I L L I N O I S W E S L E Y A N U N I V E R S I T Y S C H O O L O F M U S I C

W E S T B R O O K A U D I T O R I U M , P R E S S E R H A L L

Sey Ahn, Conductor

Brad Regier, Conductor

F R I D A Y , O C T O B E R 9 , 2 0 2 0 7 : 3 0 P M

Presents

Wind Ensemble &Symphonic Winds

H O M E C O M I N G C O N C E R T

IWU Wind Ensemble

Winner of the 2016-17 American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble, the Illinois

Wesleyan Wind Ensemble was founded in 1979 and is comprised of the top wind

and percussion students at the university who perform the finest wind band

literature. The ensemble has worked with and sponsored commissions from

Pulitzer Prize winning composers such as William Bolcom, John Corigliano,

Karel Husa, Jennifer Higdon, Michael Schelle, and Joseph Schwantner. In

addition, the Ensemble has also had the opportunity to work with the renowned

Dutch composer Louis Andreissen.

The IWU Wind Ensemble annual Solo Competition allows student winners to

perform as a soloist with the Ensemble. The Ensemble performs several concerts

throughout the year and tours regularly. The group has appeared at the College

Band Directors National Association Conference and the Illinois Music Educators

Association Conference.

IWU Symphonic Winds

Symphonic Winds is a concert band open to anyone on campus. It is mainly made

up of non-music majors with a few music majors participating. The ensemble is

a traditional concert band with set instrumentation, which performs large

ensemble works and is specifically focused on providing members with a variety

of quality repertoire, unique/untraditional repertoire, and non-traditional

collaborations. Concerts for the Symphonic Winds are held on campus at a variety

of venues and usually in tandem with other ensembles in the School of Music.

The ensemble is specifically geared to serve non-music majors who want to enjoy

playing and improve their skills, and music education students on secondary

instruments who wish to become familiar with more repertoire and other

instruments than their primary. Symphonic Winds is open to both music majors

and non-majors by audition

Sey Ahn

A 2015 fellow of the American Academy of Conducting

at the Aspen Music Festival, Sey Ahn is currently the

Director of Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble at

Illinois Wesleyan University. Ahn has served as the Guest

Conductor in Residence at Diamond Bar High School for

over ten years, whose Symphony Orchestra has won

numerous national accolades. Ahn is a frequent Evaluator

and Clinician at the annual Music for All Festival held in

Indianapolis. She has also been the Assistant Conductor

of the Music for All Honor Orchestra of America since

2012. Ahn previously held the position of Music Director

and Professor of Conducting at the University of

California Santa Barbara. Ahn has worked extensively with young musicians in

many youth orchestras around the country. She has been invited as a guest

conductor of All-State Festivals in states such as Missouri, Louisiana, Kansas,

Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Tennessee, Iowa, and Kentucky. Ahn

has led orchestral performances in Walt Disney Concert Hall and Royce Hall in

Los Angeles, Benedict Music Tent in Aspen, Hilbert Theater in Indianapolis and

Alice Tully Hall in New York.

Sey Ahn earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from

Northwestern University, where she studied piano with Alan Chow and James

Giles, and started her conducting studies with Victor Yampolsky. She earned two

Master of Music degrees, in piano and orchestral conducting, from the University

of Southern California, where she studied piano with Norman Krieger, and

conducting with Larry Livingston, She earned a Doctorate in orchestral

conducting at the University of Kentucky, where she studied with John Nardolillo,

and served as Assistant Conductor to the University of Kentucky Symphony

Orchestra and University of Kentucky Opera Theatre.

Brad Regier

Bradley J. Regier is Assistant Professor of Music

Education at Illinois Wesleyan University. At IWU, he

teaches courses in music education, supervises student

teachers, conducts the Symphonic Winds, and provides

oversight to the music education program. Previously he

taught instrumental and general music courses in Chase

County, Kansas and Cairo, Egypt, and continues to clinic

bands and percussion ensembles throughout the

Midwest.

An active music education researcher, Dr. Regier has been selected to present at

state, national, and international conferences including the International Society

for Music Education Conference in Helsinki, Finland (2020), the National

Association for Music Education National Conference in Kissimmee, Florida

(2020), and the Symposium for Music Teacher Education in Greensboro, North

Carolina (2019). His research interests include music teacher self-efficacy,

instrumental teaching strategies, and preservice teacher preparation. He is

published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, International Journal

of Music Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, Update: Applications

of Research in Music Education, Missouri Journal of Research in Music

Education, and the Missouri School Music Magazine. Beginning in the fall of

2020, Dr. Regier will serve on the editorial board of Contributions of Music

Education.

Dr. Regier received degrees in music education from the University of Missouri-

Columbia (PhD), the University of Oklahoma (MME), and Kansas State

University (BME).

Program

Fantasia in G Major Johann Sebastian Bach

(1685-1750)

Southwestern Brass Ken Friedrich

(b. 1965)

First Suite in Eb for Military Band Gustav Holst

Op. 28, No. 1 (1874-1934)

Finale from Symphony in F Minor, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

No. 4 (1840-1893)

Program Notes

Fantasia in G Major Johann Sebastian Bach

The great G Major Fantasia for organ was composed between 1703-

1707 during Bach’s residence in Arnstadt. It was here, at the beginning of his

career, that his music was found by the Consistory to be too full of “wonderful

variations and foreign tones.” Certainly, the Fantasia is strikingly dissonant in its

constant texture of suspensions, but the breadth of the five-part polyphonic

writing and the richness of the harmonic sonority make the Fantasia one of the

grandest of all Bach’s compositions for organ. It is also one that lends itself most

perfectly to the sound and sonorities of the modern wind band.

This transcription by Richard Franko Goldman and Robert L. Leist was

undertaken as a memorial to Edwin Franko Goldman, who was the first

bandmaster to include the works of Bach regularly in the band’s concert

repertoire, and who did so much to introduce the music of this great master to

wide popular audiences. In the transcription, an attempt is made to recapture the

sound of the Baroque organ through the medium of the modern band. The first

performance of this transcription was given by the Goldman Band, Richard

Franko Goldman conducting, on July 1, 1957.

(Note by Richard Franko Goldman and Roobert L. Leist, edited by Meghan

Griffin)

Duration: 6.5 minutes

First Suite in Eb for Military Band Gustav Holst

Holst wrote the First Suite in E-flat for Military Band as early as 1909,

but it was not premiered until 1920. The music of the three movements is founded

on the same short motive: the first three notes of the piece. The opening Chaconne

draws a wealth of variety from each repetition of the theme, which is repeated

sixteen times by various instruments and in a variety of styles and moods. The

second movement, Intermezzo, is a sparkling scherzo and is based on a variation

of the rising three-note motive that began the Chaconne. This movement begins

in a lively style with an accompaniment of persistent staccato eighth notes. It has

a contrasting, more lyrical section and ends with a combination of both themes.

The final March follows the traditional pattern of military band marches but is

entirely characteristic of Holst. The principal theme is also based on the opening

intervals of the first movement. The suite ends with a return of the opening theme

with fragments from the second movement in a majestic coda.

(Note by Brook Humfeld, Anthony M. Messina and Nicholas P. Waldron, edited

by Meghan Griffin)

Duration: 10.5 minutes

Finale from Symphony in F Minor, No. 4 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky completed Symphony No. 4 on January 7, 1878. The

premiere took place in Moscow on February 22, 1878, under Nikolai Rubinstein’s

direction. Tchaikovsky dedicated the Symphony to his patroness, Nadezhda von

Meck, whom the composer described as “my best friend.” And, in a letter to von

Meck, Tchaikovsky divulged the meaning of his fourth symphony.

The fourth movement. If you find no cause for joy in yourself, look to

others. Go amongst the common people and see now they know how to enjoy

themselves, abandoning themselves completely to feelings of joy. Picture of a

peasant celebration on a holiday. But scarcely have you managed to forget

yourself and be distracted by the sight of other people’s pleasures than inexorable

Fate appears once more and reminds you of its existence. Tchaikovsky portrays

the “peasant celebration” by quoting a popular Russian folk song, “The Little

Birch Tree,” sung by the winds after the Finale’s brief, raucous introduction.

Later, the celebration is interrupted by the return of the “Fate” motif that launched

the Symphony’s first movement.

(Note by Ken Meltzer, edited by Meghan Griffin)

Duration: 9 minutes

Personnel

PICCOLO

Ivette Enriquez

FLUTE

Megan Frederick

Lauren Johnson

Clarissa King

Leah Matlin

Nicki Purpura

Valeria Viteri-Pflucker

OBOE

Annika Altekruse

CLARINET

Kevin Pankam

Braylee Parry

Colby Powers

BASSOON

Kate McHugh

HORN

Claire Umeki

TRUMPET

Alex Huebner

Ryan Mack

Kade Murray

Amanda Scheller

James Stein

EUPHONIUM

Leanna Horton

Maren Torri

TROMBONE

Hailey Bond

Jakobe Rabor

Lena Smith

Matthew Sweeney

TUBA

Tom Cassidy

Mathew Janiak

Ben Knupp

Dylan Propheter

Joel Reedy

PERCUSSION

Star Commanday

Jonah Klima

DOUBLE BASS

Meghan Griffin

Tuba & Euphonium Ensemble

Personnel

EUPHONIUM

Mathew Fritch

Leanna Horton

Seth Lambert

Lindsey Ring

Maren Torri

TUBA

Tom Cassidy

Mathew Janiak

Ben Knupp

Dylan Propheter

Joel Reedy

Upcoming Concerts and Recitals October

10 Faculty Showcase Recital; 3:00; virtual

11 Faculty Showcase Recital; 1:00pm; virtual

22 General Recital; 4:00pm; virtual

23 Illinois Wesleyan Symphony Orchestra Concert; 7:30pm; virtual

25 Student Composition Concert; 7:30pm; virtual

November

6 Wind Ensemble & Symphonic Winds Concert; 7:30pm; virtual

12 General Recital; 4:00pm; virtual

13 Fall Choral Concert; 7:30pm; virtual

Link to performances available at

www.iwu.edu/music/events

Thank you for joining us for this performance!

Ensemble Staff Meghan Griffin, Librarian

IWU Wind Ensemble

@iwuwindensemble

@iwuwindensemble

For more information about the IWU Wind Ensemble, email windens@iwu.edu.

S C H O O L O F M U S I C