American Tributes

DOUGLAS STOTTER, conductor
ANDREA MAYFIELD, horn
WILLIAM OWENS, guest composer
ANDREW TUCKER, guest conductor

Program

Homage to a Dream, Mark Camphouse
Movements from Symphony No. 3, James Barnes
Carnegie Anthem, William Owens
Northern Lights, William Owens
Metroplex, Robert Sheldon
First movement from “The Glass Bead Game,” James Beckel

Concert Description

American composers pay tribute to the dream of Martin L. King Jr., the beauty of Aurora Borealis, the bright lights of New York City, and the grace of faith & love in this concert by the LSWO Youth Winds. UT-Arlington Director of Bands Douglas Stotter leads the Youth Winds in a program featuring the music of Mark Camphouse, James Barnes and Robert Sheldon. Texas-based composer William Owens visits as the Youth Winds perform his Carnegie Hall Anthem and Northern Lights. Horn Soloist Andrea Mayfield performs the opening movement of James Beckel’s Horn Concerto “The Glass Bead Game.” Other works include Mark Camphouse’s Homage to a Dream, Robert Sheldon’s Metroplex, and the final two movements from James Barnes’ Symphony No. 3. “American Tributes” is Sunday, March 2, 2014 at 2:30pm in Dallas City Performance Hall.

Guest Artist Bios

Andrea Mayfield’s musical path began after begging her parents for piano lessons from a young age. After winning numerous competitions on piano, including The Stricklin Concerto Competition with a performance with an orchestra, she chose to pursue a music performance degree in piano with a minor in horn performance. After her sophomore year in college, Andrea chose to switch her focus to solely horn performance.

Upon completing degrees from Ball State University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in music performance, Ms. Mayfield began her performance career as 3rd/Associate Principal Horn of the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de Las Artes, located in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. She held that position from 2007-2011 and chose to leave the position after deciding to return to the United States.

Ms. Mayfield now maintains a private teaching studio of more than fifty students and teaches primarily at the clusters of Highland Park High School and Berkner High School. Along with many teaching opportunities, Andrea won the position of 3rd horn with the Las Colinas Symphony, Garland Symphony, and Symphony Arlington, and also acquired a section chair with the Lone Star Wind Orchestra.

Ms. Mayfield has also played with the Dallas Live Orchestra, Dallas Pops Orchestra, Muncie Symphony Orchestra, Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, Marion Symphony Orchestra, Anderson Symphony Orchestra, and the American Wind Symphony, among others.

William Owens is a native of Gary, Indiana. His career as a music educator spans nearly three decades and he is active as a composer, clinician, and conductor throughout the United States and Canada.

Since 1993, Owens has written over 150 commissioned and published works for concert band and string orchestra. His music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, and appears on required music lists both nationally and abroad. Principal commissions include those from the California Band Directors Association, the Chicago Public Schools Bureau of Cultural Arts, the Iowa Bandmasters Association, the South Plains College (TX) Department of Fine Arts, and the Texas University Interscholastic League. His compositions Courtlandt County Festival and Maesong are recorded and analyzed in educational text by the GIA series Teaching Music Through Performance In Band. He is a consistent winner of the ASCAPlus award, and a two-time winner of the Forrest L. Buchtel Citation for Excellence in Band Composition.

William Owens serves as the Instrumental Editorial Assistant for the FJH Music Company. He is the Music Director and Conductor of the Mansfield (TX) Wind Symphony. Owens is a graduate of VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. Professional memberships include the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the American Composers Forum (ACF), the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), and the Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB).

In January 2014, he retired from duty as a band director in Texas after 29 years of service.

Program Notes

Written and compiled by Andrew and Kendal Tucker

Carnegie Anthem (2012)
William Owens

Carnegie Hall is one of the most prestigious performance venues in the world. Built in 1891 by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, the hall was home to the New York Philharmonic from 1892 to 1962. To this day, Carnegie Hall continues to play host to the finest artists of all genres from around the globe. Commissioned by the Lamar Consolidated High School Band of Rosenberg, Texas, Carnegie Anthem pays brilliant musical tribute to this venerable institution and the vibrant city it calls home. The opening statement is a bold and brilliant fanfare characterizing the splendor of the great hall itself. The subsequent middle section is a “driving calm” with engaging melodies and a rhythmic thrust symbolizing the non-stop activity of bustling NYC on any given day. Returning then to its bold origins, the music concludes with a resplendent finish.

Homage to a Dream (2013)
Mark Camphouse

Homage to a Dream was commissioned by the International Bandmasters Fraternity, Phi Beta Mu, in honor of the 75th anniversary of its founding. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ennobling “I Have a Dream” speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963 by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968). This piece was composed between June 2012 and February 2013 and honors a great American and a speech that changed the course of history. It received its premiere performance by the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony under the direction of the composer on July 21, 2013 in San Antonio during the 66th Annual Convention of the Texas Bandmasters Association.

Metroplex: Three Portraits from Manhattan (2005)
Robert Sheldon

Metroplex: Three Postcards from Manhattan was written for Normal Community West High School Band of Normal, Illinois and their 2005 performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The composer describes the work, “A musical portrait of Manhattan’s cityscape, Metroplex opens with a vision of the New York City skyline, evoking looming buildings and concrete canyons. From there, the melody travels to the heart of an urban jazz scene, characteristic of the city’s famous night clubs. Finally, the piece takes us on a wild taxi ride through the heavy traffic of a bustling metropolis. The skyline is seen once more as we leave Manhattan, hopefully to return again soon.”

Glass Bead Game: Concerto for Horn and Winds (1997)
James Beckel

The Glass Bead Game is a horn concerto in three movements loosely based on the Herman Hesse novel of the same title. In the first movement, two main themes dominate. The work opens with a bi-tonal motif based in Eb Major and A Major. This musical idea is meant to represent Herman Hesse’s existential philosophy about life which is reflected in his novel. Simply put, Hesse believed that man exists as an individual in a purposeless universe that is basically hostile. This conflict between man and his environment is represented by the juxtaposition of the two keys. His main character of this novel in fact succumbs to the cold waters of a glacier fed lake at the end of this book. The other main theme is a leitmotif representing the main character, Joseph Knecht; and is first stated by the Solo Horn at letter A of the first movement. The dialogue of this theme between solo horn, flute, and piccolo was inspired by the introduction of the Music Master in this novel. Joseph Knecht meets the Music Master, who accepts our main character into the intellectual society of the elite Castalia. The Glass Bead Game was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1997.

Northern Lights (2011)
William Owens

Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) is a three-part programmatic depiction of an active aurora and the mystery of space itself. The opening theme is brisk in tempo with sweeping technical passages and an array of percussion colors at the forefront. The second theme is largely tranquil, representing the aurora in a calm state and the vastness of space itself. The final theme is once again brisk with driving rhythms and a strong melodic concentration, ending the work with great force.

The composer writes, “Few sights are as dazzling or breathtaking as the natural light displays in the sky known as auroras. In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis, named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora and Boreas, the Greek name for “north wind“. Usually observed at night, these shimmering curtains of light undulate across the sky in fantastic shades of green, yellow, orange, and dark red. Throughout history, the aurora borealis has had a number of names, including “Dance of the Spirits“ and “Flaming Torches.” This phenomena of nature thusly serves as the inspiration for the music Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis).

Third Symphony (1994)
James Barnes

The Third Symphony was commissioned by the United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C. As quoted by the composer, “I began to work on it in earnest at a very difficult time in my life, right after our baby daughter, Natalie, died. This symphony is the most emotionally draining work that I have ever composed. If it were to be given a nickname, I believe that “Tragic” would be appropriate. The work progresses from the deepest darkness of despair all the way to the brightness of fulfillment and joy.” The third movement is a fantasia about what Barnes’ world would have been like if Natalie had lived. It is a farewell to her. The finale (fourth movement) represents a rebirth of spirit, a reconciliation for us all. The second theme of the last movement is based on an old Lutheran children’s hymn called I am Jesus’ Little Lamb. This hymn was sung at Natalie’s funeral.

“Three days after I completed this symphony, on June 25, 1994, our son Billy Barnes was born. If the third movement is for Natalie, then the finale is really for Billy, and our joy in being blessed with him after the tragic death of his sister.”