to the second performance of our 21st Season! As weWelcome observe the theme of “We are a Community” throughout this season, we are mindful of the many blessings that our community offers to us. And so, tonight “We Celebrate!” We celebrate our opportunity to gather for 2.5 hours each week to make music together. There is something of a primal need for each of the people on stage to have that outlet. We celebrate the music that is placed before us so that we might offer our own talents and interpretations to its performance. And we celebrate the ability to present our music to you, our audiences. Truly, “We are a Community”! We also celebrate the music of the season, along with two special birthdays. Jean Sibelius’ 150th birthday is December 8 and Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday is December 12. Five treatments of Christmas music round out our program tonight. Thanks for celebrating with us! Music Director Solano Winds Community Concert Band Mark your calendars! Save the dates for our upcoming concerts: MarchWe Play 11, 2016! WeMay March 6, 2016! featuring the many talents featuring “Symphony on of the Solano Winds members! Themes of John Philip Sousa” On Decemberthe 9,History 1995, a new community of bandSolano took the stage Winds in the auditorium at Will C. Wood High School in Vacaville. Comprised of 55 volunteer musicians under the direction of Robert O. Briggs, Solano Winds performed a program of eight classic selections from the Wind Band repertoire before a very receptive audience. Briggs, the just-retired Director Emeritus of the University of California Band in Berkeley, formed the ensemble along with Bill Doherty, the first President of the organization. It was apparent to everyone in the room that this new performing group was here to stay. Now in our 21st Season, Solano Winds continues to provide band members and audiences an opportunity to enjoy music making. Over the years, many things have changed: we’ve moved rehearsal spaces from Fairfield High School, to Armijo High School, to Solano Community College, to our current location at Vanden High School. Rather than using all borrowed music as we did in 1995, we now maintain our own extensive music library. And to support our growth, our donor base has grown significantly since 1995, when we started with two important donors – Gordon’s Music & Sound and the Fairfield High School Scarlet Brigade Band Boosters. During this time, though, many more things have stayed the same. Our commitment to perform high quality Wind Band literature well and to have fun while doing it has been a consistent staple of our organization. While some members have come and gone over the years, we continue to maintain a healthy blend of experienced and young musicians. Upon the passing of Bob Briggs in 2008, Bill Doherty was named as Music Director, continuing the traditions started when the band formed in 1995. Since that premiere performance at Will C. Wood High School, we’ve performed at the Fairfield Community Center, the Vacaville Performing Arts Theatre, the Lesher Center for the Arts, and the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center. In our second season, we performed as a part of the Carmichael Park Community Band Festival, and have performed in that Festival every year since that appearance. Through all of this, our performance home has been the intimate space on Texas Street, formerly the Fairfield Center for Creative Arts, now the Downtown Theatre, of which Solano Winds is a resident company. Like any successful performing organization, we can credit our longevity to three factors: the care that our musicians place on mastering their musical performance, the appreciation consistently shown by our audiences, and the relationships that we’ve been able to build with each other over these first twenty-one seasons. Program Finlandia Jean Sibelius Arranged by Lucien Cailliet For All the Wyle Eternal Ralph Ford Agnus Dei Melvin Brito In Memoriam World Premiere Conductor: Melvin Brito Soprano: Kori Miles Alto: Michelle Williams Narrator: Liz Wildberger Sinatra! Arranged by Stephen Bulla Intermission Minor Alterations No. 2 David Lovrien Carols from the Dark Side Jingle Them Bells James Pierpont Arranged by Julia Giroux Merrily on High French Traditional Sponsored by Jennifer Doherty Arranged by Julie Giroux Christmas with Mozart Julie Giroux Christmas and Sousa Forever! Julie Giroux We extend ourLibrary sincere thanks Sponsors to tonight’s library sponsor: Jennifer Doherty You can help us defray the costs of expanding our music library by becoming a “Library Sponsor”. Contact us at [email protected] for assistance with selecting a musical selection for our library. We will then purchase that music in your name, imprint a perpetual note of thanks to your generosity on each musician’s copy of the music, and include our thanks to you in our concert programs in perpetuity whenever we perform that musical selection. Finlandia Notes The eminent Finnish composer Jean Sibelius was born at Tavastehus, Finland. The world celebrates his 150th birthday on December 8 of this year. In the autumn of 1899, Sibelius composed the music for a series of tableaux illustrating episodes in Finland’s past. The music culminated in a stirring, patriotic finale, “Finland Awakes.” This music soon came to be in great demand as a separate concert piece and Sibelius revised it in 1900, giving it the title “Finlandia”. It became a symbol of Finnish nationalism. Afer the Russian aggression against Finland in 1939 (the Winter War) the Finnish poet V.A. Koskenniemi supplied a text for the hymn, one that has been used ever since. For All the Wyle Eternal This work was commissioned by the Georgia Music Educators Association, District II, in memory of Mr. Gene Wyles. Gene Wyles devoted his life to helping, teaching, and guiding young people. In 2005, he was inducted into the Georgia Band Directors Hall of Fame. He was a past president of the Georgia Chapter of Phi Beta Mu honorary music fraternity and a past State Instrumental Chairman with the Georgia Music Educators. He was frequently requested as a guest clinician and conductor for band clinics and festivals throughout the Southeast. “For all the Wyle Eternal” was originally entitled simply, “…for Gene.” The main reason for this original approach with the title is that the main melodic motif for this piece is based on the pitches G, E, N (either an upper or lower neighboring tone) and E. This is combined with quotes from “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”, which was not only Gene’s favorite hymn, but references his time serving in the United States Navy. Agnus Dei - In Memoriam The final two weeks of my mother's life was filled with love, friendships and reunion. But most of all PEACE. My mother was able to see and hear how much she was loved and adored by many. Former students from as far as 30 years ago, childhood friends and grandnieces showered my mother with love and fond memories. Tears and laughter filled the air as many shared my mothers' last few moments with her. On September 8, 2015, I asked my mother one last question: "Who loves you?" Barely audible, she tells me..."You do, but I love you more.” - Melvin Brito Peace by Henry Dyke Here is Sweet music, melting every chain Of lassitude and pain: And here, at last, is sleep, the gif of gifs, The tender nurse, who lifs The soul grown weary of the waking world, And lays it, with its thoughts all furled, Its fears forgotten, and its passions still, On the deep bosom of the Eternal Will. Sinatra! We celebrate the 100th birthday on December 12 of “the greatest singer of the 20th century”, Frank Sinatra. Afer starting his musical career with Tommy Dorsey and Harry James in his early twenties, Sinatra went on a solo career on stage, TV, film, and in the recording studio. He spent many years on the stages of Las Vegas as the most prominent member of the “Rat Pack”. Sinatra won an Academy Award for his role in “From Here to Eternity”, and was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Tonight’s selection is a medley of four Sinatra hits: “Come Fly With Me”, “Witchcraf”, “That’s Life”, and “Fly Me to the Moon”. Minor Alterations No. 2 - Carols from the Dark Side In this sequel to the hugely popular “Minor Alterations: Christmas Through the Looking Glass”, David Lovrien takes a new set of familiar holiday melodies and twists them, distorts them, transposes them from major to minor and finally sets them in the styles of famous minor-keyed orchestral pieces. You will never be the same afer hearing “O Holy Night” set against “Ride of the Valkyries”. It’s like a Christmas stocking full of very dark chocolate! David Lovrien has been a member of the saxophone section of Dallas Wind Symphony since 1991, performing on nearly all their recordings and appearing several times as featured soloist. He is also a founding member of the renowned Texas Saxophone Quartet, the first saxophone ensemble to win the prestigious Fischoff Competition in 1988. His compositions and arrangements have been performed throughout the world, and his website celebrating the life and work of John Philip Sousa is recognized as one of the best Sousa authorities on the Internet. composer/arrangerJulie Giroux The last four selections on tonight’s program are all composed or arranged by Julie Giroux. Julie Ann Giroux was born in 1961 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and Monroe, Louisiana.