HOMEPAGE 1st September

THE REPORT OF MY DEATH IS AN EXAGGERATION

Although there has been but one addition to my website since December 2009, merely an update on the Canford Summer School on May 27^th, I am with Mark Twain in declaring that the “report of my death is an exaggeration.” I have in fact been seduced by orchestra, and until July nearly all my conducting this year was of orchestral music, in Liverpool, Newcastle and the Ukraine. It was so good to escape into Mozart, Schubert, Borodin, Brahms, Sibelius, Elgar and Stravinsky, but wonderful to get back to the wind ensemble, with its great repertoire, clear textures and huge challenges of balance, voicing, phrasing and architecture.

5000 HITS IN AUGUST

Despite the lack of new material on this website, there have been over 5,000 unique hits during the month of August, so colleagues out there must be still interested in my ramblings. Six new files have been uploaded: the first is a brief review of the wind music of six American composers, for whom 2010 is a significant year.  There is a brief article about Percy Grainger, his works for wind orchestra with some recommendations of easier music for school and community bands, an interview with Gunther Schuller from  twenty seven years ago, two articles on suggested core repertoire and a review of the wind music of Brett Abigana.

Have a terrific Autumn or Spring. I hope to see many of you at CBDNA in Seattle or WASBE in Taiwan, more information later as it becomes available.

NEW OR REVISED FILES UPLOADED

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CANFORD 2010 – MIX AND MATCH IN 2011

Details will be posted soon of the course for 2011 – the dates are 7^th – 13^th August 2011 and the course will be staffed by Mark Heron, Russell Cowieson and myself.  I have had one enquiry already from University of Nevada at Las Vegas about the duration. This year Mark Irwin from Australia enrolled on the Orchestral Conductor’s course for weeks 1 and 3 and our course for week 2, while Jeff Snowdon enrolled with us for week 2 and the Orchestra Conductors for week 3, so if you apply early, it might be possible to mix and match.

Mark Heron reckoned that the standard all round this year was the highest ever, and it was certainly the first time that we had a complete section of 4 horns! Luxury! Canford 2010 attracted 25 students, including 2 from the Royal Northern College of Music, 3 from the RAF and 9 from the Royal Marines. We had the usual international mix, one from Australia, Norway, Portugal and USA, two from Oman and Switzerland and seventeen from United Kingdom.  Almost all were professional musicians or students studying conducting at conservatoire level.

Canford comes of age in 2011 with the 21st Wind Orchestra and conducting courses. We hope in particular to put the Wind Orchestra on the same international footing that the conducting courser has achieved in the last few years. Why not encourage your best students and colleagues to enrol on the wind orchestra course, or if you are a former Canfordian 2011 would be a great year to make a return trip.

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CHURCHILL FELLOWSHIPS AVAILABLE TO ANY CATEGORY IN MUSIC

The closing date for applications to travel in 2011 is 5th October.  Applications can be made on line via the website. The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust this year has open categories for topics.  If you or anyone you know has an exciting travel project for which support is needed, browse the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust site or go straight to the arts and crafts link. 

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CELEBRATING GRAINGER 2011   -   17-20 FEBRUARY 2011

KINGS PLACE CONCERT HALLS (17-19 Feb), 90 York Way, London N1 9AG

THE BRITISH LIBRARY (20 Feb), 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB

The maverick Australian, Percy Grainger (1882-1961) was a citizen of the world. A leading piano virtuoso and highly original composer, Grainger broke the snobbish boundaries of classical music, gaining inspiration from folk music of Europe, Asia and the Americas. His music is a celebration of life – from the wildly ecstatic to the heart-breakingly sad.

The three-day event at Kings Place showcases some of his most vivid repertoire. Whether thrilling to the richness of the Royal Artillery Band, the West Point Wind Ensemble, direct from the USA, specially chosen instrumental ensembles from the London Music Colleges, or to Grainger’s terrific choral works, exotic world music percussion settings & multi-pianos, this event will take you on a voyage of discovery you will not forget.

A Seminar at the British Library on Sunday 20 February will mark the exact 50^th anniversary of Grainger’s death. Leading scholars will explore some of the unknown aspects of his adventurous life and work, complementing the projected launch of Boydell & Brewer’s The New Percy Grainger Companion.

THURSDAY 17 FEBRUARY 

6.00pm   BAND BLAST-OFF The West Point Wind Ensemble, Guildhall saxophones & recorders

7.30pm THE HARMONIOUS SONGSMITH Addison Singers, cond. David Wordsworth, Stephen Varcoe, Penelope Thwaites, West Point Wind Ensemble & Special Guest, Yvonne Kenny 

FRIDAY 18 FEBRUARY

6.00pm PERCY GRAINGER AND THE PIANOLA Michael Broadway incl. Grainger himself playing

7.30pm WIND BAND SPECTACULAR The Royal Artillery Band, conductor, Maj. Neil Morgan

SATURDAY 19 FEBRUARY

1.30pm  ROOM-MUSIC GEMS  The Fitzwilliam String Quartet & friends

2.30pm SING GRAINGER Choral workshop for audience and choirs           

4.45pm Experimenting with Grainger The “Electric Eye Tone Tool” & the Theremin

7.30pm EAST MEETS WEST Grainger Elastic Band, cond Roger Montgomery, FitzwilliamQuartet, West Point Ensemble, multi-pianos, Penelope Thwaites, John Lavender, Grainger Singers, dancers.

Contacts

Artistic Director: Penelope Thwaites  thwaites.jackson@googlemail.com  Tel: 0207 794 5090

Percy Grainger Society info@percygrainger.org.uk     Tel: 01296 428609

Kings Place Concert Halls info@kingsplace.co.uk      Box Office: 0207 520 1490

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AUSTRALIA

Queensland Wind Orchestra conducted by Tim Reynish plays Kenneth Hesketh’s Masque at the ABODAQ Band and Orchestra Clinic on YouTube and Brief tuning and warm-up procedures

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GERMANY

The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie presented the world premiere of Music for Winds in Saarbrücken, Germany on December 11, 2009, conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski.

Music for Winds was commissioned by an international consortium of nine orchestras and wind ensembles from four countries: Minnesota Orchestra, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (Japan), Bruckner Orchester Linz (Austria), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Wind Ensemble, New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, University of Southern California Thornton Wind Ensemble, and The Orchestra of Indian Hill (Littleton, MA).

The Minnesota Orchestra presented the United States premiere of Conductor Laureate Stanisław Skrowaczewski’s Music for Winds on February 4, 5, and 6, 2010 in Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis. Music for Winds features the woodwind, brass, and percussion sections (including harp, piano, and celeste) of the Minnesota Orchestra and three saxophones (soprano, alto, and baritone). This wind ensemble instrumentation—rarely heard in Orchestra Hall— highlights the talents of the Minnesota Orchestra’s stellar wind players and percussionists.

Completed this past October, Music for Winds is Maestro Skrowaczewski’s first wind ensemble composition. The four-movement, twenty-minute work displays dazzling virtuosic writing for all instruments, including solo episodes for the saxophone section. Introspective solos by flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and French horn are also featured. A powerful and emotional composition, Music for Winds also is full of wit and charm.

Seeking the Infinite: The Musical Life of Stanisław Skrowaczewski, the comprehensive biography of this eminent conductor/composer, by Dr. Frederick Harris, Jr., will be available Spring 2010. Harris was the initiator and administrator of the Music for Winds commission consortium. 

“The eminent conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski is one of the finest composers now writing. Any encounter with his vibrant, adventurous, gripping music stays in the mind long after.”

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Neues von Bernhard Thomas Klein:  Sinfonie Nr. 1 für Blasorchester am 27. März Stadtkapelle Wangen unter der Leitung von Tobias Zinser.

http://www.stadtkapelle-wangen.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34:programm-fruehjahrskonzert-2010&catid=6:news&Itemid=14

http://achmusik.de/html/allgauer_sagen.html

Komponierwerkstatt

http://achmusik.de/html/komponierwerkstatt.html

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JAPAN 

With a grant from the Iowa Arts Council,  Des Moines Hoover High School Band travelled to Kofu and Tokyo, Japan in March to perform jointly with the bands of Kofu First Senior High School and Yokohama International School. The joint ensemble premiered a work commissioned from world-renowned Japanese composer Jun Nagao. Full details from

Randy Hoepker

Director of Bands

Fine Arts Department Chair

Hoover High School

4800 Aurora Avenue

Des Moines, Iowa 50310

515-242-7312

Randall.hoepker@dmps.k12.ia.us 

LUXEMBOURG

Marco Putz ma.putz@pt.lu writes:

I am very happy to tell you that my Four Earth Songs are now available for wind orchestra at:  www.dehaske.com

then thy words will take wing ..., for wind band, children choir & solo-cello will be published by De Haske before the end of 2010.

On October 16th 2010 the Luxembourg Tuba Consortium will give the premiere of my "five open-end pieces" (for 4 Euphoniums & 4 Tubas)   here in Luxembourg (the piece will be published by De Haske in 1/2011)

Chapters of Life (Tuba Concerto) will be premiered in Cincinnati on March 8th 2011 with the " Cincinnati Chamber Players ", cond. Rodney Winther,   Soloist: Timothey Northcut (Wind Band Version). The concerto has been originally composed for symphonic orchestra & tuba (premiere of this version:  season 2011-2012 with the Dayton Symphonic Orchestra (same soloist).

From the Highlands (an educational grade 3.5 piece in the style of " Four sketches for band ") has been released by De Haske/Hal Leonard (Sheet  + CD   European Panorama).

Marco Pütz

21, rue Michel Rodange

L-8034 STRASSEN

Tel./Fax: ++ 352 - 31.72.94

Web: http://www.marcopuetz.lu

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MEXICO

Performance by Tennessee tech of Leros Osmon’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Cello and 8 Percussion can be found on YouTube

Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
 

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BRITISH MUSIC IN PORTUGAL

Orquestra de Sopros da ESML – Superior School of Music of Lisbon

Conductor Alberto Roque

Dezembro 2009

“Old and New”

Compositores Ingleses

 Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) – English Folk Song Suite 

Edward Gregson (1945) –  Partita

Paul Patterson (1947) – The Mighty Voice **

Adam Gorb (1958) – Metropolis **

** Portuguese premiere

SINGAPORE

Twenty works were submitted in the inaugural Singapore Compose competition. The four adjudicators, David Dzubay, Leonard Tan, Giles Easterbrook and Adam Gorb selected three winning works which were premiered in a concert at Esplanade Concert Hall on 10^th April: 

Chen Zhangyi    Towards Dawn

Bernard Lee Kah Hong    There is no Date Tree on the Maroon Sky

Wang Chenwei    Rhythm of the City

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SWITZERLAND

Christoph Mueller reports that his community band Bläserphilharmonie Zug premiered two songs for soprano and wind band by Carl Ruetti. The songs were originally a set of three, written with brass band accompaniment in 2004 called Danioth-Lieder. Both songs are very unusual for amateur bands, rhythmically very difficult (about grade 5) but well worth doing it and a great addition to the repertoire for soprano and band.  PDFof the scores of the two if you are interested and a recording are available.

In november 2010 he willl premiere a work by Stephan Hodel.percussion-quartett and wind band, about 20 minutes long and a grade 4-5 for the band. Soloists will be Guadrums Percussion Ensemble (www.quadrums.ch), a group based around marimba virtuoso Raphael Christen (www.raphael-christen.ch), who was the soloist in the premiere of the Concerto for Marimba and wind ensemble by Carl Ruetti last year with Blaeserphilharmonie Zug. This marimba concerto I would highly recommend, this is real fun!!!

Christoph Mueller

Rainstrasse 27

CH-6314 Unteraegeri

+41 (0)41 750 84 51

+41 (0)78 933 50 98

chris@chrismusic.ch

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VENEZUELA

I shall be making my first visit to Venezuela in late September to conduct the El Sistema Wind Band in the following programme.

The top Symphony Orchestra of the El Sistema,The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, is of coruse very well known through its performances with Dudamel. Below is some background information on their methods of training, on the Wind Band and the Penitentiary Band! For more information go to the website El Sistema.

EL SISTEMA METHODOLOGY

El Sistema is a tested model of how a music program can both create great musicians and dramatically change the life trajectory of hundreds of thousands of a nation’s neediest kids. El Sistema’s approach to music education emphasizes intensive ensemble participation from the earliest stages, group learning, peer teaching and a commitment to keeping the joy and fun of musical learning and music making ever-present. Sometimes referred to as “passion first/refinement second,” the El Sistema methodology is in marked contrast to much of music education training outside of Latin America. The backbone of El Sistema student training is preparation for participation in orchestral ensembles, which are at the soul of the Núcleo community and culture. Of equal importance is choral singing and various other ensembles, which adapt well to a diversity of musical genres and origins.

The Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Band

The Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Band (SBYSB) was formed in 2005 by the initiative of Jesús Ignacio Pérez Perazzo and Valdemar Rodríguez, who saw the necessity to establish an ensemble make up of El Sistema’s wind instrumentalists. The SBYSB, the only symphony band that is part of El Sistema’s academic program, is composed of musicians from all over Latin America with ages ranging from 12 to 30.

The band made its debut in February, 2006, under the baton of its then music director Jesús Ignacio Pérez Perazzo. Its varied repertoire includes contemporary works written for symphony bands, chamber music, jazz, arrangements of orchestral repertoire, patriotic marches, Venezuelan traditional works, sacred music, film music themes, and Paso Doble.

The SBYSB gives seminars, tours Venezuela and makes recordings on a regular basis. In December 2006, under the sponsorship of Shell Venezuela, the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Band released an album entitled Música del Templo y de la Plaza, so as to promote Venezuelan music in our communities.

The pianist Sadao Muraki, the singers Biella Da Costa and Rafael "El Pollo" Brito, the clarinetist Jorge Montilla, the trumpet player Gaudy Sánchez, and the trombonist Miguel Sánchez have appeared as guest artists with the SBYSB. Besides, the band has welcomed notable guest conductors to its podium: Eduardo Salazar, Sergio Rosales, Carlos Andrés Mejías, the German maestro Thomas Clamor, the Belgian conductor and composer Jan Van der Roost, and the American conductor and clarinetist Jonathan Cohler.

Penitentiary Symphony Orchestras

The System of Penitentiary Symphony Orchestras was established in 2007 for the purpose of reducing violence in jails and preparing inmates for their reintegration into society through the learning, practice, and enjoyment of music. This music education program is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, and carried out by the State Foundation for the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela, and the Ministry of People’s Power for Interior and Justice. Lenin Mora, who coordinates the program, devoted himself to identifying the needs of the penitentiary population of Venezuela. For this lawyer, graduated from the Universidad Santa María, with studies in Humanitarian International Law, and a master’s degree in criminology – and horn player of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela – the key was to find a new way to promote music education.

To form the ensembles, the inmates were interviewed so as to know their temperament, nature, and morphology. Based on this information, they were assigned a musical instrument. Most of them did not have seen an instrument close to. The only requirement was not to have records of assault against penitentiary staff. Three months later, they knew how to play the national anthem and other pieces of moderate difficulty.

UNITED KINGDOM

The RNCM Wind Festival will take place over the weekend of 30th & 31st October. Full event details here. The flagship concert is on Saturday evening with the RNCM Wind Orchestra:

Leading contemporary music label NMC has released a recording of Adam Gorb's wind ensemble music performed by the RNCM Wind Orchestra with Clark Rundell, Mark Heron and myself conducting. You can hear snippets on the NMC website and order from there, on Amazon, or get it from ITunes.

Mark Heron's RNCM programme of conducting courses for non-RNCM students is ideal for music educators looking to develop their skills. The May weekend course includes some wind music, but the scope of repertoire is extremely varied and for colleagues who work mainly with bands this can be an excellent way of dipping your toe into orchestral and operatic waters. More details in the Teaching section of Mark's website, or the RNCM's.

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NIGEL CLARKE, who this year celebrates his fiftieth birthday, writes that his most recent work for wind ensemble is Heritage Suite (What Hope Saw),  commissioned by the Eynsford concert Band, a suite which echoes some of the thousand year history of West Malling, with a title derived from a stuatue of Hope in the centre of the town. The premiere was on October 10^th 2009, and a recording of the work will shortly be available.

WILLIAM ALWYN’s Concerto for Flute and wind octet, published by Lengnick, is now handled in UK by Chester/MusicSales and in the USA by Schirmers. Contact 1 845 469 2271 for details.

KENNETH HESKETH has completed a second set of Danceries, commissioned by the Birmingham Symphonic and their conductor, Keith Allen, and published by Faber

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IN LEAGUE WITH EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN

Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Band by PETER GRAHAM

In League with Extraordinary Gentlemen exists in no less than four versions; the first was scored for Euphonium and Piano, first performed and recorded by Steven Mead, who also gave the world premiere of the wind band version with the  Municipal Symphonic Band, conductor Kazuhiko Komatsu, in The Symphony Hall Osaka, Japan, on June 6, 2008. It was first performed in the brass band version by David Thornton and the Black Dyke Band, conductor Nicholas Childs, at the RNCM Concert Hall Manchester on January 30, 2009.

The version for Saxophone and Wind was commissioned by Tim Watson, who gave the world premiere at St. Mary’s Church, Fratton, accompanied by the Band of Her Majesty’s Marines, Collingwood, conducted by the Principal Director of Music Royal Marines, Lt Col Nick Grace on February 25^th 2010.

There are three movements.

Time Traveller                   HG Wells

The Adventure of the Final Problem       Conan Doyle

The Great Race                 Jules Verne

Peter Graham writes:

Playing the euphonium was something of a family tradition in the Graham household. With my father (Peter) and late grandfather (Thomas) active in their respective local Salvation Army Brass Bands, my uncle Tommy solo euphonium with the mighty Tullis Russell Mills Band and my school brass teacher Robert Sands also an aficionado of the instrument, hardly a day passed when performances and recordings by the “greats’, Clough, Groom, Sullivan et al were being discussed and appraised. And so when one of the greats of today, Steven Mead, asked me to write a concerto, it was with this background in mind that I set to the task. The concerto is dedicated to the aforementioned family members, three “extraordinary gentlemen”, P.G. Graham, T.H.Stewart and T. Stewart.

In League with Extraordinary Gentlemen combines two of composer Peter Graham's life interests - composition and 19th century popular fiction. Each of the concerto’s three movements takes its musical inspiration from extraordinary characters who have transcended the original genre and have subsequently found mass audiences through film, television and comic book adaptations.

The structure of the Time Traveller is fascinating – as Peter Graham says:

The first movement follows a traditional sonata form outline with one slight modification. The order of themes in the recapitulation is reversed, mirroring a plot climax in the H.G. Wells novella The Time Machine (where the protagonist, known only as The Time Traveller, puts his machine into reverse bringing the story back full circle).

The Adventure of the Final Problem is the title of a short story published in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. This is an account of the great detective’s final struggle with his long-time adversary Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. The music takes the form of a slowed down ländler (a Swiss/Austrian folk dance) and various acoustic and electronic echo effects call to mind the alpine landscape. The final bars pose a question paralleling that of Conan Doyle in the story – have we really seen the last of Sherlock Holmes?

The final movement, The Great Race, follows Phileas Fogg on the last stage of his epic journey “Around the World in Eighty Days” (from the novel by Jules Verne). The moto perpetuo nature of the music gives full rein to the soloist’s technical virtuosity. As the work draws to a conclusion, the frantic scramble by Fogg to meet his deadline at the Reform Club in Pall Mall, London, is echoed by the soloist’s increasingly demanding ascending figuration, set against the background of Big Ben clock chimes.

I found myself completely swept along by the narrative of this work. Cast in three movements, the traditional fast – slow – fast, there are passages of sentiment, but these are carefully controlled, often with surprising harmonic twists or unexpected phrase lengths, they never outstay their welcome, and they provide welcome contrast to the bustling quasi-minimalist first movement and the virtuoso flow of the third.

The Time Traveller begins with the steady ostinato pulse of a clock, against which soloist and orchestra compete with tiny motivic phrases, eventually extended until breaking out into a more lyrical, romantic section, with contrasting fast moving mixed metres before a return to a more grandiose version of the slower music. There is quite an extensive cadenza, exploiting some multiphonics and the whole range of the saxophone before a brief coda with a return to the opening ostinato figures which die away to nothing.

The Adventure of the Final Problem introduces echo effects with a tape delay, controlled by the soloist, so that the gentle harmonic phrases are heard as if thrown back from the mountains surrounding the Reichenbach Falls. Before the performance, one of the Student Bandmasters said to me that he knew what I was going to say, “Too sentimental”!  I must confess to loving sentiment and feeling in my music, but getting uncomfortable when it becomes sentimental. A harmonic sequence which is Rakhmaninov is perfectly acceptable, if its period, for me when it appears in a contemporary work of the 21^st or late 20^th century often jars. However, there is a touching simplicity in this movement which works well, and the melodic and harmonic of what is basically a very beautiful ballad, work well, with an end of great poignancy.

Think Flight of the Bumblebee if you want to get an idea of the energy and brilliance of the finale, The Great Race. This is a tour de force, the headlong rush to get back to the Pall Mall only slightly arrested by the return of the slow tune from the first movement, accompanied here by a ceaseless pattern of ostinato figures, giving the work a welcome cohesive structure. There is a final brief cadenza, with a glissando in alt before the final exciting and very brief codetta.

At just over twenty minutes in length, with a number of taxing technical problems for both soloist and band, this work is a wonderful addition to the repertoire, a major saxophone (or euphonium) concerto, fully exploiting the technical possibilities of the instrument within a strong programme and a musical language easily approached by an audience, however unsophisticated.

Band Colour Sergeant Tim Watson gave an authoritative performance, technical problems dismissed with ease, lyrical potential fully realised, splendidly backed by the HMS Collingwood band and Nick Grace. I thoroughly enjoyed the work and its performance, though I am not sure I want to hear it played on Euphonium. There are plenty of good euphonium concertos; saxophone players, claim this for the single reeds!

Peter Graham is Professor of Composition at the University of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. For more information about Peter Graham and his music for Wind or Brass Band, contact:

Gramercy Music (UK)
PO Box 41
Cheadle Hulme
Cheshire SK8 5HF
Tel./Fax: + 44 (0) 161-486 1959

info@gramercymusic.com

www.gramercymusic.com

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USA

BIG TEN JOINT COMMISSION WITH NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC

Premieres 28/29/30 December 2010

AARON JAY KERNIS a Voice, a Messenger for Trumpet Solo and Orchestra WITHOUT STRINGS
No stranger to the New York Philharmonic, Aaron Jay Kernis was tapped for a second commission, this time for a concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (without Strings) for the Philharmonic,  a Voice, a Messenger is a co-commission by the Philharmonic on behalf of principal trumpeter Philip Smith and the Big Ten Band Association—yes, that Big Ten! Each of the universities will have the opportunity to perform the work. “In discussing the parameters of the concerto with the dedicatee,” says Kernis, “Phil, who is a religious man, requested only that I should draw my inspiration from Scriptural passages that refer to music in general and to the trumpet, shofar, cornet, and horn in particular….adding quickly, that I shouldn’t let that impede me!” 

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From the UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, Eric Rombach-Kendall, Vice-President of CBDNA sends details of two highly recommended works

Tour de Force by Jim Self was commissioned by the Pacific Symphony and adapted for wind ensemble.  It has been performed at the University of Southern California, Indiana University Pennsylvania and the University of New Mexico.  For a sound recording contact Jim Self at: jimself@bassethoundmusic.com.  Parts and score can be ordered through Jim or from Shattinger Music.

Bones of Contention by Sam Pilafian was recently premiered at the SW CBDNA Conference, featuring Joe Alessi and Marshall Gilkes on classical and jazz trombone.  Recording and parts and score can be obtained from Sam Pilafian at sp@asu.edu.  You can also view the CBDNA performance on Sam Pilafian`s Facebook Fan Page or the UNM Wind Symphony Facebook Fan Page.

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Pennsylvania Premiere of Judith Lang Zaimont Solar Traveller Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra on May 2 at Slippery Rock University

The Pennsylvania Premiere of Solar Traveller - Concerto for Piano and Wind Orchestra by Judith Lang Zaimont was presented by the SRU Wind Ensemble, Brian Meixner, conductor, on Sunday, May 2 at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.

The composer has written about the new Concerto, “Inspired by the vastness, wonder, and beauty of sky and space, the Solar Traveller concerto is in three movements: Outward Bound, Nocturne (Lunar), and Ad astra per aspera. We encounter music as desolate and unfamiliar as a lunar landscape—largely expansive, as if in ‘stopped’ time. The name of the third movement, Latin for “To the stars through difficulties,” is reflected in cross-rhythms, chromatic clashes, and a prominent role for the percussion section. Across the three movements both soloist and the ensemble experience the long-term compressive forces of space flight in musical terms.”

The SRU Wind Ensemble commissioned the work along with faculty members at the Eastman School of Music, Indiana State University, Louisiana State University, Shepherd University, Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern Mississippi.

More information about Ms. Zaimont, including sound clips of many of her compositions, is available at her website and at her MySpace page.

Inquiries about her music can be directed to Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-586-3433 or jamesarts@att.net.

WALES

The programme this Spring of the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Wales included two world premieres – Footfall by Chris Petrie, former member of the Wind Orchestra and A Beade of Amber by Colin Touchin.

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William D. Revelli Composition Contest

John Mackey Wins the 2009 NBA/William D. Revelli Composition Contest

Composer John Mackey was selected the 2009 winner of the NBA/William D. Revelli Composition Contest in December at the Midwest Clinic. The winning composition is Aurora Awakes.

For more about John Mackey and his music, click here.

About the NBA/Revelli Composition Contest

The NBA Composition Contest has awarded prizes since 1977.   It is the desire of the National Band Association that winning compositions reflect its mission in helping further the cause of quality literature for bands in America.  Additionally, works chosen as winners should be those not only of significant structural, analytical, and technical quality, but also of such nature that will allow bands to program them as part of their standard repertoire.  As a result, a glance through our list of past winners will reveal some very familiar names.

Each year the contest receives approximately 50-70 entries from all over the world.  Entries range in scope and quality from middle school level marches to lengthy and sophisticated symphonies.  The full list is evaluated by a committee of graduate students and band directors and narrowed down to a list of 6-10 finalists that are brought to Chicago each December during the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic.  There, a panel of leading public school, university, and military band directors (see list below) meets to determine a winner.   It is the policy of this committee to announce the winner only.  No runners up are announced.

Sponsors have played an important role throughout the years in this event.  The NBA Composition Contest is extremely fortunate to have a generous supporter in our current sponsor, CONN-SELMER, Inc.

William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest Application for 2010

William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest past winners.

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Merrill Jones Composition Contest Committee
Sponsored by Wingert-Jones and the University of Kansas

 2010 NBA/Merrill James Memorial Young Composers Band Composition Contest

The NBA/ Merrill Jones Memorial Young Composers Band Composition contest was established in 1991 as a memorial to Merrill Jones, co-owner of Wingert-Jones Music Company, by his widow, Priscilla Jones. Mr. Jones always was concerned about helping the young composer. NBA past president Robert (Bob) Foster suggested a young composer contest, which would promote works for young bands. The result was a contest for composers under 40 years of age to be held every other year, now in the odd numbered years, and which would produce works for concert band in the Grade III-IV category. Works must not to exceed 8 minutes in length, must be the original work of the composer, and not under contract to any publisher. Deadline for submission is November 1st in odd numbered years. Wingert-Jones reserves the right of first refusal for publication. The current prize to the winner is $2000.

The contest is held every two years unless no winner is chosen. In this event, the contest is held the following year.

The winner is announced at the NBA General Membership Meeting at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago following a meeting of the contest committee. The contest committed is chaired by NBA member Dennnis Zeisler.

Information may be attained from the wickes@lsu.edu

Past Winners of the Merrill Jones Composition Contest

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