“Songs of Life” Dr. Edward C. Harris, conductor Layna Chianakas, mezzo-soprano Vivace Youth Chorus, Peggy Spool, artistic director Sunday, March 18, 2018, 3:00 PM McAfee Performing Arts Center, Saratoga, California

Symphonic Jubilee...... Joseph Willcox Jenkins

Southern Harmony...... Donald Grantham I. The Midnight Cry II. Wondrous Love III. Exhilaration IV. The Soldier’s Return

My Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone...... Percy Aldridge Grainger arr. Fred Sturm

River Songs of the South...... William G. Harbison

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Symphony No. 4 (Symphony of Songs)...... Johan de Meij 1. Ein Jahr ist nun geschwunden 2. Wenn zur Thür hinein 3. Wiedersehn 4. Zwei Brüder 5. Vorfrühling 6. Liedchen des Harlekin Layna Chianakas, mezzo-soprano Vivace Youth Chorus, Peggy Spool, artistic director Symphony No. 4 (“Symphony of Songs”): Libretto

1. Ein Jahr ist nun geschwunden (“A Year Has Now Passed”) (from: Nachträge zu den Kindertotenlieder - Friedrich Rückert) A year has now passed, Since you passed away, And like two bleak hours I’m brought back by this period. And had you lived, My sweet child, this year, This period would have floated away Like a bright pair of hours. Now, since I had to see You on the bier, my child, I think about the few years That are granted to man. Whether bleaker or lighter They are only like hours, Whether slower, whether faster Vanishing without a trace. Once I wished a long life To watch you flourish a long time; Now may it quickly float away, Since I saw you pass away. 2. Wenn zur Thur hinein (“When Your Dear Mother”) (from: Kindertotenlieder - Friedrich Rückert) When your dear mother Walks in through the door, With the glowing candle, It feels to me as always, That you would come, Flitting along behind her Just as usual into the room. Am I dreaming or awake, Or do I see weakly By the light dimly? Not you, only a shadow Following after the mother. Always you are, oh, Still the mother’s shadow. When your dear mother Walks in through the door, And I turn my head, To look at her, Upon her face at first My gaze does not fall, Rather at the place, Just past the threshold. There where would be Your sweet little face, Bright with joy, If you were to come in, As usual, my little girl. Oh you, from your father’s world Too quickly Extinguished light of joy!

3. Wiedersehn (“Reunion”) (from: Nachträge zu den Kindertotenlieder - Friedrich Rückert) Your children, here lost, You will see over there, Because what is born from you, You can never lose. That you will see them again, This you can well understand, Even if you also do not understand, How you will see them again. Not as children, or did you want To keep them eternally small? Nothing changed; or were you supposed To be alienated from them? The struggling forms here, There where they are compared, Where one cannot separate man from woman, Are not separated the aged and the child.

4. Zwei Bruder (“The Hostile Brothers”) (from: Romanzen - Heinrich Heine) Up on the summit of the mountain The castle stands shrouded in night; But in the valley, lightning blazes And bright swords clash savagely. It is brothers fencing A grim duel there, enraged with anger. Tell me, why are brothers fighting With sword in hand? Countess Laura’s sparkling eyes Ignited the brothers’ strife: Both smolder, intoxicated with love, For the noble, lovely maid. But to which of the two Does her heart lean? No musing can decide it; So out comes the sword - you shall decide! And they fight on keenly, foolhardily, Blow upon blow cracking down. Beware, you savage swordsmen. Grisly illusion creeps about in the night. Woe! Woe! Bloody brothers! Woe! Woe! Bloody valley! Both fighters fall, Each upon the other’s steel. Many centuries drift past, Graves cover many generations; Mournfully from the heights of the mountain The deserted castle looks down. But at night, in the depths of the valley, Something is moving secretly, wondrously: When the twelfth hour arrives, The pair of brothers are fighting there.

5. Vorfruhling (“Early Spring”) (from: Selected Poems - Hugo von Hofmannstal) The spring wind is gliding Amid boughs that are bare, In his heart are hiding Strange things and rare. His cradle hath swung In sob-shaken air, And oft hath he clung In passion-loosed hair. Acacia blossoms Beneath him snowed, His breath cooled the bosoms That throbbing glowed. Lips in their laughter First he would claim, Soft fields thereafter Woke when he came. The flute he passed through in A sobbing cry, The sunset’s red ruin He swiftly flew by. In silence proceeding Through whispering rooms, And quenched with his speeding The lamps’ yellow blooms. The spring wind is gliding Amid boughs that are bare, In his heart are hiding Strange things and rare. Through the reviving Alleys and meadows His breath is driving Ghostlike shadows. A scent without name He bears in his flight From whence he came Since yester-night.

6. Liedchen des Harlekin (“Little Song of the Harlequin”) Hope, love, doubt, hate, Every pleasure, every pain, These a heart can tolerate Time and time again. But numbness both to pleasure and hurt, To joy as well as agony, This is deadly to the heart; So numb you must not be! You must rise again from the dark, If only to suffer new pain. Live you must, lovely spark of life: Live yet once again!

ABOUT THE ARTISTS Dr. Edward C. Harris was appointed the music and artistic director for the San Jose Wind Symphony in 2002, only the second conductor in the group’s 60-year history. Under his leadership, SJWS has distinguished itself as one of California’s premier concert bands with performances at the 2009 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference, and the California Music Educators Association Conference. Dr. Harris recently retired as the Director of Bands at San José State University. Layna Chianakas is in her eighth year as Associate Professor of Voice, Voice Area Coordinator and Director of Opera Theater at San José State University. Most recently, she performed Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra conducted by David Ramadanoff, La Principessa in Suor Angelica and Zita in Gianni Schicchi with Intermountain Opera in Montana, and directed Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with the San José State Opera Theater. Ms. Chianakas made a role debut of Amneris in Verdi’s Aida with Dayton Opera, made her Carnegie Hall debut with the SJSU Choraliers in April 2015, and directed Carmen for Opera San José. Upcoming engagements include directing Argento’s Postcard from Morocco and Pasatieri’s La Divina for San José State Opera Theater and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia for Opera San José. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Ms. Chianakas moved to Kassel, Germany, where she taught voice and beginning piano with the Musikschule-Ehlen for four years. While in Germany, she attended the Mozarteum Salzburg and studied lieder with some of the foremost coaches in the world. It is there she acquired her fluency in German. She returned to the United States and received a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Illinois. She currently lives in San Jose, CA, with her husband and two children, her greatest productions. Peggy Spool has worked with children’s choruses in the Bay Area for 20 years. She holds a Master’s in Voice from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Certificate in Kodály Music Education from Holy Names University. She is a member of the American Choral Director’s Association, National Teachers of Singing, and Organization of American Kodály Educators. Currently, she serves as the Repertoire and Standards Chair for Children’s and Community Youth Choruses on the California ACDA Board and sits on the board of Silicon Valley Arts Coalition. Vivace Youth Chorus of San Jose, founded in 2003 by Peggy Spool and a group of dedicated parents, is a high-quality choral program for children ages four to eighteen. The core values of the chorus are commitment to choral excellence, regard for each child, kinship among choristers and their families, and respect for the cultures that comprise our diverse community. Youth from throughout the Silicon Valley participate in our 6 choral levels. The chorus offers a program that balances vocal training, music theory, and performances. Upper level choirs take part in choral festivals and tours. All choristers gain exposure to various musical genres, from traditional folk to classical, jazz, and contemporary. The chorus collaborates with area composers and musicians, as well as with other ensembles including San Jose Symphonic Choir, Opera San José and Mission City Opera. In addition to weekly rehearsals at all levels, intensive semester workshops and retreats that feature guest clinicians are provided for the upper levels. Vivace’s program also includes a one-week optional summer choral music camp for younger students, open to members and non-members. Scholarships and family discounts are available to keep the program accessible to families of all means.

PROGRAM NOTES Symphonic Jubilee Joseph Willcox Jenkins (1928 - 2014) Before deciding on a career in music, Jenkins studied pre-law at St. Joseph’s College. He later studied music at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the Catholic University of America. Jenkins began his professional career as a composer and arranger for the United States Army Field Band and the Armed Forces Radio Network. In 1956 he also became chief arranger and assistant conductor of the newly formed United States Army Chorus, a premier male ensemble established as the vocal counterpart to the Army Band. Jenkins wrote several original works and more than 270 arrangements for voice while with the Army Chorus. Jenkins later served as head of the Theory and Composition Department at Duquesne University’s School of Music. The composer writes that Symphonic Jubilee is really a small symphony. The joyful abandon created by the use of shifting meters belies its rather strict classical architecture. The first movement is in traditional Sonata- Allegro form. Symphonic Jubilee is noted as the 85th Opus of Joseph Willcox Jenkins, yet it is only his sixth work for band.

Southern Harmony Donald Grantham (b. 1947) Grantham was born in Oklahoma, received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Oklahoma, and went on to earn graduate degrees in music from the University of Southern California. For two summers he studied at the American Conservatory of Paris with French composer and pedagogue . Grantham received a Guggenheim Fellowship and three separate grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. His music has won many prestigious awards, including the Prix Lili Boulanger, the ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Prize, and First Prize in the National Opera Association’s Biennial Composition Competition. The symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Cleveland, and Dallas are among the ensembles that have commissioned Grantham to write new works. He also collaborated with fellow composer Kent Kennan to author the textbook The Technique of . Grantham currently teaches music composition at the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. William “Singin’ Billy” Walker’s songbook Southern Harmony was first published in 1835. It was a remarkable collection of American tunes, hymns, psalms, odes and anthems that were widely known throughout the Southern United States. In Grantham’s Southern Harmony, the composer has preserved the overall flavor of the original works, as well as the individual character of each song. Grantham writes, “The music of Southern Harmony has a somewhat exotic sound to modern audiences. The tunes often use modal or pentatonic rather than major or minor scales. The harmony is even more out of the ordinary, employing chord positions, voice leading and progressions that are far removed from the European music that dominated concert halls at the time. These harmonizations were dismissed as crude and primitive when they first appeared. Now they are regarded as inventive, unique, and powerfully representative of the American character.”

My Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882 – 1961), arranged by Fred Sturm The son of an architect in Australia, Grainger was a precocious pianist. He gave a series of concerts at the age of twelve and used the earnings to study in Frankfurt, Germany. He later began his European career as a concert pianist, settling in London in 1901. He came to the United States in 1915, enlisted as an Army bandsman at the outbreak of World War I, and became a U.S. citizen in 1919. It was during his stay in England that Grainger began collecting and arranging folk songs and country dances. He tried to retain the original flavor of folk songs and their singers by strictly observing their peculiarities of performance, using composition techniques such as varying beat lengths and parallelism. My Robin Is to the Greenwood Gone is based on an English Renaissance folksong of the same name, from William Chappell’s 1893 collection, Old English Popular Music. Grainger wrote this setting in 1912, and called this setting a “free ramble,” where the only direct connection to the original tune is the first line of text, nine notes from the four original measures. River Songs of the South Arranged by William G. Harbinson (b. 1953) William G. Harbinson is an American composer and educator. He received music degrees from Appalachian State University, the University of Alabama, and Florida State University. He has taught high school band and choir and has held faculty positions at Florida State University and the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University. He appears regularly as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and guest composer/ arranger. He has won numerous regional and national awards for his research and his compositions. River Songs of the South draws from America’s rich heritage of slave, folk and minstrel songs that capture the spirit of the southern region and paint a picture of a much simpler way of life. America’s rivers have long been a source of life and inspiration, providing water to nourish, routes for exploration and commerce, and tales of those who lived along their banks. The melodies include, “Ole Tar River,” “On the Banks of the Old Pee Dee,” “The Rose of Alabama,” “Way Down in Cairo,” “Old Folks at Home,” and “Roll Out! Heave dat Cotton.”

Symphony No. 4, Sinfonie der Lieder (“Symphony of Songs”) Johan de Meij (b. 1953) Johan de Meij was born in Holland and studied conducting and trombone performance at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. After graduation, he gained an international reputation as an arranger of classical and popular works. De Meij is an accomplished performer on trombone and euphonium in groups such as the Dutch Brass Sextet, the Amsterdam Trombone Quartet, and the Amsterdam Wind Orchestra. The composer writes, “My 4th Symphony for solo voice, children’s choir and wind orchestra is inspired by a variety of 19th century German poems. The first three movements use lyrics from … Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children, a song cycle by Gustav Mahler based on poems by Friedrich Rückert). The second half of the symphony continues on the death theme, using a poem by Heinrich Heine (‘Two Brothers’). The last two songs, ‘Early Spring’ and ‘Song of the Harlequin’ by Hugo von Hofmannsthal are a metaphor for rebirth, new life and hope.” The symphony was written at the request of the South-Tirol Youth Wind Orchestra for the 2013 Mahler Festival in Dobiacco, Italy. It is dedicated to de Meij’s mother-in-law, Eileen Machan-Schley. SAN JOSE WIND SYMPHONY Dr. Edward C. Harris, Music & Artistic Director PICCOLO / FLUTE BARITONE SAXOPHONE Jacqueline Speiser, software engineer Andy Ritger, software engineer FLUTE CORNET / TRUMPET Karen Berry, preschool teacher Paul Hubel, imaging engineer Lorie Boardman, homemaker Thomas Hutchings, principal engineer Ilene Finger, teacher Chuck Moreouse, retired R&D manager * Barbara Larsen, special education and * Peter Morris, insurance and financial music teacher services specialist OBOE / ENGLISH HORN Chris Schalk, software engineer * Lorna Kruse, retired teacher HORN Sandra Moore, music teacher and ASI * Ross Gershenson, music educator specialty items representative Kelly Hesterberg, church music director ENGLISH HORN Ed Lacina, business owner Lorna Kohler, music teacher Caroline McIntyre, attorney BASSOON EUPHONIUM Ron Bobb, retired musician Dave Erickson, software engineer * Matt Thornton, software engineer * Vanessa Sayres, project manager Eb CLARINET / Bb CLARINET TROMBONE * Nancy Farmer, retired music educator Bob Beecher, emergency management * Matt Feinstein, product manager Bb CLARINET Stan George, retired music teacher Walker Blount, electrical engineer Matt Gerhardt, music teacher * Karen Hoexter, private music teacher Greg Miller, music educator Henri Kukanaho, materials engineer Nora Lemmon, musician BASS TROMBONE Casey Morrison, musician Randy Chase, accelerator technologist Warren Scott, music educator Jordan Selburn, software strategic TUBA marketing director Dan Boykin, bank executive Terri Weber, registered nurse Manuel Mendoza, music eductor Cory Ng, musical instrument repairman ALTO CLARINET Tyra Cable, middle school music teacher STRING BASS * Richard Cooper, retired software engineer Linda Jansen, musician and proofreader BASS CLARINET HARP * Steven Holmes, electrical engineer Stephanie Janowski, musician Keith Thomson, software designer PIANO BASS / CONTRABASS CLARINET Victoria Lington, music educator Grant Green, patent attorney PERCUSSION ALTO SAXOPHONE Curtis Azevedo, music student Debbie Downs, private music teacher John Felder, retired HS music director * Dan Ortega, HR analyst * Jeff Jones, IT analyst relations Christine Lovejoy, music educator TENOR SAXOPHONE Patrick McCaffrey, guest musician Gordon Snyder, retired San Jose fireman Jason Sander, graphic artist (* principal) 2017-2018 Season Sponsors The Darrell Johnston Founding Conductor Group ($2500+): Robert Birnstihl & Timothy Peer Bergeson, LLP The Frederick Fennell Group ($1000 – $2499): Copacabana USA Caroline McIntyre Peter & Fredda Morris Welton Family Foundation The Alfred Reed Group ($500 – $999): Jack & Nancy Farmer Matthew Feinstein & Vicki Axelrod Herb & Ilene Finger Darrell & Helen Johnston David & Barbara Larsen Lincoln Financial Foundation Charles & Honor Morehouse Doug & Jan Turnage The Frank Ticheli Group ($250 – $499): Douglas & Lauren Boardman Robert & Karen Hoexter Laura Kosakowsky & Ruth Kosakowsky Donald & Lorna Kruse Galen & Nora Lemmon Larry & Terri Weber The John Williams Group ($100 – $249): Walker & Beverly Blount Ron Bobb Cadence Design Systems Tyra Cable Rich Cooper Scott & Debbie Downs Patricia Hendricks & Nathan Brockwood Steven Holmes Jeff & Kim Jones Jordan & Gail Selburn Vanessa Sayres Gordon Snyder John & Grace Sorg Keith & Kathy Thomson The Percy Grainger Group ($10 – $99): Amazon Smile

Thanks to our Volunteers Thomya Arterberry, Lynn Burstein, Ron Cable, Scott Downs, Dave Erickson, Roy Farmer, Herb Finger, Anita Hardage, Maryon Hicks, Rob Hoexter, Darrell Johnston, Dave Larsen, Rich & Sandy Remmers, Kammy Rose, Susan Stone, Ellen Thotus, Larry Weber.

Additional Thanks Jan Turnage, David Bowers, Ruth Butterfield, John DiLoreto, Herb Finger, Doug Forsyth, Jimmy Holmes, Miller Middle School (Nancy Moser), Saratoga HS Music Department, San José State University School of Music & Dance.

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