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NOTE: Participants from the towns of: Brunswick, Cape Elizabeth, Gorham, Hallowell, Portland, Standish and Windham. Photo is Daniel Sonenberg.

USM Faculty Composers’ Concert April 17

The University of Southern Maine School of Music is fortunate to have on its faculty a number of active, talented composers. On April 17, the work of these artists will be featured on a single evening of new music, including two world premieres, and ranging in genre from art song, to solo piano, to several works for live musicians and recorded sound.

The “Faculty Composers’ Concert” is part of the USM School of Music 2008-2009 Spotlight Series. Music gets underway at 8 p.m. Friday, April 17, 2009 in Corthell Concert Hall on the USM Gorham campus. Tickets are $15 for the general public, $10 for seniors and USM employees, and $5 for students. A reception will follow in the lobby.

The concert will feature three movements of “Lucidae,” a large suite for solo piano by Joseph Packales, a long time member of the USM School of Music faculty who passed away late in 2008. With titles “Canopus,” “Antares,” and “Sirius,” the work, here performed by Anastasia Antonacos, deals with the late composer’s fascination with the cosmos, distilled through a vantage of religious faith.

Long time faculty member, Tom Bucci’s “Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano” is an up-tempo chamber work infused with a jazzy sensibility and a vigorous rhythmic drive. It will be performed by Jennifer Elowitch, violin; Benjamin Noyes, cello; and Antonacos, piano.

Bruce Fithian is a name frequently heard in Southern Maine musical circles. The tenor and composer performed the title role in last year’s production of “Orfeo,” and presented a full evening of his own compositions four seasons ago at USM. He will perform two of his songs, with texts by A. E. Housman and Gerard Manley Hopkins, accompanied by Bridget Convey.

Two composers will be making use of USM’s newly founded Digital Music Studio. Nancy Gunn incorporates recordings of birdsong in her new composition, “Harbor,” inspired by Portland Harbor. The work includes sounds recorded on the pier near Spring Point Light and also features Convey on piano, and Tim O’Dell, alto saxophone. The performers are given wide latitude in their interaction with the recorded sound, which Gunn processed and manipulated at USM.

Daniel Sonenberg, who directs composition studies at USM and is the organizer of this concert, also turned to recorded sounds for his world premiere, “Eating Babies,” though from a slightly different source. His composition features a recording of a midnight feeding of his newborn identical triplets, captured on the night of Barack Obama’s inauguration. The frenetic and visceral sounds of the hungry infants provide a foil for a vigorous accompaniment of trumpet (Alan Kaschub) and piano (Antonacos).

Scott Harris, the director of the School of Music, will present excerpts of his song cycle “Love’s Labours,” for two pianos and four voices, featuring texts by Beaumont and Fletcher, Robert Herrick, Robert Greene, and Samuel Daniel. Performers include Dan Cyr, John Coons, Alex Dietrich, Sarah Mawn, Convey, and Antonacos.

“I had long adored Brahms’s ‘Liebeslieder Waltzes,’ a work for vocal quartet and two pianists,” says Harris, “and wanted to create a piece in a “popular” style for the same ensemble. The Shakespearean-era love lyrics I found, neither particularly serious nor particularly lofty, seemed to be ideal texts for such a work. I hope this piece is a bit of a romp to perform and to hear—the musical equivalent of a calorie-laden dessert. Even so, it has moments of true tenderness and even sadness. The songs often express a cheekiness and an awareness of love as a foible-filled game. As one song says, ‘Love is a torment of the mind…Heigh-ho!’”

Finally, the concert will conclude with “Great Plains,” from the “STRATA Suite,” and “Point of Departure,” two new compositions by internationally renowned saxophonist and composer Tim O’Dell, performed by the USM Jazz Ensemble directed by Chris Oberholtzer.

Biographies

Anastasia Antonacos of Portland (formerly of Saco) has performed in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, Russia, and Belgium, as well as various places in the U.S., including Alice Tully Hall. She won First Place at the International Young Artist Music Competition in Bulgaria, and she holds prizes from the Capdepera International Piano Competition in Mallorca and the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition. Annie has made solo appearances with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, and she has collaborated with members of the Vermeer, Cassatt, and DaPonte Quartets. She is a member of the music faculty at the University of Southern Maine and Bates College.

Portland Chamber Music Festival Artistic Co-Director and violinist Jennifer Elowitch, a Portland native, is the assistant principal second violinist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and performs regularly with the Boston Symphony and Emmanuel Music, with whom she recently toured Europe. She has appeared as guest concertmaster of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and is a member of the faculty at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and the Longy School of Music. Ms. Elowitch has recorded for CRI and Albany Records.

Thomas V. Bucci of Portland (composer, piano) is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music with a B.M. in Music Education and an M.M. in Piano Performance. He conducted bands and orchestras for many years as the Music Supervisor for the City of Portland. Bucci has appeared as a soloist with the Portland Symphony Orchestra as well as on numerous television shows, jazz recordings, and with orchestras backing up such stars as Bob Hope, Rich Little, Danny Kaye, Pat Boone and others. Bucci has written music for a range of instrumental ensembles and for electronic tape, and is currently a member of applied piano faculty at USM.

A musician who enjoys performing music of our time, pianist Bridget Convey of Hallowell has found much fulfillment in collaborating with living composers. She has been fortunate to work with composers such as Morton Subotnick, Mel Powell, James Tenney and many others. As a soloist and ensemble musician, Bridget has been heard at venues such as Lincoln Center (NYC); Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Los Angeles, CA); Ojai Music Festival (CA); Maybeck Performing Arts Studio (Berkeley, CA); Percussive Arts Society International Convention (Columbus, OH); among many others. She received her Diploma from Mannes College of Music, NYC (Pre-college Division) 1989; BFA from State University of New York at Purchase 1993; and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts 1997. Bridget can be heard on Navona, Cuneiform, Independent and Nataraja labels. Bridget currently resides in Hallowell with her husband and two dogs.

Bruce Scott Fithian of Gorham (composer, tenor) earned degrees in composition from the New England Conservatory (BM), the University of Southampton, England (BM) and Brandeis University (MFA), and received a Leonard Bernstein fellowship in composition at the Berkshire School of Music at Tanglewood. His teachers have included Donald Martino, Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, Alexander Goehr and Seymour Shifrin. He received a $3,000 prize from the Massachusetts Arts and Humanities Foundation for his 'Cantata' based on the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and has received critical accolades for both his vocal and instrumental compositions. Fithian presented a full recital of original music on the 2004-2005 USM Faculty Concert Series. This year he premiered a work, 'Dante's Vision' for chorus and organ as well as a featured work “American Triptych” sung by the USM Chamber Singers.

Nancy Gunn of Cape Elizabeth has written extensively for chamber ensembles, orchestra, and chorus. Her work has been performed by the Colorado Symphony’s “Source Project,” The New York Festival of Song, the Arapahoe Philharmonic, the Ariel Trio, the Friends and Enemies of New Music, and the Rocky Mountain Children’s Choir, among others, and has been featured on WNYC in New York and KVOD in Denver. Gunn's compositions have received numerous awards, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the ASCAP Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the Aspen Music Festival. Her most recent work, “Driving in Maine: Four Poems of Wesley McNair” for soprano and orchestra was written for the University of Maine at Farmington Community Orchestra and premiered by them in April 2008. It will be performed again in May 2009 by the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra. “Intersection” was written for the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble and premiered by them at Merrill Auditorium in April 2007. Gunn was born in New York City and earned a Masters in Composition from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Leslie Bassett and William Albright, and a Ph.D in Composition from The City University of New York Graduate Center, where she studied with Charles Dodge and David Olan. She has taught at Hunter College and the Third Street Music Settlement in New York and at Metropolitan State College in Denver. She is currently on the faculty of the University of Southern Maine and Southern Maine Community College.

Scott Harris of Standish was appointed to be the first director of the University of Southern Maine School of Music in 2002. He is an Associate Professor of Music at USM, where he has taught music theory, ear training, music analysis, music history, and composition. During his tenure as director the school has experienced enrollment growth as well as growth in private support. Dr. Harris served for several years as the host of the Portland Symphony Orchestra's Musically Speaking lecture series, and appears often in Portland as a guest lecturer about classical music. He holds a Ph.D. in music theory from Indiana University. In the past two years he led the development of a new graduate program in music at USM. From 1998-1992 he was Assistant Professor on Music at Ithaca College. He is the co-translator, with David Neumeyer and George Boyd, of The Book of the Musical Artwork, a major theoretical work by Heinrich Schenker’s student Felix-Eberhard von Cube. He has written works that were premiered by many of USM colleagues, including Christus natus hodie, commissioned by the Choral Art Society and conducted by Robert Russell in 2001. His music has been heard in recent performances in New York, Boston, and Portland. The songs on tonight's program are part of a larger set of vocal quartets, modeled on Brahms's Liebeslieder Waltzes. The complete cycle, Love's Labours, was premiered in Gorham in March, 2001; the performers included Ellen Chickering and Bruce Fithian.

Alan Kaschub of Windham earned his bachelors degree from the University of Southern Maine and his Masters degree from New England Conservatory. His primary teachers were John Schnell and Charles Schlueter. He has performed in numerous ensembles in Maine, Massachusetts, and Illinois including the Portland and Bangor symphonies. He has appeared as soloist with The Maine Chamber Orchestra and is a member of the Norumbega Ensemble. Mr. Kaschub has taught at Northwestern University, Bowdoin College and is currently on the faculty of The University of Southern where he teaches Music Theory, Ear Training and Music Technology.

Benjamin Noyes grew up in a musical family in Portland. He began the cello at the age of eight after studying the violin for a few years. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees in cello performance from Rice University and Northwestern University. His principal teachers include Marc Johnson, Hans Jorgen-Jensen, Sato Knudson, Paul Katz, Irene Sharp, and Steve Doane. He has performed in San Francisco, Houston, New York, Boston, and Chicago. He was a member of the Naples Philharmonic for five years. He has also been a participant in numerous chamber music festivals, including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Virginia. In 1993, he toured China as a young soloist, performing with orchestras in Beijing and Shanghai, among other cities.

Dr. Chris Oberholtzer of Cape Elizabeth, an alumnus of the USM School of Music, is now Director of Jazz Studies at USM. He completed his Doctor of Arts degree in Trombone Performance / Pedagogy with a Secondary Emphasis in Jazz Pedagogy at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. Chris earned his Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies with a Cognate Field of Trombone Performance from Indiana University, Bloomington, and his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education at USM. In addition to his USM teaching responsibilities, Chris also enjoys actively serving throughout the country as guest artist with and director and/or clinician for numerous high school jazz ensembles and combos. Serving as Musical Director of the Portland Jazz Orchestra, Chris also is quite busy with the details of leading a regionally active big band. Other major appearances include festivals such as the (Newport) JVC Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and festivals at the University of Northern Colorado, Brevard College (North Carolina) and Utah State University. Chris has performed, toured and recorded throughout the country and abroad with many groups in varying classical, jazz and commercial genres. His playing experience includes touring with the Artie Shaw Orchestra, the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, Ringling Brothers Circus, Toni Tenille, and Holland America cruise lines. Other performing credits include working with artists such as Tony Bennett, Claudio Roditi, Wayne Bergeron, the New York Voices, Conrad Herwig, Brian Lynch, Donald Harrison, Byron Stripling, Phil Wilson, Wycliff Gordon, Ronie Cuber, Frank Wess, Bob Mintzer, Harry Allen, Herb Pomeroy, Richie Cole, Dick Johnson, the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, the Benny Goodman Orchestra, Aaron Neville, Roberta Flack, and the Temptations.

Saxophonist/Composer/Educator Dr. Tim O’Dell of Brunswick teaches studio jazz and classical saxophone, Introduction to Jazz, Music Appreciation and History and coaches chamber ensembles at the University of Southern Maine. O'Dell holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa (1999), a Master of Music degree with Honors in Jazz Studies from the New England Conservatory of Music (1992) and a Bachelor of Music degree with Honors in Saxophone Performance with a Jazz Emphasis from the University of Iowa (1990). At Iowa Tim studied saxophone with Ronald Tyree and Paul Scea and composition with Donald Martin Jenni. At NEC he studied composition with Jimmy Giuffre, William Thomas McKinley and George Russell and saxophone with Kenneth Radnofsky and George Garzone. Dr. O’Dell moved to Maine in 2001 from the Chicago scene where he performed at such premier venues as the Jazz Showcase, the Chicago Cultural Center and the Hot House with some of the city's finest musicians and recently released his third album as a leader for Chicago's Southport record label. As a Southport recording artist, O'Dell has received glowing national acclaim (see Reviews) and his recordings have been broadcast on radio stations around the world. His 2005 Ancient Pines CD, featuring Tim’s composing and improvising with Chicago musicians Tatsu Aoki and Ryan Shultz, has been widely acclaimed critically as was Tim’s 2001 Southport release, Before My Life, which features ten of O'Dell's diverse compositions for jazz sextet. In 1998, he was the saxophonist on the popular Southport CD, Finally Elijah, featuring vocalist Elijah Levi and in that year Tim also released Live in Iowa City with the Chicago-based Red Fire Ant Trio. Dr. O'Dell's latest Southport CD, Dreams of Pangaea, an entire album devoted to Tim’s large jazz ensemble compositions, was released in 2009.

The late Joseph Packales, Ph. D. composer, received his education at The Eastman School of Music, Cleveland State University, and Kent State University. He served on the faculties of Skidmore College, Belknap College, and Cleveland State University and was, from 1984-1999, Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at The University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Packales fulfilled commissions from such artists and organizations as The Fox Trio, Christiane Edinger, The Figaro Trio, The Ohio Arts Council, The Presidential Orchestra of Turkey, The Columbus Symphony Orchestra, The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and The El Paso Symphony Orchestra. He was twice been nominated for The Pulitzer Prize, and received numerous other awards and honors. Dr. Packales passed away in September 2008. He is deeply missed by the USM School of Music community.

Daniel Sonenberg of Portland is a composer, performer and scholar, and has led composition studies at USM since 2004. His music has been presented by the Da Capo Chamber Players, Friends and Enemies of New Music, the Momenta String Quartet, the Season String Quartet, the New York Singing Teachers Association, Washington Musica Viva, the Florida State University Festival of New Music, the American Composers Alliance, The Hudson Valley Philharmonic, The Woodstock Chamber Orchestra and many others. Portions of his opera, The Summer King, based on the life of Negro League baseball player Josh Gibson, have been presented by American Opera Projects, the Manhattan School of Music, as part of New York City Opera’s Vox and Friends festival at Symphony Space, at the University of Southern Maine, and most recently at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. A recent workshop of the opera in Brooklyn was the subject of a back-page feature in the Wall Street Journal. The Summer King is scheduled to receive its first complete performance at Fairfield University in the summer of 2010. Dr. Sonenberg is a founding member of the New York-based composers collective South Oxford Six, who have presented concerts of new music at various locations in New York City and in Serbia and will conduct their third annual composition seminar in Sombor, Serbia in July 2009. He has received grants and fellowships from Meet The Composer, the New York State Music Fund, The Corporation of Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He has also gained national and international recognition for his scholarly work on singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, and is currently completing a book on that subject for the University of Michigan Press. Dr. Sonenberg holds a BA from Bard College, an MA from Queens College, and a DMA from the City University of New York, and his principal teachers have included Joan Tower, Daron Hagen and David Del Tredici.

Those needing special accommodations to participate fully in this program,
contact Emmanuelle Chaulet at 780-5146.
Hearing impaired: call USM's telex / TDD number 780-5646

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