The Los Angeles Chapter of the National Association of Composers, U.S.A. presents THE ACE TRIO Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 5 pm Cypress Recital Hall California State University Northridge in Cypress Recital Hall

Program

Etesian: Wind Trio No. 1 (2019) David Raiklen II. Lyrical

Dog Tales (2014) Adrienne Albert Three Dog Night Artful Dodger Muff & Steff

Morning Birds: Serenade for Kava (2018) Carla Bartlett

Three Studies in Amplitude and Frequency, Opus 32 (2019) S. J. Bostrom-Aguado #1 “Change of Momentum” #3 “Speed of Sound”

Paris Café ’62 (2019) Michael Glenn Williams

Trio for Flute, Clarinet and Piano (2019) Deborah Kavasch I. “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God” II. “He Who Dwells, in the Shadow” III. “My Soul is in Anguish” IV. “Praise the Lord”

Northwest Sketches II (1982) Greg A. Steinke for Flute, Clarinet and Piano III. Dream: “Night Meadows and Missionaries” Young Joseph of the Nez Perce IV. Finale: Lewis and Clark Return: Reflections for the Future!?

Patterns in the Sky (2019) Matthew Hetz Cheshire Street Trio (2018) Jeannie Gayle Pool I. Hollyhocks II. Dusk III. Serenade

Please join us for a reception immediately following the concert.

Program Notes

Etesian is an exploration of the melodic and textural worlds of a Wind Trio, with an emphasis on lyricism. The title comes from the refreshing Aegean breezes. The movement heard today is the second one, “Lyrical.” which is marked lyrical and flowing and brings together two contrasting melodies. They are shared between the flute and clarinet equally, plus harmonizing. The texture begins minimally then grows richer as the expression intensifies. The ending gently evaporates on the wind.—David Raiklen

Dog Tales: When I was commissioned to compose a new work for Palisades Virtuosi, a fine East Coast flute, clarinet, and piano trio, I was told that the theme of the concert was "Music Borne out of Adversity." Another holocaust piece, I thought? Or maybe something to do with Ebola? Oh no. Too depressing. How was I to know that, at that exact time, my rescue dog, Dodger, would run away from a friend's home miles from where we live. Frightened and trying to find his way back home, he ended up even further away. Good fortune smiled down upon us! A kind and generous dog lover found him and held him in his car until we made our way to pick up this tired animal who was totally dehydrated and exhausted from running miles to who-knows- where. As Tennessee Williams said "the kindness of strangers" was, in this case, what saved my precious dog. To the homeless lady who held him, to my friend who drove me to him, and to the man who kept him safe in his car, I forever thank them, wherever they are.

Each movement of "Dog Tales" has a story. The first movement, "Three Dog Night" refers to my dog-sitting for neighbors who have two dogs and go away frequently on long trips. One can only imagine what ensues during those long nights at my house trying to take care of three dogs. Hence, the irregular time signatures and the overlapping motifs. The second movement, "The Artful Dodger" is a tone poem to my dear dog who "artfully" managed to "dodge" the traffic and possible horrible outcomes on his journey. The last movement, "Mutt & Steff", is a short and, I think, humorous homage to a chihuahua (think small dog=piccolo) and a great dane (bass clarinet) who try to figure out how to get along and live together.—Adrienne Albert Morning Birds: Serenade for Kava (2018) was composed in the last months of the life of Kava, my parrot companion for 27 years. Her soulful spirit seemed to infuse the piece as I wrote it. I The tranquility and beauty of bird flight is represented by soaring flute and clarinet passages, the piano adding cheerful chatter—Carla Bartlett Change of Momentum and Speed of Sound are the first and third movements from “Three Studies in Amplitude and Frequency, Opus 32” written for flute, clarinet and piano. These three compositions started as an investigation into the basic understanding of what is the basic definition of sound and its physical qualities relating to music. Beyond music’s fundamental definition of pitch and duration, working with a trio of clarinet, flute and piano, the consideration of the combined timbre becomes one of prime concern within each of these compositions. “Change of Momentum” is a study of changing and altering tempos and rhythms and testing how three separate performers can stop, hesitate and proceed….they must think as one. “Speed of Sound”, with its distinctive Spanish dance rhythms and contrapuntal textures, is a race to its conclusion. All that is lacking is a set of castanets or the aggressive pounding of hard- heeled shoes clicking in the background. But alas, this is for a trio not a quartet with percussion. You as my listener will have to furnish the additional visages.—S. J. Bostrom- Aguado

Paris Café ’62 (2019): As a piano student at CSUN playing both classical and jazz, I was inspired by the trios of Claude Bolling, elegantly blending jazz harmonies and classical sensibilities. More recently, a resurgence of crossover / fusion is happening through Nikolai Kapustin's jazz piano etudes. This Trio, which follows in this same genre, originally came to life with different instrumentation, for the violist and conductor Richard Rintoul, who passed away suddenly before performing the work. Tonight is the premiere with the current instrumentation.— Michael Glenn Williams

Trio for Flute, Clarinet and Piano (2019) by Deborah Kavasch is a four-movement work adapted from an 8-movement trio for violin, clarinet and piano that was written for the New Archive Trio. The four contrasting movements are based on the first, fourth, sixth and eighth movements of the original trio. “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God” (Psalm 19:1-4). The piano opens the cycle with bell-like melodic fragments based on the Lydian mode as the unisons of the flute and clarinet move to contrapuntal statements and answers, culminating in a joyful cacophony of contrasting and accelerating rhythms. “He Who Dwells, in the Shadow” (Psalm 91:1) sustains a quiet, peaceful mood in contrast to the preceding, energetic movement. The artificial scale that was derived from text relationships in the psalm provides the basis for both melodic and harmonic structures. The clarinet carries the primary melody with the flute echoing fragments with muted phrases. “My Soul is in Anguish” (Psalm 6:3-8). The slow, lyrical opening and closing sections of this movement are characterized by a theme of anguish, with a middle section of running eighth notes adding an excitement that contrasts with the poignancy of unresolved sorrow. “Praise the Lord” (Psalm 150). The final movement develops the opening Lydian piano motive quickly and joyously through a variety of changing meters and instrumental combinations in constant contrapuntal juxtapositions that move away from and finally return to the tonality of D.—Deborah Kavasch Northwest Sketches II is a continuation of a series of chamber pieces (already written and/or projected) which represent, for the composer, musical excursions into the Northwest’s history, geography and ethnology as preparation for a larger ensemble work to be written in the near future, which will concern itself with a philosophical position about the Northwest and its peoples — primarily those whom the present populace have either absorbed, or in the past destroyed. What form, or even the ultimate conclusions to be drawn are still in a formative state, so in this interim period, the Northwest Sketches I et al represent short excursions to explore the Northwestern milieu, as the composer currently perceives it, via musical abstractions. The present work is freely conceived, being through-composed and based on a cyclic, five-part approach to the form; no “system” as such is used, and the composer has felt free to draw upon whatever compositional resources suitable for his purpose. There is a use of fives, an important numerology in the lives of Native Americans, which permeates the work not only in the form and some rhythms, but also to some extent in the conception of the harmonic structure. In general, this set of “sketches” concerns the great promise the Northwest held for future whites (via the Lewis and Clark explorations) but also the grave implications it was to have for Native Americans. These movements represent “abstractions” of the person or idea entitled, but they are in no way intended to be programs or literal representations of the titles. They should be enjoyed as is but with reflections upon the implications suggested.—Greg A. Steinke Patterns in the Sky: We humans have been looking at the day and night skies since before recorded history. Some believe that we evolved into cultures by observing repeating patterns in the sky, such as the sun rise and sun set, and the stars’ constellations reappearing each year. The movements of the planets and moon stimulated thoughts on the movements in the sky, leading to sciences and the occult. For eons our observations were from the Earth, but with the advent of space satellites our observations of the universe has been dramatically expanded, and instead of only looking at clouds in the sky from the ground, through satellite imagery we can watch clouds and weather patterns from above. Through these sciences we are able to observe, and predict, the threats of climate change and global warming from man-made carbon gases. My “Patterns in the Sky” for Flute, Clarinet and Piano tries to reflect these repeated patterns in the sky, and sound an alarm on the threats from climate change and global warming.—Matthew Hetz

Cheshire Street Trio (2018) is a light, summery suite of pieces that depict my memories of my paternal grandparents’ house in the 1950s. Forced by imminent domain from their farm in the early 1940s for a federal dam project, they moved for the first time into a city, Delaware, Ohio, where they created an extraordinary and abundant garden of flowers, vegetables, and fruit trees, for their large extended family. It was an urban oasis in the neighborhood and a wonderland for the grandchildren, I among them. When the dam was finally constructed their farmland had not been used and it was resold to a large agri-business, causing the family much distress. Most of their children and grandchildren later became urban gardeners. —Jeannie Gayle Pool

COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES Award-winning composer Adrienne Albert (ASCAP) has had her chamber, choral, vocal, orchestral and wind band works performed throughout the U.S.,and across the globe. Having previously worked as a singer with composers , , , and among many others, Albert began composing her own music in the 1990s. Her music has been supported by noteworthy arts organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, , Meet The Composer/Rockefeller Foundation, Subito Awards, MPE Fraternity, MPE Foundation, ACME, and ASCAP. Recent commissions include works for The Cornell University Chorus, Harvard-Westlake School, Holyoke Civic Symphony, Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation, Palisades Virtuosi, Zinkali Trio, Pennsylvania Academy of Music, Chamber Music Palisades, Pacific Serenades as well as private individuals. A graduate of UCLA, Albert studied composition privately with Stephen Mosko, and orchestration with Albert Harris. Her music has been recorded on MSR, Naxos, Navona, Parma, Centaur, Little Piper, Albany, and ABC Records and is published by Kenter Canyon Music (ASCAP). Her music is self-published by Kenter Canyon Music (ASCAP) and can also be found through Theodore Front Musical Literature, Falls House Press, FluteWorld, and Trevco-Varner Music. For more information, please visit: www.adriennealbert.com. Carla K. Bartlett (ASCAP) is a composer, teacher, and pianist. She majored in music at California State University, Northridge, studying piano with Eleanor Russell and Carol Rosenberger, composition with Daniel Kessner, and conducting with David Whitwell. At CSUN, she wrote incidental music for theatrical productions and segued into composing soundtracks for short films and animation projects. After earning a Ph.D. in Education at Claremont Graduate University, Carla served as professor at Mount St. Mary’s College where she taught for many years. She taught instrumental music in middle and high school for over 20 years. In 2007, the Los Angeles Music Center acknowledged Carla’s outstanding teaching by granting her its prestigious Bravo Award. Her music is available from Truluckmusic.com. Sandra Bostrom-Aguado (ASCAP), resident of Los Angeles, taught piano/keyboard skills, song-writing, music in films and technology at California State University, Northridge. She presently owns Angel Publishing House which publishes sacred and secular choral, instrumental, solo music, and teaching materials for musicians. She is well known for composing music utilizing Hispanic rhythms recalling her family background and life. She has composed over 300 choral and instrumental works that are performed in numerous venues. She has written scores for motion pictures, educational films, commercials and 24 educational books and CDs on teaching keyboard skills. Presently her latest project has been composing sets of variations for solo organ, and duets for piano and organ based upon well-known hymns. The set of variations now number 56 and the organ-pianos duets now number about 60 and are being performed weekly. Her publishers include Lawson-Gould, Choristers Guild, Valiant Educational Products and Gehrmans Musikforlag. She and her company, Angel Publishing House are members of ASCAP and she is presently listed in the Who's Who in Music.

Matthew Hetz (ASCAP) is a contemporary California composer. A native of Los Angeles native, I began piano lessons at age sixteen, and then began playing the violin at age twenty-three. I consider myself a some-time piano and violin player. I studied composition with former NACUSA President Marshall Bialovsky at Cal State Dominguez Hills, from which I graduated Cum Laude with a Minor in Communications. My works have been performed throughout Los Angeles and nationwide. I am particularly grateful for the performances of my works through NACUSA. These concerts have been at the home of Deon Price; Hollywood Piano Company-Burbank; Steinway Piano Gallery-Beverly Hills; Cal State Dominguez Hills; and the Brand Library in Glendale. At some of those concerts I performed my own solo piano works. I am an instructor at Emeritus/Santa Monica College. I am deeply involved in the positions of president/executive director of the Culver City Symphony Orchestra/Marina del Rey Symphony, and I play in the 2nd Violin Section of the orchestras. I consider myself an environmental and mass transit advocate.

Deborah Kavasch (BMI) composer, soprano, and specialist in extended vocal techniques, has received grants and residencies in composition and performance and was a 1987 Fulbright Senior Scholar to Stockholm. She has had works commissioned and performed in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom and China, and has appeared in concert in major international music centers and festivals. Her compositional output features much solo and solo vocal chamber music as well as choral works, instrumental solo and chamber music, and wind ensemble and orchestral compositions. She frequently presents on new music and women in music conferences and festivals, has premiered over 75 new works, and has been described as a “multifaceted, multi-timbral vocalist” with “articulate radiance” (Los Angeles Times) and “astonishing range and agility” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Her compositions have been described as “electrifying” (Synapse), “splendidly diabolical” (ILWC Journal), and “virtuosic sound picture” (Bremen Weser Kurier). Kavasch is distributed by Fish Creek Music and recorded on Lovely Records, Composers Recordings, Inc., Cambria Recordings, Troppe Note Classical and Soundset Recordings. Kavasch holds degrees in German and Music Theory/Composition from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, and the Ph.D. in Music from the University of California at San Diego. She was Chair of the California State University, Stanislaus, Department of Music from 2006-2016 and continues to serve as Coordinator of Music Theory/Composition. Jeannie Gayle Pool (ASCAP) Her compositions for orchestra and chamber ensembles have been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, India, and China. She composes for documentary films and shorts including a new score for the Mary Pickford silent film, The Dream (1911) and the score for her documentary film, Peggy Gilbert and Her All-Girl Band (2007), narrated by Lily Tomlin. She produced the restoration of the original score for Wings (1927) for Paramount’s 100th anniversary release on DVD in 2012 (the soundtrack is on the LaLaLand label). She produces LP, CD, and cassette recordings for Cambria Records, an independent label in California that specializes in contemporary American music. She worked as a music consultant and archivist at Paramount Pictures (until 2012) and was the Executive Director of the Society for the Preservation of Film Music from (until 2002). Dr. Pool lectures frequently on women in music and film music history/preservation. A published author, her five books on music are available through Amazon. Her firm, Music Legacy Services, works with film and television studios, composers and composers’ estates to prepare scores, audio, and personal papers for placement in library special collections.

David Raiklen (ASCAP): composer-producer-host. David was mentored by Oscar winner and Pulitzer Prize winner Mel Powel. Dr. Raiklen studied at USC and CalArts and later taught at those universities. He has worked for the major studios including Sony, Fox, Disney, Sprint, Mattel, Warner Bros and PBS, plus many independent productions. His projects have starred Elliott Gould, Doug Jones, Blythe Danner, and Martin Sheen. David made the New York Film Critics Top Ten with the documentary Heist, the short list for an Academy Award® for Worth, and Mia, A Dancer's Journey won the Emmy. David Raiklen compositions have been performed at the Hollywood Bowl and Disney Hall. He is also host of a successful radio program, Classical Fan Club, where guests include Yo-Yo Ma and John Williams; and is host and leader of The Academy of Scoring Arts seminars. David is currently producing and composing for Space Command, a series of epic adventures set in a hopeful future and producing Virtual Reality experiences.

Greg A Steinke (ASCAP) is retired, former Joseph Naumes Endowed Chair of Music/Art and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon; Associate Director, Ernest Bloch Music Festival (‘93–97) and Director, Composers Symposium (‘90– 97) (Newport, OR); served as the National Chairman of the Society of Composers, Inc. (1988–97). Composer of chamber and symphonic music and author with published/recorded works and performances across the U. S. and internationally; speaker on interdisciplinary arts, and oboist specializing in contemporary music. Dr. Steinke is the current national president of NACUSA and also serves on the NACUSA Cascadia Chapter Board.

Michael Glenn Williams (BMI) composes for solo piano, chamber ensembles, choir and solo voice. Works for orchestra include New West Overture, Rising Stars Overture, Oceanic Overture, Tarantella for piano and orchestra, composed for pianist Sean Chen; Princess Concerto for piano, narrator and orchestra; and The Gates of Hell a series of tone poems based on the Rodin sculptures. Williams catalogue for solo piano is extensive, with over twenty suites. Williams also composed for movies including King of the Hill, The Limey, Younger and Younger, The House of Yes, Wonderland and Wicker Park. He also composed cues and performed piano for the TV series Chicago Hope. Stuart Isacoff of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “Indeed, for this composer, who has been called ‘the American Prokofiev,’ color, sound and character are essential elements. His Oceanic Overture…was nominated for the American Prize in Orchestral Composition…a composer with a wide imagination—and a commitment to reach out to a wide audience.”

ABOUT THE ACE TRIO:

Featuring Shannon Canchola on flute, Ryan Glass on clarinet, and Jason Stoll on piano, the ACE TRIO embraces music by contemporary composers, promoting the newest voices of their art. With degrees earned from the Juilliard School, California State University Northridge, Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory, Cal Arts, and University of Redlands, ACE Trio has participated in a multitude of recital series including the Wrightwood Classical Concert Series, Music by the Sea Encinitas, The Interludes in Torrance, the Newport Beach Public Library Sunday Musicales, the Brand Associates Music Series, the St. Matthew’s United Methodist Concert Series, and the Pasadena City College Guest Artist Series.

With a unique instrumentation, the trio is devoted to bringing a fresh sound, new perspective and new understanding to the contemporary music world. Coined a “Musical Tour de Force” by the Mountaineer Progress Newspaper, ACE Trio is a Los Angeles based classical modern ensemble rapidly distinguishing itself as one of the newest leading groups of its generation. The Trio is a recent winner of the 2018 Beverly Hills National Audition Chamber Ensemble Competition and will be the Music Teachers’ Association of California Performing Guest Artists for their 2019 spring convention in northern California.

NACUSA LOS ANGELES BOARD: Dr. Jeannie Gayle Pool, President; Dr. Richard Derby, Vice President; Dr. Carla Bartlett, Secretary; Dr. Tony Wardzinski, Treasurer. Dr. Katherine Saxon, Publicity Chair, Adrienne Albert, Communications Chair, Dr. Allen Menton, and Dr. Deon Nielsen Price, Advisor.

About NACUSA Los Angeles: “We engage our community through the creation, performance, and promotion of contemporary musical art, while providing resources and opportunities to Southern California composers and performers. We are an educational, nonprofit organization with 501c3 status. We provide free concerts of contemporary music in the greater Southern California area. Donations are gratefully accepted. Please visit us on facebook.com at NACUSA LA.

Many thanks to the Music Department of California State University, Northridge, The Ace Trio, and individual donors to NACUSA-LA.