Trumpet: Neil Brown (NOI+F Alumni)
Trumpet: Wyeth Aleksei (NOI+F Alumni)
Horn: Austin Sposato (NOI+F Alumni)
Trombone: Sarah Lewandowski (NOI+F Alumni)
Tuba/Bass Trombone: Matt Guilford (NOI+F Faculty)
PROGRAM
George Walker (1922-2018): Selections from Music for Brass, Sacred and Profane
I. Invokation (3:35)
II. Dance I (1:58)
III. Chorale (2:11)
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677): Suite of Madrigals (arr. Corey Sansolo)
Gli Amanti Falliti (The Fading Lovers) (3:30)
Silentio Nocivo (Harmful Silence) (3:30)
Priego ad Amore (Prayer to Love) (3:30)
Joan Tower (b. 1938): Copperwave (10:00)
- BRIEF INTERMISSION -
Q&A session: Immediately following intermission
Gregory Miller (Empire Brass, NOI+F & UMD Horn Faculty & Director)
Chris Gekker (Former member American Brass Quintet, NOI+F & UMD Trumpet Faculty), Host: Austin Sposato (NOI+F)
Viewers are invited to submit questions in the chat.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
George Walker (1922-2018): Music for Brass, Sacred and Profane
Music for Brass, Sacred and Profane was premiered by the American Brass Quintet in the composer’s home city of Washington, D.C. in 1975. Walker’s extraordinary career is studded with numerous awards and accolades including two Guggenheim fellowships, two Rockefeller fellowships, two Koussevitsky awards and the Aaron Copland ASCAP award. Significantly, he became the first black graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in 1945, receiving artist diplomas in both piano and composition. Walker was the first Black musician to appear with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the first Black musician to earn a doctorate degree from the Eastman School of Music in 1956 (where he also received an artist diploma in piano), the first composer to receive a Whitney fellowship in 1957 and he became the first Black tenured faculty member of Smith College. Perhaps the crowning achievement of his career was 1996 when George Walker became the first Black composer to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music for his work Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra.
Tonight you will hear the first three sections of the four section work (Invokation, Dance I, Chorale). The first movement makes use of soaring lyric melodies and fanfares juxtaposed with sections of fugal counterpoint. The second movement is a complex rhythmic dance in ¾ time. The Chorale is a setting of the Lutheran hymn Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, placed in a mixed meter which alternates between a quarter note and eighth note pulse.
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677): Selection of Madrigals arr. Corey Sansolo
This set of madrigals by Italian renaissance composer Barbara Strozzi was originally written for four part voice with basso continuo and has been transcribed by NOI+F and UMD School of Music alumni Corey Sansolo (trombonist, Axiom Brass). Strozzi was a prolific composer who published 125 vocal pieces in her lifetime, although she never obtained steady patronage. The lyrics to these three madrigals muse about the glory of love, the heat of passion, the harm of silence and aging lovers.
Joan Tower (1938): Copperwave
In 2019, the NOI+F Philharmonic recorded Joan Tower’s work Sequoia for the NAXOS label conducted by David Allen Miller. The composer actively participated in the recording of this album, coaching NOI+F students alongside conductor David Alan Miller on their artistic approach of the piece. Her quintet work, Copperwave, has become a standard of the repertoire and is described below in her words.
Composer note:
Copperwave (2006) was commissioned for the American Brass Quintet by the Juilliard School for its centennial celebration. This commission was supported by the Trust of Francis Goelet. The work is dedicated with great admiration to the distinguished American Brass Quintet. My father was a geologist and mining engineer and I grew up loving everything to do with minerals and rocks. Copper is a heavy but flexible mineral that is used for many different purposes and most brass instruments are made of copper. The ideas in this piece move in waves, sometimes heavy ones and at other times lighter — also in circles, turning around on the same notes. Occasionally, there is a latin type of rhythm that appears, which is a reminder of my years growing up in South America where my father was working as a mining engineer.
— Joan Tower
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Wyeth Aleksei
Wyeth Aleksei, originally from Laurel, Maryland, has had the privilege of performing with orchestras from around the world including the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony. As an orchestral musician, Aleksei has performed on numerous concert stages including Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Opera House, Alice Tulley, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Symphony Center in Chicago, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He has also performed with many world-renowned conductors including Alan Gilbert, David Robertson, Marin Alsop, Barbara Hannagin, John Adams, Gerard Schwartz and Robert Spano.
He has participated in many summer music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School, the National Orchestral Institute + Festival and the Eastern Music Festival. Wyeth graduated from Oberlin Conservatory with a Bachelor’s of Music and from the Juilliard School with a Master’s of Music. His teachers include, Chris Martin, Mark Gould, Roy Poper, David Krauss, Raymond Mase, Michael Sachs and Chris Gekker.
Neil Brown
Neil Brown, trumpeter, enjoys a multi-faceted career as a performer, educator, recording engineer and producer. Currently a member of the Peacherine Ragtime Orchestra, National Philharmonic, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Apollo Orchestra, Opera Camerata, Trio Illumino and Two Rivers Chamber Ensemble, Neil is frequently heard playing with many Washington, D.C. area ensembles including the Maryland Symphony and New Orchestra of Washington. He is also a recording engineer and producer for the Baltimore-based recording company Arts Laureate.
Originally from Guilford, Connecticut, Neil earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Maryland and was a member of the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C. between 2009 and 2013. He attended the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Las Vegas Music Festival and Boston University Tanglewood Institute. As an educator, Neil has performed numerous educational concerts, presented masterclasses at both the university and high school levels, served on the faculty of the Suitland Performing Arts High School, Sheridan School, Frederick Regional Youth Orchestra Program and leads a private trumpet studio.
Matthew Guilford
Matthew Guilford has served as bass trombonist with the National Symphony Orchestra since his appointment by Mstislav Rostropovich in 1991. Previously, he was a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and he has performed with several of America's leading orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. He has also performed with Music of the Baroque in Chicago, The Chicago Chamber Musicians and the Grand Teton Music Festival.
He has studied with Jerry Shaw, Norman Bolter, Douglas Yeo and John Swallow, and is a graduate of the New England Conservatory where he received both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Matthew was the 1988 winner of the Donald Yaxley Scholarship, a bass trombone concerto competition sponsored by the International Trombone Association. His career has included such varied engagements as the national tour of the Broadway musical Les Miserables; the Boston Symphony recording of the Richard Strauss opera Elektra; the motion picture soundtrack for the film Predator II and fellowships to Tanglewood and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute.
Matthew is a senior lecturer at the University of Maryland, where he has taught since 1993. He is also on faculty at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival and The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Many of his students have gone on to enjoy successful performing and teaching careers. He has presented solo recitals and masterclasses at most of the top conservatories and universities in the United States and abroad.
A native of Middleboro, Massachusetts, near Boston, he currently resides in McLean, Virginia.
Sarah Lewandowski
Sarah Lewandowski is a performer and educator based in Baltimore, MD. She received a Bachelor of Music in both education and performance from SUNY Fredonia in her hometown of Buffalo, NY before moving to further pursue trombone performance at the Peabody Conservatory. There, she earned a Master of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma, studying with James Olin and David Murray.
Sarah has performed with the New World Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and was the Principal Trombone of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra for the 2019-2020 Season. Sarah is also a founding member of the Old Bay Brass Quintet which she performs with throughout the area. A 2019 fellow at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, she can be heard on “American Classics” recorded with the NAXOS music label. As a teacher, Sarah has worked with students of all ages, from elementary general music classes to collegiate brass. She has also worked with the Baltimore Symphony ORCHkids program, SUNY Fredonia Summer Music Festival and enjoys teaching private lessons and masterclasses.
Austin Sposato
Horn player Austin Sposato is a performer and educator based in Annapolis, Maryland and serves as the Artist Services Coordinator for the National Orchestral Institute + Festival. Austin is the 2nd horn of the Westmoreland Symphony after winning a one year position as 4th horn for the 2018-19 Season. He has performed with The Brass Roots, Resonance Works Pittsburgh, Southwest Florida Symphony, Nassau Pops Orchestra and the Three Village Chamber Players.
He is a founding member of Anima Brass, which was selected as the 2016 Aspen Music Festival fellowship brass quintet. In Aspen, he played concerts with the American Brass Quintet and premiered new works by composers Flannery Cunningham, Nathan Hudson and Joseph Sferra. In 2018 he was a fellow at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival. He recorded an album of American music for the NAXOS label with the NOI Philharmonic, and he can be heard as principal horn on Aaron Copland’s “Outdoor Overture” with James Judd conducting.
Austin holds a MM and BA from Stony Brook University where he graduated summa cum laude and received the Edith Salvo Prize for the most meritorious student in music. In 2018 he completed an Advanced Musical Studies Certificate at Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently working towards a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Maryland studying with Gregory Miller. His primary teachers include William Caballero, Eric Reed, David Jolley, and Jeffrey Forden.
Gregory Miller
Gregory Miller, Director of the School of Music and Professor of Horn at the University of Maryland, has been a member of the faculty since 2000 and previously served as Associate Director for Academic Affairs and Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Over the course of his career, Miller has established himself as an accomplished chamber musician, orchestral player, soloist and teacher. He was appointed hornist of the Empire Brass in 1997 and over the next fifteen years presented hundreds of concerts, masterclasses and clinics throughout the world. The Los Angeles Times hailed the Empire Brass as “lavishly endowed in technique and musicianship. Individually and collectively they proved brilliantly virtuosic.” In addition to concertizing throughout the United States, Miller has performed in twenty-five countries spanning five continents at venues which have included Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Suntory Hall, the Barbican Centre, the Mozarteum and the Musikverein to name but a few. Recorded on the Telarc label, Miller can be heard on EBQ’s "Class Brass: Firedance" and the "Glory of Gabrieli."
His orchestral career began in 1991 as a fellow with the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas. He appeared on three NWS recordings on the Argo Decca label, one of which, "Tangazo: Music of Latin America," received a Grammy nomination. In 1994, Miller was appointed Associate Principal Horn and Assistant Personnel manager of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. He has regularly performed in the horn sections with the Detroit, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and National symphony orchestras as well as with the Miami City Ballet, Washington Ballet, Kennedy Center Opera and Palm Beach Opera orchestras. In 2015, Miller performed as Guest Principal Horn with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. The following year he served as guest principal horn for the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico’s European tour.
As a soloist, Miller has performed with the United States Navy Band of Washington, D.C., the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Daegu Symphony Orchestra of South Korea, the Palm Beach Symphony and the American Wind Symphony among others. His first solo recording, "From Bach to Bernstein," was released in 2002 on the MSR label. The American Record Guide hailed his next recording, "Solos for the Horn Player" as “accurate, cohesive and expressive.” He also recorded "American Brass Trios" for Albany Records with UMD colleagues, Chris Gekker and Matthew Guilford, which Fanfare Magazine described as “exquisitely performed… There is simply nothing not to like about this CD.”
Miller has served on the faculties of the University of Hawaii, Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University. He is a distinguished artist in residence at the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University, a position he has held since 1996. He has appeared as an international clinician with the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), the International Brass Festival (Australia), the Festival Internacional De Inverno De Campos Do Jordão (Brazil), the Festival de Musique de Saint-Barthélemy (French West Indies) and the Music Festival of Santiago de Queretaro (Mexico). Miller has also performed with the Colorado Music Festival, the Monadnock Music Festival and the Sunflower Music Festival. He currently serves on the faculties of the Miami Music Festival and the National Orchestral Institute + Festival.
A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Miller received his B.M. in horn performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music where he studied with Robert Fries, former co-principal horn of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Other teachers have included Eric Ruske, William Slocum and Larry Miller. Gregory Miller is married to violinist Laura Hilgeman and together they have six children.
Chris Gekker
Chris Gekker is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Maryland School of Music. He has been featured as soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. After performances of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times praised his “bright virtuosity” and described his playing as “clear toned and pitch perfect.” Chris appears on more than thirty solo recordings and on more than one hundred chamber music, orchestral, jazz and commercial recordings. CD Review called his 1985 recording of Aaron Copland’s Quiet City “a model of quiet perfection” and in a 1994 overview of several solo Hovhaness recordings Grammophone Magazine described his performances as “astonishingly poised.” Of his 1995 recording of Eric Ewazen’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano American Record Guide stated “Ewazen writes that he had Gekker’s sound in his mind when he wrote the Sonata, and I can understand why. It is round, soft edged, gorgeous at soft dynamic levels and always full and well controlled at fortissimo.” Chris is one of the featured artists on the 2005 Deutsche Grammophon compilation “Masters of the Trumpet.”
Chris’ many solo recordings include the Bach Brandenburg Concerto no. 2 (2000) and Winter (2004), a CD of music for trumpet and piano by Eric Ewazen and David Snow. Of the Bach, Classics Today wrote “Chris Gekker plays with brilliance and panache” and BBC Magazine stated “the trumpeter gives a secure and glittering account.” Of Winter American Record Guide wrote “I cannot think of another trumpet player I’d rather listen to than Gekker, and he is at his sweet, velvet-toned best in these pieces.” Of the 2009 Unchanging Love, music of Larry Bell, Fanfare Magazine stated “Chris Gekker has made himself known over the years as a superb trumpeter who is able to produce meltingly flute-like tones at one extreme, and to bring down the house at the other.”
Chris’ most recent solo recording, released in 2017, is Ghost Dialogues, featuring music by Robert Gibson, Lance Hulme, Carson Cooman, David Heinick, and Kevin McKee. Fanfare Magazine wrote “Chris Gekker is a master of the trumpet. His technique is impeccable: the Metier recording is so clear one can hear every detail of attack, and one would hear every smudged slur (if there were any – that suggestion is hypothetical). In addition, there is real musical intelligence at work, here coupled with a fervent belief in the music he plays.” The American Prize awarded Ghost Dialogues 2nd Place in their 2018-2019 Solo Artist Category.
Chris was a member of the American Brass Quintet for eighteen years and on the faculties of the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University. He was Principal Trumpet of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, frequently performed as principal and soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and often featured with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been a Guest Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Santa Fe Opera and the Baltimore Symphony. Chris has performed and recorded with many jazz and commercial artists, and often for television and movies. In 2009 he recorded and toured with Sting, and is featured on the DVD A Winter Night which was recorded live at Durham Cathedral in Durham, England.
In the Washington, D.C. area Chris serves as principal trumpet of the National Philharmonic at Strathmore, the Washington Ballet, and the Post Classical Ensemble. During the summer he is principal trumpet at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Chris has been committed throughout his career to education and community service. In 2013 the Maryland Classics Youth Orchestra awarded him the Chester J. Petranek Community Award “for outstanding community service in enriching the musical life in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area.”
Many of his students occupy orchestral positions in major symphonies throughout the world, as well as being prominent in jazz, chamber and commercial music. His Articulation Studies, 44 Duos, Endurance Drills, Piccolo Trumpet Studies, 24 Etudes, and Slow Practice are available from Charles Colin Publications, and are sold worldwide. The most recent Slow Practice (2016) has been translated to Japanese. Chris was born in Washington D.C., grew up in Alexandria Virginia and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the University of Maryland. His teachers include Emerson Head, Sidney Mear, Adel Sanchez and Gerard Schwarz. In 2018 the University of Maryland awarded Chris the rank of Distinguished University Professor. He is the first professor from the School of Music to receive this honor.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ORCHESTRAL INSTITUTE + FESTIVAL
The National Orchestral Institute + Festival, a program of the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, trains aspiring orchestral musicians, composers, conductors and arts administrators from across the country in a month of dynamic music-making and professional exploration at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Musicians are chosen through a rigorous, cross-country audition process. Every year, these young artists present passionate and awe-inspiring performances of adventuresome repertoire both at The Clarice and in the College Park, Maryland community.
ABOUT The clarice smith performing arts center
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is the thriving center for the performing arts at the University of Maryland. In the building are creative partners presenting arts that reflect our evolving cultural landscape, championing the creation of new work and engaging audiences in unique experiences – ultimately building the future of the arts. Located on a 17- acre site, The Clarice is one of the largest and best-equipped performing arts venues on any university campus. The building houses a performing arts library, lecture halls, seminar rooms, rehearsal spaces and sound-isolated practice rooms.