WASBE CONFERENCE, CINCINNATI 4TH TO 11TH JULY
Tim will shortly be off to Cincinnati for the WASBE conference where he will be conducting the RNCM Wind Orchestra and giving various talks and lectures.

 Follow the conference at www.wasbe.com where there will be daily updates of news, opinion, concert reviews and blogs.

HOMEPAGE JUNE 1st 2009
World News of wind ensemble and wind band music
Tim Reynish

WASBE 2009 CONFERENCE – A FEAST OF INTERNATIONAL MUSIC MAKING

“CCM, the natural beauty of Cincinnati and a dedicated group of conference specialists, and you have the makings for what is sure to be a ‘can’t miss’ event!”

Rodney Winther, Host of the 2009 WASBE Conference

BOOK NOW FOR WASBE CONFERENCE

JULY 5 – JULY 11

College-Conservatoire of Music at the University of Cincinnati

For the website browse on CINCINNATI WASBE CONFERENCE

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WASBE INFORMATION

Cornell Composers

                Eric Nathan

                Christopher Stark

New York Philharmonic delay

Jennifer Higdon Percussion Concerto  

Death of Nicholas Maw

New music from Maecenas

News around the world
Canada
Czech Republic
Japan
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Netherlands
Spain
Thailand
United Kingdom
United States

I am just packing up scores and discs after a wonderful four months in one of my favorite cities, Ithaca, High up above Lake Cayuga, the Cornell campus, with its precipitous roads, steep lawns, rocky gorges and plunging waterfalls, must be the most beautiful university setting in the world, and Ithaca with its pubs, restaurants, bookshops, theatres and cinemas is the most attractive university city I know.

Musically, Cornell is a research hothouse for composition and musicology, with very few undergraduates studying performance. The Cornell University Wind Ensemble therefore is made up of biologists, chemists, economists, information scientists, linguisticians, animal scientists, theatre and film students, and engineers of all persuasions, electrical, computer, bio, civil and mechanical.  Yesterday we played marches for an hour while the Class of 2009 processed into the stadium, all 4,500 of them, and I could not help reflecting that hopefully many of the world’s current problems may find a solution when they all get to work.

Given the pressures of studies and research, the Ensemble reached surprising heights of performance in programmes which were challenging, stylistically wide-ranging and varied. Our programme for April 25^th is worth recalling and exploring if you are looking for new repertoire. Much of it we repeated at commencement, along with Vranjanka by Kenneth Hesketh, Illyrian Dances by Guy Woolfenden, Holst Suite no 1 and Marching Song,  Suppé, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, an attractive Symphony of Fables by Julie Giroux and traditional Cornell songs.

CORNELL COMPOSERS

There is little faculty interest in the Wind Ensemble or its repertoire, but I was lucky enough to meet three very talented composers who have worked with enthusiasm in the medium; Norbert Palej, a Polish composer now Professor in Toronto, I have already written about.

I was immediately struck by the voice of Eric Nathan in an all too short work, simply entitled Fanfare, which opened the concert by the Cornell Wind Symphony. Pithy ideas, wittily scored, I hope that this might be the first movement of a suite. I also heard a recording of the first movement of a wonderfully expressive work, Autumn Triptych, written with a Grant for Young and Emerging Wind Band Composers for the Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association (ACCBDA), a consortium of twelve Universities with exclusivity of the work until December 31, 2009. His  Nightscape/Daybreak for solo trumpet and ensemble is also a fine work, and received an honorable mention in the 2006 ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize. Eric is a fine trumpeter with a special enthusiasm for New Orleans jazz, and he virtually brought the house, or rather the tent, down in his opening sermon in Chris Coleman’s evocative A Jazz Funeral at Commencement. Browse on ERIC NATHAN or contact him at eric.t.nathan@gmail.com

Christopher Stark has already been mentioned in my Homepage for December 2008 in a listing of works for electronics and wind ensemble, compiled by Andre Granjo. Augenblich has recently been recorded by the Cornell University Wind Ensemble conducted by Cynthia Johnson-Turner and will be released in the Autumn on a disc entitled Razing the Bar. It is a fascinating mélange of tape, electronics and live music with some really great sonorities and you can hear it on the composer’s website by browsing on CHRISTOPHER STARK and going to the tab marked “listening” or email starkca@gmail.com

So I go back to the UK tomorrow, for rehearsals for WASBE and preparations for Canford. News below of a number of encouraging developments in the wind world, including a wealth of western music played in Japan recently and a programme of new music in the Dvorak Hall, Prague.

WASBE

WASBE Conference concerts and sessions, together with the trade exhibition and especially Shattinger’s, will be as ever a fruitful source of new music. Excitingly, Jim Cochran will carry a complete stock of Maecenas publications, many of which will be reducing in dollar prices in the nex few weeks, and will include  a number of important new publications released by Maecenas and listed below, many of which have recordings available at the new Maecenas Music site. I hope to see many of you in Cincinnati.

Meanwhile, have a great summer or winter.

Tim Reynish

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NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC & BIG 10 WIND WORK POSTPONED

The World Premiere of A Voice, a Messenger by Aaron Jay Kernis, featuring New York Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Philip Smith as soloist, and previously announced for June 4, 6, and 9, 2009, has been postponed until the 2009–10 season to allow the composer and the soloist more time to collaborate on the work. The piece, a Philharmonic co-commission with the Big Ten Band Association, will be replaced by Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto, to be performed by Mr. Smith.

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PRESIDENT’S OWN PREMIERE JENNIFER HIGDON PERCUSSION CONCERTO

Christopher Rose was the soloist in the premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s own transcription of her Percussion Concerto at the Rachel H Schlesinger Concerthall, Northern Virginia Community College, on Sunday 10^th May, conducted by Michael Colborn. The work will be repeated at the WASBE Conference in Cincinnati.

The complete USMB programme, entitled Soloist Spectacular was:

Bizet arr Hunsberger                      Carmen Fantasie

Higdon                                                  Percussion Concerto

Schumann trans Schempf            Konzertstück for four Horns

Gershwin trans Bulla                      Piano Concerto in F

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DEATH OF AMERICAN GAMES COMPOSER

British composer Nicholas Maw, perhaps best known for his opera based on the novel "Sophie's Choice" and for a nearly 100-minute symphony, has died. He was 73. Maw had lived in the Washington area for more than 20 years. He taught music composition at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore from 1998 until last year. In 1991, his American Games (published Faber) was premiered at the BBC Proms by the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra; it later won the 1991 Sudler Award.

Thomas Stone, writing in the liner notes for the recording by Eugene Miraglio Corporon and the Cincinnati Wind, recently remastered on Klavier 11047, says that writing for band “engendered in Maw associations with youth and vigor, city and small-town life, sporting events and other outdoor occasions, and more generally, the uniquely American sense of unlimited space and boundless possibilities." In a review of the work, Edward Greenfield of the Guardian describes it as a “vigorous musical romp, brilliantly written for the instruments.”

Nicholas Maw, in an interview with the Washington Post, said “Music has to do with singing and dancing; no matter what great or sophisticated structure you build up…what I want to do is to sing the great song of our existence on this planet.”

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MAECENAS MUSIC New and Recent Publications

Just Released:

Stephen McNeff

Image in Stone for Mezzo Soprano and Wind Ensemble
Piano Reduction by the composer

Philip Wilby

A Passion for Our Times for Narrator, Mixed Chorus, Youth Choir, BRASS BAND and Organ
Set of parts and score, POA

Emily Howard (recipient - Paul Hamlyn Foundation composers Award 2008)

Deep Soul Diving for Wind Orchestra

Recently released music for Wind Orchestras and Ensembles

Pictures from Zagorje for Symphonic Wind Orchestra - Davor Bobic

Downtown Blues for Trombone and Wind Ensemble - Adam Gorb

Lost Mountain for Concert Band - William Sweeney

The Sound of Welcome for Chamber Winds, Cello and Bass - Bill Connor

Master Humphrey's Clock for Wind Orchestra - Malcolm Binney

Tipperary Rhapsody for Concert Band - Fergal Carroll

Jazz Funeral for Wind Band - Christopher Coleman

Sun Low Over Water for Wind Orchestra - Bill Connor

Natalis Symphony for Winds and Percussion - Martin Ellerby

Prelude for Hampstead Heath for Wind Orchestra - Martin Ellerby

Farewell for Wind Ensemble - Adam Gorb

Werneth Suite for Concert Band –  Terence Greaves

Image in Stone for Mezzo and Wind Ensemble - Stephen McNeff

Festivities Overture for Concert Band - Gareth Wood

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CANADA

There is an interesting interview with Tony Gomes, Music Director of the Toronto Wind Orchestra on the Naxos site, as he talks about their new CD Northern Winds. Besides the ensemble, this recording features Wallace Halladay, solo saxophone, and Simon Docking. The featured music includes works by Louis Applebaum, Michael Colgrass, Harry Freedman, Henry Kucharzyk, Gary Kulesha and Olivier Messiaen. To hear the podcast browse on NORTHERN WINDS or go to Naxos Library and cue in Northern Winds

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CZECH REPUBLIC

Prague Premieres 2009 21^ST May - a review of European contemporary works 2003 - 2008

Dvorak Hall, 21^st March

www.prazskepremiery.cz

J. KINSELLA: Prelude and Toccata for Wind Ensemble - czech premiere
I. BLÁHA: Aeroterapie - world premiere
Z. LUKÁŠ: Malá humoreska pro klarinet, fagot a dechový orchestr - world premiere
J. DUDDELL: The Redwood Tree for symphonic wind band
J. DOVE: Across the Walls for brass and percussion - czech premiere
J. NEČASOVÁ NARDELLI: Spirit of the Lake Michigan for wind symphony orchestra - world premiere
B. VAN BEURDEN: Concerto for baritone saxophone and wind orchestra - czech premiere
K. HUSA: Cheetah for Concert Band - evropská premiéra

Prague Castle Guard and Czech Police Symphonic Band

Daniel Blažek, clarinet; Jaroslav Ježek, bassoon; Kateřina Stupková, baritone saxophone

Václav Blahunek; conductor

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JAPAN WIND ENSEMBLE CONDUCTORS CONFERENCE

Held from 13^th to 15^th March, the following works were featured:

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LUXEMBOURG

Marco Pütz announces the premiere of his “Four Earth Songs” for Soprano and Band, to be performed by the Frysk Fanfare Orkest    on 7th July in Cincinnati (Afternoon Concert at 3:30 pm).

Marco Pütz

21, rue Michel Rodange

L-8034 STRASSEN

Tel./Fax: ++ 352 - 31.72.94

Web: http://www.marcopuetz.lu

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MALAYSIA

Contact mychidao@gmail.com for information about Malaysian composer Yii Kah Hoe’s charming tale How the crocodile got his Teeth for narrator and wind ensemble

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NETHERLANDS WIND ENSEMBLE AT BBC PROMS

The Netherlands Wind Ensemble, 50 this year, marks the 70th birthday of radical Dutch Minimalist Louis Andriessen and the 50th of his leading British pupil Steve Martland with performances of Andriessen's classic polemic De staat and Martland's jazz-rock 'dance fantasia' Beat the Retreat, commissioned by the BBC for its 1995 Purcell tercentenary celebrations.

Another former pupil of Andriessen, Cornelis de Bondt creates an idiosyncratic death ritual in Doors Closed out of a fusion between the funeral march from Beethoven's 'Eroica' and Dido's Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

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SPAIN

News from Luis Serrano Alanarcon that the final of the International Composition Contest "Ciutat de Bétera" was held on April 18. Francisco Tamarit (composer), Frank De Vuyst (Conductor and WASBE member) and Jan van der Roost were the jury members with the following awards:

1st Prize  (10000 €):  Cur? by Jukka-Pekka Letho

2nd Prize  (4000 €): Not Award

3rd Prize    (2000 €): Variations on a English Folk Tune by Fabian Schmidt

Audience Prize (1000 €): Variations on a English Folk Tune by Fabian Schmidt

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THAILAND PREMIERE FOR CANADIAN COMPOSER

Robert Lemay’s saxophone concerto, Ramallah, is to be featured at the is 15th World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, Thailand. Ramallah, scored for alto saxophone and wind orchestra will be performed at a gala concert by Canadian saxophonist Jean-François Guay and the Mahidol Wind Symphony of Bangkok. The work won the first prize from the 2004 Harelbeke Muziekstad Wind Ensemble Competition in Belgium.

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UNITED KINGDOM

Saturday 12 July, Cheltenham festival world premiere of Philip Grange’s Cloud Atlas, National Youth Wind Ensemble conductor Philip Scott, 4.30pm Pitville Pump Room

The premiere of Trumpet Concerto by Peter Meechan entitled Apophenia was given on 15^th April at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond Virginia, soloist Rex Richardson, conducted by Terry Austin

CRAZY DIAMONDS SHINING

Originally scored for soprano saxophone and large orchestra, this concerto has been rescored with wind band accompaniment and is available from G&M Brand

This was given its premiere in Eindhoven, Holland, by Johan van der Linden (Soprano Saxophone) accompanied by Harmonie Orkest Auletes who were conducted by Jos Schroevers. The concert was recorded, and clips are available on youtube.com. Click here for the 2nd movement and here for the 3rd.

 PETER MEECHAN

w: www.petermeechanmusic.co.uk
w: www.petemeechan.com
e: petermeechanmusic@googlemail.com
 

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UNITED STATES

JONATHAN NEWMAN NEW WORK FOR WASBE

The premiere of Jonthan Newman’s Symphony No 1, My Hands are a City, was given on 27^th May by the James Logan High School Wind Symphony , conductor Ramiro Barrera, at Chabot College, Hayward, California. This will be repeated at the WASBE Conference on 5^th July.

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WASBE INFORMATION

 CINCINNATI WASBE CONFERENCE

INDEX

CONCERTS

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

REPERTOIRE SESSIONS

CLINICS

WASBE CONCERTS INDEX

Sunday

CONCERT 1 

Jams Logan High School Wind Symphony, California,

Lockport High School Wind Ensemble, Illinois

Grantham, Giroux, Mackey, Boysen, Daugherty, Newman and Oliver.

CONCERT 2

New Sousa Band, Conducted by Keith Brion

Monday

CONCERT 3

Symphonic Band of Centre Artistica Musical de Bettera (Spain)

Conductor Luis Serrano Alarcón

 Suner-Oriola, Alarcón, Lloret, Banos and Rodrigo.

CONCERT 4

Brazil Wind Orchestra (Brazil)

Conductor Dario Sotelo

Clarinet  Soloist Linda Merrick

Beltrami, Villani-Cortés, Silva, Mehmari, Nogueira

Tueday

CONCERT 5

Frysk Fanfare Orkest (Netherlands)

Comitas, Pütz and van Beurden

CONCERT 6

CCM Chamber Players and friends

Conductor Rodney Winther

WEDNESDAY

CONCERT 7

Westlake High School Wind Ensemble (Texas)

Ticheli, Pann, Gould, Maslanka

CONCERT 8

Royal Northern College of Music (UK)

Conductors Clark Rundell, Mark Heron, Timothy Reynish

Vaughan Williams, Oliva, Gregson, Carpenter, Horne, Gorb

Thursday

CONCERT 9

Keystone Wind Ensemble

Conductor Jack Stamp

Programme will include works by Gillingham and Danielpour

CONCERT 10

North Texas Wind Symphony

Conductor Eugene Miraglio Corporon

Gorb, Colgrass, Yurko, Fletcher and Bryant.

Friday

CONCRT 11

Chinese Youth Corps Wind Orchestra (Taiwan)

Conductor Yeh Shu Han

Music from France, Russia, Japan and China.

CONCERT 12

Philharmonic Winds of Osaka

Conductor Yoshihiro Kimura

Guest Conductors Mark Camphouse, David Gillingham, Glenn Price, Dennis Johnson

Naniwa, Ito,Ohguri, Camphouse, Gillingham

Saturday

CONCERT 13

International Youth Wind Orchestra

Conductors Frank Battisti, H Robert Reynolds and Donald Hunsberger

Suite no 1 in Eb                 Holst

Suite no 2 in  F                   Holst

Symphony in Bb                               Hindemith

Lincolnshire Posy             Grainger

CONCERTS 14 & 15

United States Marine Band, The President’s Own

Conductor Michael Colborn

Higdon, Gershwin, Husa

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WASBE REPERTOIRE SESSIONS

PRESENTED BY JIM COCHRAN

JULY 6 - The Brazilian Wind Orchestra, conducted by Dario Sotelo will begin the week. Their session on Monday will showcase music from Latin America and include the following:

Andre Mehemari - Human Figures of Goya - Brazil

Renato Goulart - Arabesc of the Angels - Brazil

João Victo Bota - Catira Batida - Brazil

Vicente Moncho - El Don Del Aguila - Argentina

Luis Nani - Escena de Un Sueño Encantado - Argentina

Victoriano Valencia - Suite Colombiana no.2 - Colombia

Pedro Sarmiento - Memento - Colombia

Lucidio Quintero Simaco - Abertura "Sorte" - Venezuela

JULY 7 -Tuesday's session will feature wind chamber works performed by the Brazilian Wind Orchestra and the Cincinnati Conservatory Chamber Players. This session will include works by Dutch composer Paul Gilson, American composer Murray Gross and several exciting Brazilian works.

JULY 8 The Wind Orchestra from England 's Royal Northern College of Music, conducted by Clark Rundell will be featured on Wednesday.  A new work by Ken Hesketh, The Gilded Theatre will be performed. Ken states that this work can be seen as a continuation of dramatic forms as presented in a previous piece of mine, namely Diaghilev Dances. However, in The Gilded Theatre, the music is conceived in one continuous span and stretches of music are also subtitled and refer to stock characters or scenarios redolent of the commedia dell'arte or 17th century French theatre. Other works on this session include Kerala Reverie by Duncan Ward, Deep Soul Diving by Emily Howard, Cogee Funk by Gavin Higgins and Wasteland Wind Music by Stephen McNeff.

JULY 9 - Thursday will feature the Keystone Wind Ensemble and their conductor Jack Stamp. Works will include Dana Wilson's Odysseus and the Sirens, a recent work commissioned by the American Composers Forum and published in the Bandquest series. St. Louis composer Kim Portnoy will make his international debut with Sasha Takes a Train, a jazz influenced work which will be one of the featured works in Carl Fischer's new Wind Band Select Series. Marco Putz will be represented by one of his easier works Four Sketches. The contemplative Hold This Boy and Listen by Carter Pann and the fiery Las Campanas by Connecticut composer Stephen Gryc, round out this session.

JULY 10 - The OSAKA Philharmonic Winds from Japan with their conductor Yoshihiro Kimura will be the featured ensemble on Friday.  A new edition of Hymn Jubilar by the Romanian composer Enescu will have it's U.S. premier. Pansoric Rhapsody by Chang Su Koh, China West Suite by Chen Yi, Sinfonietta by Axel Ruoff, a new work by Oliver Waespi, and a work entitled Fantasma Lunare by Yo Goto which was inspired by Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata will conclude an extraordinary week of music from across the globe.

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WASBE GUEST CLINICIANS & CLINICS

(subject to change)

The Cincinnati Conference will feature clinic sessions by 31 noted authorities covering all aspects of conducting, rehearsal techniques, score study, musical interpretation, composition, technology, specific composers and their music, music education, and wind band repertoire from around the world.

Frank Battisti – H. Robert Reynolds – Donald Hunsberger
International Youth Wind Orchestra; State of Our Art (forum);
Three Icons – Reflections and Perspectives

Paul Bauer
The Use of the Internet 2 to Connect the World of Wind Band Music

Jeffrey Boeckman
A Counterpoint of Characters: The Music of Michael Colgrass

Keith Brion
The Art of the American March

Stephen Budiansky
Band Repertoire – From Artistic to Incendiary

James Cochran

Daily Repertoire Sessions featuring music from around the world

Eugene Migliaro Corporon – Jack Stamp
Twenty Years of Recordings

Martin Ellerby

Composer Forum: The Music of Our Time

Tim Foley
The Artistic Merit of Band Repertoire

Mark Fonder – Yo Goto – Mark Heron
The Developing Band: Responsible Repertoire Choices

Gustavo Fontana - Juan Guillermo Ramirez - Dario Sotelo

The Wind Music of Latin America and the Growth of the Band Movement

Andre Granjo
The Wind Band Movement in Democratic Portugal

Gary Hill – Clark Rundell
Effective Rehearsal Strategies

Keith Kinder - Fraser Linklater -  Tim Maloney
Wind Band Music of Canada

Peter Ettrup Larsen
Conducting Clinic

 Andrew Mast
Graceful Grit and Gritty Grace: A Perspective of Vincent Persichetti’s
Works for Wind Band from the Composer’s Perspective

Martin Seggelke
Historic and Current Developments of Wind Music in Germany

Jim Setapen
Score Study and Interpretation; Conducting Clinic

Paul Struck
Military Orchestras at the End of the Soviet Époque

Charles Taylor
The Wind Ensemble Music of Giacinto Scelsi and the influence of Western and Non-Western Traditions

Margaret Underwood
Robert Kurka’s ‘The Good Soldier Schweik Suite’: a performance edition

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