"New Voices"

Saturday, March 4, 2023
2:00 PM 3:30 PM 14:00 15:30

King of Kings 1583 Radio Drive Woodbury, MN, 55125 United States (map)

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Encore Wind Ensemble presents “New Voices”

Encore Wind Ensemble
Jerry Luckhardt, Conductor

Resound - Nicole Piunno
Lasting Light - Viet Cuong
Shimmering Sunshing - Kevin Day
Stillwater - Kelijah Dunton
The Illustrated Fantastical - TJ Cole
I. Kaleidoscope Sky
II. Time Magic
III. Rocket Circus
Heaven at Night - Katahj Copley
Big City Lights - Maria A. Douglas

Resound (2021) - Nicole Piunno
Resound was commissioned to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Rochester (Michigan) Community Concert Band, under the direction of Paul F. DeRubeis. Dr. Piunno views music as a vehicle for seeing and experiencing the realities of like. Her music often reflects the paradoxes in life and how these seemingly opposites are connected as they weave together. Her harmonic language and use of counterpoint mirrors the complexity of our world by acknowledging lightness and darkness, past and present, beauty and brokenness, confinement and freedom, spiritual and physical, and life and death.

Lasting Light (2018) - Viet Cuong
Lasting Light was inspired by a visit the composer took to the Grand Canyon with his family. Mr. Cuong wanted to write a work that would reflect the sunset over the canyon, followed by the lingering sunlight, then the hazy greyish blue light of dusk, and then the light of the stars.

- Program Note from composer comments at premiere performance, 2018

Shimmering Sunshine (2019) - Kevin Day
Shimmering Sunshine is a composition that depicts the sun whenever it is positioned at high noon, at its brightest point during the day. Throughout the piece, there are different “shimmers” of bright light that bounce around from instrument to instrument, depicting moments of sunshine both beautiful and at the same time, powerful.

Stillwater (2019) - Kelijah Dunton
Inspired by the beauty of a small town, Stillwater Minnesota. This town has a big lake in its center, and out of everyone’s backyard it could be seen. During the winter, the very top freezes and creates this tranquil effect that could not be seen, but heard. When stepping out into your backyard, you’d see this frozen mass, stuck into place and completely unmovable, but if you listened closely, you could hear that the water underneath continued to flow. Why is this important? We as people forget sometimes that we are so much more deep and vast beneath our hard surfaces. We work, we go to school, we take care of our families, we deal with the struggles of the day-to-day routine militantly. But if we just take a moment to listen within ourselves; we discover our passions, our longings, and our sense of belongings.

The Illustrated Fantastical (2019) -TJ Cole
The Illustrated Fantastical was loosely inspired by one of my favorite works of literature, The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. The book consists of 18 short science fiction stories that explore a wide range of fantastic imagery and scenarios, including witches, space travel, and moving tattoos. While my piece does not refer to anything directly from the book, the imagery described in these stories did inspire me to create my own little short ‘stories’.

Heaven at Night (2019) - Katahj Copley
One day, I fell upon Sarah William’s poem, The Old Astronomer to His Pupil. Published posthumously in 1868, the poem is regarded as the best the author has written. In the poem, Williams writes:

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night.

These two lines are the inspiration behind my tone poem, Heaven at Night. The piece is centered around the idea of acceptance toward the unknown, the ability to not be in fear of what comes next. I want to share with the world that past the darkness of death, there will be a Heaven waiting for your peaceful arrival.
I would like to dedicate Heaven at Night to Ann Wilson- a soul that has carried me out of many of my own fears.

Big City Lights (2021) - Marie A. Douglas
Big City Lights is a piece for wind band, inspired by the hip-hop subgenre "trap music", which finds its roots in the composer's home town, Atlanta, Georgia. The atonal piece has an electronic accompaniment aspect as well. There are musical elements that are meant to imitate techniques which are commonly utilized during the production of music within the genre. For example, in general the timpani performs what are intended to be "808s," while the tuba is often performing lines that would be reserved for synthesized bass; the combination creates an often utilized distortion technique.

Other production tactics travel through the ensemble as well. Certain aspects of the orchestration are imitating automation, which place sound exclusively in different spots of the ensemble (specifically on the left or right of the conductor) Sudden and gradual ensemble crescendos are dovetailing of melodies imitate low and high pass filters and volume knobs. Additionally, the piece aims to give the performers and audience a peek into a day in the life of an Atlanta resident.

The piece begins with the high-paced "It's Lit!" section which includes fortissimo exclamations occurring throughout the ensemble, demonstrating the hustle and bustle of the famed Atlanta traffic. The traffic sounds perform a trio with the clarinets and marimba, who depict a sense of "hurry and wait" as they endure the Atlanta traffic scene. The "Issa Vibe" section is much slower and intends to depict a night out on the town with friends, enjoying the city lights and the slightly slower paced environment.

For a short period, we return to "It's Lit!", followed by "Chopped and Screwed," which is a halftime recapitulation of the main themes. "Chopped and Screwed" is a famous DJ style which a song is slowed down tremendously. The piece closes out with one final return to the original marking of "It's Lit!" Enjoy a day in the life of an "AtLien" with Big City Lights!

Program note by the composer