Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble: In the Shadows

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Friday / December 9, 2022 / 8:00 p.m.

Boston Conservatory Theater

31 Hemenway Street, Floor 2

Boston

02115

United States

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Darkness and shadows have long fueled the imagination of artists, whether creating for the stage, screen, canvas, or text. Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble presents a concert of profound and cinematic works through which the composers explore the journey from darkness into light, featuring Johan DeMeij's award-winning 1988 symphonic interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

Program Information

Repertoire

ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK: Out of the Depths (1974)

KEVIN KRUMENAUER: Shadowlight (2018)

Ben Laham (B.M. '25, composition), piano

—INTERMISSION—

JOHAN DE MEIJ: Symphony No. 1, Lord of the Rings (1987)
I. Gandalf (The Wizard)
II. Lothlorien (The Elvenwood)
III. Gollum (Sméagol)
IV. Journey in the Dark
V. Hobbits

Program Notes

ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK: Out of the Depths (1974)

Out of the Depths traces a life cycle, from its spark of inception through a long ascent to a powerful climax and then a decline into peaceful resolution and silence. The actual sound of the music suggests—as does the title—something rather darker. The opening dwells on barely audible sounds, including slowly built-up clusters of sustained pitches and brief flashes of percussion. The piece gains momentum gradually in a series of slow rises and falls, culminating in music of considerable ferocity.

Compositionally, Out of the Depths is largely based on just two melodic ideas. The first, played by the piccolo at the beginning of the piece, consists of an ascending motif of three notes. This rising figure is reprised powerfully at the music's climax. The second idea appears about 3:20 into the piece, when low woodwinds introduce a longer, downward-contoured melody, repeated in the bass and then played by clarinets and saxophones. This melody reappears several times, often as the bass line within a progression of dark chords. The richly dissonant harmonies and the massive effects created by overlapping blocks of instruments create a sense of glacially slow but inexorable movement.

—Adolphus Hailstork, composer

KEVIN KRUMENAUER: Shadowlight (2018)

The title refers to the seeming duality of existence. There is light, there is darkness, but there is also light beyond the veil. Shadowlight refers to this idea, that though the person may be gone from our everyday, immediate access, they are not gone completely. There is still light beyond the veil that separates the living from the dead and that, though we mourn the passing, we celebrate the life and the joy of the person. So this piece has become in a sense a double memorial, to the lives of those we lose too soon and to the memory of all that they have left behind in this world; that we can still see and grasp and know the daily evidence that they were here and that we are the better for it.

—Kevin Krumenauer, composer

JOHAN DE MEIJ: Symphony No. 1, Lord of the Rings (1987)

Johan de Meij’s first symphony, The Lord of the Rings, is based on the trilogy of that name by J.R.R. Tolkien. This book has fascinated many millions of readers since its publication in 1955. The symphony consists of five separate movements, each illustrating a personage or an important episode from the book.

—Johan de Meij, composer

Ensemble

PICCOLO
Dayna Dengler, B.M. '26*
Megan McCafferty, B.M. '23^

FLUTE
Logan Haley, B.M. '24, Principal*
Krystalis Sotomayo Matos, M.M. '24, Principal^
Aaron Dore, B.M. '25*
Aliesha Phillips, M.M. '22^
Chawon Kim, B.M. '26*
Olivia Tabb, B.M. '26*
Jessica Lynch, M.M. '22^
Chenmeng Li, B.M. '23^

OBOE
Christian Paniagua, B.M. '23, Principal
Christian Arroyo Castillo, M.M. '23, English Horn

CLARINET
Cheng Lin Yang, M.M. '23, Principal^
Ning- Chieh Tsai, M.M. '23, Principal
Rose Lao, B.M. '24, Principal^
Katelyn Rapini, M.M. '23, E-flat Clarinet
Annika Pollock, B.M. '25*
Yuzhe Wu, M.M. '23^
Andrew Lee, B.M. '26
Alainna Pack, B.M. '25
Daniel Meza, M.M. '23
Lesly Chavez, B.M. '26*
Maxwell Reed, B.M. '24^
Simon Choi, B.M. '25, Bass Clarinet

BASSOON
Lizzie Sylves, B.M. '25, Principal
Lizi Huang, B.M. '23
Carson Saponaro, B.M. '26, Contrabassoon

SAXOPHONE
Ana Diaz Asensio, M.M. '24, Principal, Soprano Saxophone
Wan Yi Tien, M.M. '23, Principal, Alto Saxophone
Emily Weaver, B.M. '23, Baritone Saxophone
David Stevens~

HORN
Jack Krugman, B.M. '23, Principal
Nick Ocha, B.M. '22, Principal
Connor Strauss, B.M. '25
Amber Dai, M.M. '24
Cameron McCarty, B.M. '25

TRUMPET
Matthew Dao, M.M. '24, Principal*
Robert Adams , M.M. '22, Principal^
Max Ignas~
Matt Nishida~
Jason Huffman~

TROMBONE
Gillian Kearney, B.M. '22, Principal
Jack Armstrong, M.M. '24, Principal
Brooke Thompson, B.M. '26
Sean McCarty~
Lauren Galarraga, B.M. '24

TUBA
Ben Pilon, B.M. '24, Principal

PERCUSSION
Davis Nickles, M.M. '23
Yueyang Shi, B.M. '23
Xingyue Xue, B.M. '23
Ritvik Yaparpalvi, B.M. '25
Jin Cho, B.M. '26
Mingrui Wang, B.M. '26
Jialu Du, B.M. '26

PIANO
Ben Laham, B.M. '25

BASS
Justin Phillips, B.M. '24

*First concert half
^Second concert half
~Guest artist

Concert Services Staff

Senior Manager of Concert Services – Luis Herrera
Concert Production Coordinator – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Senior Manager of Performance Technology – Wes Fowler
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov

Boston Conservatory thanks audience members for viewing this program information online. This paperless program saved 200 sheets of paper, 21 gallons of water, and 18 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.