Concord, Mass. — The Concord Band is pleased that its own tuba player Chi-Sun Chan will be the featured soloist at its Fall Concert, by Request. Dr. Chan, a member of the Band since 2009, has been music director/conductor of the Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association (GBCCA) Chinese Music Ensemble since 2002. He has chosen Capriccio for Tuba and Band by contemporary British composer Rodney Newton who has scored music for British films and TV, and was Music Consultant to the London Film School for 21 years.
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In the Capriccio Newton intertwines extremely fast percussive sections with flowing melodies. Originally written for British tubist James ourlay in 2002 in both brass and wind band versions, the piece has become a worldwide favorite for soloists and bands. With several short cadenzas neatly woven into the structure it is effectively a one movement concerto that is sure to please the audience. A native of Hong Kong, Chi-Sun Chan resides in Cambridge and received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in brass performance from Boston University. |
As a professional tubist, he has played concert tours throughout the US, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In 2003, Dr. Chan arranged and performed in a recital, “Guzheng Suite” (for tuba and Guzheng, a Chinese plucked zither) at the Northeastern Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference at the University of Massachusetts. He has given Chinese music lectures at Harvard University, Boston University, Berklee College of Music, Lasell College, Wellesley College, and the University of Kentucky.
The remainder of the Fall Concert program features music requested by Concord Band members and written by American and international composers representing a wide variety of symphonic band musical styles and genres. The composers include the 20th century American composer Clifton Williams, contemporary American composers Robert Jager, Eric Whitacre, Roger Cichy, and contemporary Dutch composer Johan de Meij.
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The music of New England composer and University of Rhode Island Professor, Roger Cichy, has become a favorite of the Concord Band. His Flowing Pens From Concord was commissioned by the Band for its 50th anniversary in 2009. Published in 2012 for the North Carolina Central District Bandmasters Association, Quartets is described by Cichy as “a unique work exposing a multitude of quartets that exist within the full ensemble.” Containing twenty “quartet” moments, the work exploits the instrumental timbres of traditional quartets, which weave in and out of the musical textures. |
According to Concord Band Music Director James O’Dell, the work “really begins to cook and features jazzy rhythmic grooves contrasted with beautiful soaring lyricism and sonorities.”
The contemporary American choral composer and Grammy nominated “virtual choir” innovator Eric Whitacre composed the lush and pastoral October in 2000 for Brian Anderson and the Nebraska Wind Consortium, consisting of more than twenty-five high schools, colleges and universities throughout the Mid-West. Whitacre said his favorite month is October and attempted to capture the essence and mood of a crisp October day, with its beautifully natural harmonic language and flavor of the changing season.
Whitacre said that “I feel there just isn’t enough lush, beautiful music written for winds.” That’s why October has become a favorite of bands everywhere. century British band composer Gordon Jacob, the late Contrasting sharping in tone and style with October is Johan de Meij’s Gandalf, the first movement of his important first composition for band Symphony #1 The Lord of the Rings, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. The Gandalf theme introduced in this movement reappears throughout the five movement symphony. The Gandalf movement includes an allegro vivace section, which aptly captures a vivacious ride on Gandalf’s horse, Shadowfax. De Meij’s The Lord of the Rings was so popular that he did a transcription for full orchestra that premiered in 2001. Although de Meij remains a prolific and popular band composer, The Lord of the Rings remains his most popular work. Jim O’Dell expects to program the full 45 minute symphony for the Concord Band at some future concert.
The Concord Band’s Fall Concert also includes An Original Suite written in 1928 by British composer Gordon Jacob; Symphonic Dance #3 (Fiesta) by 20th century American composer Clifton Williams; former Marine Band arranger Robert Jager’s Esprit de Corps, a lively 1985 fantasy on the Marines’ Hymn; and one of John Phillip Sousa’s more unusual marches, The Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
Tickets to the Concord Band’s Fall Concert are $20 for adults and $10 for children and seniors. The concert takes place on Saturday, October 26, 2013, at 8:00 PM., at the Performing Arts Center at 51 Walden Street in Concord, Massachusetts. Tickets can be reserved at [email protected]. More information is available on the Band’s website www.concordband.org.