASU Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra Masterworks witlt tlte Masters Gary W. Hill and Jason Caslor, conductors with H. Robert Reynolds, guest conductor and Martin Schuring, guest artist Melanie Brooks and Shannon Shaker, conductors Feb. 27, 2018 ASU Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra Band Classics Gary W. Hill and Jason Caslor, conductors Feb. 28. 2018 ASU Philharmonia and Concert Band Jason Castor and Fredrick M. Brown, Jr. conductors April 10, 2018 ASU Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra Aquarium Gary W. Hill and Jason Castor, conductors School of Music Herberger Institute for Design & the Arts Arizona State University 2017-2018 Season November 28th, 2017 7:30 p.m. April 23 , 2018 ASU Philharmonia and Concert Band Jason Caslor and Fredrick M. Brown, Jr., conductors Katzin Concert Hall •All events in ASU Gammage unless othenvise specified ••All concerts begin at 7:30pm J&I. 0~~19~·~~;rthe Arts Ci2017 Arizona Board of Regents. All righ ts reserved. 02 17 Arizona State University l Program Notes Machiavelli's Conscience: Machiavelli's Conscience refers to the Italian writer and philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli who is perhaps best known today for having written a political treatise called The Prince in the early 1500s. To quote Wikipedia: "The descriptions within The Prince have the general theme of accepting that the aims of princes-such as glory and survival-can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends." Think: Frank Underwood from House of Cards. This is where the word "Machiavellian" comes from. When a person is described as being Machiavellian, he or she is allegedly "cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics or in advancing one's career." The more I discovered Machiavelli (who wasn't known for always writing this darkly ... he wrote comedies and plays and songs, too), the more I became fascinated by how a person like this could possibly come to some of these morally-outrageous but politically-justified conclusions. At its core, I think the octet imagines the cogs of such a conflicted mind at work as it searches for a way to justify these radical ideas in the name of power and ego. - Michael Markowski Little Tlireepenny Music: Bertoli Brecht, a frequent collaborator and librettist with composer Kurt Weill in the late I 920s, was inspired to create a new opera after attending a wildly popular London revival of John Gay's 1728 The Beggar's Opera - a work famous for its use of popular music.of the day, and an everyday story of two then-famous criminals (hardly the elevated stuff of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas or Handel's Julius Caesar from the same era). Indeed, Weill and Brecht held to a belief that "high" and "low" culture were artificial and based on class distinctions. As he wrote in a 1927 essay, Weill wanted composers of opera to address a wider, less "high brow" audience. A music theater work by the Brecht/Weill team resulted, Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera), celebrating crooks and hoodlums, centering on the characters such as Mackie Messer (Mack the Knife), an unglamorous crook who had dreams of glory; Weill drew on the popular music of the Berlin cabarets of the 1920s (a decidedly American-jazz-inspired music). Music from Die Dreigroschenoper (and the topic of celebrating crooks and gangsters, for that matter) has become part of the fabric of American popular culture; in particular, a sanitized version of the "Ballad of Mack the Knife" captured the imagination of the American record-buying public with popular recordings in the 1950s (and a Grammy Award in 1959; the best-known recording may have been by Bobby Darin, though it has been championed by Weill's widow Lotte Lenya, as well as being recorded by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and more recently, a version truer to the original by Sting). Weill, who immigrated in the late 1930s and wrote music for a number of successful (and unsuccessful) Broadway musicals, became an American citizen in I943. This orchestral suite highlights the important themes and points of the opera (though not in the same order as the original work), including the Cannon Song (a show-stopper in the original production), and Polly's Song, which is actually more exuberant here than in the original. The arrangement, featuring the winds, brass, and percussion, was commissioned by former Philharmonic Musical Director Otto Klemperer and created by Weill in 1929. - Program Notes from the LA Philharmonic by Dave Kopplin Markowski Personnel Flute Erin Delaney• Clarinet Vince Dominguez• Trombone Liam Russell• Bassoon Sarah Rice• Kiefer Strickland Trumpet Aaron Lovelady* Stephen Martin Bass Trombone Collin Logsdon• Weill Personnel Flute Katelyn McClain Samantha Rothschild* Bassoon Gabrielle Hsu• Sarah Rice Percussion Zach Paris Nicolette Zillich Clarinet Vince Dominguez Olivia Moonitz• Trumpet Aaron Lovelady• Stephen Martin Banjo/Guitar Andrew Gonzales Afto Saxophone Grace Chen• Trombone Collin Logsdon• Tenor/Soprano Saxophone Dylan Hong• Tuba Stephen Senseman• Piano Nielson Chen Brass and Percussion Personnel Trumpet Spencer Brand Joshua Coffey• Tommy Fields Julian lralu Trombone Adam Dixon• Paul Lynch Christopher Wengert-Ramos Horn Alex Cueto Ryan Everson Parker Kauffinan Alexis Lovelady• Jonathan Zavala-Molina Tuba Blake Ryall• Percussion Patrick Jacob Joshua Simmons Benjamin Vats• Euphonium Amanda Cariati• •denotes principal player Winds Through Time and Space Performed by musicians of the ASU Wind Orchestra Acknowledgements Music for Princes and Beggars Shannon Shaker, conductor Machiavelli ' s Conscience (2017) .......... ..... .............................. ...... Michael Markowski (b. 1986) Little Threepenny Music (1929) ... ......... .. ... .......... .. ...... . .......... . ......... ... .... Kurt Weill (1900-1950) I. Overture 2. The Moritat of Mack the Knife 3. The Instead-of Song 4. The Ballad of the Easy Life 5. Polly 's Song Sa. Tango-Ballad 6. Cannon Song 7. Threepenny Finale - Intermission - Music for Brass and Percussion Melanie Brooks, conductor Toccata from L' Orfeo (1607) .......... . ......... ..... ....................... . ....... Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643) Funeral March for Rikard Nordraak (1878) .... ............................................ Edvard Grieg (1843 - 1907) A Requiem in Our Time (1953) .... .... .... .. ................ .. ................ Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016) Fanfare for the Common Man ( 1942) .... .......... ........ .. .... ............ .... .... .. .. Aaron Copland ( 1900 - 1990) Melanie and Shannon would like to take a moment to offer our sincerest gratitude to all who have made thi s recital possible, including all of the faculty and staff of the ASU School of Music. Special thanks to our mentors, the wind conducting faculty at ASU: Gary W. Hill , Jason Caslor, and Wayne Bailey, along with the musicians of the ASU Wind Orchestra. It is an honor and a privilege to collaborate with such fine musicians. Finally, we would like to thank our famil y and friends , especially our parents. Without encouragement to be band geeks for the better part of our lives, and pursue our dreams, we would not be here today . ASU Instrumental and Voice Faculty WOODWINDS Elizabeth Buck, Flute Martin Schuring, Oboe Robert Spring, Clarinet Joshua Gardner, Clarinet Albie Micklich, Bassoon Christopher Creviston, Saxophone BRASS John Ericson, Hom David Hickman, Trumpet Bradley Edwards, Trombone Deanna Swoboda, Tuba STRINGS Danwen Jiang, Violin Katherine Mcl in, Violin Jonathan Swartz, Violin Nancy Buck, Viola Thomas Landschoot, Cello Catalin Rotaru, Bass Lynne Aspnes , Harp PERCUSSION Simone Mancuso Dom Moio J.B. Smith Shaun Tilburg VOICE David Britton Amanda DeMaris Carole Fitzpatrick Gordon Hawkins Anne Kopta Stephanie Weiss Andrea Pitman - Wil ASU Wind Bands Present: Upcoming Events Winds Through Time and Space A Doctoral Lecture Recital Jan. 24, 2018 ASU Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra Masterworks witlt tlte Masters Gary W. Hill and Jason Caslor, conductors with H. Robert Reynolds, guest conductor and Martin Schuring, guest artist Melanie Brooks and Shannon Shaker, conductors Feb. 27, 2018 ASU Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra Band Classics Gary W. Hill and Jason Caslor, conductors Feb. 28. 2018 ASU Philharmonia and Concert Band Jason Castor and Fredrick M. Brown, Jr. conductors April 10, 2018 ASU Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra Aquarium Gary W. Hill and Jason Castor, conductors School of Music Herberger Institute for Design & the Arts Arizona State University 2017-2018 Season November 28th, 2017 7:30 p.m. April 23 , 2018 ASU Philharmonia and Concert Band Jason Caslor and Fredrick M. Brown, Jr., conductors Katzin Concert Hall •All events in ASU Gammage unless othenvise specified ••All concerts begin at 7:30pm J&I. 0~~19~·~~;rthe Arts Ci2017 Arizona Board of Regents. All righ ts reserved. 02 17 Arizona State University