Vices & Virtues: UMD Wind Ensemble

Description
Notes

Join us in person at The Clarice or watch the livestream from the comfort of your home.

The UMD Wind Ensemble presents its final concert of the season featuring a special consortium commission titled Planet B by Ukrainian-born and Australian-based composer Catherine Likhuta. Paired alongside Morton Gould's Elegy, these two pieces are meant to inspire contemplation of the climate crisis, challenges to democracy around the world—especially in Ukraine—as well as to commemorate the lives lost in the war in Ukraine and to COVID-19.

Please note that this performance will include photos of the Holocaust.

Program:
Sir Malcolm Arnold: HRH The Duke of Cambridge March
Catherine Likhuta: Planet B
Morton Gould: Elegy
Lindsay Bronnenkant: Tarot
Omar Thomas: Caribana

About the UMD Wind Ensemble (UMWE):

Under the direction of Andrea Brown, UMWE performs works from the most respected repertoire written for wind band and chamber ensembles with a focus on highlighting composers from underrepresented populations.

Concessions:
The Clarice lobby concession bar Encore will not be open for food and beverage sales during this event.

Health + Safety

Patrons attending University of Maryland arts events are no longer required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test. We continue to encourage audiences to wear a mask and stay current with vaccinations and boosters. Please see our Health & Safety information page for information about what to expect during your visit.

PROGRAM MENU: PROGRAM • PROGRAM NOTES • ABOUT THE ARTISTS

PROGRAM

HRH The Duke of Cambridge March

Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921–2006)

Brad Jopek, Graduate Conductor

“Elegy” from The Holocaust Suite

Morton Gould (1913–1996)

Planet B

Catherine Likhuta (b.1981)

Christine Higley, Graduate Conductor

Tarot

Lindsay Bronnenkant (b. 1988)

The Fool
The King of Cups
The Tower

Caribana

Omar Thomas (b. 1984)

PROGRAM NOTES

H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge March

MALCOLM ARNOLD

Born October 21, 1921 Northampton, Northamptonshire, England

Died September 23, 2006 Norwich

Sir Malcolm Arnold was a British composer and trumpeter. Malcolm Arnold was born to a family of shoemakers. As a rebellious teenager, he was attracted to the creative freedom of jaxx. After seeing Louis Armstrong play in Bournemouth, he took up the trumpet at the age of twelve. Five years later, he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied composition and trumpet. In 1941, he joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as second trumpet and became principal trumpet in 1943.

In 1944, he volunteered for military service, but after he found out the army wanted to put him in a military band, he shot himself in the foot to get back to civilian life. After a season as principal trumpet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he returned to the London Philharmonic in 1946 where he remained until 1948 to become a full-time composer.

Malcolm Arnold began his career playing trumpet professionally, but by age thirty his life was devoted to composition. His natural melodic gift earned him a reputation as a composer of light music in works such as his sets of Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish, and Cornish Dances. Arnold was a relatively conservative composer of tonal works, but a prolific and popular one.

He was knighted in 1993 for his service to music. He was knighted in 1993 for his service to music. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Exeter (1969), University of Durham (1982), University of Leicester (1984), Miami University of Ohio (1989), University of Winchester (1983), and the University of Northampton (2006).

The Duke of Cambridge was composed in 1957 for the centennial of the Royal Military Music School at Kneller Hall. At the time, The Duke of Cambridge was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. The dedication of the march reads, “To Lt. Col. David McBain,” who was bandmaster there.

-Program Note adapted from windrep.org

Planet B

CATHERINE LIKHUTA

Born May 28, 1981 Kyiv, Ukraine

Catherine Likhuta is an Australian-based composer, pianist and recording artist. Her music exhibits high emotional charge, programmatic nature and rhythmic complexity. Catherine’s pieces have been played extensively around the world, including highly prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Glyndebourne Opera House, five International Horn Symposiums and two World Saxophone Congresses, as well as many festivals and conferences. Her works have enjoyed performance by prominent symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists. Catherine has held residencies at North Carolina New Music Initiative, University of Missouri Kansas City, University of Georgia and other institutions. She is a two-time winner of the International Horn Society Composition Contest and a recipient of several awards, including two grants from the Australia Council for the Arts. Her music can be heard on Albany, Cala, Equilibrium and Summit Records.

Catherine holds a Bachelor’s degree in jazz piano from Kyiv Gliere Music College, a five year post-graduate degree in composition from the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv Conservatory) and a PhD in composition from the University of Queensland. She is an active performer, often playing her own works. She was the soloist on the premiere and the CD recording of Out Loud, her piano concerto commissioned by the Cornell University Wind Ensemble, and the pianist on Adam Unsworth’s CD Snapshots.

Biography adapted from catherinelikhuta.com

The composer writes:

Children are one third of our population and all of our future

–Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health 1981

It is no secret to anyone that our planet is suffering, least of all to the children of today. I heard the following sentiment: “Take care of your planet. There is no planet B.” And I thought: what if there were an ideal planet without violence, racism, greed, ecological emergencies and global pandemics? A music journey towards such a planet could give us all some optimism for the future. I believe that in 2021 we need it more than ever.

The piece opens with the static stacked perfect fifths, representing the vastness and the mysterious power of Space. Then, we zoom in on Earth, singling it out from the entire galaxy. The Earth is crying. It is hurt. It is letting out deep sighs, as if a wounded majestic animal.

The next section of the piece, characterised by rising tension, is the musical version of “enough is enough!”. It represents the protests, the high-school kids carrying huge posters, the outcries of the young generation. They are brave, bold, and they demand change and action. They came to protest and brought their message across loud and clear. Think about Greta Thunberg screaming: “...we will NEVER forgive you!!!” with tears running down her cheeks. The Earth is shouting with them, and the Earth is grieving with them.

The final section opens with the musical imitation of the sky clearing after a storm, sun coming out, and nature starting to awaken. This section is about positivity, hope, and healing. In the final chords, we are zooming out and back into Space, seeing the Earth get smaller and smaller. The Earth is smiling. It looks greener. It feels healed.

“Elegy” from The Holocaust Suite

MORTON GOULD

Born December 10, 1913 Richmond Hill

Died February 26, 1996 Orlando

Mourton Gould was an American pianist, composer, conductor, and arranger. Gould was recognized early as a child prodigy was abilities in improvisation and composition. His first composition was published at age six. Gould studied at the Institute of Musical Art, although his most important teachers were Abby Whiteside and Vincent Jones.

During the Depression, Gould, while a teenager, worked in New York City playing piano in movie theaters, as well as with vaudeville acts. When Radio City Music Hall opened, Gould was hired as the staff pianist. By 1935, he was conducting and arranging orchestral programs for New York’s WOR radio station, where he reached a national audience via the Mutual Broadcasting System, combining popular programming with classical music.

As a conductor, Gould led all of the major American orchestras and those of Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, and Australia. With his orchestra, he recorded music of many classical standards, including Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on which he also played the piano. He won a Grammy Award in 1966 for his recording of Charles Ives’ First Symphony, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1983, Gould received the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Gold Baton Award. In 1986, he was president of ASCAP, a position he held until 1994. In 1986, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

In 1995, Gould was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Stringmusic, a composition commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra in recognition of the final season of director Mtislav Rostropovich. In 2005, he was honored with the Grammy LIfetime Achievement Award.

-Bio adapted from windrep.org

The Holocaust refers to the campaign waged by the Nazis in their attempt to annihilate all Jews before and during Wold War II. Over six million Jews, including 1.5 million children, were put to death in what has since been described as one of the most cataclysmic events ever to befall the human race.

The Holocaust Suite is adapted from Gould’s score from the 1978 television series, The Holocaust, which was arranged for band in 1980. The piece consists of six movements: Main Theme; Kristallnacht (the night when organzied bands of Nazis rampaged through the streets breaking windows of Jewish stores and homes); Berta and Joseph (refers to Berta Weiss, an accomplished pianist, playing a piece which expresses the love she had for her husband, Joseph); In Memoriam Babi Yar (a reference to the more than 100,000 victims executed in the Ukrainian city of Babi Yar); Liberation (depicts a scene where someone who has been freed joins some young people playing soccer); and Elegy (an addition to the original score portraying Gould’s own perception of the Holocaust).

-Program Notes adapted from Program Notes for Band

Tarot

LINDSAY BRONNENKANT

Born 1988

Lindsay Bronnenkant is an American composer, conductor, and student. Ms. Bronnenkant is currently a student at the Eastman School of Music, pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in wind conducting. She received her master’s degree in wind conducting from the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Michael Haithcock. Her talents as a conductor have earned her several honors, including an invitation to conduct the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” at their 2017 Conductors Showcase.

Ms. Bronnenkant is director of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Community Wind Ensemble. Before her graduate studies, Bronnenkant served as director of bands at the Aquinas Institute of Rochester Pep Band, and interim conductor of the Brighton Symphony Orchestra. She is an alumna of the Nazareth College of Rochester (B.M. music education), where she studied conducting privately with Jared Chase and Nancy Strelau. She additionally holds a degree in science from the University of Rochester (B.S. brain and cognitive sciences).

Bio from windrep.org

The composer writes:

Gustav Holst was incredibly interested in Indian culture, going so far as to teach himself Sanskrit. Some evidence suggests that he tried to incorporate Indian rāgas into his works, and after investigating Holst’s resources and analyzing his Planets, I believe that Holst tried to reference rāgas that evoked similar characters to those of the planets in his suite. Holst’s access to authentic performance of Indian music was limited, however, and like many composers–especially as a British composer entrenched in modal composition during the English folk song revival of the early twentieth century–he took what he understood of rāgas and filled in the gaps with Western theoretical knowledge, resulting in the treatment of what were once rāgas as scales or modes.

I decided to compose a suite that traces Holst’s footsteps but applies his musical experimentation to a new topic: Tarot. Like astrology, Tarot cards have been used for divination, and as each planet in modern astrology represents specific characteristics and personality traits, so too does each Tarot card. Some elements of the Hindustani thāts, Karnātak mēlakarta rāgas, and pitch sets Holst references in his Planets are referenced in Tarot using a similarly Western approach to portray Tarot card analogs.

In Tarot, the Fool represents someone who dives head-first through open doors with enthusiasm (and sometimes with a blissful ignorance of any looming danger). The card represents new beginnings, playfulness, naïveté, and optimism. The first movement, The Fool contains several intentionally comedic moments as the Fool, unaware of the luck manifesting from his will, manages to skip through a minefield unharmed. The movement references the pitches of the Kalyān that are found in Jupiter, a benefic planet of good fortune, to represent the Fool’s beginner’s luck. The movement also uses the whole-tone scale hinted at in some of Holst’s themes for Uranus, a chaotic and unpredictable planet, to depict the unintentional mayhem that inevitable follows each of the Fool’s steps.

In Tarot, the suit of cups corresponds with emotional energy and the element of water. A deeply empathetic soul, the King of Cups tempers his emotions by balancing his heart with his head. The King leads diplomatically through compassion. The second movement, The King of Cups, references the pitches of mēlakarta rāga Dhavalāmbari from Neptune as a nod to a fellow intuitive and ruler of the sea, and additionally employs the pitches of the Bhairavī that are found in Venus to allude to the King’s kind and gentle countenance.

The Tower represents surprise, upheaval, and destruction. It represents the collapse of the structure, the crumbling of façades based on faulty foundations. The final movement references Mars, the Bringer of War with two similar pitch sets: the one Holst uses in Mars, as well as a theme that Holst may have meant to draw from, Bhairav.

Caribana

OMAR THOMAS

Born 1984 Brooklyn, New York

Omar Thomas is an American composer, arranger, and educator. Born to Guyanese parents, Omar moved to Boston in 2006 to pursue a Master of Music degree in jazz composition at the New England Conservatory of Music. He is the protégé of Ken Schaphorst and Frank Carlberg, and has studied under Maria Schneider.

Omar’s music has been performed in concert halls across the country. He has been commissioned to create works in both jazz and classical styles. His work has been performed by such diverse groups as the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, the San Francisco and Bostn Gay Men’s Choruses, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

He conducts the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble, a group first assembled for Omar’s graduate composition recital at the New England Conservatory of Music in the spring of 2008. He was awarded the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award in 2008 and was invited by the ASCAP Association to perform his music in their highly exclusive JaZzCap Showcase, held in New York City.

Mr. Thomas accepted a position in the composition area at the University of Texas in Austin in the fall of 2020. Previously, he was a member of both the Harmony and Music Education departments at Berklee, where he taught all four levels of harmony offered, addition to taking charge of the “Introduction to Music Education” course. Omar was an active member of the Berklee community, serving on the Diversity and Inclusion Council, the Comprehensive Enrollment Strategy Workgroup, and acting as co-chair of the LGBT Allies. Omar was nominated for the Distinguished Faculty Award after only three years at the college, and was thrice awarded the Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from Harvard University, where he served as a teaching fellow.

Bio from windrep.org

The composer writes:

Named after the largest Caribbean carnival in North America outside of the Caribbean (held annually in Toronto and now called “Toronto Caribbean Carnival”). “Caribana” is my attempt to bring the Calypso and Soca music of Trinidad and Tobago to the large ensemble symphonic music stage. Though this music originated on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, they have become cultural staples of all Caribbean nations, with singers and songwriters from various countries adding to the rich tapestry of the tradition. Driven by layers of rhythmic percussion (known as “the engine room”), “Caribana” seeks to recreate the experience of immersion in the carnival experience – from the elaborate beaded, feathered, and shimmering costumes, to the flatbed 18-wheeler trucks blasting Soca and Calypso through their massive speaker systems, followed by people dancing shoulder-to-shoulder to the driving and infectious music, waving flags of their respective Caribbean nations in perfect rhythm to the driving and infectious music. This piece gives you a bird’s eye view of the festivities, swoops in and darts about, taking in individual scenes and sights, immersing you in the pulsing chaos of the moment, and finally making you one with the electrified crowd of revelers as you follow the music down the parade route.

As a proud son of parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and ancestors born in the Caribbean nation of Guyana, South America, Calypso and Soca form many of my earliest and most endearing musical memories. There is not a family gathering I can recall that wasn’t (loudly) underscored by this music, be it a cookout, a holiday, a wedding, a repast, Saturday morning house cleaning, or car rides to and from Brooklyn. The creation of this work is the realization of a years-long dream to hear this music brought to the symphonic concert stage in a way that is authentic, and that integrates our musical cultural language with the idioms of the symphonic concert genre.

This piece is lovingly dedicated to my family and to the ancestors. Wave yuh flag!

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

ANDREA E. BROWN was appointed Associate Director of Bands at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2018. In this position, she conducts the University of Maryland Wind Ensemble (UMWE), serves as the Director of Athletic Bands and teaches conducting. Brown is formerly a member of the conducting faculty at the University of Michigan, where she served as Assistant Director of Bands and was a faculty sponsor of a College of Engineering Multidisciplinary Design Project team that researched conducting pedagogy technology. She also served as Director of Orchestra and Assistant Director of Bands at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She is a frequent guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Brown completed a D.M.A. in instrumental conducting at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), where she was a student of John Locke and Kevin Geraldi. While at UNCG, she was both guest conductor and principal horn on UNCG Wind Ensemble's fireworks and finish line CDs, both released on the Equilibrium label. Brown has also had several rehearsal guides published in the popular GIA Publications series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. She has presented at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago; Oxford Conducting Institute; Music For All Summer Symposium; the Yamaha Bläserklasse in Schlitz, Germany; the International Computer Music Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia; the College Music Society International Conference in Sydney, Australia; and the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Conference.

A proponent of inclusion and equity issues in the music profession, Brown is a frequent guest speaker on these topics. She currently serves on the CBDNA Diversity Committee and is a member of the Drum Corps International In Step Committee. Brown is the founder of Women Rising to the Podium, an online group of over 4,000 members supporting and celebrating women band directors. Additionally, she also serves as the chair of the Sigma Alpha Iota Women’s Music Fraternity Graduate Conducting Grant and as an advisor of the chapter at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Brown previously served on the brass and conducting instructional staff of the DCI World Champion Phantom Regiment (2004–17). Other marching organizations she has instructed include the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band, Carolina Crown, and Spirit of Atlanta. Brown will serve as a music judge for Drum Corps International in the next active season, and she was nominated to become a member of the John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Shield Jury in 2021.

As a performer, Brown was a member of the AA Brass Quintet, which won the International Brass Quintet Competition hosted by Fred Mills at the University of Georgia. She performed with the horn sections of the Boston Brass All Stars Big Band, North Carolina Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. Brown has studied brass performance and pedagogy with Abigail Pack, J.D. Shaw, Jack Masarie, Freddy Martin, Dottie Bennett, Randy Kohlenberg, Richard Steffen, and Ed Bach.

Originally from Milan, Tennessee, Brown is a graduate of Austin Peay State University and earned a Master of Music in horn performance and a Master of Music in music education with a cognate in instrumental conducting from UNCG. Prior to her positions at Maryland, Michigan and Georgia Tech, Brown was the Assistant Director of Bands at Austin Peay State University and taught at public schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Dallas, Texas. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lambda and CBDNA. She was awarded the Rose of Honor as a member of Sigma Alpha Iota Women's Music Fraternity, and is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma.

CHRISTINE HIGLEY is a first year doctoral student in wind conducting at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she serves as a wind conducting graduate assistant and studies under Michael Votta.

Before coming to Maryland, Higley attended California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), where she earned her Master of Music degree in instrumental conducting in Fall 2020, studying under Emily Moss and Christopher Gravis. In addition to her wind conducting responsibilities, Higley taught courses including “Intro to Music Education” and “Intro to Classical Music in Western Culture” at CSULA. She also served as the president of the CSULA chapter of the National Association for Music Education.

Before pursuing her graduate degrees, Higley was the band and orchestra director at Sunset Ridge Middle School in Salt Lake City, Utah, from 2014–2018. She also taught elementary school beginning band and served on staff for the Copper Hills High School Marching Band.

In addition to teaching and conducting, Higley enjoys life as a horn player. She was the horn section leader for the CSULA Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, and has played with the Salt Lake Symphonic Winds, the Brigham Young University Idaho Symphony Orchestra and various chamber groups. She has studied with Nathan Campbell, Jon Klein and Bruce Woodward. Higley earned her B.M. in music education from BYU-Idaho.

BRAD JOPEK is currently a first-year doctor of musical arts wind conducting student at the University of Maryland School of Music studying under Michael Votta, Jr. Jopek previously served as the music and artistic director of River Cities Concert Band in Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked to increase the band’s outreach in the Kentuckiana area, collaborating with local community bands and establishing chamber ensembles to reach underserved communities.

Jopek was an active assistant conductor for several ensembles at the University of Louisville. He led the University Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Fanfare for Louisville by Witold Lutosławski at the 62nd Annual College Music Society conference in Louisville, Kentucky, and he worked as a rehearsal conductor for the University Sinfonietta’s performances with the 2019 and 2020 Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) Intercollegiate Choir and the University of Louisville Concerto Competition. He also served as assistant conductor and operations manager for the 2019 University of Louisville Sinfonietta Costa Rica tour and collaboration celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Instituto Costarricense Pro Música Coral.

Jopek served as assistant conductor of the University of Louisville Saxophone Ensemble, which performed at the 2017 KMEA Conference featuring student arrangements of standard wind and orchestral repertoire. Jopek also worked with the saxophone ensemble as an arranger, mentored student composers and conductors, and conducted a world premiere performance of When I Arrive by Jeffrey Fox. In addition, he also volunteered with the University of Louisville Community Band as assistant conductor and percussionist.

Outside of conducting, Jopek served as an administrative assistant at the University of Louisville for numerous departments including the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, the Committee on Academic Performance and NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative through the university president’s office, Academic & Professional Studies, Performance Studies, and the Dean’s Office for the School of Music and University Libraries.

Jopek holds a bachelor of music education from Grove City College and two master of music degrees from the University of Louisville in wind and orchestral conducting. He has studied conducting with Edwin Arnold, Joseph Pisano, Jeffery Tedford, Frederick Speck, Kimcherie Lloyd and Amy Acklin.

ENSEMBLE PERSONNEL

Music Director

Andrea E. Brown

Flute & Piccolo

Courtney Adams

Lucas Howarth

Andrew Hui

Ksenia Mezhenny

Cecilia Skorupa

Oboe & English Horn

Zander Barrow

Katelyn Estep

Ayeesha Fadlaoui

Clarinet

Alexis Deifallah

Jenna Dietrich

Ava Dutrow

Kristina Nie

Nyla Ortiz

Sophia Ross

Sabrina Sanchez

Jerry Sun

Matthew Vice

Bassoon

Jolene Blair

Will Duis

Lurr Ragen

Saxophone

Colin Eng

Brandon Greenberg

Andrew Hilgendorf

Colson Jones

Hansu Sung

Horn

Alex Choiniere

Andrew Bures

Christen Holmes

Alyssa Proctor

Julia Terry

Matthew Tremba

Kaitlyn Winters

Trumpet

Allison Braatz

Maddie Hamilton

Caleb Johnson

Justin Lumpkin

Rodrigo Slone

Abel Solomon

Jacob Weglarz

Trombone

Tobi Ajiboye

Austin Fairley

Brian Macarell

Marlia Nash

Euphonium

Christian Folk

Malachi Gaines

Tuba

Alexander Chen

Aiden Dingus

Grace Tifford

Ryan Vest

String Bass

Daphine Henderson

Percussion

Jason Amis

Chris Boxall

Craig Bruder

Beatriz Fanzeres

Maia Foley

Kyle Graham

Mār Lemon

Jonathan Monk

Bruce Perry

Dhruv Srinivasan

Piano

Ria Yang

Harp

Heidi Sturniolo

Graduate Assistants

Christine Higley

Brad Jopek

Alex Scott

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

Font Size

Vices & Virtues

Event Attributes