Places in the West

EUGENE MIGLIARO CORPORON, conductor
JENNIFER CIOBANU, soprano
DOMINIC TALANCA, guest conductor
PROSPER HS VARSITY MIXED CHOIR, guest ensemble
CONNIE MISERAK, PHS director of choirs

Program

“How the West Was Won” Fanfare, Alfred Newman/Hawkins
New Mexico March, John Philip Sousa/Fennell
Aspen Jubilee, Ron Nelson
Sunrise at Angel’s Gate, Phillip Sparke
Colorado Peaks, Dana Wilson
Yosemite Autumn, Mark Camphouse
Points of Departure, Roshanne Etezady
Silverado, Bruce Broughton/Bass

Concert Description

The Lone Star Wind Orchestra opens the 2014-2015 concert season with a journey to the American West. The concert titled “Places in the West” will take place Sunday, October 19, 2014, 2:30 PM, at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. Whether traveling by plane, train, or automobile, Music Director Eugene Migliaro Corporon and the LSWO will take you to the Grand Canyon, Colorado Rockies, and Yosemite with works inspired by its nature monuments. Well-known to LSWO concertgoers, soprano Jennifer Ciobanu returns to sing Ron Nelson’s “Aspen Jubilee” and Roshanne Etezady’s theatrical “Points of Departure.”

Music Samples

Guest Artist Bios

Comprised of elite singers from the Prosper High School choral program, the PHS Varsity Mixed Choir was established in 2012 under the direction of Connie Miserak. Throughout the school year, Varsity Mixed performs in 4 major concerts, various school performances, choral festivals and community events. This group of men and women compete in UIL Concert/Sight-reading, the Texas All-State Choir audition process and in the UIL Solo & Ensemble competition, with a great many advancing to the State level. Students are active in their school and community. They participate in a wide range of activities including athletics, culinary studies, theater, and many more. With the addition of our assistant director, Da’On Hinton, the PHS choral program has grown to include Chamber Singers, Varsity Treble Choir, Varsity Mixed Choir, Progression Show Choir, Applied Voice Class, and Music Theory.

Jennifer Ciobanu completed the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance at the University of North Texas in 2010, where she studied voice with Lynn Eustis. Specializing in African-American Art Song, she was invited to perform and present her doctoral research at the African American Art Song Alliance Conference in 2012. Ms. Ciobanu is especially fond of Italian repertoire, and has spent considerable time in Italy, performing in various summer festivals in conjunction with both American and Italian organizations. Studying voice with Paolo Vaglieri, she was a finalist in the Cagli International Vocal Competition and made her Italian debut as Musetta in La bohème with the Accademia del Teatro in Cagli. She has toured the Czech Republic in a production of Oscar Nedbal’s Polenblut with the Americke Jaro Festival, and has been seen by DFW audiences as a soloist with the Orchestra of New Spain and now as a third-time guest artist with the Lone Star Wind Orchestra. Note-worthy roles in her repertoire include Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Lily (The Secret Garden), and the Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), which she will sing as a Guest Artist in Texas A&M-Commerce’s production next spring. In addition to her experience in the world of classical and operatic singing, Ms. Ciobanu has performed extensively in the Christian contemporary, gospel, folk, and musical theatre genres touring with the Glenn Draper Singers, a professional 16-member troupe specializing in ‘Variety Show’ concerts. Her experience as a voice teacher is extensive; currently she is on the Voice Faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington, having previously taught at Dallas Christian College and while living in Bologna, Italy, the Bernstein School of Musical Theater. She resides in Highland Village with her husband Dorin and their daughter, Julia, age 17 months.

Program Notes

Written and compiled by Dominic Talanca

New Mexico March (1928)
John Philip Sousa
Ed. Frederick Fennell

Frederick Fennell writes, “New Mexico March is one of Sousa’s most unusual marches. It was written for the governor and residents of New Mexico. New Mexico March is one in which Sousa departed considerably from his customary observance of traditional march forms. Rarely had he attempted to color his marches with props or borrowed tunes, feeling that an appropriate title on a good, solid march was all he needed to provide. But when he decided to shed his traditions, he went all the way. Although New Mexico March begins in a customary Sousa march style, it launches into a musical history of New Mexico with the music of Native Americans, the cavalry, and Mexicans, and concludes with a happy fusion of these diverse styles.”

Aspen Jubilee (1984)
Ron Nelson

Aspen Jubilee was commissioned by the Manatee High School Band in Bradenton, Florida. Ron Nelson shares his thoughts about Aspen Jubilee:

“I was thinking of the stupendous beauty of the Rockies in general, of blinding sunlight of snow-covered peaks; of the frontier spirit of old Aspen with its brash, funny dynamism, and its corny ragtag Fourth of July parades and fireworks displays. I was also thinking about indescribably beautiful nights under star-filled skies (the middle section is titled ‘Nightsong’). There is only a passing nod to the Aspen which has now become a playground for the rich and famous. I spent thirteen of the most memorable summers of my life at the Aspen Music Festival. I was able to immerse myself in music, meet fascinating people, and recharge my batteries. Each year it became progressively more expensive and sophisticated, but I still associate it with wonderful music making.”

Yosemite Autumn (2004)
Mark Camphouse

Mark Camphouse provides the following program note for Yosemite Autumn:

“How could any human not be profoundly moved by such stunning natural beauty? How could any composer not be inspired and hopelessly tempted to “get the creative juices flowing” in trying to capture the rich history and majestic landscape that is Yosemite?

I was there physically with my family, but the creative part of me was definitely somewhere else – absorbed in thinking about ways I might try to go about capturing musically the awe-inspiring sights and sounds of Yosemite: Glacier Point, Half Dome, El Capitan, and Yosemite Falls, to name just a few.”

Colorado Peaks (2005)
Dana Wilson

Colorado Peaks was commissioned by the St. Vrain Valley Honor Band near Denver, Colorado. Written for large concert band, the piece has recurring thematic material throughout but does not adhere to a set formal structure, just as the peaks of the Rocky Mountains are bound by no set pattern. The work is essentially based on two ideas: a crisp quarter-note pulse representative of hiking and the broad reach of the distant mountains first represented in the horns. There is also a tranquil section intended to be introspective, indicative of all hiking journeys as metaphors for, and ultimately about, inward growth.

Sunrise at Angel’s Gate (2001)
Philip Sparke

Sunrise at Angel’s Gate was commissioned by the conductor of the United States Army Field Band, Colonel Finley Hamilton. The inspiration of the work stems from Sparke’s trip to the Grand Canyon in 1999. The composer says of the work:

“Sunrise and sunset are the best times to view the Canyon, as a sun low in the sky casts shadows that give depth and form to the vast panorama. Angel’s Gate is one of the many named rock formations on the northern side of the Canyon, and in this piece I have tried to depict the sights and sounds of dawn there, birdsong in the early morning sky, and the gradual revelation of the Canyon itself as sunlight reaches into its rocky depths. The faster central section depicts the arrival of the tourist buses, which run back and forth along the Southern Rim, and towards the end of the piece, to the sound of a tolling bell, we are reminded of the dangers that the beauty of the Grand Canyon so cleverly hides.”

Points of Departure (2010)
Roshanne Etezady

Points of Departure is a four-movement theatrical song cycle (movements performed without pause) that uses the theme of different modes of travel as a unifying factor through the voices of four different personae. The composer explains her work:

“The first character we hear from is a travel agent, which seemed fitting in a piece about motion and transportation. The piece begins by catching the agent during a busy day at the office. In movement two, we hear from the point of view of a teenage girl who is about to take her driver’s license test. This movement alternates between “quasi-recitative” singing, when she recounts actual facts and events, and more melodramatic episodes, which are figments of her memory and imagination. The third movement begins with the protagonist, herself an amateur pilot, musing on famous female pilots (Amelia Earhart, Gertrude “Tommy” Tompkins Silver) who died tragically young but achieved incredible goals at young ages. A cruise ship entertainer is featured in the final movement. Working as a musician on a cruise ship seems like it would be a fun, glamorous job—until you think about the extreme working conditions! Although I conceived of each of these movements separately, there are certain dramatic elements that tie them together.”

How the West Was Won (1963)
Alfred Newman
Arr. Robert Hawkins

How the West Was Won is a motion picture that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Musical Score. The movie traces fifty years of American westward expansion between the 1830s and 1880s, viewed through the experiences of the Prescott and Rawlings families. Along the way they meet mountain men, journey by wagon train, deal with Native Americans, and face outlaws in the southwest. This arrangement for band, subtitled “A Western Fantasy,” features the songs: “How the West Was Won,” “A Home in the Meadow,” “I’m Bound for the Promised Land,” “No Goodbye,” “On the Banks of the Sacramento,” “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” and the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”