Arizona Lutheran Academy COMMENCEMENT CONCERT

May 25, 2018 | 7:00 PM

COMMENCEMENT CONCERT 2018

A CAPPELLA CHOIR Another Day of Sun Music by Jusn Hurwitz Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Jusn Paul Arr. Jacob Narverud Notes from the composer: (This) was a really tricky number. It has to introduce us to the world, and it does so in such a complicated way. You’re meeng all these characters in rapid‐fire succession, and you’re never going to see them again. So you have to get their stories very quickly and then move on. It needs to be a fast, joyous song on a lot of fronts—but it also has to have melancholy in it, because of what these characters are singing about. They’re all these dreamers who have moved to L.A. for one reason or another: to make it in the film business, or the music business, or something else creave. And none of them are doing what they want to be doing yet. It’s an opmisc song, but it’s also about unfulfilled dreams. The structure is basically "I came here, this is what I want to do, and I’m not doing it. But I’m glad I’m in L.A., and tomorrow’s another day of sun!"

WELCOME

CONCERT BAND Featuring Senior Benjamin Althoff, clarinet, and 8th grade students Gabriel’s Oboe Ennio Morricone Arr. Robert Longfield

Born in Rome in 1928, Ennio Morricone was taught several instruments as a child by his father, and as a young man played the trumpet with jazz bands throughout the 1940’s. He achieved worldwide fame in 1966 for his iconic score to the film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Morricone has since become one of the most versale and influenal composers of the modern era. He is the prolific creator of over 500 scores for film as well as for television and has composed well over 100 classical works. “Gabriel’s Oboe” was composed as the main theme of the 1986 film The Mission. The story concerns a Jesuit Priest, Father Gabriel, who is trying to found a mission in the new world. In order to befriend the naves who are stalking him from the forest, Father Gabriel plays the theme on his oboe, and the tribesman respond to this new, lovely, and haunng sound by approaching and finally offering their friendship.

Enchanted Spaces Samuel R. Hazo

A sparkling, full ensemble entrance gives way to musical painngs of vast spaces and natural beauty. The ebb and flow between grand sounds and lush charm provide contrast and complement each other. “Enchanted Spaces” depicts the majesty and quaintness of the mountains, rivers, culture and cityscape of this unique town. Jim Fritz, the commissioner of “Enchanted Spaces,” wrote the following: “The community of Decorah, Iowa, lies in the Oneota Valley with the Upper Iowa River running through it. American Indians lived there first, but immigrant Norwegian farmers were aracted to the rich farmland while the towering bluffs reminded them of ords back home. Today Decorah is home to farmers and arsts. This eclecc blend of residents has fostered a ferle home for music and the arts. It is truly an ‘Enchanted Space’ in which to live!”

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OUTSTANDING 8th GRADE INSTRUMENTALIST Edison Sonntag, alto saxophone Badine Arr. Henry W. Davis

FRESHMAN CHOIR Can’t Buy Me Love (Medley of Hits by the Beatles) Choral Arr. Audrey Snyder Ins. Arr. Paul Murtha

“Here Comes the Sun”: George Harrison wrote this in Eric Clapton's garden using one of Clapton's acousc guitars. There, while wandering around the garden with one of Eric's guitars, the sun came out for the first me that spring. Seeing it as a good omen, Harrison wrote "Here Comes the Sun" on the spot.

“In My Life”: Rolling Stone has given this song the #23 slot on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” It appeared on the Rubber Soul album (1965). The song’s original lyrics evidently consisted of a list of stops onLennon’s Liverpool bus route. Lennon found that “ridiculous” and so he reworked the words to capture more of an overall meditaon on his earlier life. The bridge was wrien by producer George Marn, with the request from Lennon to make “something Baroque‐sounding.” The Bach‐like piece was intricate enough that Marn couldn’t actually play it at the tempo of the song that the Beatles had already laid down, so he recorded it at half speed on a piano and dropped it into the song at double‐speed, which both transposed the piano up an octave and made it sound more like a harpsichord.

“Can’t Buy Me Love”: "‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ is my aempt to write [in] a bluesy mode," McCartney said. He wrote it while the band was doing concerts in Paris for 18 days straight, two or three shows a day. The single was released a few months later, at the height of Beatlemania. When it hit number one, the band occupied all five top posions on the American charts.

PIANO SOLO ‐ Olivia Meyer, freshman You Raise Me Up Arr. Lori Line

A CAPPELLA CHOIR And So It Goes Words and Music by Billy Joel Arr. Bob Chilco

The closing song on Storm Front is the heart‐breaking ballad "And So It Goes." The song is about a doomed relaonship or imminent break‐up. Billy Joel originally wrote it in 1983 when he was briefly dang model Elle McPherson. He has said that he knew the relaonship was not going to last because of various career and professional commitments that each had. It was not released on 1983's An Innocent Man, however, since it did not fit into the retro style of that album (one wonders why it was not put on 1986's The Bridge). The words and emoons are so raw, you can hear his heart cry ("every me I've held the rose, it seems I only felt the thorns" and "I would choose to be with you, that's if the choice were mine to make"). He is at his most vulnerable and open. He is openly telling her that "you can have this heart to break." And she did.

OUTSTANDING 8th GRADE PIANIST Elena Brauer, piano Rocktata Michael Valen

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CONCERT CHOIR You Are the New Day Words and Music by John David Arr. Peter Knight

“You Are the New Day” was composed by mul‐talented Welsh rock musician John David. Born in Cardiff in 1946, David started his life as a musician at 14, playing drums in his father’s band. He has subsequently performed many roles throughout his career: playing bass with the Dave Edmonds Band, performing and wring songs for the group Airwaves, among others, and funconing as engineer/producer for a list of hit songs by important arsts. “You Are the New Day” is a secular song. David wrote it for Airwaves in 1978 during a me when personal difficules and threats to world peace caused him to look for hope within himself. In John David’s own words: “The inspiraon for ‘New Day’ was quite simple; I had just had a major blow in my personal life and was sing alone late at night on the seee feeling very low and watching an ominous story on the news about the very real possibility of nuclear war. I started singing to the (hopefully) soon‐to arrive ‘New Day’ like it was an enty that would rescue me from the depths. If the sun came up and the birds started singing as usual, then I could believe that it really was the new day in which life would go on and in which hope would survive. The tune and the words popped into my head at the same me, and it was all wrien in about 10 minutes, which is why (to me at least) it’s not perfect. But I didn’t feel I had the right to change anything.”

City of Stars Music by Jusn Hurwitz Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Jusn Paul Arr. Jay Althouse

Hurwitz says, “‘City of Stars’ started at the piano with me just working on demos for Damien, sending him ideas unl something really sparked...We went through a lot of ideas, but I can’t really think of any music I was listening to at the me that I was thinking of when I was wring it. I was just composing it from an emoonal place and thinking about the tone. I would say the tone is hopeful, but melancholy at the same me. And it kind of goes back‐and‐forth between cadencing in major and cadencing in minor, because I think that’s kind of what the song is about. “You have these great moments and then you have these less great moments in life and in Los Angeles and we see it happen in the story. I was thinking about that idea a lile bit and just trying to compose a melody that I thought was shapely and beauful...And then aer it was composed, we handed it off to Pasek and Paul, and that was actually the first lyric they wrote...Pasek and Paul came back with a lyric and they came to my apartment—it was me, Damien, Benj and Jusn—and they just performed this lyric for us. It was a revelaon because we’d been thinking to ourselves, ‘What is this song about?’ We’re not lyricists, Damien and I. We didn’t know. A couple of other lyricists had taken a shot at it, but the song you hear in the movie is, except for maybe a couple of the word changes, exactly what Pasek and Paul came back with. It’s interesng that some of the best things in the movie, some of the most special songs, I think, happened the most effortlessly.”

PIANO SOLO ‐ Olivia Konig, sophomore Bumble Boogie Jack Fina

CONCERT BAND An American Elegy Frank Ticheli

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From the composer: “An American Elegy” is, above all, an expression of hope. It was composed in memory of those who lost their lives at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, and to honor the survivors. It is offered as a tribute to their great strength and courage in the face of a terrible tragedy. I hope the work can also serve as one reminder of how fragile and precious life is and how inmately connected we all are as human beings. I was moved and honored by this commission invitaon, and deeply inspired by the circumstances surrounding it. Rarely has a work revealed itself to me with such powerful speed and clarity. The first eight bars of the main melody came to me fully formed in a dream. Virtually every element of the work was discovered within the span of about two weeks. The remainder of my me was spent refining, developing, and orchestrang. The work begins at the boom of the ensemble's register and ascends gradually to a hearelt cry of hope. The main theme that follows, stated by the horns, reveals a more lyrical, serene side of the piece. A second theme, based on a simple repeated harmonic paern, suggests yet another, more poignant mood. These three moods— hope, serenity, and sadness—become intertwined throughout the work, defining its complex expressive character. A four‐part canon builds to a climacc quotaon of the Columbine Alma Mater. The music recedes, and an offstage trumpeter is heard, suggesng a celesal voice—a heavenly message. The full ensemble returns with a final exalted statement of the main theme.

FAREWELL ‐ MR. PAUL DREWITZ

CONCERT BAND Featuring Senior Benjamin Althoff, clarinet Pie in the Face Polka Henry Mancini Arr. Johnnie Vinson

The Great Race is a 1965 slapsck comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curs, and Natalie Wood, directed by Blake Edwards, wrien by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, and with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan. The movie is noted for one scene that was promoted as "the greatest pie fight ever." The Technicolor pie fight scene in the royal bakery was filmed over five days. The first pastry thrown was part of a large cake decorated for the king's coronaon. Following this was the throwing of 4,000 pies, the most pies ever filmed in a pie fight. The scene lasts four minutes and twenty seconds and cost $200,000 to shoot; $18,000 just for the pastry.

TEN‐MINUTE INTERMISSION

PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE Oye Como Va Arst, Santana Composer, Tito Puente Arr. Diane Downs, Ed. Rick Mangly

Tito Puente: "Oye como va—that means ‘listen to how it goes, come and enjoy it.’ That's what the lyrics mean. It's a cha‐cha, they call it. That's a Cuban rhythm, what was very popular in them days and it sll is. And people dance to that type of music." The catchy tune played well with Lan music fans, but it didn't reach a wider audience unl Carlos Santana introduced it seven years later on Abraxas. This hard‐driving, cranked‐up version of "Oye Como Va" soon became a hit single.

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25th ANNIVERSARY in MINISTRY ‐ MRS. JOAN TIERNEY and MR. DOUG MEYER

A free‐will offering will be gathered during the following performance.

JAZZ BAND Featuring 8th grade students

Feeling Good From The Roar of the Greasepaint ‐ The Smell of the Crowd Words and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley Arr. by Rick Stzel

Wrien by English composers Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint– The Smell of the Crowd. It was first performed on stage in 1964 by Cy Grant on the UK tour and by Gilbert Price in 1965 with the original Broadway cast. Nina Simone recorded "Feeling Good" for her 1965 album I Put a Spell on You. The song has also been covered by Traffic, Michael Bublé, John Coltrane, George Michael, Victory, Eels, Joe Bonamassa, EDEN and the rock band Muse, among others.

Superson Words and Music by Stevie Wonder Arr. Paul Murtha

‘‘Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.” – Stevie Wonder “Superson” was released in 1972, at a me when Stevie Wonder was taking complete arsc control over his music. It was the lead single on Wonder’s 1972 album Talking Book and reached No. 1 in the USA. It is considered a seminal track from what has become known as Wonder’s “classic period.”

DUET ‐ Seniors Sue Cai, piano; Linda Hu, violin Croaan Rhapsody Maksim Mrvica

A CAPPELLA CHOIR i carry your heart with me David C. Dickau Poetry by e.e. cummings

Edward Estlin Cummings, or as he preferred it, e.e. cummings, was born in 1894 in Cambridge, Massachuses. At the me of his death in 1962 he was second only to Robert Frost as the most widely read American poet. His fame may have dimmed compared to Frost’s in the intervening years, but his work is sll widely enjoyed, even if just for the oddness of the way it looks on the page. The Cummings poem “Dickau” as set to music is one every lover would wish to have wrien. The composer paints his music with broad strokes producing a rich harmonic texture all the while maintaining the rhythmic energy through homophony and beauful rhapsodic piano accompaniment.

FAREWELL ‐ MR. MATTHEW SONNTAG

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CONCERT CHOIR The Greatest Show Words and Music by Benj Pasek and Jusn Paul

From the blockbuster movie The Greatest Showman and wrien by Broadway's sizzling hot wring duo Pasek and Paul, “The Greatest Show “celebrates the life of PT Barnum and his creaon, “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

MASS CHOIR and ALUMNI Closing Prayer Don Besig

This song has become the tradional concert closer at ALA.

The Ɵme has come, O Lord, for us to leave this place; Guide us and protect us and lead us in thy grace. Wherever life may take us as we go our separate ways, Help us share with others the things we’ve shared today.

May the peace of God the Father, and the love of Christ, his Son Guide us in the days ahead and strengthen us, each one. May the blessings of the Spirit fill us from within; God bless us and return us to this fellowship once again. Amen.

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Percussion Ensemble for Oye Como Va

BELLS: Olivia Konig, Liza Mizukami GUIRO: Abbey Mueller VIBRAPHONE: Olivia Meyer BONGOS: Hannah Brown

XYLOPHONE: Emily Mullins, Heidy Mueller CONGAS/DJEMBE: Benjamin Meyer, Angel Ortega MARIMBA: Hannah Hartzell, Hailey Pedersen TIMBALES: Luke Kiecker, Ms. Oppermann SHAKER: Madeleine Lee, Sage Durrani DRUM SET: Alex Valenzuela

8th Grade Band Students Trumpet: Joshua Kallies from Grace Lutheran School, Glendale Alto Sax/Bassoon: Edison Sonntag from Grace Lutheran School, Glendale Alto Sax: Rachel Stahmann from Emmanuel Lutheran School, Tempe

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