Friday, November 10, 2017 • 8:00 p.m.

Ensemble 20+ Michael Lewanski, conductor

DePaul Concert Hall 800 West Belden Avenue • Friday, November 10, 2017 • 8:00 p.m. DePaul Concert Hall Ensemble 20+ Michael Lewanski, conductor

Program

James Behlmann (b. 1989) Wedge (2017) (world premiere performance)

Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012) Climbing Frame (2004)

Seung-Won Oh (b. 1969) Aphonic Dialogue (2014)

Alexander Ellsworth, Jessica Aszodi, soprano Ensemble 20+ • November 10, 2017

Program Notes James Behlmann Wedge Duration: 12 minutes Wedge (noun) - a piece of a substance (such as wood or iron) that tapers to a thin edge and is used for splitting wood and rocks, raising heavy bodies, or for tightening by being driven into something.

This piece uses the concept of a wedge in two ways: Firstly, through the process of accumulation, whereby musical elements are treated in an expanding way, e.g., through the addition of instruments, the expanding of registral space, an increase in intensity, etc. This accumulation process happens three times throughout the piece, each time terminated by a refrain. Secondly, through the driving apart of initially integrated material, where certain elements are split into multiple sub units, creating new material which is then treated independently. This driving apart process is used to derive all material in the piece from the English horn melody heard at the beginning.

Note by James Behlmann

Jonathan Harvey (1939 - 2012) Climbing Frame (2004) Duration: Indeterminate Jonathan Harvey’s Climbing Frame was commissioned by CoMA (Contemporary Music for All) a British organization founded in 1993 “to create a repertoire of contemporary music accessible to amateur players and to establish regional ensembles throughout the UK.” In its 2+ decades, it has been astonishingly successful, having built up “a unique collection of more than a thousand works, used by colleges, schools and outreach programmes as well as by CoMA and other ensembles. CoMA’s commissioned works have featured prominently in the British Awards.” Indeed, its most prominent commissions—originally intended for amateurs—have been taken up major professional ensembles. Climbing Frame has been played by Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble MusikFabrik, and the , among others.

The piece is a highly structured improvisations with the following performance notes:

The conductor should begin the piece with 2 low instruments a semitone apart. After their high notes, the other instruments enter at varying intervals. Allow the quick high notes to ‘trigger’ the low long Ensemble 20+ • November 10, 2017 Program Notes notes. Everybody is free till page 2, when the conductor signals and beats the SOLO. At the conclusion of the SOLO, the conductor signs the tutti players to cease their low fast figures, and play the crescendo, pause etc. with the beat to the end.

It is a carefully worked out mix of determinate and indeterminate elements. The SOLO section uses traditional notes-and-rhythms notation; it is an angular melody, but surrounded by indeterminate murmuring. The opening specifies two low instruments, specifies that they should start a semitone apart, and that other instruments should enter a “semitone or tone or minor 3rd higher”; but it doesn’t specify actual pitches. Thus is controls a harmonic character, and a general upwards shape, but lets the performs compose some of the pitch material on the spot—hence both “Climbing” and Frame.”

Note by Michael Lewanski

Seung-Won Oh (b. 1969) Aphonic Dialogue Duration: 16 minutes When thinking of two soloists – cello and voice- during my lowest point of personal turmoil in 2014, I simply had to address the pains of being trapped in stagnant, incomprehensible communication; regardless of whether the exchanged words and sentences are logical or not, to me, the whole conversations become completely useless if the listeners do not put their attention to hear each other and make an effort to understand the meaning, and catch the message from each other.

In Aphonic Dialogue, metaphorically I took the noise-oriented (and dissonant) sounds as incomprehensible communication and the pitch oriented (diatonic) sound as comprehensible one.

The ugly cello sounds and the fragmented vocal sounds in theatrical nature gradually move away from it. By the end of the composition the path of these sounds finally reaches at absolutely diatonic music. In between these two contrasting states, the cello stirs up percussive dialogues with wind, brass and strings in the orchestra while the percussions, harp and co-exist with the hint of diatonic melody. The voice attempts to sing in the mid way but the lyrics do not make any sense at all; these non-logical sentences are the rework of the Ensemble 20+ • November 10, 2017 Program Notes shuffled words within and from the lyrics that we hear at the end. The music continues to change and eventually shift to a bold, skin crawling diatonic music at the end. The voice finally becomes a singer to serenade one long melody; “When she woke in the woods and the cold of the night, she reached out and touched a spear of blue moonlight.” The cello at the very end recalls the moments of incomprehension and chaos in the past but in a beautifully transformed random harmonics sounds.

Whether the cello and voice come to a mutually understanding state or not is completely open. By the time I was close to completing the composition, it was no longer important for me to resolve the issue of communication. Aphonic Dialogue is dedicated to my dear friend Doris Hochscheid. Asko| Schönberg ensemble premiered Aphonic Dialogue during the International Cello Biennäle in the Netherlands in 2014.

Note by Seung-Won Oh Ensemble 20+ • November 10, 2017 Program Notes Biographies Conductor, educator, and writer Michael Lewanski is a champion of contemporary music and older repertoire alike. His work seeks to create deeper and more engaged connections between audiences, musicians, and the music that is part of their culture and history. He has been on the faculty of the DePaul University School of Music since 2007, where he conducts the Concert Orchestra, Ensemble 20+ (20th century and contemporary music), and works frequently with other ensembles. He is conductor of Ensemble Dal Niente, a Chicago-based new music group.

Michael has guest-conducted Lyric Opera of Chicago, chamber ensembles from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Civic Youth Orchestra, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Fifth House Ensemble, and many others. He has led over 100 world premieres. He was the Conducting Assistant for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2010 to 2014. At the 2012 Darmstadt Summer Courses, Ensemble Dal Niente won the prestigious Kranichstein Music Prize under his direction. Michael has an extensive discography as both a conductor and a producer.

A native of Savannah, Georgia, he studied piano and ; he made his conducting debut at age 13, leading his own composition. At 16, he was the youngest student ever accepted into the conducting class of the legendary Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Michael subsequently attended Yale University. His post-Yale education featured conducting study with Cliff Colnot and Lucas Vis.

Michael’s schedule for the 2016-2017 concert season includes concerts with DePaul School of Music Ensembles, local and national concerts with Ensemble Dal Niente (the Ear Taxi Festival, a California tour, a return to June in Buffalo), guest conducting engagements throughout the US, recording projects, various festival appearances, and academic presentations and conferences. Ensemble 20+ • November 10, 2017 Text

Aphonic Dialogue

The cold of moonlight and the blue in the dark night woke a woods she touched when she reached in and out of the spear.

When out-touched the blue of a cold spear when the dark of the woods and the night woke moonlight and she reached in, in.

When in the cold, the dark woods reached, she and moonlight work the night of a spear in and out-she of the touched blue.

When the dark in the cold of a night woke and the blue reached in and touched of the woods, she spear, she moonlight out.

When she woke in the cold and the dark of the night she reached out and touched a spear of blue moonlight. Ensemble 20+ • November 10, 2017 Personnel

Flute Piano Jill DeGroot Casey Dahl Phillip Rapa Carl Colvin Violin Megan Henson English Horn Alexandra Kagan Carl Colvin Sofie Yang

Clarinet Jesse Bruer Jonathan Walters Roy Cho Jia Zeng Ian Marino Julian Rymer Cello Michelle Dodson Bass Emily Munn-Wood Michael Ippolito Bass Bassoon Micah Stoddard Nick Ritter Librarian Horn Jill DeGroot Jacob Nelson Ensemble Assistant Riley Leitch Mark Hale Adam Shohet *Guest

Trombone Riley Leitch

Tuba Akshat Jain

Percussion Christian Hughes Geroge Tantchev

Harp Ben Melsky* Gifts of every amount make an important impact on the next generation of musicians and support the mission of the School of Music.

Make your gift today by visiting alumni.depaul.edu/givetomusic

For more information, please contact: Stephanie Carper, Director of Development Office of Advancement, DePaul University 1 East Jackson Boulevard Chicago, IL 60604-2287 (312) 362-7135 • [email protected] Ensemble 20+ • November 10, 2017

Upcoming Events Saturday, November 11 • 3:00 p.m. Concert Hall Brass Ensemble Concert

Saturday, November 11 • 3:00 p.m. Student Center (Lincoln Park) Jazz Ensemble

Saturday, November 11 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Wind Ensemble

Sunday, November 12 • 3:00 p.m. Concert Hall DePaul Chamber Choir and Baroque Ensemble

Sunday, November 12 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall String Chamber Showcase II

Monday, November 13 • 7:00 p.m. Recital Hall Jazz Combos IV

Monday, November 13 • 8:00 p.m. Concert Hall Composer Forum

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