Program:

Musicians

The West Point Woodwind Quintet

Nicole Caluori

Sam Kaestner

Anna Pennington

Megan Szymanski

Glenn West

Composers

David Arend

Innovative double bassist and composer David Arend performs Classical, Jazz, Hip Hop, Rock and Electro-acoustic music and explores hybrids of these in his compositions. David is a graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music (Double-degree BA, BM 1995) and The Juilliard School (MM 1997). He attended the Aspen Music Festival for six summers, four as bassist with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble under George Tsontakis. David has collaborated with the San Francisco Symphony, Carlos Santana, Mark O’Connor, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, Gidon Kremer, Omar Sosa, Bobby McFerrin, Lynn Harrell, Narada Michael Walden, Béla Fleck, Taylor Eigsti, Jack Perla and Vlad Girshevich, and is a member of the Oakland East Bay Symphony directed by Michael Morgan.

Erik Branch

Erik Branch is a native of New York City, and received a BA and MA in Music (Composition) from Hunter College. He lives near Orlando, Florida, where he is active as a pianist, musical director, composer/arranger, opera chorister, and actor on stage and screen.

Alyssa Reit

For more than 30 years Alyssa has worked as an independent performer, composer and arranger. She completed her Bachelors and Master's degrees at the Juilliard School as a student of the late Marcel Grandjany. As a harpist she has performed with institutions ranging from the world renowned vocal quartet Anonymous 4, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Metropolitan Opera, to contemporary music groups and traditional Irish bands; she has played in such well known, diverse venues as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Tully Hall, BAM, the Public Theater, and the Kitchen. She worked with composer John Cage and helped organize "The Grand Harp Event" at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and "The Garden of Harps" at the Museum of Modern Art. Recently, she joined forces with New Music New York, and co-produced a concert of new works for their spring 2008 series. As a composer, her work "American Songs" has been performed nationally by the Eastern Brass Quintet, she has done sound design for the well-known storyteller Laura Simms, and in January 2006 the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra premiered her work for strings, "Legends of Isis." In collaboration with Johanna Rose, she produced the Sunflower Story Arts Festival in the spring of 2009. She is founder, artistic director, and resident composer for Singing Harp, an arts troupe directed by New York stage director Terrence Montgomery. The company presents fairy tales, myths, and classic stories in dramatic and musical forms, performing in locations ranging from schools and small local libraries to such esteemed venues as the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. They have received grants from NYSCA and the Westchester Arts Council, and recently were awarded a second major grant from the Rudyard and Emanualla Reimss Fund in the Westchester Community Foundation through the Westchester Library System to present a series of performances in the 2009-2011 season Alyssa is on the Pre-College Division faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and on the faculty of the Music Conservatory of Westchester.

Aimee Smith

Aimee Smith (b. 1987) is an American composer, educator, and musician from the Pacific Northwest, focusing in neo-classical and contemporary styles. Aimee grew up with musical influences, singing in school programs and in church from a young age. Often watching musical films with her grandmother such as The King and I and Oklahoma!, Aimee fell in love and it became apparent that music would become a permanent feature of her life.

15 one-minute selections on the
Sesquicentennial of the Civil War
for West Point Woodwind Quintet

• 

  From Manassas to Appomattox

  Malcolm Dedman

  Born in London in 1948, Malcolm Dedman was initially self-taught, having started to compose when he was 12. He had formal composition lessons with Patric Standford at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1974-75, and he gained a Masters Degree in Composing Concert Music in 2005.

  "From Manassas to Appomattox" is a commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, the first battle being that of Manassas and the last being Appomattox. The five instruments initially play independent themes, suggesting the conflict, alternating with slow music, suggesting surrender of the various battles, and eventual resolution.

• 

  General Grant's Whiskey Dance

  Andy Francis

  Andy Francis (b. 1986) is currently a working on his DMA in composition at Michigan State University. He has done many interesting thing, some of which might be deemed impressive. For more information, please visit www.andyfrancismusic.com.

  "Tell me what brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals." - Abraham Lincoln

• 

  Battle Cry of Freedom

  Stanley M. Hoffman

  Stanley M. Hoffman (b. 1959, Cleveland, Ohio) holds degrees in Music Composition from Brandeis University (Ph.D.), New England Conservatory of Music (M.M.) and Boston Conservatory (B.M.). His music is published by ECS Publishing, Oxford University Press, Wehr's Music House and Fatrock Ink. He is currently Chief Editor at ECS Publishing.

  I chose the tune "Battle Cry of Freedom" by George Root as the basis for this composition because, not only is it of the Civil War era, but it is also included in the song "They Are There" by Charles Ives, to whom I pay homage with an alternative ending.

• 

  On a Wednesday in May

  Francis Kayali

  Francis Kayali is a Franco-American composer currently living in the San Francisco Bay area. Recently performed works include the pocket quartet "That's a New Dog" (Choreodography No. 1) and Astronomies of the Mind, for symphony orchestra.

  "On a Wednesday in May" is based on two irreconcilable songs from the end of the American Civil War: a Union song mocking Jefferson Davis and a Confederate song bitterly cursing the Yankees and what they stood for.

• 

  When Freedom Cried

  Daniel J. Knaggs

  Daniel J. Knaggs's music is heard in concert halls, churches, and radio broadcasts throughout Europe and the Americas. He is currently a full-time Spanish teacher at Fr. Gabriel Richard High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

  "When Freedom Cried" portrays a snapshot of battle and the death of General James S. Wadsworth at the Battle of the Wilderness (1864) for whom the song Sleep Sweetly was written (by M.B. Ladd)... a fragment of this song is used to close this brief episode.

• 

  The Dred Scott Decision

  Tim Labor

  Tim Labor is an award winning LA-based composer and sound designer whose classical music credits include Blomidon: tone poem with sound design for the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra and "Olivia" for the Mira Costa Symphony. Tim is a faculty member in the Music Department at the University of California, Riverside.

  The Dred Scott Decision was a Supreme Court ruling in which a black slave sued for freedom on a variety of grounds and was denied because of legal paradox. This reification of the institutionalization of slavery ignited the Panic of 1857 and proved the futility of peaceful legal racial debate.

• 

  Elegy for the Dead at Gettysburg

  David Miller

  I was born in Princeton, West Virginia and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I graduated from Long Island University with a Communications degree. My compositions have been performed by music students and professionals. My career as a professional writer includes working as a New York Post reporter and a speech writer.

  "Elegy for the Dead at Gettysburg" was inspired by Timothy O'Sullivan's photograph "The Harvest of Death" which depicts dead soldiers on the battlefield at Gettysburg. The quintet's theme is played immediately by the flute, but the quintet incorporates the songs "Dixie" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" representing both sides for this tribute.

• 

  Brief

  Peter Nickol

  Peter Nickol was born in 1946. He studied originally at York University, later at Exeter and Manchester, with a PhD in Composition awarded in 2008. He is based in Exeter, Devon (UK). Recent successes include Ultramarine, chosen by Texas-based Madera Wind Quintet as one of their featured pieces for 2012.

  English people don't generally know that much about the American Civil War, beyond a general concept of North against South. But we know some of the songs - great tunes! - and my one-minute piece maps one of these through a texture that gradually builds in density.

• 

  If My Grandfather Fought in the Civil War...

  Michael Pepper

  Michael Pepper resides in New Orleans, LA as a Music Composition and Mathematics major at Tulane University. He has been composing over two years and has received MTNA distinction as best in Louisiana two years in a row as well as a national finalist. He also composes independent film scores.

  My grandfather, Col. Fred Riggle, fought in the Vietnam War as a pilot in the Air Force. In this piece, I explore the scenario of him fighting in a different war, the bloodiest in American history, and the almost inevitable fate he and my family would have experienced.

• 

  Field Notes

  James Soe Nyun

  James SOE NYUN did graduate composition studies at the University of California, San Diego. For two decades after leaving school he moved towards working in the visual arts. Recent explorations in video have seen him moving towards time-based work, and a re-exploration of his musical roots.

  This little suite opens with the 1861 Overture, and next visits Gettysburg. It ends with the Sherman's March, which quotes from Stephen Foster, a Northern-sympathizer who nonetheless has been criticized for writing songs that romanticized slave life, suggesting that while the Civil War ended slavery, it left much unresolved.

• 

  Born Equal

  Juan Maria Solare

  Juan Maria Solare, born 1966 in Argentina, works currently in Germany as composer, pianist (contemporary & tango) and teaching at the University of Bremen and at the Hochschule fuer Kuenste Bremen. His music has been performed in five continents. Nine CDs of different performers include at least one piece of him.

  I associate the Civil War mainly with elimination of slavery. Even if we are really born equal, other people and the world make us unequal. Only through commitment (and law) we can regain a certain equality. Much can still be done to improve the social weakness of "second class citizens".

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  Themes of Conflict

  Pasquale Tassone

  Pasquale Tassone was a resident at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, where he worked with the composer, Olly Wilson. In June 2004, some of Tassone's choral music was performed at the Artama Choral Festival in the Czech Republic Currently Tassone is working on his first opera.

  "Themes of Conflict" is made up of themes from songs popular during the Civil War The melodies utilized are: The Vacant Chair (Flute), Just Before the Battle Mother (Oboe), Brother Tell Me of the Battle (Clarinet), When this Cruel War is Over ( F Horn), The Bonnie Blue Flag (Bassoon).

• 

  Fragments of Johnny

  Audun G. Vassdal

  My name is Audun G. Vassdal. I am 26 years old. I am born and raised in Oslo, Norway. I started playing the piano at the age of 8, being very fascinated by music. My fascination grew, and I studied music through "High School" and at the University of Oslo, where I achieved a Bachelors degree in musicology. I started composing at the age of 16, and decided already then that composer was what I wanted to be. Ever since I have pursued my goal through education and work, and currently I work for the Norwegian Music Publisher ("Norsk Musikkforlag AS") and Oslo Concert House, while composing on the side.

  This work is based on my favorite song from the civil war; When Johnny Comes Marching Home. The idea behind the composition is to only use motives from the song, trying to keep the same rhythmical energy of the song, perhaps even exaggerate it a bit. I try to separate the different parts of the melody, only using small fragments here and there, sometimes two different at the same time. Hence the title "Fragments of Johnny". Sadly, this Johnny didn't come marching home...

• 

  Shimmer

  Douglas Wagoner

  Douglas Wagoner is a composer and conductor based in Newton, Massachusetts. His formal education was at Berklee College of Music, Boston University and New England Conservatory in composition, film-scoring and conducting. More of his work and contact information can be found at http://www.douglaswagoner.com

  "Shimmer" is invokes the hazy buzz of a lazy summer afternoon in a wheat field at Gettysburg as if two armies were not about to hurl themselves upon each other with devastating consequences.

• 

  Hurrah

  David Wolfson

  David Wolfson is an eclectic, versatile composer of songs, concert music and music for theatre. Please visit his website, www.davidwolfsonmusic.net.

  "Hurrah" takes the Civil War-era tune "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" for a starting point. I imagined what coming home from the Civil War might actually have felt like.

Jan Hus Church

Jan Hus Church - This is the place you were welcome, long before you arrived! www.janhus.org
Donations of food &clothing are greatly appreciated for the Homeless Outreach Advocacy Program (HOAP)

Remarkable Theater Brigade

Remarkable Theater Brigade founded by Christian McLeer, Dan Jeselsohn and Monica Harte, creates and produces new operas and musicals and takes children's versions out to special-needs and at-risk children free of charge. Remarkable Theater Brigade creates and produces new works including operas, orchestral pieces, ballets, musicals, and electro-acoustic works and co-produces the Composer's Voice Concert Series concerts. Remarkable Theater Brigade was founded in 2002 by Christian McLeer, Monica Harte, and Dan Jeselsohn.

Vox Novus

Vox Novus promotes contemporary music and its creators through concerts, recordings, publications, broadcasts, and online publicity. Vox Novus believes strongly in the intrinsic value of contemporary music, recognizing it as a force in the advancement of culture and art. Our goal is to keep music alive by strengthening the connection between composer and audience, providing greater exposure to new music.
www.VoxNovus.com