Indian Prairie School District #204 serves nearly 29,000 students at 33 schools in Aurora, Bolingbrook, Naperville and Plainfield. Metea Valley High

School, located in Aurora, is the newest of three high schools, offering students a wide array of curricular and co-curricular experiences.

Metea Valley High School Fine Arts Department

The Metea Valley High School Fine Arts Department prepares students to be lifelong patrons and practitioners of the arts by fostering creativity,

promoting critical thinking and increasing aesthetic awareness.

www.meteamusic.org

Metea Valley High School administration: Principal: Dr. Darrell Echols | Assistant Principals: Dr. Quynh Harvey, Laura James-Schrader & Kimberly Maloney

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

To the Officers and Membership of the Illinois Music Educators Association:The educators of Indian Prairie School District (IPSD) 204 of Naperville, Illinois are ecstatic to showcase the Metea Valley High School (MVHS) Wind Ensemble at this year’s ILMEA Music Education Conference. We would like to offer our sincerest congratulations to the MVHS Wind Ensemble on this amazing, educational accom-plishment, particularly as our wind students embody our school wide motto of LIFE. You make us very proud through your daily commitment to learning, collaborative team work as an ensemble, and continual reach for excellence in all that you do as young musicians and Mustangs.

We would also like to acknowledge Directors Donald Devany, Josh Kaminsky, and Glen Schneider for their passion, leadership and dedication that has led our students to this wonderful opportunity. To the ILMEA audience of music educators, administrators, parents, and students: we are confident that you will enjoy listening to the beautiful music created by our Wind Ensemble as they perform today. We are personally moved each time we hear them create music – enjoy!

The entire Indian Prairie School District 204 community would like to simultaneously recognize and applaud the outstanding Music Education Program that has been established by the music faculty at Metea Valley High School. Our students are exposed to rich musical experiences daily because our passionate teachers implement and model cutting-edge pedagogy in the classrooms. Our students’ overwhelming participation in music - roughly 900 yearly - is a clear indication of our stellar Fine Arts Program. This is a testament to our students, families, teachers, and community; music is certainly an essential part of the Educational Program in Indian Prairie School District 204.

We are grateful to the Illinois Music Educators Association for the special invitation to perform at today’s conference. Thank you to our parents and families who continually support our music students as they pursue their passion. On behalf of our talented music students and dedicated teachers, we thank you for this humbling opportunity for our students to showcase their passion for music. Go, Go Mustangs!

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the MVHS administration,

Dr. Quynh HarveyAssistant Principal for Instruction

“They had different talents, different interests and different sounds. But they found a process of working together where their differences stimulated each other to create something they wouldn’t have come up with individually.”- Sir Ken Robinson, The Element

Dear Illinois Music Education Conference Participants: Representing 33 schools and serving over 28,000 students from four Chicago suburban communities, the music faculty of Indian Prairie School District 204 is grateful for the opportunity to share the musical skills and artistic designs of the Metea Valley High School Wind Ensemble with the music educators and music industry representatives attending the 2016 All-State Music Education Conference.

It is with great pride that I extend my congratulations to Maestros Donald Devany, Joshua Kaminsky and Glen Schneider, and all of the Metea Valley H.S. music educators for fostering a learning environment where students repeatedly experience the essence of the art form by achieving excellence in musical performance. It is through such efforts that young musicians have an opportunity such as this to showcase their talents, skills, knowledge, and most importantly their passion for music-making.

The District 204 music education faculty is indebted to the Illinois Music Education Association Board of Directors for providing our students and our colleagues with an enduring musical memory. It is also an honor to share the stage with the Eastern Illinois University Wind Symphony.

Excellence in music teaching begins with a long range vision of each student as a skilled, literate, and independently creative musician. Through the sharing of their individual intellectual, technical, and emotional faculties, Metea Valley students and conductors strive to think-like-a-composer in a joint effort to imaginatively draw on what they see and hear in order to realize for an audience and themselves something that did not exist just moments before – Music!

The repertoire for this concert embodies the goal of merging the creative vision of a master composer from a different age or culture with the musical intelligence, critical listening and thinking skills, life experiences, collaborative capabilities, and imagination of a modern day student. I hope that you will thoroughly enjoy their “symphony” of musical ideas.

Respectfully,

William JastrowCoordinator for Music Education

Saisei FanfareBrett William Dietz

(b 1972)

Nabucco Overture Giuseppe Verdi

(1813 - 1901)trans. Lucien Cailliet

Handel in the Strand Percy Grainger

(1882 - 1961)arr. Richard Franko Goldman

Armenian Dances, Part I Alfred Reed(1921 - 2005)

Saisei FanfareBrett William Dietz, Associate Professor of Percussion at Louisiana State University, composed Saisei Fanfare for Wind Ensemble (2011) to commemorate the first concert of newly appointed conductor Donald McKinney with the Louisiana State University Wind Ensemble. Saisei is Japanese for “rebirth,” as the fanfare heralds in a new era in one of the nation’s leading programs.

Nabucco OvertureGiuseppe Verdi’s first major operatic success appeared in the wake of the most difficult time in the composer’s life. In 1838 and 1839, Verdi and his young wife Margherita lost both of their infant children in quick succession (a sadly common circumstance at the time). Tragically, Margherita fell ill and died in the summer of 1840. Then, in September 1840, Verdi’s second opera, Un giorno di regno, was a complete disaster, closing after only one performance. Deeply depressed, the composer was understandably ready to give up on music altogether. But Bartolomeo Merelli, who ran the famed Milan opera house, La Scala, prevailed upon Verdi to write one more opera. The result was Nabucco, an instant commercial and critical triumph upon its premiere in 1842.

Nabucco retells the biblical story of the slavery and eventual exile of the Jews under the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. In spite of the dark story, the score is full of memorable melodies. One of the most popular is the Act III chorus, “Va pensiero,” in which the Hebrew slaves sing wistfully of their lost homeland. Over the course of the 19th century, the tune came to be a popular anthem of the Italian Risorgimento, the political movement that pushed out foreign powers and unified the Italian pen-insula as a single kingdom.

Like most of Verdi’s opera overtures, Nabucco is a potpourri of themes, most of which reappear in the opera. After a stately introduction in the brass and a more sinister transition, Verdi spins a gentle variation on “Va pensiero,” heard first in the oboe and clarinet playing in octaves. In the faster music that follows, the overture juxtaposes different themes associated with the Hebrew slaves and with their Babylonian captors, neatly foreshadowing the opera’s central conflict.

Handel in the StrandPercy Grainger was a piano prodigy turned composer who was known for his strange personal habits, his colorful prose, and his equally unusual music – his many admirers today still recognize that he possessed “the supreme virtue of never being dull.” Born

PROGRAM NOTESPROGRAM

Since the opening of the school in 2009, the music program has quickly built a strong sense of traditions and musical excellence. The music department has been recognized as a GRAMMY Signature School Finalist every year since 2011 and acknowledged by the National Association of Music Merchants as one of the Best Communities for Music Education in America every year since 2012.

Students have the option of participating in one of six curricular bands, six curricular orchestras, and six curricular choirs, including Concert Band, Concert Winds, Symphonic Band, Symphonic Winds, Wind Symphony, Wind Ensemble, Concert Or-chestra, Concert Strings, Symphonic Orchestra, Symphonic Strings, Chamber Orches-tra, Chamber Strings, Cecillian Singers, Bass Chorus, Concert Choir, Treble Singers, Varsity Singers, Varsity Chamber Singers, Introduction to Music Theory, and AP Music Theory. Co-Curricular groups at the school include United Voices (world music choir for any student at Metea Valley), two Vocal Jazz Ensembles, Musical Theater Expe-rience Ensemble, Madrigal Singers, Mustang Strings (alternative string ensemble), Cello Choir, Metea Valley Symphony Orchestra, Marching Band, Pep Band, four Jazz Ensembles, two Jazz Combos, Percussion Ensembles, Chamber Ensembles, Recorder Consort, two Steel Drum Bands, and Spring Musical Pit Orchestra. Over 270 of these students participate in the school’s very active Tri-M Music Honor Society.

The music department employs eight music educators, a full-time accompanist, and two adjunct faculty members. There are also sixteen private lesson teachers that give lessons at the high school after school hours. The music education faculty members are actively involved in several state and national music education initiatives and repeatedly elected to serve as representatives in professional organizations. Students enrolled in Wind Ensemble perform in year-long chamber ensembles and with the Chamber Strings orchestra. Seniors may take the course as an honors credit. Many of the students in the Wind Ensemble perform with the Chicago Youth Sympho-ny, Elgin Youth Symphony, DuPage Youth Symphony, and Midwest Young Artists. All students in the ensemble take private lessons, learn the ILMEA audition music, and participate in the District 204 Solo and Ensemble Festival. The ensemble performs at four curricular concerts during the school year. The Wind Ensemble also performs at the District 204 Organizational Festival.

During the past three years, the Wind Ensemble has performed at the prestigious University of Illinois Superstate Concert Band Festival, Western Illinois University Showcase of Bands, and Symphony Center in Chicago. The Wind Ensemble has also served as a demonstration ensemble at the 2014 Illinois Music Educators Conference and 2015 Midwest Clinic.

in Australia, he began studying piano at an early age. He came to the U.S. at the outbreak of World War I and enlisted as an Army bandsman, becoming an American citizen in 1918. He went on to explore the frontiers of music with his idiosyncrat-ic folk song settings, his lifelong advocacy for the saxophone, and his Free Music Machines which predated electronic synthesizers. His many masterworks for winds include Lincolnshire Posy, Irish Tune from County Derry, and Molly on the Shore.

Handel in the Strand is one of Grainger’s early light orchestral pieces written in 1911, before he enlisted in the US Army during World War I. Grainger had no trouble allowing other musicians to arrange his music to suit their needs, so Handel in the Strand has existed in several different versions. After its original massed piano and string orchestra setting came versions for full orchestra, piano, organ, trombone choir, and two different settings for band (Goldman and Sousa). Grainger gives an amusing anecdote on its origin:

My title was originally “Clog Dance.” But my dear friend William Air Rathbone (to whom the piece is dedicated) suggested the title “Handel in the Strand,” because the music seemed to reflect both Handel and English musical comedy [the “Strand” – a street in London – is the home of London musical comedy] as if jovial old Handel were careering down the Strand to the strains of modern English popular music.

Armenian DancesArmenian Dances is an extended Symphonic Rhapsody based on five Armenian folk songs from the collected works of Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935), the found-er of Armenian classical music. While the composer has kept his treatment of the melodies within the general limits imposed on the music by its very nature, he has not hesitated to expand the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic possibilities in keep-ing with the demands of a symphonic-instrumental, as opposed to an individual vo-cal or choral approach to its performance. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the overall effect of the music will be found to remain true in spirit to the work of this brilliant composer-musicologist, who almost single-handedly preserved and gave to the world a treasure trove of beautiful folk music that to this day has not yet become as widely known in the Western world as it so richly deserves.

Part I of Armenian Dances was completed in the summer of 1972 and first performed by Dr. Harry Begian (to whom the work is dedicated) and the University of Illinois Symphonic Band on January 10, 1973 at the CBDNA Convention in Urbana, Illinois.

Program Note Sources: Brett William Dietz | Troy Peters and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra |Handel in the Strand orchestral version from the Kennedy Center | Alfred Music

MUSIC DEPARTMENT

PiccoloSarah Roque FluteKavya AnjurCatherine GoebelAshvini Kartik-NarayanAlexandra RisingSarah Roque OboeMarin FisherShawn Park

English HornMarin Fisher BassoonAdithya Sundar Elise Titiner Contra BassoonElise Titiner

ClarinetJordan BrosiusDaniel DresserMelanie PrakashKristal ScottKate VelazquezJeffrey Willhauck Bass ClarinetSarnath Chari Contra Alto ClarinetDaniel Dresser

Soprano SaxophoneGrace Jachimiec Alto Saxophone Andrew KimGrace Jachimiec Tenor SaxophoneJason Kwon Bari Saxophone Jeffrey Drilling TrumpetAlice KabiraTori KloppSarah KolakArpan LahaDavid O’Neill

French HornMichelle BakerRebecca CalderonMatthew CaputoKellen Moore

TromboneKevin KnoxDaniel McGarelQiyuan Zhou EuphoniumDaniel Obendorf TubaDaniel DrakeChristopher Kaste

String BassChris Glenn PercussionKalpa AnjurCaleb ScottNick GreenburgSimon MarguliesGabby SindacJarek Svoboda PianoEmily Hensley

METEA VALLEY WIND ENSEMBLE

Don DevanyFine Arts Chair, Winds & Percussion Faculty

Mr. Don Devany is the Fine Arts Department Chair and proudly serves the Art and Music programs. Mr. Devany teaches curricular bands including Wind Ensemble and Honors Wind Ensemble as well as directs the Musical Theater Orchestra, Jazz Band and Jazz Lab Band. Prior to teaching at Metea Val-ley, Mr. Devany taught music at Neuqua Valley High School, Glenbard East High School, Waubonsie Valley High School and Charleston High School. Mr. Devany received his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Eastern Illinois University, Master’s in Music Education from Northwestern University and Educational Leadership Certificate from Auro-ra University. Mr. Devany has been a guest clinician at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, Music Educators National Conference, Illinois Music Educators Association and the College Band Directors National Association Conference. Mr. Deva-ny has received the National Band Association Citation of Excellence for his contribu-tions to music education and wind band performance. He also received the Chicago-land Outstanding Music Educator Award in 2013, was selected to represent Illinois in “50 Directors Who Make a Difference” by School Band and Orchestra Magazine and has been recognized as a Most Influential Educator by the Indian Prairie Educational Foun-dation. He currently serves on the board for ArtSpeaks 204, the Indian Prairie School District 204 Music Articulation Committee, and has served as a band representative for the Illinois Music Educators Association District IX. Mr. Devany lives in Aurora with his wife Melinda and their “future Mustangs” Ethan, Anna and Liam.

Glen SchneiderWinds & Percussion Faculty

Mr. Glen Schneider teaches Wind Symphony, Concert Winds and Percussion classes. He also directs the MV Symphony Orchestra, Marching Mustangs, Pep Band and Jazz Orchestra. He is an adjunct instructor at VanderCook College of Music, where he teaches sev-eral graduate level courses. Mr. Schneider previously taught band at Neuqua Valley High School and Os-wego High School, and he taught General Music and 5th Grade band in the Fox Chapel Area School Dis-trict in Pittsburgh. His education includes a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Duquesne Uni-versity, a Master of Music Education from VanderCook College of Music and a Master of Arts in Educational Technology from Concordia University. Mr. Schneider is a guest conductor across the region and has presented clinic sessions for the Illinois Music Education Conference, Illinois Percussive Arts Society and has published articles for the Music Educator’s Journal, Teaching Music Magazine, and writes a column for School Band and Orchestra Magazine. He has served in positions for the Fox Valley Music Festival, ILMEA District IX, VanderCook College Alumni Board, ARTSpeaks 204 and the NAMM Foundation Music Achievement Council. He is a member of Phi Beta Mu and the Vic Firth Education Team. He has received the National Band Association Citation of Excellence, and the TeachHUB “Making A Difference” Award. Mr. Schneider lives in Oswego with his wife Ashlee and their children Corinne, Caleb, Calvin, Clara and Cole.

Josh KaminskyWinds & Percussion Faculty

Mr. Josh Kaminsky earned his Bachelor of Science in Music Education Degree from Elmhurst College and received his Masters in Music Education at Vander-Cook College of Music. Mr. Kaminsky is in his 9th year of teaching in District 204. Prior to his time at Metea, Mr. Kaminsky taught at Crone Middle School, Scullen Middle School and Still Middle School. Mr. Kaminsky served as co-chair for ILMEA Junior Jazz District IX and has been a guest clinician at ILMEA District IV and IX junior jazz festivals. Mr. Kaminsky is a mem-ber of the National Association for Music Education and the Illinois Music Educators Association. Mr. Ka-minsky lives in Oswego with his wife Nicole and their children Hailey and Lucas.

MUSIC FACULTYMelinda Arnold, Accompanist

Paulette Boddy, Choir Director

Nathan Bramstedt, Choir Director

Don Devany, Band Director & Fine Arts Chair

Claire Fenton, Band & Orchestra Director

Josh Kaminsky, Band Director

Mark Liu, Orchestra Director

Robin Sackschewsky, Orchestra Director

Glen Schneider, Band Director

PRIVATE LESSON FACULTYFlute Kathleen BremerOboe Lisa Larsen, Tricia WlazloBassoon Gerik Fon-RevutzkyClarinet Laurie BeardSaxophone Eric GoluszkaTrumpet Ryan Hobbs, Tom TaitHorn Dan O’ConnellTrombone Chelsea FrenchEuphonium Chelsea French, Josh BiereTuba Josh BierePercussion Brandon RunyonViolin/Viola Mark DjordjevicViolin/Viola Dorothy ShawCello Holly StanglandString Bass Doug NestlerVoice Marie Groh, Michelle Areyzaga, Nicholas Pulikowski

2014-15 WIND ENSEMBLE SENIORSFlute Abigail Ehrler, Avik LahaClarinet Michelle Moy, Michael Turner-SmithBass Clarinet Tapan DangarwalaAlto Saxophone Niveda Kumar, Katie MerrickTrumpet Nick Lowe, Noah WagnerFrench Horn Karthik Achar, Spencer Calhoun, Rebecca ClewettTrombone Samantha Clements, Anushri Kartik-NarayanEuphonium James PovilonisTuba Enzo NagaoPercussion Nicholaus Dettmer

PARTNERSPaul Ramsaier, Quinlan and Fabish Music Company

IPSD 204 GENERAL/CHORAL MUSICBrookdale Anthony Pape, Kaitlin YiBrooks Cara Knutson, Kathy MunoBuilta Mary SchmitzClow Ryan Henry, Shelley May-HutchisonCowlishaw Cristina WagonerFry Ryan Henry, Mary SchmitzGeorgetown Andrea BurckGombert Shelley May-HutchisonGraham Kari RothmeyerKendall Rachel Luhn, Anne KasprzakLongwood Kaitlin YiMay Watts Danielle DonaldsonMcCarty Jeanette BrooksOwen Sue BoozellPatterson Sue Boozell, Kari RothmeyerPeterson Jamie Erlenbaugh, Rachel LuhnSpring Brook Adam DuymSteck Kathy MunoWelch Kim KesslerWhite Eagle Adam Duym, Jamie ErlenbaughYoung Claire Fenton, Anthony PapeCrone Middle School Sharon Lenning, Michael SillarFischer Middle School Allison Rider, Veronica Roman-MeyerGranger Middle School Maureen McCoyGregory Middle School Kelly Dimidik, David PfenningerHill Middle School Ron KorbitzScullen Middle School Michael Ferguson, Graham HeiseStill Middle School Mary WhitneyMetea Valley High School Melinda Arnold, Paulette Boddy, Nathan BramstedtNeuqua Valley High School Jay Kellner, J. Ryan Rimington, Reid SpearsWaubonsie Valley High School Beth Best, Nicole DiGrazia, Seth Durbin

IPSD 204 INSTRUMENTAL MUSICCrone Middle School & Elementary Feeders Katie Brown, Regina Kazda, EJ Roberts, Brad Pfeil, John Timmins, Megan ZalokarFischer Middle School & Elementary Feeders Caitlynne Burgess, Bethany Lugay, Beth Myers, Claire Fenton, Allison RiderGranger Middle School & Elementary Feeders Jason Dyhouse, Dawn Pakkebier, Anneke Miers, David PakkebierGregory Middle School & Elementary Feeders Kelly Dimidik, Lori Lauff, Stephanie Lein, Chris Niesluchowksi, Melissa SchwolowHill Middle School & Elementary Feeders Sarah Friederich, Megan LoPresto, Heidi Rogers, Loretta ValentinScullen Middle School & Elementary Feeders Graham Heise, Laura Patterson, Doug Ruhs, Jessica Savage, Matthew WhiteStill Middle School & Elementary Feeders Anthony DiGiacomo, Chris Niesluchowski, Doug Ruhs, Megan ZalokarMetea Valley High School Band Don Devany, Claire Fenton, Josh Kaminsky, Glen SchneiderMetea Valley High School Orchestra Claire Fenton, Mark Liu, Robin SackschewskyNeuqua Valley High School Band Emily Binder, Corinne Jones, Jonathan Lauff, Andrew Seidel Neuqua Valley High School Orchestra Kevan Kosobayashi, Brad Pfeil, Greg SchwaeglerWaubonsie Valley High School Band Kevin Carroll, Chris Dandeles, Mark DukerWaubonsie Valley High School Orchestra John William Burck, Daryl Silberman

INDIAN PRAIRIE SCHOOL DISTRICT 204

Superintendent Dr. Karen Sullivan

Assistant Superintendent, Elementary Laura Johnston

Assistant Superintendent, Middle Schools Brad Hillman

Assistant Superintendent, High Schools Dr. Louis Lee

District 204 Music Education Coordinator William Jastrow

SPECIAL THANKS