BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//College of Visual and Performing Arts - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:College of Visual and Performing Arts X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu X-WR-CALDESC:Events for College of Visual and Performing Arts REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20251102T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20260308T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20261101T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20270314T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20271107T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260424T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260424T213000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130653 CREATED:20250813T133044Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260221T140415Z UID:10003346-1777059000-1777066200@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:John Clayton and Jazz Ensemble I DESCRIPTION:Bassist\, Composer\, Arranger and Producer\, John Clayton is a busy man. He is a Grammy© winner with nine additional nominations and has written and/or recorded with artists such as Milt Jackson\, Diana Krall\, Paul McCartney\, Regina Carter\, Dee Dee Bridgewater\, Gladys Knight\, Queen Latifah\, McCoy Tyner\, YoYo Ma\, and Charles Aznavour\, to name only a few. \n\n\n\nJohn was the principal bassist in the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (The Netherlands) from 1980-1984. In 1986\, John co-founded the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and rekindled The Clayton Brothers Quintet. In addition to his individual clinics and workshops\, he also directs the educational components of Centrum\, The Port Townsend Jazz Festival\, and the Vail Jazz Workshop. \n\n\n\nIt is John’s arrangement of the “Star Spangled Banner” that helped propel Whitney Houston in her 1990 performance at the Super Bowl (the recording went platinum). His recordings with the Clayton Brothers\, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra\, Milt Jackson\, Monty Alexander\, Count Basie and others are plentiful. John feels “I’ve been guided by a village of musicians who helped me understand the humility that goes along with playing music at the highest level you can. Ray Brown used to tell me to ‘Learn how to play the bass!!’ Just take care of the music and it will take care of you.” \n\n\n\nRobinson Family Visiting Jazz Artists\n\n\n\nA residency made possible by the Robinson Family Fund\, established by Ward Robinson (’19 PBC Jazz\, ’10 MPH) and Pamela Pittman\, is bringing two jazz luminaries to UNCG’s School of Music this year. Pianist Christian Sands and bassist John Clayton will come to Greensboro for residencies with students and concerts which will be open to the public. \n\n\n\nMiles Davis Jazz Studies Program\n\n\n\nThe Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program at UNCG is a unique and innovative undergraduate jazz program designed to emulate the traditional process of learning jazz\, through a combination of mentorship\, real-world playing experiences\, and a communal approach to learning. Although the program is housed in one of the largest music schools in the Southeast\, it is kept intentionally small\, resulting in an intensive and highly personalized learning environment. \n\n\n\n UNCG offers the following degree programs for students interested in studying Jazz: \n\n\n\n\nBachelor of Music (B.M.) – Performance\n\n\n\nPost-Baccalaureate Certificate in Jazz Studies\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTicketPriceAdult$12.00Seniors$9.00Students$6.00\n\n\n\n\nPurchase Tickets\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/john-clayton-and-jazz-ensemble-i/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/john-clayton-bass.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260424T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260424T193000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130653 CREATED:20250512T155128Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250813T130602Z UID:10003268-1777059000-1777059000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:John Clayton DESCRIPTION:John Clayton | Double Bassist\, performance with UNCG Jazz Ensemble I\n\n\n\nBassist\, Composer\, Arranger and Producer\, John Clayton is a busy man. He is a Grammy© winner with nine additional nominations and has written and/or recorded with artists such as Milt Jackson\, Diana Krall\, Paul McCartney\, Regina Carter\, Dee Dee Bridgewater\, Gladys Knight\, Queen Latifah\, McCoy Tyner\, YoYo Ma and Charles Aznavour\, to name only a few \n\n\n\nJohn was the principal bassist in the Amsterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (The Netherlands) from 1980-1984. In 1986\, John co-founded the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and rekindled The Clayton Brothers Quintet. In addition to his individual clinics and workshops\, he also directs the educational components of Centrum\, The Port Townsend Jazz Festival\, and the Vail Jazz Workshop. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrchestra/MezzStudents$6.00Adults$12.00Seniors$9.00\n\n\n\n\nPURCHASE TICKETS\n\n\n\n\n* Tickets to CVPA and UCLS events are sold exclusively through our box office locations and ETix website\, and nowhere else. Tickets purchased through third-party vendors cannot be honored. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt is John’s arrangement of the “Star Spangled Banner” that helped propel Whitney Houston in her 1990 performance at the Super Bowl (the recording went platinum). His recordings with the Clayton Brothers\, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra\, Milt Jackson\, Monty Alexander\, Count Basie and others are plentiful. John feels “I’ve been guided by a village of musicians who helped me understand the humility that goes along with playing music at the highest level you can. Ray Brown used to tell me to ‘Learn how to play the bass!!’ Just take care of the music and it will take care of you. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRobinson Family Visiting Jazz Artists\n\n\n\nA residency made possible by the Robinson Family Fund\, established by Ward Robinson (’19 PBC Jazz\, ’10 MPH) and Pamela Pittman\, is bringing two jazz luminaries to UNCG’s School of Music this year. Pianist Christian Sands and bassist John Clayton will come to Greensboro for residencies with students and concerts which will be open to the public. URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/john-clayton/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,UCLS ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/JohnClayton5.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130653 CREATED:20250529T183039Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T163523Z UID:10003287-1776972600-1776978000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Wind Ensemble DESCRIPTION:Event Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Caldwell\, conductorRyan Reynolds\, bassoon \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nJOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHPassacaglia and Fugue in C minor\, BWV 582transcribed by Donald Hunsberger \n\n\n\nIGOR STRAVINSKYSymphonies of Wind Instruments (1947 version) \n\n\n\nEDWIN FRANKO GOLDMANThe Chimes of Liberty (1922) \n\n\n\nLUKE ELLARDThe Seer (2017) \n\n\n\nOMAR THOMAS Come Sunday (2018) \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\n \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Soloist\nRyan Reynolds\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Ryan Reynolds is Assistant Professor of Bassoon and bassoonist of the award-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet. An award-winning chamber musician\, Dr. Reynolds has won prizes at six national chamber music competitions\, including the Gold Medal at the 2014 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He tours internationally as a member of Akropolis and has released five studio albums with the ensemble. The latest of these albums\, Hymns for Private Use\, was released in October 2022 on Bright Shiny Things\, and debuted at #8 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. In 2018\, his collaboration with legendary clarinetist David Shifrin on the studio recording of a new chamber music version of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto was released on Delos Records and nominated for an International Classical Music Award. \n\n\n\nDr. Reynolds has performed with orchestras throughout the United States including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra\, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra\, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra\, and Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra\, among many others. An educator\, Reynolds has served on the summer faculties of the Renova Music Festival and the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute. He has given masterclasses and lectures in Germany\, Spain\, the United Arab Emirates\, and at many top American universities\, including Yale University\, the University of Texas-Austin\, the University of Michigan\, and Northwestern University. Reynolds is also an in-demand adjudicator and has served as a judge or panelist for projects and organizations including the International Double Reed Society\, the Barlow Endowment\, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition\, the Calefax International Composers Competition\, NOLA Chamber Music Competition\, and many collegiate concerto competitions. \n\n\n\nDr. Reynolds contributes to the International Double Reed Society as the Lead Bassoon Recordings Reviewer for the quarterly journal The Double Reed\, and as Chair of the IDRS Commissioning Sub-Committee where he leads the Society’s commissioning grant and composer competition programs. Reynolds is also an arranger and composer\, and his works are performed by students and professionals around the world. \n\n\n\nA native of Michigan\, Dr. Reynolds received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan\, and received his Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University. His primary teachers include Eric Stomberg\, Jeffrey Lyman\, and Jeff Keesecker. \n\n\n\nBack to Program \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Wind Ensemble\n\n\n\n\nThe UNCG Wind Ensemble is the premier wind band of the UNCG School of Music\, uniting fifty outstanding musicians from across the United States and around the world. Its members—ranging from first‑year undergraduates to master’s and doctoral students in performance and music education—are selected through a highly competitive audition process. Ensemble musicians regularly earn top solo and chamber awards\, competitive scholarships and fellowships\, and professional positions in orchestras\, military bands\, teaching\, and arts leadership. Current students represent seventeen states\, Slovenia\, and Hong Kong. \n\n\n\nFor decades\, the ensemble has built a distinguished record of artistic excellence\, with acclaimed performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts\, Lincoln Center\, and leading venues throughout the eastern United States. Its catalog of more than twenty commercial recordings has received national recognition and helped position UNCG as a leader in wind band performance\, commissioning\, and recording. \n\n\n\nThe Wind Ensemble has been featured at major national and regional conferences of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA)\, National Band Association (NBA)\, American Bandmasters Association (ABA)\, and Music Educators National Conference (MENC). The ensemble has also collaborated with prominent composers and performers\, including Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Karel Husa and other influential figures in the field. \n\n\n\nRecent highlights include performances at the Music Center at Strathmore; a joint concert with the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own”; a twelve‑day international tour through the Czech Republic\, Austria\, and Italy\, culminating in a featured performance at Prague’s renowned Dvořák Hall; and a tour of the Southern United States that concluded with an appearance at the national conference of the College Band Directors National Association. \n\n\n\nBack to Program \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe UNCG Bands are devoted to the performance\, study\, and advancement of wind band music at the highest artistic level. Recognized as one of the nation’s premier collegiate band programs\, the UNCG Bands maintain an active and distinguished record of excellence through performances\, recordings\, tours\, and appearances at major conventions. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands offer exceptional musical experiences for our members and share outstanding performances throughout the year. Together\, we enrich the cultural life\, spirit\, and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands also proudly support music education across North Carolina and throughout the region by providing leadership\, mentorship\, and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other musical organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\nBack to Program URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/wind-ensemble-15/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/reynolds-ryan-bassoon-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260422T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260422T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130653 CREATED:20260213T162107Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T163204Z UID:10003729-1776886200-1776891600@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Concert Band DESCRIPTION:Patty Saunders\, conductorCat Keen Hock\, clarinetMolly Allman\, graduate conductorJaden Brown\, graduate conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nREENA ESMAILChamak \n\n\n\nJULIE GIROUXFields of Gold \n\n\n\nNATHAN DAUGHTREYTwitch \n\n\n\nCARLOS SIMONReflections \n\n\n\nROSSANO GALANTEAurora Borealis \n\n\n\nCAROL BRITTIN CHAMBERSKalos Eidos \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\n \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Soloist\n\n\n\n\nDr. Catherine Keen Hock exemplifies the innovative spirit of the contemporary classical musician.  Living in Greensboro\, North Carolina\, Cat (as she is called by her friends) performs and teaches throughout the southeastern United States.  Cat is an avid supporter of new music\, especially chamber music\, and frequently collaborates with local composers and new music ensembles.  Cat is a founding member of the award-winning reed ensemble Quintet Sirocco\, formed in 2010 by fellow graduate students at UNC Greensboro in an effort to continue advancing this exciting new genre of chamber music.  As an ensemble\, Quintet Sirocco’s mission encompasses commissioning and performing new music\, creating innovative performance experiences for diverse audiences\, and presenting educational performances throughout North Carolina.  In 2007\, Cat was a founding member of the Obsidian Clarinet Quartet\, premiering two original compositions at the 2008 conference for the International Clarinet Association\, ClarinetFest\, in Kansas City.  Cat is a member of the Piedmont Wind Symphony\, the bass clarinetist for the Fayetteville Symphony and Salisbury Symphony Orchestra\, plays clarinet/bass clarinet with WireTap New Music Ensemble (Durham\, NC)\, and serves on the woodwind faculty at the Music Academy of North Carolina.  Cat also enjoys sharing her love of music history as program essayist for the Eastern Music Festival. \n\n\n\nCat completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree (DMA) in clarinet performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2012 where she was a graduate teaching assistant for the clarinet studio and jazz studies program.  Her degree includes a cognate in jazz studies\, and she also completed a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Historical Musicology during her doctoral studies.  Cat’s dissertation\, “The Pivotal Role of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time in the Establishment of the Clarinet-Piano Quartet Genre” reflects her passion for contemporary chamber music and examines the historical and socio-economic factors that have contributed to its current prominence within the classical music culture.   While at UNCG\, she was a member of the Wind Ensemble (performing at CBDNA in Austin\, Texas in 2009)\, University Symphony Orchestra\, Casella Sinfonietta and Jazz Ensemble II.  Cat also earned a MM in Clarinet Performance from UNCG in 2007 and a BA with Honors in Music Performance with a minor in International Studies from Wake Forest University in 2005.  At Wake Forest\, Cat was a William L. Poteat Scholar\, winner of the Concerto Competition and Giles-Harris Competition for Performance\, and a drum major for the Spirit of the Old Gold and Black Marching Band.  Also while at Wake Forest\, Cat spent a magical semester in Venice\, Italy\, where she studied at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello and traveled Europe experiencing performances by the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies.  She studied clarinet with Kelly Burke\, Anthony Taylor\, Edwin Riley\, Eileen Young and Michael Waddell.  \n\n\n\nIn recent years\, Cat has discovered a love of North Carolina’s state tree\, the long leaf pine\, after planting several acres of seedlings with her younger brother on their family farm in Four Oaks.  When she isn’t back home on the farm\, Cat enjoys attending sporting events\, exploring the tastes of North Carolina’s craft breweries with her husband Noah (a professional violist)\, and experiencing a view of the world through the eyes of her brilliantly curious daughter\, Clara. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe UNCG Bands are devoted to the performance\, study\, and advancement of wind band music at the highest artistic level. Recognized as one of the nation’s premier collegiate band programs\, the UNCG Bands maintain an active and distinguished record of excellence through performances\, recordings\, tours\, and appearances at major conventions. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands offer exceptional musical experiences for our members and share outstanding performances throughout the year. Together\, we enrich the cultural life\, spirit\, and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands also proudly support music education across North Carolina and throughout the region by providing leadership\, mentorship\, and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other musical organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/concert-band-10/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/cat-keen-hock-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130653 CREATED:20250529T181053Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T162814Z UID:10003296-1776799800-1776805200@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Symphonic Band: American Salute DESCRIPTION:Event Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Caldwell\, conductorJaden Brown\, graduate conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nMORTON GOULDAmerican Salute (1943) \n\n\n\nELENA SPECHTUntitled Commission (2026)consortium premiere \n\n\n\nCHARLES IVESOld Home Days (1954) \n\n\n\nMARY LOU WILLIAMSHistory \n\n\n\nWILLIAM SCHUMANNew England Triptych (1956) \n\n\n\nBe Glad Then\, AmericaWhen Jesus WeptChester \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\n \n\n\n\nBack to Program \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\n \n\n\n\nBack to Program \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe renowned UNCG Bands are dedicated to the performance\, study\, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality\, and are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression. The UNCG Bands are considered to be among the very finest collegiate band programs in America based upon our active profile of excellence in our performances\, recordings\, tours and convention performances. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary practices in organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands provide exceptional experiences for our members\, sharing outstanding performances throughout the year and enhancing the institutional spirit and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands seek to support music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by providing leadership and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\nBack to Program URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/symphonic-band-american-salute/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/PIC24762-MUS_Wind_Ensemble_0639-3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260419T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260419T170000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130653 CREATED:20260318T160801Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260325T185704Z UID:10003797-1776607200-1776618000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Mozart's "The Magic Flute" DESCRIPTION:Event Details\n\n\n\n\nPurchase Tickets\n\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte)\, K. 620\n\n\n\nCOMPOSERWolfgang Amadeus Mozart \n\n\n\nLIBRETTISTEmanuel Schikaneder \n\n\n\nApril 16 and 17\, 2026 | 7:30 pmApril 19\, 2026 | 2:00 pm \n\n\n\n\n\nSynopsis\nA mythical land between the sun and the moon. Three ladies in the service of the Queen of the Night save Prince Tamino from a serpent. When they leave to tell the queen\, the birdcatcher Papageno appears. He boasts to Tamino that it was he who killed the creature. The ladies return to give Tamino a portrait of the queen’s daughter\, Pamina\, who they say has been enslaved by the evil Sarastro. Tamino immediately falls in love with the girl’s picture. The queen\, appearing in a burst of thunder\, tells Tamino about the loss of her daughter and commands him to rescue her. The ladies give a magic flute to Tamino and silver bells to Papageno to ensure their safety on the journey and appoint three spirits to guide them. \n\n\n\nSarastro’s slave Monostatos pursues Pamina but is frightened away by Papageno. The birdcatcher tells Pamina that Tamino loves her and is on his way to save her. Led by the three spirits to the temple of Sarastro\, Tamino learns from a high priest that it is the Queen\, not Sarastro\, who is evil. Hearing that Pamina is safe\, Tamino charms the wild animals with his flute\, then rushes off to follow the sound of Papageno’s pipes. Monostatos and his men chase Papageno and Pamina but are left helpless when Papageno plays his magic bells. Sarastro enters in great ceremony. He punishes Monostatos and promises Pamina that he will eventually set her free. Pamina catches a glimpse of Tamino\, who is led into the temple with Papageno. \n\n\n\nSarastro tells the priests that Tamino will undergo initiation rites. Monostatos tries to kiss the sleeping Pamina but is surprised by the appearance of the Queen of the Night. The Queen gives her daughter a dagger and orders her to murder Sarastro. \n\n\n\nSarastro finds the desperate Pamina and consoles her\, explaining that he is not interested in vengeance. Tamino and Papageno are told by a priest that they must remain silent and are not allowed to eat\, a vow that Papageno immediately breaks when he takes a glass of water from a flirtatious old lady. When he asks her name\, the old lady vanishes. The three spirits appear to guide Tamino through the rest of his journey and to tell Papageno to be quiet. Tamino remains silent even when Pamina appears. Misunderstanding his vow for coldness\, she is heartbroken. \n\n\n\nThe priests inform Tamino that he has only two more trials to complete his initiation. Papageno\, who has given up on entering the brotherhood\, longs for a wife instead. He eventually settles for the old lady. When he promises to be faithful she turns into a beautiful young Papagena but immediately disappears. \n\n\n\nPamina and Tamino are reunited and face the ordeals of water and fire together\, protected by the magic flute. \n\n\n\nPapageno tries to hang himself on a tree but is saved by the three spirits\, who remind him that if he uses his magic bells he will find true happiness. When he plays the bells\, Papagena appears and the two start making family plans. The Queen of the Night\, her three ladies\, and Monostatos attack the temple but are defeated and banished. Sarastro blesses Pamina and Tamino as all join in hailing the triumph of courage\, virtue\, and wisdom. \n\n\n\nSynopsis by The Metropolitan Opera URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/mozarts-the-magic-flute-3/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/opera-chess-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260417T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260417T223000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20260318T160527Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260325T185659Z UID:10003796-1776454200-1776465000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Mozart's "The Magic Flute" DESCRIPTION:Event Details\n\n\n\n\nPurchase Tickets\n\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte)\, K. 620\n\n\n\nCOMPOSERWolfgang Amadeus Mozart \n\n\n\nLIBRETTISTEmanuel Schikaneder \n\n\n\nApril 16 and 17\, 2026 | 7:30 pmApril 19\, 2026 | 2:00 pm \n\n\n\n\n\nSynopsis\nA mythical land between the sun and the moon. Three ladies in the service of the Queen of the Night save Prince Tamino from a serpent. When they leave to tell the queen\, the birdcatcher Papageno appears. He boasts to Tamino that it was he who killed the creature. The ladies return to give Tamino a portrait of the queen’s daughter\, Pamina\, who they say has been enslaved by the evil Sarastro. Tamino immediately falls in love with the girl’s picture. The queen\, appearing in a burst of thunder\, tells Tamino about the loss of her daughter and commands him to rescue her. The ladies give a magic flute to Tamino and silver bells to Papageno to ensure their safety on the journey and appoint three spirits to guide them. \n\n\n\nSarastro’s slave Monostatos pursues Pamina but is frightened away by Papageno. The birdcatcher tells Pamina that Tamino loves her and is on his way to save her. Led by the three spirits to the temple of Sarastro\, Tamino learns from a high priest that it is the Queen\, not Sarastro\, who is evil. Hearing that Pamina is safe\, Tamino charms the wild animals with his flute\, then rushes off to follow the sound of Papageno’s pipes. Monostatos and his men chase Papageno and Pamina but are left helpless when Papageno plays his magic bells. Sarastro enters in great ceremony. He punishes Monostatos and promises Pamina that he will eventually set her free. Pamina catches a glimpse of Tamino\, who is led into the temple with Papageno. \n\n\n\nSarastro tells the priests that Tamino will undergo initiation rites. Monostatos tries to kiss the sleeping Pamina but is surprised by the appearance of the Queen of the Night. The Queen gives her daughter a dagger and orders her to murder Sarastro. \n\n\n\nSarastro finds the desperate Pamina and consoles her\, explaining that he is not interested in vengeance. Tamino and Papageno are told by a priest that they must remain silent and are not allowed to eat\, a vow that Papageno immediately breaks when he takes a glass of water from a flirtatious old lady. When he asks her name\, the old lady vanishes. The three spirits appear to guide Tamino through the rest of his journey and to tell Papageno to be quiet. Tamino remains silent even when Pamina appears. Misunderstanding his vow for coldness\, she is heartbroken. \n\n\n\nThe priests inform Tamino that he has only two more trials to complete his initiation. Papageno\, who has given up on entering the brotherhood\, longs for a wife instead. He eventually settles for the old lady. When he promises to be faithful she turns into a beautiful young Papagena but immediately disappears. \n\n\n\nPamina and Tamino are reunited and face the ordeals of water and fire together\, protected by the magic flute. \n\n\n\nPapageno tries to hang himself on a tree but is saved by the three spirits\, who remind him that if he uses his magic bells he will find true happiness. When he plays the bells\, Papagena appears and the two start making family plans. The Queen of the Night\, her three ladies\, and Monostatos attack the temple but are defeated and banished. Sarastro blesses Pamina and Tamino as all join in hailing the triumph of courage\, virtue\, and wisdom. \n\n\n\nSynopsis by The Metropolitan Opera URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/mozarts-the-magic-flute-2/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/opera-chess-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260416T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260416T223000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20260318T155649Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260325T185654Z UID:10003795-1776367800-1776378600@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Mozart's "The Magic Flute" DESCRIPTION:Event Details\n\n\n\n\nPurchase Tickets\n\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte)\, K. 620\n\n\n\nCOMPOSERWolfgang Amadeus Mozart \n\n\n\nLIBRETTISTEmanuel Schikaneder \n\n\n\nApril 16 and 17\, 2026 | 7:30 pmApril 19\, 2026 | 2:00 pm \n\n\n\n\n\nSynopsis\nA mythical land between the sun and the moon. Three ladies in the service of the Queen of the Night save Prince Tamino from a serpent. When they leave to tell the queen\, the birdcatcher Papageno appears. He boasts to Tamino that it was he who killed the creature. The ladies return to give Tamino a portrait of the queen’s daughter\, Pamina\, who they say has been enslaved by the evil Sarastro. Tamino immediately falls in love with the girl’s picture. The queen\, appearing in a burst of thunder\, tells Tamino about the loss of her daughter and commands him to rescue her. The ladies give a magic flute to Tamino and silver bells to Papageno to ensure their safety on the journey and appoint three spirits to guide them. \n\n\n\nSarastro’s slave Monostatos pursues Pamina but is frightened away by Papageno. The birdcatcher tells Pamina that Tamino loves her and is on his way to save her. Led by the three spirits to the temple of Sarastro\, Tamino learns from a high priest that it is the Queen\, not Sarastro\, who is evil. Hearing that Pamina is safe\, Tamino charms the wild animals with his flute\, then rushes off to follow the sound of Papageno’s pipes. Monostatos and his men chase Papageno and Pamina but are left helpless when Papageno plays his magic bells. Sarastro enters in great ceremony. He punishes Monostatos and promises Pamina that he will eventually set her free. Pamina catches a glimpse of Tamino\, who is led into the temple with Papageno. \n\n\n\nSarastro tells the priests that Tamino will undergo initiation rites. Monostatos tries to kiss the sleeping Pamina but is surprised by the appearance of the Queen of the Night. The Queen gives her daughter a dagger and orders her to murder Sarastro. \n\n\n\nSarastro finds the desperate Pamina and consoles her\, explaining that he is not interested in vengeance. Tamino and Papageno are told by a priest that they must remain silent and are not allowed to eat\, a vow that Papageno immediately breaks when he takes a glass of water from a flirtatious old lady. When he asks her name\, the old lady vanishes. The three spirits appear to guide Tamino through the rest of his journey and to tell Papageno to be quiet. Tamino remains silent even when Pamina appears. Misunderstanding his vow for coldness\, she is heartbroken. \n\n\n\nThe priests inform Tamino that he has only two more trials to complete his initiation. Papageno\, who has given up on entering the brotherhood\, longs for a wife instead. He eventually settles for the old lady. When he promises to be faithful she turns into a beautiful young Papagena but immediately disappears. \n\n\n\nPamina and Tamino are reunited and face the ordeals of water and fire together\, protected by the magic flute. \n\n\n\nPapageno tries to hang himself on a tree but is saved by the three spirits\, who remind him that if he uses his magic bells he will find true happiness. When he plays the bells\, Papagena appears and the two start making family plans. The Queen of the Night\, her three ladies\, and Monostatos attack the temple but are defeated and banished. Sarastro blesses Pamina and Tamino as all join in hailing the triumph of courage\, virtue\, and wisdom. \n\n\n\nSynopsis by The Metropolitan Opera URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/mozarts-the-magic-flute/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/opera-chess-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260305T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260305T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20260213T160246Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T021236Z UID:10003706-1772739000-1772744400@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Concert Band DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/F4j41w3uriI\n\n\n\n\nPatty Saunders\, conductorMolly Allman\, graduate conductorJaden Brown\, graduate conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nJOHN PRESCOTTNova Stella: New Star Fanfare \n\n\n\nRICHARD SAUCEDOAmerican Barndance \n\n\n\nWILLIAM OWENSBig Bend \n\n\n\nNICOLE PIUNNOResound \n\n\n\nGUSTAV HOLSTA Mooreside Suite \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\n \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\n \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe UNCG Bands are devoted to the performance\, study\, and advancement of wind band music at the highest artistic level. Recognized as one of the nation’s premier collegiate band programs\, the UNCG Bands maintain an active and distinguished record of excellence through performances\, recordings\, tours\, and appearances at major conventions. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands offer exceptional musical experiences for our members and share outstanding performances throughout the year. Together\, we enrich the cultural life\, spirit\, and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands also proudly support music education across North Carolina and throughout the region by providing leadership\, mentorship\, and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other musical organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/concert-band-9/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/PIC24762-MUS_Wind_Ensemble_0639-3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260304T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260304T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20251105T154946Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260304T205825Z UID:10003572-1772652600-1772658000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Symphony Orchestra DESCRIPTION:Event Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJungho Kim\, conductorSuyahan\, morin khuur/horsehead fiddleSiana Wong\, violin (First Prize Winner\, Student Artist Competition)Hexigetu (Wenze)\, guest composerJordan Owen\, graduate conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\n\nCARL MARIA VON WEBER \n\n\n\nOverture to Der Freischütz\, op. 77 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHEXIGETU (WENZE) \n\n\n\nHorqin Rhapsodie \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHEXIGETU (WENZE) \n\n\n\nCapriccio on a Pastoral Theme for Horsehead Fiddle and Orchestra \n\n\n\nworld premiere \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJEAN SIBELIUS \n\n\n\nViolin Concerto in D minor\, op. 47\, Movement I \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJOHANNES BRAHMS \n\n\n\nAcademic Festival Overture\, op. 80 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nOverture to Der Freischütz\, op. 77\n\n\n\nThe Opera \n\n\n\nCarl Maria von Weber’s 1821 opera Der Freischütz (The Freeshooter) is widely recognized as the foundational work of German Romantic opera. Composed between 1817 and 1821 and premiered in Berlin\, this three act Singspiel with spoken dialogue draws on German folk legend and early Romantic interests in the supernatural\, the natural world\, and the moral tension between good and evil. At its center is Max\, a huntsman whose confidence and marksmanship fail him at the very moment he must win a shooting contest\, declared by Cuno\, Agathe’s father and hereditary forester\, to marry Agathe and become his rightful successor. In his desperation to improve himself and secure his future\, Max is persuaded by his brooding companion Caspar\, who has already forfeited his soul to Samiel\, the Black Huntsman\, into entering a Faustian bargain. Together they summon seven magic bullets\, six of which Max controls\, while the seventh belongs to Samiel and will strike whatever target the demonic power chooses. \n\n\n\nThe Music \n\n\n\n The Overture condenses the opera’s dramatic trajectory into a concentrated musical narrative that foregrounds its central moral question concerning the conflict between good and evil. It begins with broad orchestral gestures and a noble horn chorale that evoke the hunting community and the forest environment\, before the atmosphere shifts suddenly with tremolo strings and a diminished seventh chord associated with Samiel’s diabolical presence. The principal fast section unfolds in sonata form. Its turbulent first theme\, derived from Max’s Act I aria\, reflects his unsettled and darker character as it moves from agitated C minor writing into a grim\, marchlike quality. In contrast stands a luminous second theme in C major\, taken from Agathe’s Act II aria\, initially shaped by antiphonal exchanges between woodwinds\, low strings\, and brass that suggest lingering uncertainty. By the conclusion\, however\, C major ultimately prevails over C minor. Agathe’s loving and redemptive music triumphs over Samiel’s sinister influence\, and the Overture\, like the opera\, resolves its opening question by affirming that love and grace overcome the forces of darkness. \n\n\n\nNote by Jordan Owen \n\n\n\nViolin Concerto in D minor\, op. 47\n\n\n\nJean Sibelius composed his Violin Concerto in D minor\, op.47\, between 1902 and 1904\, marking his only completed foray into the genre due to a naturally solemn disposition. While encouraged by German virtuoso Willy Burmester to write the piece\, Sibelius was forced by financial strain and personal turbulence to move the premiere to a date that Burmester could not accommodate\, leading the offended violinist to never perform it.  Over a barely audible murmur in the strings\, the solo violin introduces the principal theme of the first movement\, a dark\, sighing idea that gradually gains intensity. The theme conveys both longing and passion and returns multiple times throughout the movement. The composer’s stylistic features are evident throughout\, including somber orchestral colors\, swelling brass chords\, slow harmonic motion\, and expressive melodic writing. \n\n\n\nNote by Jordan Owen \n\n\n\nHorqin Rhapsody for Orchestra\n\n\n\nHorqin Rhapsody is an orchestral work composed in the Mongolian style. The music is magnificent and grand\, characterized by a tempestuous performance that evokes the vast and majestic landscape of the grassland. The piece is divided into four sections: \n\n\n\n\nIntroduction: Ancient horns awaken the slumbering grassland.\n\n\n\nFirst Section: Depicts a magnificent scene of herds of horses galloping across the plains\, stirring and awe-inspiring.\n\n\n\nSecond Section: Portrays the profound and serene expanse of the grassland.\n\n\n\nThird Section: Presents a vision of nature and humanity in perfect harmony\, celebrating the passionate\, unrestrained\, and optimistic spirit of the grassland people in the face of hardship.\n\n\n\n\nHorsehead Fiddle Concerto: Capriccio on a Pastoral Theme\n\n\n\nCapriccio on a Pastoral Theme depicts the vast pastures\, gentle winds\, clear skies\, and serene waters of the northern frontier of the motherland. The piece is composed in a rhapsodic style and free form. Its inspiration is drawn from the pastoral songs of the grassland\, incorporating traditional Mongolian folk songs praising the Mongolian horse. The work skillfully blends the horsehead fiddle with symphonic accompaniment\, celebrating the grassland people’s love for their homeland and their efforts in building a magnificent northern frontier. It also reflects their noble inner world\, dedicated to ecological preservation and harmonious coexistence with nature. \n\n\n\nAcademic Festival Overture\n\n\n\nJohannes Brahms came from a working-class family in Hamburg. Money was tight. To help make ends meet\, Brahms quit school at fourteen and headed to the seaport to work as a barroom musician. Brahms was unlikely to attend University\, however his duo-partner\, the violinist Joseph Joachim\, invited Brahms into University life\, over a couple of summer months in Göttingen\, while Joachim and his friends took Philosophy and History classes.(It was to Joachim that he would late dedicate his monumental violin concerto.) It was during these summer months that Brahms acquainted himself with beer halls and student drinking songs. By 1879\, Brahms was an established composer when the University of Breslau presented Brahms with an honorary Doctor of Philosophy. In return\, the University requested him to compose a piece as a musical “thank you”. Brahms did not appreciate this and instead of the traditional symphony the academics expected\, they received a beautifully orchestrate medley of student drinking songs that has become one of Brahms’ best-known works. In Academic Festival Overture\, Brahms skillfully weaves together four traditional beer-hall songs that would have been well-known to German university students of his era. The first\, “Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus” (“We have built a stately house”) is a majestic trumpet chorale that carried significant political weight; associated with student groups advocating for German unification. This is followed by the lyrical “Der Landesvater” (“Father of our Country”) in the strings and the humorous\, bassoon led “Was kommt dort von der Höh? (“What comes from afar?”)\, a lighthearted tune traditionally used during freshman initiations. The piece culminates in a triumphant full-orchestra rendition of “Gaudeamus igitur” (“Let us rejoice\, therefore”) a popular 13th-century commencement song that elaborates the rowdy\, carefree spirit of student life.  \n\n\n\nNote by Jordan Owen \n\n\n\nBack to Program \n\n\n\n\nAbout Suyahan\n\n\n\n\n“My grandfather and my great-grandfather played the Mongolian four-stringed fiddle\, told Mongolian stories\, and sang traditional songs in the village. Then\, when I was nine\, I first heard someone play the horsehead fiddle to accompany a folk song. From that moment I was deeply captivated by the sound! I fell in love with it!”  \n\n\n\nBorn in Tongliao\, Inner Mongolia\, China to ethnic Mongolian parents\, Suyahan was fascinated from a young age by the expressiveness of the Morin Khuur—(Horsehead Fiddle or Matou Qin). After undergraduate study\, he went to Ulaanbaatar\, Mongolia to complete his MM and then his DMA at the Mongolia National University of Education.  \n\n\n\nProf. Suyahan has won numerous accolades for his performances in China\, and he has received many teaching excellence awards from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region during his teaching at the Inner Mongolia University for the Nationalities (IMUN). \n\n\n\nBack to Program \n\n\n\n\nAbout Siana Wong\n\n\n\n\nSiana Wong is a native of Greensboro\, North Carolina\, with Malaysian heritage. Before attending college she was a member of the Greensboro and Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras\, winning their concerto competition and performing as a soloist with them. She pursued her Bachelor of Music degree at UNC Chapel Hill under the tutelage of Nicholas DiEugenio\, as well as a BA in biology. During her time at Chapel Hill\, Siana was also a winner of the concerto competition. Siana is an avid chamber music performer in and out of her home state of NC\, including performances with EMF and UNCG faculty. Siana spent many summers at the Luby Violin Symposium at Chapel Hill\, having the opportunity to learn from first-class violinists from around the globe. She has also attended the Instrumental Program of Chautauqua Institution and participated in master classes with Ana Luque\, Shannon Thomas and others.  \n\n\n\nSiana is a member of Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra\, Western Piedmont Symphony\, and she has recently been appointed Associate Concertmaster of Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her performing career\, she enjoys teaching in her private studio.  \n\n\n\nCurrently\, Siana is extending her studies at UNCG\, pursuing a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Performance Studies with Dr. Fabián López.  \n\n\n\nShe plays on a Wojciech Topa violin from 2017. \n\n\n\nBack to Program \n\n\n\n\nAbout Hexigetu (Wenze) \n\n\n\n\nHexigetu (Wenze) is a Doctor of Musical Composition\, a professor and Master’s supervisor at Inner Mongolia Minzu University. He holds several prominent positions\, including Vice Chairman of the Inner Mongolia Musicians Association\, Deputy Director of the Autonomous Region’s Steering Committee for Aesthetic Education\, Council Member of the Chinese Society for Minority Music\, and Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education’s Alliance for the Innovative Development of Art and Technology. He has been selected for the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s “New Century 321 Talent Project” and is recognized as an “Inner Mongolia Prairie Excellence” talent. He has published over 30 academic papers and musical works. \n\n\n\nHis orchestral work Sacrificial Praise was selected for the 4th China Symphony Music Season and won the Inner Mongolia “Sarina” Award. His orchestral compositions include Sacrificial Praise\, Horqin Rhapsody\, Distant Recollections\, the symphonic chorus A Riguma\, the musical Noligerma\, the symphonic poem Sengge Rinchen\, and the Horqin Banquet Music Collection\, among others. His piano works include Variations on a Goose  Theme\, Western Capriccio\, and Dance of Life (which received an entry award in the “San Carlo Cup” National Piano Composition Competition). His chamber work Blooming won the Excellence Award at the 2nd Chinese Minority Chamber Music Composition Competition. The songs Horqin Grassland and Years Like a Song won first and third prizes\, respectively\, in the National University Music Alliance Song Composition Competition. Horqin Grassland and Searching for That Piece of Grassland received the Inner Mongolia “Five Ones Project” Award. The mixed chorus You Are My Lifelong Pursuitwas selected for the National University Archives of Original Classics Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China. The work Grassland Cavalry was awarded the Outstanding Creative Work prize at the First Northeast China Three Provinces and One Region Education System Art Performance. He is also the author of monographs such as Practical Piano Textbook and Horqin Rhapsody. \n\n\n\nBack to Program \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Orchestras\nThe vibrant UNCG Orchestra program has long been recognized for performance excellence\, adventurous programming\, and high artistic standards. A diversity of offerings allow students the opportunity to perform repertoire for ensembles ranging from the largest cornerstone and contemporary works for full orchestra\, to intimate pieces for chamber orchestra\, to string orchestra. \n\n\n\nStudents in the UNCG Orchestra program are dedicated to the performance\, study and cultivation of orchestral music of the highest quality. The UNCG Orchestras offer outstanding performances throughout the year and enhance the institutional spirit and community of UNCG. We seek to promote music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by supporting secondary school orchestra programs and other organizations through our outreach activities and other annual events on campus. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Orchestras\n\n\n\n\nBack to Program URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/symphony-orchestra-10/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/suyahan-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260303T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260303T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T182836Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260303T155307Z UID:10003295-1772566200-1772571600@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Symphonic Band DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/dF-pAABLE58\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Caldwell\, conductorAbigail Pack\, hornMolly Allman\, graduate conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nRALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMSFolk Song Suite (1924) \n\n\n\nMarch\, Seventeen Come SundayIntermezzo\, My Bonny BoyMarch\, Folk Songs from Somerset \n\n\n\nCATHERINE LIKHUTASure-fire (2023) \n\n\n\nTHÉO SCHMITTNetworks (2023) \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\n \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\nAbigail Pack\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Abigail Pack\, Professor of Horn at UNCG and a native of Roanoke\, Virginia\, received her training from East Carolina University (BMA)\, University of Iowa (MM)\, and University of Wisconsin-Madison (DMA) where she was a Bolz Teaching Fellow.  Before assuming her current position at UNCG she was horn faculty at James Madison University from 2001 to 2008.  She has also been on faculty at Knox College in Galesburg\, Il\, Western State College in Gunnison\, CO and in the Gunnison Watershed School District.  An avid symphony player Dr. Pack has held positions with the Barton Symphony Orchestra\, Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra\, Des Moines Symphony Orchestra\, Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra\, Green-Bay Symphony Orchestra\, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and currently has a position with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra\, the Southwest Chamber Orchestra\, the Greensboro Opera\, Amici Musicorum (chamber orchestra)\,  and the Opera Roanoke Orchestra.  Other orchestral subbing engagements include the Greensboro Symphony\, Winston Salem Symphony\, and the Charlotte Symphony. Other venues have included performances with the Western Piedmont Wind Symphony\, North Carolina Brass Band\, the Iowa Brass Quintet\, Western Slope Brass Band\, and Massanutten Brass Band.  Performance and presentation highlights include the National Flute Association (Washington DC with the Montpelier Winds)\, the International Horn Symposium (University of Cape Town\, South Africa\, Ithaca\, NY\, Montreal\, Canada)\, the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference (Chicago 2009\, 2022)\, International Double Reed Society (Athens\, GA)\, Western International Band Clinic (2022)\, the American Band College (2017\, 2021\, 2024) and The Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts (Washington).  She is a founding member of System 5 Brass Quintet and CORalina Horn Quartet and can be heard on the Centaur label.  \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe renowned UNCG Bands are dedicated to the performance\, study\, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality\, and are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression. The UNCG Bands are considered to be among the very finest collegiate band programs in America based upon our active profile of excellence in our performances\, recordings\, tours and convention performances. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary practices in organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands provide exceptional experiences for our members\, sharing outstanding performances throughout the year and enhancing the institutional spirit and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands seek to support music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by providing leadership and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other organizations. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Email List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/symphonic-band-11/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/abigail_pack.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260227T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260227T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T182308Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260221T200944Z UID:10003286-1772220600-1772226000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Wind Ensemble DESCRIPTION:Robert Young\n\n\n\nJohn R. Locke\n\n\n\nSarah McKoin\n\n\n\nWilliam L. Lake\, Jr.\n\n\n\n\nCarolina Band Festival and Conductors Conference\n\n\n\nJonathan Caldwell\, conductorRobert Young\, saxophoneJohn R. Locke\, guest conductorSarah McKoin\, guest conductorWilliam L. Lake\, Jr.\, guest conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nJOHN PHILIP SOUSASesquicentennial Exposition March (1926) \n\n\n\nCAROLYN BREMEREarly Light (1999) \n\n\n\nINGOLF DAHLConcerto for Saxophone and Wind Orchestra (1949/1953) \n\n\n\n Recitative  Adagio Rondo alla Marcia: Allegro brioso \n\n\n\nMORTON GOULDYankee Doodle (1945) \n\n\n\nLEONARD BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (1960)transcribed by Paul Lavender \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nSesquicentennial Exposition March \n\n\n\nJohn Philip Sousa (1854–1932)\, America’s most celebrated band composer of his era\, is widely known as the “March King.” Through his military band marches\, he helped define the sound and identity of American band music at the turn of the twentieth century. \n\n\n\nBorn in Washington\, DC\, to a trombonist in the US Marine Band\, Sousa was immersed in music from childhood. He trained as a violinist\, studied composition\, and at thirteen enlisted in the Marine Corps as an apprentice musician. After years as a theater conductor and performer\, he returned in 1880 to lead the US Marine Band\, a post he held until 1892. He then formed the Sousa Band\, which toured internationally for nearly four decades\, presenting more than 15\,000 concerts. \n\n\n\nSousa composed 136 marches\, along with operettas\, dances\, and songs\, admired for their energy\, craftsmanship\, and expressive range. His most famous work\, The Stars and Stripes Forever\, later designated the national march of the United States\, was the final piece he conducted before his death in 1932. \n\n\n\nCommissioned in honor of the 150th anniversary of American independence\, Sesquicentennial Exposition March was designated the official march of the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition. Dedicated to Philadelphia mayor W. Freeland Kendrick\, the march received its premiere on the opening concert of the Sousa Band’s thirty-fourth annual tour in Hershey\, Pennsylvania\, on July 4\, 1926\, alongside premieres of Pride of the Wolverines and The Gridiron Club. The work captures the spirit of the struggle for American independence: its opening strain evokes the fiery resolve of revolutionary-era debate\, with woodwinds and brass set in opposition to suggest conflicting viewpoints throughout\, before converging in a unified\, triumphant conclusion. \n\n\n\nEarly Light\n\n\n\nCarolyn Bremer forged a path as a composer after extensive training as a double bass player. She studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester\, New York\, the California Institute of Arts in Santa Clarita\, and the University of California\, Santa Barbara\, and later in her career served as associate director of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University\, Long Beach. She composed Early Light for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic\, which premiered the work in 1995. Its musical material is derived primarily from “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In this bright and uplifting piece\, Bremer—a passionate baseball fan since childhood—frames her excitement at hearing the national anthem before ball games. The percussive slapheard near the end echoes the crack of the bat on a long home run. \n\n\n\nConcerto for Saxophone and Wind Orchestra\n\n\n\nIngolf Dahl conceived of his Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Orchestra in 1948 after receiving a letter from saxophone virtuoso Sigurd Rascher expressing interest in a large-scale work for saxophone.  Rascher proposed the idea that the accompaniment should be scored so it could be performed with either band or orchestra\, but Dahl quickly abandoned the idea of the orchestra\, scoring it solely for band. Excited by the challenge of writing a new work for band\, Dahl remarked\, “Somebody has to write the big pieces\, the symphonic works\, if the medium is to be elevated.” The concerto\, initially titled Fantasy\, was conceived as a one-movement piece in three sections: recitative\, arioso\, and allegro. Later\, Dahl transformed the work into a multi-movement piece.  \n\n\n\nConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Orchestra was finished and premiered in May of 1949 by Rascher and the University of Illinois Concert Band. Dahl soon realized that Rascher was the only saxophonist in the world able to play the concerto due to its utilization of the very high “altissimo” register. This led to the concerto’s first revision in 1953\, in which the third movement was substantially rewritten to give the soloist an alternative to the altissimo passages. A third revision was made in 1959\, which included the removal of several sections\, shortening the piece to about three quarters of its original length. As for the differences between the original and published versions\, saxophone historian Paul Cohen writes: “When listening to the revised version of the concerto in comparison to the original\, it is clear that Dahl was operating from a different compositional perspective.” This evening\, we will perform the 1959 version.  \n\n\n\nHenry Cowell told Dahl that his concerto was “one of the most important and well-written band pieces he had ever seen.” One of Dahl’s closest contemporaries\, Igor Stravinsky\, was so moved by the piece that it brought him to tears. Within a decade of Dahl’s completion\, the Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Orchestra was performed by an extensive list of collegiate and professional ensembles\, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Orchestra remains one of Dahl’s most frequently performed works.  \n\n\n\nYankee Doodle\n\n\n\nIn 1945\, the final year of World War II\, Morton Gould created a joyful setting of a tune that can be traced back to the very founding of our country and beyond\, the iconic “Yankee Doodle.” Although there is incontrovertible evidence that the tune was in use at the time of the Revolution\, its origins remain shrouded in mystery. Countries including England\, France\, Holland\, and the United States have laid claim to it\, and a definitive answer as to the source of the melody itself may never be known. The lyrics\, however\, can be traced back to the French and Indian War (1754–63). Although the British were fighting alongside colonial soldiers in this conflict\, they had nothing but contempt for the unprofessional appearance and undisciplined bearing of their American cousins. Dr. Richard Schuckburgh\, a British Army surgeon assigned to duty with the colonials in Albany\, New York\, found their shabby appearance so amusing that he penned the lyrics most associated with the melody today. Although his words were designed to insult the Yankees (“Doodle” is a Low German word meaning “fool”)\, by the time of the Revolutionary War Americans had come to embrace the song as their own. According to Moore’s Encyclopedia of Music\, “When the battle of Concord and Lexington began the war\, the English\, when advancing in triumph\, played along the road “God Save the King\,” but\, on their disastrous retreat\, the Americans struck up “Yankee Doodle.” \n\n\n\nSymphonic Dances from West Side Story\n\n\n\nA child of the Jazz Age\, Leonard Bernstein grafted George Gershwin’s Russian immigrant roots onto Cole Porter’s Ivy League education (Harvard\, for Bernstein). His protean career developed very quickly: his famous debut conducting the New York Philharmonic on short notice in a nationally broadcast concert in November 1943 was followed the next year by the premieres of his First Symphony (“Jeremiah”) with the Pittsburgh Symphony; his ballet Fancy Free\, choreographed by Jerome Robbins\, at the Metropolitan Opera; and his Broadway musical On the Town. \n\n\n\nIn 1955-57\, Bernstein wrote the musical West Side Story\, the work that would ensure his fame as a composer. Then—after a New York run of almost two years (772 performances) and a national tour—in the opening weeks of 1960\, Bernstein revisited his score for West Side Story and extracted nine sections to assemble into the Symphonic Dances. They premiered at a “Valentine for Leonard Bernstein” gala concert by the New York Philharmonic (a fundraiser for the orchestra’s pension fund) under Lukas Foss’ direction\, on February 13\, 1961. \n\n\n\nThe stylistic diversity within the Symphonic Dances is partially created by the juxtaposition of classical techniques (fugue\, etc.) with dance rhythms and jazz syncopations. However\, the essence of the entire score is that most prominent opening melodic figure of “Maria” (C-F sharp-G)\, with its characteristic tritone interval. The suite ends\, like the musical itself\, on edge\, with an evocative chord containing the same interval. \n\n\n\nThe crucial role of dance in West Side Story added to the challenge of adapting the music for the concert platform. The orchestrations call for vibrant instrumental combinations and a huge percussion section (not to mention the vocal talents of the orchestra members!) to enhance the kinetic quality of the rhythms. More deeply\, they tilt the narrative weight from a love story to gang conflict. We hear first the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks\, then the utopian opposite; their juxtaposition creates a dramatic tension that shapes the entire work. The printed score includes the following descriptions: \n\n\n\nPrologue (Allegro moderato)—The growing rivalry between two teenage street gangs\, the Jets and Sharks. \n\n\n\n“Somewhere” (Adagio)—In a visionary dance sequence\, the two gangs are united in friendship. \n\n\n\nScherzo (Vivace e leggiero)—In the same dream\, they break through the city walls and suddenly find themselves in a world of space\, air\, and sun. \n\n\n\nMambo (Meno presto)—Reality again; competitive dance between the gangs. \n\n\n\nCha-cha (Andantino con grazia)—The star-crossed lovers [Tony and Maria] see each other for the first time and dance together. \n\n\n\nMeeting Scene (Meno mosso)—Music accompanies their first spoken words. \n\n\n\nCool Fugue (Allegretto)—An elaborate dance sequence in which the Jets practice controlling their hostility. \n\n\n\nRumble (Molto allegro)—Climactic gang battle during which the two gang leaders are killed. \n\n\n\nFinale (Adagio)—Love music developing into a procession\, which recalls\, in tragic reality\, the vision of “Somewhere.” \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Soloist\nRobert Young\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFueled by a deep desire to create an enthusiasm surrounding the classical saxophone\, Robert Young connects with audiences with his musicianship\, virtuosity\, and authenticity. Praised for his “effortless expression and facile technique” (The Saxophonist Magazine)\, Robert maintains an active career as a soloist\, chamber musician\, and educator. His artistry has afforded him opportunities to appear with ensembles and musicians from across the globe including the PRISM Quartet\, The Crossing\, Chris Potter\, Ravi Coltrane\, Uri Caine\, Charlotte Symphony\, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings\, and the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra.  \n\n\n\nAs a chamber musician\, Robert collaborated with The Crossing and performed alongside the PRISM Quartet on the GRAMMY Award-winning album Gavin Bryars: The Fifth Century (available on ECM Recordings). The New York Times praised the collective performance on this album as “superb”and “eloquent.” Young has appeared with the PRISM Quartet on numerous concerts including residencies at the Curtis Institute\, Shepherd School of Music (Rice University)\, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He can be heard on several albums with this notable ensemble including The Curtis Project\, Heritage/Evolution\, Volume 2\, and The Book of Days.  \n\n\n\nAppearing with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra as soloist in the 2023-24 season\, he was hailed as “uncommonly expressive…and technically prodigious” (San Francisco Classical Voice) for his performance of Guillaume Connesson’s acrobatic concerto\, A Kind of Trane. He has also been a soloist with the United States Navy Band\, performing Quicksilver by Chicago-based composer Stacy Garrop\, and has been featured as a soloist with the Rock Hill Symphony Orchestra\, Piedmont Wind Symphony\, UNCSA Symphony\, and Zagreb Soloists (Croatia). \n\n\n\nRobert holds a teaching position at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as Assistant Professor of Saxophone. Young’s students have received honors at several local\, regional and national competitions and have been featured at several clinics and conferences throughout the country. He previously has served on the faculties of the UNC School of the Arts\, The Crane School of Music – SUNY Potsdam\, and Wichita State University. Young is often invited to give guest lectures and classes throughout the country. In Fall 2022\, Robert was invited as be a guest teacher for the renowned University of Michigan saxophone studio as a sabbatical replacement for the award-winning saxophonist Timothy McAllister. \n\n\n\nRobert earned his Doctor of Musical Arts (2011) and Master of Music (2008) degrees in saxophone performance from the University of Michigan where he studied with Professor Donald Sinta. At the University of Michigan\, he studied jazz saxophone with Dr. Andrew Bishop and was a recipient of the Lawrence Teal Fellowship. Young received a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina (2006) in saxophone performance where he studied with Dr. Clifford Leaman.  \n\n\n\nAs a Conn-Selmer Artist\, Robert Young plays exclusively on Selmer saxophones. He also serves as a D’Addario artist/clinician and endorses Key Leaves products. \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Wind Ensemble\n\n\n\n\nThe UNCG Wind Ensemble is the premier wind band of the UNCG School of Music\, uniting fifty outstanding musicians from across the United States and around the world. Its members—ranging from first‑year undergraduates to master’s and doctoral students in performance and music education—are selected through a highly competitive audition process. Ensemble musicians regularly earn top solo and chamber awards\, competitive scholarships and fellowships\, and professional positions in orchestras\, military bands\, teaching\, and arts leadership. Current students represent seventeen states\, Slovenia\, and Hong Kong. \n\n\n\nFor decades\, the ensemble has built a distinguished record of artistic excellence\, with acclaimed performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts\, Lincoln Center\, and leading venues throughout the eastern United States. Its catalog of more than twenty commercial recordings has received national recognition and helped position UNCG as a leader in wind band performance\, commissioning\, and recording. \n\n\n\nThe Wind Ensemble has been featured at major national and regional conferences of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA)\, National Band Association (NBA)\, American Bandmasters Association (ABA)\, and Music Educators National Conference (MENC). The ensemble has also collaborated with prominent composers and performers\, including Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Karel Husa and other influential figures in the field. \n\n\n\nRecent highlights include performances at the Music Center at Strathmore; a joint concert with the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own”; a twelve‑day international tour through the Czech Republic\, Austria\, and Italy\, culminating in a featured performance at Prague’s renowned Dvořák Hall; and a tour of the Southern United States that concluded with an appearance at the national conference of the College Band Directors National Association. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe UNCG Bands are devoted to the performance\, study\, and advancement of wind band music at the highest artistic level. Recognized as one of the nation’s premier collegiate band programs\, the UNCG Bands maintain an active and distinguished record of excellence through performances\, recordings\, tours\, and appearances at major conventions. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands offer exceptional musical experiences for our members and share outstanding performances throughout the year. Together\, we enrich the cultural life\, spirit\, and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands also proudly support music education across North Carolina and throughout the region by providing leadership\, mentorship\, and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other musical organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\nJoin Our Mailing List\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/wind-ensemble-14/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/robert-young-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260110T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260110T200000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250315T154600Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250815T143747Z UID:10003122-1768075200-1768075200@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Leslie Odom Jr. DESCRIPTION:Leslie Odom Jr. is a multifaceted Tony- and Grammy-Award-Winning\, three-time Emmy- and two-time Academy Award-nominated vocalist\, songwriter\, actor\, and New York Times bestselling author. With a career that spans all performance genres\, Odom has received recognition for his excellence and achievements in Broadway\, television\, film\, and music. Most recently\, Odom made his long-awaited return to Broadway starring in\, and co-producing\, the new Broadway production of the classic American comedy Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by the legendary Ossie Davis\, which opened in September 2023 to widespread critical acclaim. Odom was nominated for Lead Actor in a Play for his role\, and the play received six nominations in total. Purlie Victorious was also recorded and aired as part of PBS’s Great Performances series. \n\n\n\nAdditionally\, he starred in the highly anticipated sequel to the original iconic film The Exorcist for Blumhouse and Universal Pictures. Odom recently starred in Rian Johnson’s 2022 Knives Out sequel\, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery\, which broke records for Netflix and is currently streaming worldwide. In 2020\, he starred as legendary singer Sam Cooke in the award-winning Amazon film adaptation of One Night in Miami…\, directed by Regina King. His critically acclaimed and highly lauded portrayal of the soul icon and musical performance of original song “Speak Now” earned him multiple awards and nominations. He also starred in The Many Saints of Newark\, a prequel to David Chase’s award-winning HBO series The Sopranos\, released in October 2021. \n\n\n\nWell-known for his breakout role as “Aaron Burr” in the smash hit Broadway musical Hamilton\, Odom hosted “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!” on CBS in September 2021 (2022 Emmy nomination). Additional film and television credits include Apple TV+’s Central Park (2020 Emmy nomination)\, Hamilton on Disney+ (2021 Emmy nomination)\, Abbott Elementary\, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder\, Love in the Time of Corona\, Harriet\, and many more. Co-written with Nicolette Robinson\, Odom’s first children’s book\, I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know\, was published by Feiwel & Friends on March 28\, 2023. The book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #7 in its first week. Odom is a BMG recording artist and has released five full-length albums. His fifth studio album\, When A Crooner Dies\, was released on November 17\, 2023. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrchestra/MezzBalconyUNCG Students$7.50$7.50UNCG Faculty/Staff$25.00$25.00Adults$75.00$60.00Seniors/Military$65.00$50.00Children (K-12)$40.00$25.00\n\n\n\n\nPURCHASE TICKETS\n\n\n\n\n* Tickets to CVPA and UCLS events are sold exclusively through our box office locations and ETix website\, and nowhere else. Tickets purchased through third-party vendors cannot be honored. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn addition to public presentations\, artists in the UCLS series have important interactions with UNCG students\, such as holding masterclasses\, talkback sessions\, and seminars\, often just hours before performing on stage. Thanks to a grant from The Cemala Foundation\, some of these artists also work with K-12 students in the Guilford County Schools. URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/leslie-odom-jr/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,UCLS ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/featuredOdom.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251123T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251123T170000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250825T151837Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251107T215423Z UID:10003381-1763911800-1763917200@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Chamber Singers DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/wKwnUY23mUI?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nCarole Ott\, conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nGEORG PHILIPP TELEMANNNun Danket alle Gott \n\n\n\nJ.J.E. LOBO DE MESQUITALadainha de Nossa Senhora \n\n\n\nW.A. MOZARTVesperae solennes de confessore\, K. 339 \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\n \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\n \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Choirs\nThe mission of the UNCG Choirs is dedicated to the teaching\, performance\, study and cultivation of choral music of the highest quality representing not just the western choral canon but also choral music of other cultures by a diverse body of historical and new composers. We believe that the UNCG Choirs are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression\, of vital service and importance to its members and to UNCG. Through ensemble performance\, we strive to create an environment of trust\, communication\, and expressive freedom\, to present outstanding performances throughout the year\, and to enhance the institutional sprit and character of UNCG. To music as an art and a profession\, the UNCG Choirs seek to bring increasing artistry\, understanding\, and respect by efforts within our own immediate sphere and by providing leadership and sponsorship to school choral programs and through cooperation with all other agencies pursuing similar musical goals. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Choirs\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/chamber-singers-5/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/choir-event-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251121T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251121T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T194653Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251107T215241Z UID:10003292-1763753400-1763758800@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Concert Band DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/NQSqDb5HqmE?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nPatty Saunders\, conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\n \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\n \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe renowned UNCG Bands are dedicated to the performance\, study\, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality\, and are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression. The UNCG Bands are considered to be among the very finest collegiate band programs in America based upon our active profile of excellence in our performances\, recordings\, tours and convention performances. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary practices in organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands provide exceptional experiences for our members\, sharing outstanding performances throughout the year and enhancing the institutional spirit and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands seek to support music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by providing leadership and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/concert-band-4/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/PIC24762-MUS_Wind_Ensemble_0639-3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251120T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251120T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T180107Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251120T024753Z UID:10003284-1763667000-1763672400@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Wind Ensemble DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/hztl84uanQ0?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Caldwell\, conductorJuan José Navarro\, guest conductorTaylor Stirm\, clarinet \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\n\nMark Engebretson \n\n\n\nCrossfade\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArnold Schoenberg \n\n\n\nTheme and Variations\, op. 43a\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nScott McAllister \n\n\n\nBlack Dog\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nintermission \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAmando Blanquer Ponsoda \n\n\n\nGloses II\n\n\n\nModeratoMossoModeratoMosso\, con certa vivacitáAllegro jubiloso \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLuis Serrano Alarcón \n\n\n\nInvocación\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJaume Teixidor \n\n\n\nAmparito Roca\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFunding for Juan José Navarro’s residency was provided\, in part\, by the John R. Locke Endowment for Excellence in Music. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nCrossfade\n\n\n\nMark Engebretson is a professor of composition and music technology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His music explores melody\, timbre\, and virtuosity through clear formal design\, while often integrating new media and popular influences. A recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship\, Engebretson’s music has been commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation and Barlow Endowment. Engebretson’s works have been performed widely in the United States and abroad.  Crossfade was commissioned by Stephen Squires and the Chicago College of Performing Arts Wind Ensemble and premiered in 2017. The title references the process of blending one sound or idea into another: a technique familiar in audio production. Throughout the piece\, musical textures and colors overlap and transform as ideas emerge\, fade\, and reappear in new contexts. Crossfade unfolds in three large sections: an energetic opening characterized by rhythmic motion and bass-driven motives\, a slower and more texturally experimental middle section\, and a return of the opening material transformed with new energy and melodic material. The work’s vibrance\, intricate layers\, and buoyant rhythms create what the composer describes as “a bubbly concoction of energy\, rhythm\, and joy.”  \n\n\n\nNote by Mark Engebretson and Molly Allman  \n\n\n\nTheme and Variations\, op. 43a\n\n\n\nArnold Schoenberg\, largely self-taught and originally from Vienna\, immigrated to Los Angeles in 1934. While in the United States\, Schoenberg taught at UCLA while composing until a heart attack in 1945 led him to retire from teaching in order to focus on composition. Schoenberg is best known for “emancipating dissonance” through his move away from tonality and toward atonality where music lacks a key center. This idea led to his development of 12-tone technique\, a revolutionary approach to composition that has come to define his legacy. However\, this contribution represents only part of his creative output which also includes his significant and tonal composition for band: Theme and Variations\, op. 43a. Written while Schoenberg was living in Los Angeles\, Theme and Variations\, op. 43a was composed at the request of Carl Engel\, president of G. Schirmer Music\, following a request from Edwin Franko Goldman\, for an original composition for band. Centered in G Minor\, the work consists of a theme\, seven variations\, and a finale. Each variation is based on the original theme and developed through fragmentation and motivic transformation\, while incorporating tempo variation\, a waltz\, an inverted canon\, and a chorale. The multi-part finale includes a double fugue and a coda that transforms the tonality from G Minor to G Major. \n\n\n\nNote by Patty Saunders  \n\n\n\nBlack Dog\n\n\n\nScott McAllister is an American composer\, educator\, and clarinetist. McAllister attended Florida State University where he studied conducting with the director of bands\, James Croft\, and clarinet with Frank Kowalsky. In 2001\, following the success of his previous work for clarinet\, X Concerto\, Croft and Kowalsky commissioned McAllister to write another clarinet concerto which became Black Dog. Written to showcase Frank Kowalsky’s technique\, Black Dog draws inspiration from 1970s rock music including guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page\, and more specifically Led Zeppelin’s song “Black Dog.” The piece is intended to evoke the feeling of an outdoor concert\, with the clarinet soloist serving as the lead singer in front of a screaming audience. To further emphasize the “rock” feel of the piece\, McAllister chose to write it as a rhapsody\, which allows for more formal freedom. The soloist is featured in several cadenzas before a “head-banging” bass line propels the piece to a rousing conclusion. \n\n\n\nNote by Scott McAllister and Jaden Brown \n\n\n\nGloses II\n\n\n\nSpanish composer Amando Blanquer Ponsoda studied horn with Don Fernando de Mora and composition at the Conservatory of Valencia with Leopoldo Magneti\, Manuel Palau\, and Miguel Asins Arbó. In the 1950s\, he received a scholarship to study in Paris and studied composition with Olivier Messiaen. Blanquer won several awards including the Rome Prize in 1962. Upon moving back to Spain\, he served as the chair of composition at the Valencia Superior Conservatory of Music. His prolific output of more than three hundred works spans symphonic\, chamber\, choral\, and solo music. His significance as a band composer is evident in his works for band and with his background playing in the Primitive Band of Alcoy. Considering his compositional style\, Blanquer remarked “each musical idea is born from the element that originates it—whether it be an orchestra\, a band\, an oboe\, a guitar.” Gloses II is part of a trilogy\, alongside Gloses for organ (1987) and Gloses III for symphony orchestra (1990). Commissioned for the Festliche Musik Tage in Switzerland\, it was also featured at the Valencia International Wind Band Competition in 1991. In Spain\, a “glosa” is a poetic form that expands on a pre-existing short text\, typically a four-line stanza. In music\, the “glosa” generates melodic variations—a tradition rooted in Valencian Baroque music\, notably in the works of organist Joan Baptiste Cabanilles (1644–1712). The five-movement work is a musical interpretation of a “glosa” and opens with a four- note melody in the low brass\, which serves as thematic material used throughout the work The second movement highlights the oboe and bassoon with contrasting lyrical lines and dance-like rhythms. Chimes signal the beginning of the third movement\, which opens with a horn solo which is developed across the ensemble before resolving to a D Major chord. The fourth and longest movement features a chaotic texture\, with frantic\, fragmented rhythms interspersed with slower\, lyrical passages. The final movement marked “Allegro jubiloso\,” begins with tom-toms and marked chords. Woodwind and high brass rhythmic sections\, a reintroduction of oboe and flute solos\, and fanfare-like brass are showcased. The rhythmic motive is then imitated in the timpani in the final measures to bring the piece to a triumphant and full ensemble E Major chord. \n\n\n\nNote by Patty Saunders \n\n\n\nInvocación\n\n\n\nLuis Serrano Alarcón is a Spanish composer and conductor who writes primarily for band. In 2017\, La Armónica\, the symphonic band at Centro Instructivo Musical (CIM) in Buñol\, Spain\, commissioned Alarcón to compose Invocación. The piece was premiered as part of the band’s competition repertoire for the World Music Contest\, a month-long music festival in Kerkrade\, Netherlands. Invocación is based on Isaac Albeníz’s piano suite Iberia\, specifically\, the second movement\, “El Puerto” which Alarcón performed as a child. Alarcón draws inspiration from his experiences and memories with Iberia in Invocación. The piece’s subtitle\, “Revisitando El Puerto\,” refers to both the revisitation of old music and a revival of the actual location that inspired Albeníz’s “El Puerto”: El Puerto de Santa María in Cadíz\, Spain. Additionally\, the title Invocación is subtle reference to the first movement of the piano suite\, “Evocación.” These similarities and connections were specifically chosen by Alarcón for a reason: “While to evoke is to remember in an intervening way or motivated by something external\, to invoke is a request\, and therefore denotes intention.” \n\n\n\nNote by Luis Serrano Alarcón and Jaden Brown \n\n\n\nAmparito Roca\n\n\n\nJaume Teixidor was a Spanish composer and conductor who spent most of his career leading municipal and military bands throughout Spain\, including the Baracaldo Municipal Band in northern Spain. He wrote more than five hundred compositions for concert band\, many of which became staples of Spanish band repertoire.  Amparito Roca is a pasodoble; a traditional Spanish military march in duple meter with brisk-like rhythms and bold melodic themes\, often associated with bullfighting and festive celebrations. Named after Teixidor’s piano student\, Amparito Roca\, for whom he originally wrote the piece as a study work\, the piece opens with a spirited introduction\, followed by the main theme\, alternating with lyrical and dance-like passages. Its lively rhythms\, dynamic contrasts\, and melodic flourishes capture the character of the Spanish pasodoble.  \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\nTaylor Stirm (Second Prize\, Student Artist Competition)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTaylor Stirm is a current doctoral student at UNC Greensboro and the North Carolina student representative for the International Clarinet Association. Stirm is a clarinet instructor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Community Music School and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Community Music School. She also has a large private studio in North Carolina of clarinet and piano students. \n\n\n\nEqually at home in solo\, chamber\, and orchestral situations\, Stirm has performed throughout the United States and internationally. She has been featured at conferences of the International Clarinet Association\, American Single Reed Summit\, and HERo. Stirm is a founding member of the clarinet trio Chaos Incarné\, which aims to expand the clarinet repertoire through commissioning emerging composers from underrepresented communities. \n\n\n\nStirm holds degrees from UNC Greensboro and Arizona State University. Her primary teachers include Anthony Taylor\, Luke Ellard\, Andy Hudson\, Robert Spring\, Joshua Gardner\, and Theresa Martin.  \n\n\n\nJuan José Navarro\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJuan José Navarro is currently teacher of clarinet and conducting at the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Música of Almería. He also conducts the Almería University Symphony Orchestra and Choir and leads the master’s conducting program at Almería University. He has served as music director of the Sinfónica Municipal de Almería for eight years and is also the co-founder along with José Miguel Rodilla of the Academia de Dirección de Orquesta y Banda\, “Diesis.” Academia Diesis gives classes in Almería\, Murcia\, Sevilla\, and Valencia and has served more than eighty students from every part of Spain. \n\n\n\nProf. Navarro was awarded second prize for conducting the San Indalecio Wind Orchestra in the National Competition in Murcia and the first prize for conducting the Unión Musical de Godelleta in the Special Section of the Wind Bands Competition of Valencia. He has conducted in the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest\, the Musikverein in Vienna\, and the Opera House in Cairo. \n\n\n\nProf. Navarro holds degrees in clarinet from the Conservatory of Music of Valencia\, in orchestral conducting from the Conservatory of Music of Murcia\, and a master’s degree in conducting and choral pedagogy from the International University of La Rioja. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe renowned UNCG Bands are dedicated to the performance\, study\, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality\, and are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression. The UNCG Bands are considered to be among the very finest collegiate band programs in America based upon our active profile of excellence in our performances\, recordings\, tours and convention performances. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary practices in organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands provide exceptional experiences for our members\, sharing outstanding performances throughout the year and enhancing the institutional spirit and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands seek to support music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by providing leadership and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPersonnel\n\n\n\n\n\nFLUTEJason EvinskyRebecca KleinmannColleen McCracken*Ericka SanchezJoeli SchillingLucien SmithGrace Spivey \n\n\n\nOBOEMcKenzie CarrHailey CohenGer Vang* \n\n\n\nCLARINETTJ BaudreauConcetta Brehmer*Katelyn CopelandLiam DeenNicole GrahamHayley Jensen*Graham MarvellMariah McClammyAubrey Russell \n\n\n\nBASSOONEmily Klinkoski*Angela MorettiSabrina Wright \n\n\n\n\n\nSAXOPHONERyan EhingerJames GrassArjuna RamachandranDylan Royal*Orazio ThomasChris Vega \n\n\n\nTRUMPETCalvin Godfrey*Jack KannanNinon KirchmanRiver PrescottOliver RunkleZachary Seaman \n\n\n\nHORNEli KinardJackson MeshawJT Sandlin*Kai Summerlin \n\n\n\nTROMBONEHector JamarilloMichael Mangrum*Kristen McBrayerMegan Seyer \n\n\n\n\n\nEUPHONIUMJohn Cowger*Jason LeeJonathan LowryKent Tingley \n\n\n\nTUBANate Bridges*Trevor LongWill Wood \n\n\n\nPERCUSSIONEli Alvarez-LopezSam ElyZach Foster*Gabe GenopolosLachlan GeorgeMadison KaranShelby Perez-Hendricks \n\n\n\nDOUBLE BASSDominic Kilgore \n\n\n\nPIANOYuxin Chen \n\n\n\nHARPBethany Lancaster \n\n\n\nAll personnel are listed alphabetically.  \n\n\n\n*section leader \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/wind-ensemble-13/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/PIC24762-MUS_Wind_Ensemble_0639-3.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251119T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251119T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T175720Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251211T220301Z UID:10003291-1763580600-1763586000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Symphony Orchestra: Tchaikovsky's Fourth DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/jCmzzTMRRoU?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nJungho Kim\, conductorMajorie Bagley\, violinScott Rawls\, violaMark Engebretson\, composer \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nMARK ENGEBRETSONIncandescent Arcs (premiere) \n\n\n\nW.A. MOZARTSinfonia Concertante for Violin\, Viola\, and Orchestra\, K. 364 (1779) \n\n\n\nAllegro maestosoAndantePresto \n\n\n\nPYOTR I. TCHAIKOVSKYSymphony No. 4 in F minor\, op. 36 (1877–78) \n\n\n\nAndante sostenuto—Moderato con anima—Moderato assai\, quasi Andante—Allegro vivoAndantino in modo di canzonaScherzo: Pizzicato ostinato—AllegroFinale: Allegro con fuoco \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nIncandescent Arcs\n\n\n\nIncandescent Arcs brings together two preoccupations that have long featured in my music: light and color (Luminous\, Radiance\, Dark Arts for Daylight) and arc shapes (An Arc in Solitude\, Intensity Arcs and Blocks\, d_forme). For me\, an arc represents an intensity shape: in its simplest form\, this could relate to dynamics or loudness\, but it might also describe intensity\, timbre\, pitch level\, rhythm\, or levels of complexity. We experience arcs as musical shapes naturally: improvisers\, for example\, often create music that could be said to be in an arc shape. The golden section\, which can be understood as an arc shape\, has been cited as a structural feature of many musical works. In the end\, the arc shape describes the most basic concepts of tension and release. Evocations if light and color in music are more elusive\, although many composers have related notions of color to their music\, for example Olivier Messiaen and Aleksandr Scriabin. For some\, their interest is inspired by their own synesthetic experiences\, but it is well known that their sound/color correspondences are highly personal and not universally heard or seen. I don’t have synesthesia myself\, but still color is a musical preoccupation in many ways. The idea of incandescence is most often connected to bright lights. Think of what we used to have for light bulbs. It can also be used to refer to strongly felt emotional states\, often in the angry spectrum\, but more applicable in this case centered on enthusiasm\, passion\, love. Something incandescent glows or shines from within. This piece brings two main ideas (arcs) forward\, one of which is\, for me\, a brilliant\, bright white light. The other suggests deepest\, darkest violet. In both cases\, the emotional connections will be your own but hopefully will be strong and ardent. Of course\, you may not hear the piece in terms of color or light\, but there are always other ways to listen and experience the music. You might\, for example\, think of these arcs as stories\, consider how each story is altered through its retelling\, and enjoy the ride over the large-scale arc as they become inexorably entwined. \n\n\n\nNote by Mark Engebretson \n\n\n\nSinfonia Concertante for Violin\, Viola\, and Orchestra\, K. 364\n\n\n\nBy 1779\, Mozart was eager to break free from the constraints imposed by Archbishop Colloredo in Salzburg. His recent travels to Mannheim and Paris immersed him in the evolving sinfonia concertante genre\, a hybrid of symphony and concerto featuring multiple soloists. Inspired by the instrumental dialogue he encountered\, Mozart composed his Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major\, K. 364\, a work that embodies his mature synthesis of virtuosic flair and expressive depth. This composition marks a turning point\, signaling artistic independence that soon led to his dismissal from Salzburg and relocation to Vienna. The scoring is notable for its timbral sensitivity: the bright violin is balanced with the darker\, richer hues of the viola. Mozart enhances this by dividing the viola section\, enriching the string texture\, and employing scordatura tuning on the solo viola—raising its pitch a semitone to elevate its resonance and balance. The expansive opening Allegro maestoso builds on themes introduced by the orchestra\, highlighting influences from Mannheim’s dynamic orchestral style\, including the celebrated Mannheim crescendo. The Andante slow movement reflects an operatic sensibility\, with the plaintive violin paired against the consoling viola in a dialogue suggestive of vocal lament. Its emotional depth\, linked by scholars like Maynard Solomon to Mozart’s personal loss of his mother\, adds profound lyricism. The final Presto rondo bursts with energy and joy\, featuring lively exchanges and melodic inventions that culminate in an exciting conclusion. \n\n\n\nNote by Jordan Owen \n\n\n\nSymphony No. 4 in F minor\, op. 36\n\n\n\nTchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor\, op. 36\, completed in 1878\, stands as one of the composer’s most intimate and confessional orchestral works\, shaped profoundly by a time of great personal upheaval. Composed against the backdrop of his disastrous marriage to Antonina Milyukova and subsequent emotional crisis\, the Fourth Symphony channels Tchaikovsky’s anxieties\, vulnerabilities\, and eventual moments of resilience into a gripping musical narrative. Throughout its composition\, Tchaikovsky maintained a deeply personal correspondence with his patron and confidante Nadezhda von Meck\, ultimately dedicating the symphony to her—a gesture reflective of the trust and solace her support provided during this troubling period. In his letters\, Tchaikovsky described the work as an embodiment of Fate\, casting the symphony’s opening fanfares as an inescapable force standing between the individual and happiness. This powerful motif\, ushered in by the brass and winds\, acts as the foundation for the symphony’s structure as well as its psychological landscape. The first movement\, marked by urgency and dramatic turns\, repeatedly confronts the listener with this idea of Fate’s interference and persistence\, each thematic arrival shadowed by the specter of destiny. The movement’s restless momentum and orchestral color draw clear lines between internal struggle and artistic expression. The second movement\, Andantino in modo di canzona\, adopts an altogether more lyrical tone\, introduced by a plaintive oboe solo. Here\, nostalgia and sorrow intermingle\, reflecting Tchaikovsky’s musings on solitude\, exhaustion\, and the bittersweet pleasure of reminiscence. Memories of happiness and youth emerge across sweeping melodic arcs\, only to dissolve into sadness as the passage of time is gently mourned. This music does not simply dwell in melancholy; it gently urges its listener to accept the complexity of loss and memory. With the Scherzo\, marked Pizzicato ostinato\, the composer shifts into a world of playfulness and innovative texture. The strings’ pizzicato provides a bright\, unpredictable backdrop\, while wind and brass introduce episodes that recall folk festivities and military parades. These sections flit by like fleeting thoughts or half-remembered dreams\, and Tchaikovsky himself likened them to errant\, abstract images that pass through the imagination when the mind wanders. What emerges is a remarkable movement not only for its novelty but for its ability to capture the ephemeral nature of inner experience. The finale unleashes the full force of the orchestra in a rollicking outburst of energy\, opening with a jubilant exclamation and quickly shifting gears with a Russian folk tune\, “In the Field Stands a Birch Tree.” Tchaikovsky reveals that when joy cannot be found within oneself\, the pleasures of the community—embodied in dance and festivity—may offer a way forward. Yet\, as exuberance builds\, Fate’s theme unexpectedly reappears\, a reminder that suffering and joy are always in dialogue. Despite its return\, the finale presses on to a conclusion brimming with vitality and affirmation\, as if to suggest that life\, for all its trials\, offers moments of real joy when one partakes in the world around them. Known as one of the great Romantic symphonies\, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth transforms personal struggle and existential questioning into a compelling drama rich with psychological insight and expressive color. Its confessional tone\, forged through adversity\, continues to resonate with audiences as a testament to the resilience of the individual spirit and the transformative potential of music. \n\n\n\nNote by Jordan Owen \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\nMarjorie Bagley\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nViolinist Marjorie Bagley joined the faculty at UNCG in the Fall of 2009 after teaching violin and chamber music at Ohio University in Athens\, OH. She began her professional career as first violinist and founding member of the Arcata String Quartet upon graduating from the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Pinchas Zukerman. The Arcata Quartet enjoyed nearly a decade of performances around the US and Europe\, including concerts in London’s Wigmore Hall\, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie\, and their NYC debut in Town Hall. They can be heard in recordings on the VOX label\, alongside members of the Tokyo and American Quartets. Her love of chamber music continues to this day as she performs with colleagues in NC and around the country\, exploring classic and contemporary repertoire.   \n\n\n\nBagley is Concertmaster of the Greensboro Symphony under the direction of Christopher Dragon. This season\, she performed as soloist alongside mandolin player Chris Thile\, and next season brings a solo appearance in Vaughn-Williams’ classic Lark Ascending. Bagley performed as both Associate Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin in the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus\, OH\, under the direction of Music Director David Danzmayr and Principal Guest Artist Vadim Gluzman. For two decades\, Bagley performed as member of the Berkshire Bach Society with keyboardist Kenneth Cooper.  \n\n\n\nSummers have taken Bagley to many festivals as both teacher and performer. The Arcata Quartet performed across Europe over several summers\, including a concert at the Rheingau Music Festival. Her path as a teacher began at the Meadowmount Music School where she was an assistant teacher\, and continued at a variety of summer chamber music festivals for high school  students across the country. For six summers\, Bagley was an assistant teacher at the Perlman Music Program. She has been on faculty at the Kinhaven Music School and the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival\, and the International Music Academy Plzen in the Czech Republic. Bagley was an artist teacher at the Brevard Music Festival for eleven summers where she frequently served as concertmaster.   \n\n\n\nProfessor Bagley continues to give masterclasses and performances at universities around the US. She remains fascinated by the unique qualities of each student she interacts with\, looking to combine an understanding of violin technique and learning strategies to help each student move towards their potential. She also loves to perform and teach works by living composers and works that draw from a variety of musical styles.   \n\n\n\nAfter growing up in Wingate\, NC\, she received her BM summa cum laude in Violin Performance from the University of Michigan and an MM from the Manhattan School of Music. Teachers and coaches have included Pinchas Zukerman\, Josef Gingold\, Patinka Kopec\, Isidore Cohen\, and members of the Tokyo and American String Quartets. Three decades of performances have taken her to five continents and led to many inspiring musical collaborations. She can be heard in recordings on the Equilibrium\, Centaur\, Albany\, Summit\, and VOX labels. Bagley’s time away from the violin is filled with family adventures alongside her husband\, physics professor Ian Beatty\, and their three children. \n\n\n\nScott Rawls\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nViolist Scott Rawls has appeared as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States\, Canada\, Mexico\, Japan\, and Europe.  Recent chamber music endeavors include performances with Dmitry Sitkovetsky\, Branford Marsalis\, Sergey Antonov\, Michelle Cann and the Reynolda Quartet.  With the Nikkanen/Rawls/Bailey string trio\, he has played tours in Alaska\, Washington\, Arizona and Texas.  His solo and chamber music recordings can be heard on the Centaur\, CRI\, Nonesuch\, Capstone\, and Philips labels.   \n\n\n\nA strong proponent of new music\, Rawls has premiered dozens of new works by prominent composers.  Most notable\, he has toured extensively as a member of Steve Reich and Musicians.  As the violist in this ensemble\, he performed the numerous premieres of Daniel Variations\, The Cave and Three Tales by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot\, videographer. And under the auspices of presenting organizations such as the Wiener Festwochen\, Festival d’Automne a Paris\, Holland Festival\, Berlin Festival\, Spoleto Festival USA and the Lincoln Center Festival\, he has performed in major music centers around the world including London\, Vienna\, Rome\, Milan\, Tokyo\, Prague\, Amsterdam\, Brussels\, Los Angeles\, Chicago and New York.    \n\n\n\nUnder the baton of maestro Christopher Dragon\, he plays principal viola in the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra.  During the summer season\, Rawls plays principal in the festival orchestra at Brevard Music Center where he also coordinates the viola program.  He was also appointed principal viola of the Palm Beach Opera orchestra\, David Stern artistic director.  \n\n\n\nDr. Rawls currently serves as Marion Stedman Covington Distinguished Professor of Viola and Chamber Music and String Area Chair at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He holds a BM degree from Indiana University and a MM and DMA from State University of New York at Stony Brook. His major mentors include Abraham Skernick\, Georges Janzer\, John Graham and Julius Levine.   \n\n\n\nMark Engebretson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nComposer Mark Engebretson is Professor of Composition and Music Technology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  He is the recipient of a Barlow Commission (for Bent Frequency)\, North Carolina Artist Fellowship in Composition (for the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra)\, a Fulbright Fellowship for studies in France\, and has received commissions from Harvard University’s Fromm Music Foundation (Acrylic Waves)\, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (They Said: sinister resonance)\, the Thomas S. Kenan Center for the Arts (Deliriade)\, and the Chicago College for the Performing Arts (Crossfade). He is the founder of New Music Greensboro.  \n\n\n\nEngebretson’s creative work is driven by melody\, timbre\, virtuosity\, clear and balanced formal structure\, the integration of new media\, multiple levels of associations\, and a desire for fresh\, engaging musical expression. Recent work has included strong overtones of pop music\, creative intersections with written texts and using audience members’ smartphones as a form of interactivity.  \n\n\n\nMark Engebretson taught composition at the University of Florida\, music theory at the SUNY Fredonia and 20th-century music history at the Eastman School of Music. He studied at the University of Minnesota (graduating Summa cum Laude)\, the Conservatoire de Bordeaux (as a Fulbright Scholar)\, and Northwestern University\, where he received the Doctor of Music degree.  At Northwestern he studied composition with M. William Karlins\, Pauline Oliveros\, Marta Ptaszynska\, Michael Pisaro\, Stephen Syverud and Jay Alan Yim and saxophone with Frederick Hemke. His teachers in France were Michel Fuste-Lambezat and Jean-Marie Londeix.  \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Orchestras\nThe vibrant UNCG Orchestra program has long been recognized for performance excellence\, adventurous programming\, and high artistic standards. A diversity of offerings allow students the opportunity to perform repertoire for ensembles ranging from the largest cornerstone and contemporary works for full orchestra\, to intimate pieces for chamber orchestra\, to string orchestra. \n\n\n\nStudents in the UNCG Orchestra program are dedicated to the performance\, study and cultivation of orchestral music of the highest quality. The UNCG Orchestras offer outstanding performances throughout the year and enhance the institutional spirit and community of UNCG. We seek to promote music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by supporting secondary school orchestra programs and other organizations through our outreach activities and other annual events on campus. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Orchestras\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/symphony-orchestra-tchaikovskys-fourth/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/symphony-orchestra-kim-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251118T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251118T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T180643Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251117T194127Z UID:10003290-1763494200-1763499600@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Symphonic Band DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/8dXsdSsper8?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Caldwell\, conductorGarrett Klein\, trumpetJuan José Navarro\, guest conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nOSCAR NAVARRODowney Overture (2011) \n\n\n\nULYSSES KAYSolemn Prelude (1950) \n\n\n\nPHILIP SPARKEManhattan (2004) \n\n\n\nMANUEL MORALES MARTÍNEZSoñad el mar pasodoble (2020) \n\n\n\nPERCY GRAINGERCountry Gardens (1918)Irish Tune from County Derry (1918)Shepherd’s Hey (1918) \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nDowney Overture\n\n\n\nÓscar Navarro is a Spanish composer and conductor. He studied clarinet\, composition\, and conducting in Spain and later specialized in film and television scoring at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. His music has been performed worldwide by orchestras and symphonic bands\, including the Downey Symphony Orchestra\, for whom this overture was written. Downey Overture was composed as a celebration of both Navarro’s native Spain and his time in California. It is dedicated to the Downey Symphony Orchestra and its conductor Sharon Lavery. Navarro describes the piece as “a Latin-American fusion…an amalgam of rhythm and musical color wrapped in an atmosphere of dance.” The overture opens with bold\, dance-inspired rhythms\, with percussion and winds engaging in rhythmic interplay. The music moves through contrasting sections\, from lively to more dramatic\, and concludes by returning to earlier themes\, leaving a sense of energy and unity. \n\n\n\nNote by Óscar Navarro and Molly Allman \n\n\n\nSolemn Prelude\n\n\n\nUlysses S. Kay\, an American composer and educator\, was born in Tucson\, Arizona\, where he grew up surrounded by musical influence. His great-uncle\, American jazz cornetist King Oliver\, encouraged Kay to study piano. Kay studied at the University of Arizona\, the Eastman School of Music\, and Columbia University\, working with mentors including Howard Hanson and Paul Hindemith. Over his career\, he composed more than forty orchestral works\, five operas\, nearly fifty choral compositions\, and seven original works for band\, establishing himself as a significant twentieth-century composer. Kay was also one of the most successful African-American composers of his generation and gained widespread recognition in the classical world breaking barriers for other Black artists. He received numerous honors including a Guggenheim fellowship\, two Prix de Rome selections\, and six honorary doctorates. Despite his success and contributions\, Kay’s band works remain lesser-known and infrequently performed. Solemn Prelude (1950) was commissioned by Donald I. Moore for the Baylor University Golden Wave Band. Initially published by Broadcast Music Incorporated and Associated Music Publishing\, a typewritten note in the Ulysses Kay Archives indicates it was later listed as withdrawn\, leaving it unclear whether Kay intended it to be published or performed. Solemn Prelude is composed in an ABA form and exemplifies Kay’s compositional philosophy: “I [am] using quite simple musical materials and avoiding all so-called ‘effects\,’ [and] I have attempted to achieve symphonic expression while observing the characteristic qualities of the full concert band.” The slow and melodic work is built from a recurring rhythmic motive in D Minor\, first heard in the saxophones and low brass\, which accompanies the opening euphonium solo. Then solo passages are passed across the ensemble to include flute\, oboe\, trumpet\, and bassoon. The initial rhythmic motive returns and dominates the texture in the closing measures. \n\n\n\nNote by Patty Saunders \n\n\n\nSong and Dance\n\n\n\nPhilip Sparke is an English composer who has written extensively for brass band. In 1983\, the GUS Band\, a British brass band\, commissioned Sparke to write Jubilee Overture for an upcoming recording session and to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Following the success of Jubilee Overture\, the band commissioned Song and Dance the next year. In 2009\, Geoffrey Brand arranged Song and Dance for solo cornet and concert band. Song and Dance is a single movement piece in two sections\, a song followed by a dance. The “Song” features a “Scotch snap” rhythm followed by a lyrical cadenza leading to a muted presentation of the opening theme. The “Dance” is lively and tuneful with frequently changing meters to accompany the dancing melody. \n\n\n\nNote by Philip Sparke and Jaden Brown \n\n\n\nPageant\, op. 59\n\n\n\nVincent Persichetti was an American composer\, educator\, and pianist\, and an influential figure in early band literature. In the immediate aftermath of World War II\, bands struggled to program substantial\, original repertoire written specifically for band. Persichetti’s insistence on composing high quality music helped move the medium forward in many ways. In 1952\, Edwin Franko Goldman\, founder of the Goldman Band in New York City and the American Bandmasters Association (ABA)\, commissioned Persichetti to write a piece for the upcoming ABA Convention. Pageant was premiered at the 1953 ABA Convention in Miami\, Florida with Persichetti conducting the University of Miami Band. Early manuscript sketches of Pageant show that the piece was initially meant to be titled Morning Music for Band. Traces of the idea of “morning music” can be heard in the opening horn motif and the clarinet soli that follows. The piece is in two sections\, the first being slower and more lyrical and the second being a “parade” section introduced by the snare drum. \n\n\n\nNote by Vincent Persichetti and Jaden Brown \n\n\n\nSoñad el mar\n\n\n\nManuel Morales Martínez is a Spanish composer and conductor whose work focuses on wind ensembles across the Valencian region\, a heartland of Spanish band music tradition. Soñad el mar was composed in 2017 for the Banda Primitiva de Rafelbuñol and is a concert pasodoble. While a concert pasodoble maintains the characteristic pasodoble rhythmic framework\, these pasodobles are slower and more formally\, harmonically\, and melodically complex than a traditional pasodoble. The piece begins with a percussion-driven introduction\, leads into a bold main theme\, and features solos for horn and english horn in the trio section before returning to the main material. Throughout\, the music recalls the gentle motion of the sea while retaining the characteristic pulse of the pasodoble. Martínez describes the work as “tonal\, Romantic style and captures the calmness of the Mediterranean Sea.” \n\n\n\nNote by Manuel Morales Martínez and Molly Allman \n\n\n\nCountry GardensIrish Tune from County DerryShepherd’s Hey\n\n\n\nPercy Grainger (1882–1961)\, an Australian-born composer and pianist\, played a pivotal role in the early development of band literature in the early twentieth century through innovative orchestration and adventurous rhythms and meters. Known for his inclusion of folk melodies\, Grainger used Edison wax-cylinder phonographs to collect English folk songs throughout Britain often collaborating with Cecil Sharp\, a renowned collector. Fascinated by the unique performances of the singers and often integrating the tunes into his compositions\, he sought ways to capture the nuances of pitch and rhythm in his works. Grainger’s contributions to band repertoire include cornerstone works such as Lincolnshire Posy and Colonial Song. Country Gardens (1918) is an English folk tune shared with Grainger by Cecil Sharp based on the tune “The Vicar of Bray.” Grainger played improvisations on it as a concert pianist during his tour for the U.S. Army during World War I and later presented the song to his mother as a birthday gift. Despite its immense popularity\, Grainger referred to it as “my wretched tone art.” Grainger arranged the piece for band in 1953. In his program notes\, he wrote: “The typical English country garden is not often used to grow flowers in; it is more likely to be a vegetable plot. So you can think of turnips as I play it.” Irish Tune from County Derry (1918) highlights the lyrical beauty of folk song. The tune was collected by Miss J. Ross from New Town\, Limavady\, Co. Derry\, Ireland without a specific tune being credited. Grainger stated\, “The name of the tune unfortunately was not ascertained by Miss Ross\, who sent it to me with the simple remark that it was ‘very old\,’ in the correctness of which statement I have no hesitation in expressing my perfect concurrence.” The melody is shared by the song “Danny Boy\,” whose lyrics were composed by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly after Grainger had already arranged the tune. Grainger also arranged the melody in a version for wordless chorus. Shepherd’s Hey (1918)\, published and sold with Irish Tune from County Derry for many years\, is a lively arrangement of a Morris dance tune from rural English tradition. The “Hey” in the title refers to a specific Morris dance step\, though Grainger noted\, “This setting is not suitable to dance Morris Dance to.” Morris dances traditionally feature teams of “Morris Men” performing with bells and clashing sticks. Grainger collected the original melody and states that the work should be played “in a jolly\, energetic manner—with bounce and relish.” \n\n\n\nNote by Patty Saunders \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\nGarrett Klein\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTrumpet artist Garrett Klein has garnered an international reputation for his varied performing career and dedicated teaching. He is currently serving as Assistant Professor of Trumpet at UNC Greensboro where he leads the Trumpet Studio\, directs the Trumpet Ensemble\, and serves as Brass Area Chair.   Aside from his teaching\, Garrett is the Principal Trumpet of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and Principal Solo Cornet with North Carolina Brass Band. He is a former member of the world-renowned Dallas Brass and toured the nation with that ensemble for five years. He has also appeared as a guest musician with Charlotte Symphony\, The Phoenix Symphony\, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra\, the New World Symphony\, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra\, and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. A new music advocate\, Garrett has worked with composers to commission several new works for trumpet\, presenting newly composed works at three International Trumpet Guild Conferences.  Garrett earned his DMA and MM degrees at Arizona State University\, along with a Certificate in Music Theory Pedagogy. Prior to ASU\, he studied at the prestigious Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore and St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Garrett Klein is an endorsing artist for Conn-Selmer and proudly performs on Vincent Bach trumpets.  \n\n\n\nJuan José Navarro\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJuan José Navarro holds a Superior degree in Clarinet from the Conservatory of Music of Valencia\, in Orchestra Conducting from the Conservatory of Music of Murcia and Master in Conducting and Choral Pedagogy from the International University of La Rioja. \n\n\n\nHe has conducted for many of the productions of the Compaña Lírica Andaluza\, such as El Barbero de Lavapiés\, Agua Azucarillos y Aguardiente\, El Dúo de la Africana…in venues such as the Teatro Alameda of Málaga and the Nuevo Teatro Infanta Leonor of Jaén. \n\n\n\nHe has run courses\, lectures and given master classes for conducting in Universities as Almería (Spain)\, Virginia Tech University (Virginia)\, The University of Illinis (Illinois)\, Eastern Michigan University (Michigan)\, University of Northern Iowa (Iowa)\, University of Maryland (Maryland)\, University North Carolina Greensboro (North Carolina)\, Bolzano High Conservatory (Italy)\,  Luisiana State University (Luisiana)\, University Jewel College ( Missouri)\, Kansas University (Arkansas) and in places as Murcia\, Galicia\, Jaén\, Granada and Almería organized by such institutions as the Vicerrectorado de Extensión Universitaria of the University of Almería\, the Federación Andaluza de Bandas de Música\, the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Música of Almería as well as for the teaching staff at the Centro de Enseñanza al Profesorado. \n\n\n\nHe got the second prize conducting the San Indalecio Wind Orchestra in the National Competition in Murcia and the first prize conducting the Unión Musical de Godelleta in the Special Section of the Wind Bands Competition of Valencia. \n\n\n\nHe has been titular musical director for 8 years of the Sinfónica Municipal de Almería. He is co-founder along with José Miguel Rodilla of the Academia de Dirección de Orquesta y Banda\, “Diesis“\, which gives classes in Almería\, Murcia\, Sevilla and Valencia to more than eighty pupils from every part of Spain. \n\n\n\nHe has recently received the distinction of “Honorary Friend” of the University of Almería for his great contribution as director of the Orchestra\, Choir and Music Department. \n\n\n\nCurrently he is clarinet and conducting teacher at the Real Conservatorio Profesional de Música of Almería\, director of the Almería University Music Room where he conducts the Symphony Orchestra and Choir\, Professor of the Conducting Master at the Almería University and Conducting teacher at Diesis Academy. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe renowned UNCG Bands are dedicated to the performance\, study\, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality\, and are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression. The UNCG Bands are considered to be among the very finest collegiate band programs in America based upon our active profile of excellence in our performances\, recordings\, tours and convention performances. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary practices in organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands provide exceptional experiences for our members\, sharing outstanding performances throughout the year and enhancing the institutional spirit and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands seek to support music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by providing leadership and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/symphonic-band-10/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/garrett-klein-e1562876742315.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251115T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251115T173000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20251021T192052Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251110T235431Z UID:10003545-1763220600-1763227800@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Opera Theatre presents 'El Gato con Botas' and 'El Grumete' DESCRIPTION:Step into the classic fairy tale\, “Puss in Boots\,” with the UNCG Opera Theatre. Guest stage director and UNCG alum Jourdan Laine Howell brings us a wonderful setting of a familiar story composed by Xavier Montsalvatge. The evening begins with a short love triangle in “The Cabin Boy” written by Emilio Arrieta\, reminiscent of Donizetti’s music. \n\n\n\nBoth operas are sung in Spanish with English supertitles and accessible for all ages. \n\n\n\n\n\nTicketPriceAdult$10Student$5\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nPurchase Tickets\n\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/opera-theatre-presents-el-gato-con-botas-and-el-grumete-2/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/opera-feature-fall-2025.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251113T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251113T213000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20251021T191904Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251021T235918Z UID:10003544-1763062200-1763069400@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Opera Theatre presents 'El Gato con Botas' and 'El Grumete' DESCRIPTION:Step into the classic fairy tale\, “Puss in Boots\,” with the UNCG Opera Theatre. Guest stage director and UNCG alum Jourdan Laine Howell brings us a wonderful setting of a familiar story composed by Xavier Montsalvatge. The evening begins with a short love triangle in “The Cabin Boy” written by Emilio Arrieta\, reminiscent of Donizetti’s music. \n\n\n\nBoth operas are sung in Spanish with English supertitles and accessible for all ages. \n\n\n\n\n\nTicketPriceAdult$10Student$5\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nPurchase Tickets\n\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/opera-theatre-presents-el-gato-con-botas-and-el-grumete/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/opera-feature-fall-2025.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251101T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251101T200000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250316T155148Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250815T143650Z UID:10003119-1762027200-1762027200@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Ephrat Asherie Dance DESCRIPTION:Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie is a New York City-based choreographer\, performer\, and b-girl and a 2016 Bessie Award Winner for Innovative Achievement in Dance. Asherie has received numerous awards to support her work including Dance Magazine’s Inaugural Harkness Promise Award and two National Dance Project Awards. In 2019 she was the recipient of a NYFA Fellowship and is currently a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. \n\n\n\nAs Artistic Director of Ephrat Asherie Dance\, Asherie’s work has been presented nationally and internationally with commissions from companies including Malpaso and Parsons Contemporary Dance and additional commissions from Vail Dance Festival\, Fall for Dance\, River to River\, Firatatrrega\, and Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Her latest work\, UNDERSCORED—awarded a 2019 Creation and Development Award from the National Performance Network and a 2022 National Dance Project—premiered in November 2022 at Works & Process at the Guggenheim. \n\n\n\nAsherie is honored to have been mentored by Richard Santiago (a.k.a. Break Easy) and to have worked and collaborated with Michelle Dorrance\, Doug Elkins\, Rennie Harris\, Bill Irwin\, Gus Solomons\, Jr. and Buddha Stretch\, among others. Asherie earned her BA from Barnard College\, Columbia University in Italian and her MFA from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee where she researched the vernacular jazz dance roots of contemporary street and club dances. She is a co-founding member of the all-female house dance collective MAWU and is forever grateful to NYC’s underground dance community for inspiring her to pursue a life as an artist. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrchestra/MezzBalconyUNCG Students$7.50$7.50UNCG Faculty/Staff$25.00$25.00Adults$45.00$30.00Seniors/Military$35.00$20.00Children (K-12)$10.00$10.00\n\n\n\n\nPURCHASE TICKETS\n\n\n\n\n* Tickets to CVPA and UCLS events are sold exclusively through our box office locations and ETix website\, and nowhere else. Tickets purchased through third-party vendors cannot be honored. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn addition to public presentations\, artists in the UCLS series have important interactions with UNCG students\, such as holding masterclasses\, talkback sessions\, and seminars\, often just hours before performing on stage. Thanks to a grant from The Cemala Foundation\, some of these artists also work with K-12 students in the Guilford County Schools. URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/ephrat-asherie-dance/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,UCLS ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/UNDERSCORED_Lafotographeuse_Pictured_Archie-Burnett_Bravo-Brahms-LaFortune_cropped-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251025T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251025T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T200035Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250529T200038Z UID:10003297-1761420600-1761426000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Collage DESCRIPTION:The UNCG School of Music is proud to present our 18th annual performance of Collage at 7:30 PM on October 25\, 2025! We are excited to welcome audiences back to UNCG Auditorium for our most exciting event of the year! \n\n\n\nCollage is captivating and totally unique\, featuring an incredible range of performers presenting one riveting work after another with special lighting. Join School of Music students and many of our world-class faculty members for this non-stop evening of amazing performances. It’s not to be missed! \n\n\n\nAll ticket proceeds benefit the School of Music Collage Scholarship Fund. \n\n\n\nSectionAdultsSeniorsStudentsSection Afront orchestra\, mezzanine$27$22$17Section Bmiddle and rear orchestra\, lower balcony$20$16$12Section Cupper balcony$15$11$8\n\n\n\n\nPurchase Tickets URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/collage-6/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music,UCLS ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Possible-for-Current-Students-Rectangle.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251017T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251017T200000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250306T214055Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250919T143315Z UID:10003118-1760731200-1760731200@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Count Basie Orchestra DESCRIPTION:In the history of Jazz\, there is only one bandleader that has the distinction of having his orchestra still performing sold-out concerts all over the world\, with members personally chosen by him\, for nearly 40 years after his passing. Pianist and bandleader William James “Count” Basie was and still is an American institution that personifies the grandeur and excellence of Jazz. The Count Basie Orchestra\, today directed by Scotty Barnhart\, has won every respected jazz poll in the world at least once; won 18 Grammy Awards; performed for Kings\, Queens\, and other world Royalty; appeared in several movies and television shows; and at every major jazz festival and major concert hall in the world. \n\n\n\nThe most recent honor is a 2024 Grammy Win of Best Large Jazz Ensemble for Basie Swings the Blues!  Other honors include their 2022 Grammy Nomination for Live at Birdland\, a 2018 Grammy Nomination for All About That Basie\, which features special guests Stevie Wonder\, Jon Faddis\, and Take 6 among others\, and the 2018 Downbeat Readers Poll Award as the #1 Jazz Orchestra in the world. Their critically acclaimed release in 2015 of A Very Swingin’ Basie Christmas! is the very first holiday album in the 80-year history of the orchestra. Released on Concord Music\, it went to #1 on the Jazz charts and sold out on Amazon! Special guests include vocalists Johnny Mathis\, Ledisi\, our own Carmen Bradford\, and pianist Ellis Marsalis. \n\n\n\nA BBC TV-produced documentary on Mr. Basie and the orchestra titled Count Basie: Through His Own Eyes premiered on PBS in the US and UK in 2019 coinciding with the orchestra’s 85th Anniversary. It features interviews by Quincy Jones\, Scotty Barnhart\, Dee Askew\, John Williams\, and several other important members and associates of Mr. Basie and the orchestra.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOrchestra/MezzBalconyUNCG Students$7.50$7.50UNCG Faculty/Staff$25.00$25.00Adults$65.00$50.00Seniors/Military$55.00$40.00Children (K-12)$30.00$15.00\n\n\n\n\nPURCHASE TICKETS\n\n\n\n\n* Tickets to CVPA and UCLS events are sold exclusively through our box office locations and ETix website\, and nowhere else. Tickets purchased through third-party vendors cannot be honored. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nSome of the greatest soloists\, composers\, arrangers\, and vocalists in jazz history such as Lester Young\, Billie Holiday\, Frank Foster\, Thad Jones\, Sonny Payne\, Freddie Green\, Snooky Young\, Frank Wess\, and Joe Williams\, became international stars once they began working with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. This great 18-member orchestra is continuing the excellent history started by Basie of stomping and shouting the blues\, as well as refining those musical particulars that allow for the deepest and most moving of swing.  \n\n\n\nCurrent members include one musician hired by Basie himself: trombonist Clarence Banks (1984).  Long-time members include Doug Miller (1989\, formerly w/Lionel Hampton)\, guitarist Will Matthews from Kansas City (1996)\, and members who have 15-25 years of service; trombonist Mark Williams\, trumpeters Shawn Edmonds and Endre Rice\, saxophonists Doug Lawrence (formerly w/Benny Goodman) and returning on lead alto\, David Glasser.  Newer members include bassist Trevor Ware\, lead trumpeter Frank Greene III\, trumpeter Brandon Lee\, pianist Reginald Thomas\, lead trombonist Isrea Butler\, bass trombonist Ronald Wilkins\, alto sax and flute Stantawn Kendrick\, and the youngest members\, drummer Robert Boone and baritone saxophonist Josh Lee.   \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn addition to public presentations\, artists in the UCLS series have important interactions with UNCG students\, such as holding masterclasses\, talkback sessions\, and seminars\, often just hours before performing on stage. Thanks to a grant from The Cemala Foundation\, some of these artists also work with K-12 students in the Guilford County Schools. URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/count-basie-orchestra/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music,UCLS ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Count-Basie-Orchestra-cropped-e1741629073922.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251010T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251010T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T194659Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251010T150820Z UID:10003283-1760124600-1760130000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Concert Band DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/nqLlBEl5GwY?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nPatty Saunders\, conductorLuke Ellard\, clarinetMolly Allman\, conductorJaden Brown\, conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nVÁCLAV NELHÝBELCorsican Litany (1796) \n\n\n\nELENA SPECHTTo Old and New Places (2024) \n\n\n\nJODIE BLACKSHAWInto the Sun (2017) \n\n\n\nJOHN WILLIAMSViktor’s Tale from The Terminal (2009) \n\n\n\nKEVIN DAYSummit (2021) \n\n\n\nJOHN BARNES CHANCEVariations on a Korean Folk Song (1967) \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nCorsican Litany\n\n\n\nVáclav Nelhýbel was a prolific Czech composer and conductor who studied composition and conducting at the Prague Conservatory of Music and musicology at Charles University and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). He was the assistant conductor of the Czech Philharmonic and a composer and conductor of the Swiss National Radio. He co-founded and directed the Radio Free Europe in Munich and conducted the Vienna Philharmonic and Bavarian Symphony. He emigrated from the Czech Republic to the United States in 1957. \n\n\n\nFascinated with the American concert band\, Nelhýbel wrote Corsican Litany to explore the possibilities of the ensemble. Corsican laments were split into two categories: laments for deaths from natural causes and voceru\, songs of grief and vengeance for victims of murder. The voceru that inspired Nelhýbel’s Corsican Litany was first sung in 1775 at the funeral of a country doctor named Matju who had been murdered by his patient. This piece begins with the sound of tolling chimes to announce the beginning of mourning\, weaves sonically through pain and loss\, and ends with the chilling reminder that\, despite the voceru belief that vengeance can heal\, the tolling chime remains. \n\n\n\nNote by Patty Saunders \n\n\n\nTo Old and New Places\n\n\n\nElena Specht is a composer whose work often grows out of compelling stories and a strong sense of place. Her music has been performed by groups such as the U.S. Coast Guard Band and university wind ensembles. She currently works as a librarian with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. \n\n\n\nTo New and Old Places is written in three movements; each tied to a scene in a different young adult novel. In the first\, based on Jeanne DuPrau’s The City of Ember\, two young characters witness the sun rising for the very first time. The second\, based on Caroline B. Cooney’s The Face on the Milk Carton\, captures the bittersweet longing of a teenager imagining the life she might have had with her lost family. The final movement\, from C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader\, carries the thrill of a voyage into uncharted seas. \n\n\n\nNote by Elena Specht and Molly Allman \n\n\n\nInto the Sun\n\n\n\nJodie Blackshaw is an Australian composer and conductor who studied composition with Larry Sitsky at the Australian National University. Blackshaw founded the Female Band Composer database in 2017 and the ColourFULL Music website in 2018. She is a composer that takes a student-centered approach in her works\, often including storylines\, options for student decision-making\, and program narratives that connect the piece with a larger story. \n\n\n\nInto the Sun is a compilation of stories told about the passage to Australia from the points of view of free settlers in the 1800s\, post-World War II immigrants\, and refugees seeking asylum. Blackshaw includes real-life stories that correspond to each of the piece’s six sections in her program notes that describe the emotional highs and lows of leaving home to find a new one. The sections include the Arrival; A New Land\, a New Life; Camps and Confusion; Acculturation: A Yearning for Home and All That is Familiar; Opportunity: With New-Found Enthusiasm; and Reflection: With a Feeling of Inner Peace of Calmness. Written to raise awareness of the plight of refugees\, Blackshaw broadens her programmatic message communicating a desire for all people to love one another. Blackshaw’s Into the Sun emphasizes this importance and the responsibility to help refugees in times of need. \n\n\n\nNote by Jodie Blackshaw and Patty Saunders \n\n\n\nViktor’s Tale from The Terminal\n\n\n\nJohn Williams is one of the most celebrated and influential film composers of the modern era. An American composer from New York\, Williams was the son of a jazz drummer and studied at UCLA\, the Juilliard School\, and Eastman. His career has included collaborations with director Steven Spielberg and George Lucas that has produced some of the most recognized music in cinematic history including Schindler’s List\, Indiana Jones\, and Star Wars. He has won numerous awards including five Academy Awards and twenty-five GRAMMY® awards. Williams remains active as a composer and conductor and continues to broaden his impact on modern film. \n\n\n\nViktor’s Tale is a composition for solo clarinet and orchestra that was developed from Williams’ score for the Steven Spielberg film The Terminal. Part drama and part comedy\, the film follows the protagonist\, Viktor Navorski\, as he finds himself a man without a country\, stuck in an airport terminal for days on end. Williams’ score brings to life this unfortunate circumstance and includes a musical portrait of Navorski’s warmth and friendliness through a dance-like piece for clarinet and ensemble. \n\n\n\nNote by the United States Marine Band and Patty Saunders \n\n\n\nSummit\n\n\n\nKevin Day is a composer\, jazz pianist\, producer\, and conductor who is known to juxtapose diverse musical traditions including contemporary classical\, jazz\, R&B\, and soul with classical composition. His father was a prominent hip-hop producer\, and his mother was a popular gospel singer. Day is one of eight founding members of the Nu Black Vanguard\, a collective dedicated to the advancement of Black composers\, and a graduate of Texas Christian University\, the University of Georgia\, and the University of Miami Frost School of Music. In 2024\, Day joined the faculty at the University of California San Diego as a lecturer in theory and musicianship. \n\n\n\nDay composed Summit in 2020 after being commissioned by the Indiana Bandmasters Association. The piece depicts a group of climbers as they journey up the face of a mountain. Along the way\, they encounter many obstacles\, including cliffs and chilling winds\, but the team perseveres and makes their way to the top. \n\n\n\nNote by Kevin Day and Jaden Brown \n\n\n\nVariations on a Korean Folk Song\n\n\n\nA native of Texas\, John Barnes Chance was an American composer and arranger who received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas\, where he studied with Clifton Williams\, Kent Kennan\, and Paul Pisk. He performed as a percussionist with the Austin Symphony Orchestra and served as an arranger for the 4th Army Band in San Antonio and the 8th Army Band in Seoul\, Korea. After leaving the Army\, the Ford Foundation selected Chance to participate in the Young Composers Project. From 1960 through 1962\, he was composer-in-residence for the Greensboro Ford Foundation Young Composers Project writing for the Greensboro\, North Carolina public school system and Greensboro Senior High School\, now Grimsley High School. Chance was a prolific composer for wind band with works including Incantation and Dance and Blue Lake Overture. \n\n\n\nWhile stationed overseas in Seoul\, Chance heard the popular Korean folk song “Arirang” which inspired Variations on a Korean Folk Song. A song of love and heartbreak\, the theme is based on the ujo mode pentatonic scale and can be traced back to the 18th century. The tune was also used as a resistance anthem during the Japanese occupation of Korea when the singing of patriotic songs was criminalized. About the melody\, Chance said\, “The tune is not as simple as it sounds\, and my fascination with it during the intervening years led to its eventual use as the theme for this set of variations.” The theme is followed by five variations that alternate between fast and slow tempos and use multiple time signatures and rhythmic patterns to alter the theme. Variations on A Korean Folk Song is a cornerstone work for band and received the Sousa/Ostwald Award from the American Bandmasters Association in 1966. \n\n\n\nNote by Patty Saunders \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\n\n\n\n\nClarinetist\, composer\, educator\, and new music collaborator Luke Ellard strives for art that continually reaches out\, valuing a relational spirit\, informed engagement\, and unapologetic authenticity.   \n\n\n\nFor Luke\, collaboration is what gives music life. As a clarinetist\, they have performed with members of Bang On a Can All Stars\, Eighth Blackbird\, International Contemporary Ensemble\, Fifth House Ensemble\, Arkansas Symphony\, Winston-Salem Symphony\, and Mallarmé Chamber Music. As a composer\, their music has been performed and commissioned by ensembles such as North Texas Wind Symphony\, HOCKET\, New Trombone Collective\, Barkada Quartet\, among others. Their current performance projects center around their self-produced solo cross-genre/electronic band LE\, performing with their new music quartet Sounding Board\, and commissioning new exciting works for the clarinet.   \n\n\n\nDr. Ellard serves on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as Assistant Professor of Clarinet\, having previously served on faculty at the University of Oklahoma and Midwestern State University while teaching privately and performing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Luke earned their Doctor of Musical Arts in Clarinet Performance with related studies in Contemporary Music and Music Entrepreneurship at the University of North Texas\, studying under Kimberly Cole Luevano. Additionally\, Luke has earned degrees from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (James Campbell & Eric Hoeprich)\, the University of Texas at Austin (Yevgeniy Sharlat\, Dan Welcher\, & Donald Grantham)\, and Louisiana Tech University (Lawrence Gibbs\, Joe L. Alexander).   \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe renowned UNCG Bands are dedicated to the performance\, study\, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality\, and are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression. The UNCG Bands are considered to be among the very finest collegiate band programs in America based upon our active profile of excellence in our performances\, recordings\, tours and convention performances. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary practices in organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands provide exceptional experiences for our members\, sharing outstanding performances throughout the year and enhancing the institutional spirit and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands seek to support music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by providing leadership and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/concert-band-8/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/luke-ellard-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251009T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251009T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T174932Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251009T233131Z UID:10003282-1760038200-1760043600@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Wind Ensemble DESCRIPTION:Hub New Music\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nhttps://youtube.com/live/JESfALSDeL4?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Caldwell\, conductorHub New MusicGala Flagello\, composerPatty Saunders\, graduate conductor \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nANNA CLYNEMasquerade (2013/2018)transcribed by Dennis Llinás \n\n\n\nSHUYING LIIn This Breath (2025) \n\n\n\nGALA FLAGELLOThe Bird-While (2022) \n\n\n\nAvian GodsFragile\, Vanishing GiftsSurvive \n\n\n\nSILVESTRE REVUELTASSensemayá (1938/1990)transcribed by Frank Bencriscutto \n\n\n\nPAUL HINDEMITH Symphony in B-flat (1951) \n\n\n\nModerately fast\, with vigor Andante grazioso Fugue (rather broad) \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nMasquerade\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMasquerade draws inspiration from the original mid-18th century promenade concerts held in London’s pleasure gardens. As is true today\, these concerts were a place where people from all walks of life mingled to enjoy a wide array of music. Other forms of entertainment ranged from the sedate to the salacious with acrobatics\, exotic street entertainers\, dancers\, fireworks and masquerades. I am fascinated by the historic and sociological courtship between music and dance. Combined with costumes\, masked guises and elaborate settings\, masquerades created an exciting\, yet controlled\, sense of occasion and celebration. It is this that I wish to evoke in Masquerade.  \n\n\n\nThe work derives its material from two melodies. For the main theme\, I imagined a chorus welcoming the audience and inviting them into their imaginary world. The second theme\, Juice of Barley\, is an old English country dance melody and drinking song\, which first appeared in John Playford’s 1695 edition of The English Dancing Master. \n\n\n\n— Anna Clyne \n\n\n\nIn This Breath\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn This Breath was premiered by the Baylor University Wind Ensemble at the March 2025 CBDNA National Conference in Fort Worth\, Texas. It was composed in memory of Glen Adsit. Li offers the following regarding the piece: \n\n\n\n“My nature is the nature of the cloud—the nature of no birth and no death. Just as it is impossible for a cloud to die\, it’s impossible for me to die. I enjoy contemplating my continuation body\, just as the cloud enjoys watching the rain fall and become the river far below. If you look closely at yourself\, you will see how you too are continuing me in some way. If you breathe in and out\, and you find peace\, happiness\, and fulfillment\, you know I am always with you\, whether my physical body is still alive or not. I am continued in my many friends\, students\, and monastic disciples.” Thich Nhat Hanh – The Art of Living \n\n\n\nThis quotation comes from Thich Nhat Hanh’s The Art of Living. This book is a collection of the Vietnamese monk’s ruminations on life and death that guided my partner Glen Adsit through his personal struggles when confronted with his own mortality. As well as being my beloved life partner and musical collaborator\, Glen was a beloved figure in the music community who touched the lives of countless collaborators and students. In the wake of Glen’s sudden passing in January 2024 we have all become the rain to Glen’s cloud. His inextinguishable spirit and profound influence continue to resonate deeply within all of us. Although his physical body is no longer with us\, we now constitute his continuation body and are charged with continuing his legacy of support and love for one another. \n\n\n\nThis piece is a tribute to Glen\, the physical life we shared together\, and the new life we share as I continue his legacy in my own way. It reflects the profound love and connection we share\, both personally and through our collaborative musical endeavors. The piece is lyrical and tender\, inviting listeners into the intimate emotional spaces Glen and I navigated together. It captures the essence of Glen’s loving spirit—missed by many\, cherished by those who experienced his warmth and guidance\, and still apparent in the life and work of his family\, colleagues\, and students. It is both a celebration of Glen’s life and the enduring bond he and I share and a tribute to the legacy of love and artistic collaboration that he left behind for all of us to continue together. Glen Adsit was a conductor and trombonist. He served as the director of bands at The Hartt School and the national president of the College Band Directors National Association. \n\n\n\nAs the piece concludes\, the ensemble decrescendos to silence making space for a solo trombone crescendo as a tribute to Glen Adsit\, a trombonist\, and his enduring legacy. \n\n\n\n— Shuying Li and Patty Saunders \n\n\n\nThe Bird-While\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Bird-While (2022) is a concerto for flute\, clarinet\, violin\, cello\, and symphonic winds commissioned by Hub New Music. The piece is titled after and based on Keith Taylor’s poem Acolytes in the Bird-While\, which explores the flora and fauna of Michigan and the struggle to persist in the face of climate change. I aimed to write a concerto for an unconventional group of instruments that demonstrates their virtuosity while providing a platform for awareness of and education around environmental and climate justice. Each movement derives its title from Taylor’s poem\, drawing attention to pivotal lines in the poem’s narrative. \n\n\n\nThe first movement\, Avian Gods\, is inspired by the calls of the pileated woodpecker and redstart warbler\, two Michigan bird species central to Taylor’s poem. This movement’s 5/8 motif follows the woodpecker’s five-note call\, often separated into three- and two-note groupings that can be heard in both the soloists’ and ensemble’s parts. Snap pizzicato in the solo violin and cello evoke the woodpecker’s pecking\, and the ensemble’s driving 5/8 ostinato conjures the warbler’s high\, repetitive five-note shriek. \n\n\n\nThe second movement\, Fragile\, Vanishing Gifts\, highlights the individual natural elements that surround us every day. The flute\, clarinet\, violin\, and cello articulate the future loss of these elements due to climate change as they introduce the movement’s theme separately\, then come together in canon; our environment is a delicate balance between the individual and the collective. This theme originates from my Moon Dream (2020) for solo soprano saxophone\, an early pandemic-era lullaby commissioned by Latitude 49 for their Bagatelles Project in support of the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts. \n\n\n\nThe third movement\, Survive\, is both a question and a call to action: can the performers — and our environment — withstand disruption and damage? As I was writing this movement\, my best friend and horn player\, Marina Krol Hodge\, suddenly passed\, leaving me pondering my own ability to weather life’s storms. Dedicated to Marina\, Survive features horn solos and a brass chorale throughout to commemorate her bright\, resilient spirit and her support of new music. The movement’s title also references the way in which music itself might survive through history\, which I illustrate by quoting the prelude of J.S. Bach’s Violin Partita No. 3. Two more nods to Bach appear later in this movement in the solo violin and cello. Piping plover calls are referenced in the fleeting\, staccato woodwind parts\, and the movement’s focus on quintal harmony and recurring fifths harken to the woodpecker’s opening five-note call. \n\n\n\n5% of proceeds from The Bird-While sales and rentals will be donated to the Bird Center of Michigan. \n\n\n\n— Gala Flagello \n\n\n\nSensemayá\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRevueltas wrote little explanation about his composition Sensemayá\, and the meaning/relationship of the music to the poem has been the basis for much scholarly debate for the past eighty years. Revueltas heard Afro-Cuban poet Nicholas Guillén recite his poem Sensemayá in 1937 and was taken by the text and rhythm of the poem. The word sensemayá is a combination of sensa (Providence) and Yemaya (Afro-Cuban Goddess of the Seas and Mother of Earth)\, one of the godSensemayá was the work that brought Silvestre Revueltas to international attention. It was through a recording of the work made by Leopold Stokowski in New York in December 1947 that widespread audiences outside of Mexico began to get an idea of Revueltas’ music. \n\n\n\nRevueltas had died in 1940 from complications of chronic alcoholism\, his music virtually unknown outside of Mexico\, some performances given during a trip to Spain in 1937 notwithstanding. The last decade of his life had been devoted to music\, with Revueltas active as a composer\, teacher\, and conductor in Mexico City. Between 1928 and his death\, Revueltas had composed roughly 60 works\, including orchestral\, chamber\, vocal\, and theater pieces\, as well as a handful of film scores\, such as Redes (released in English as The Wave\, 1936) and La noche de los mayas (The Night of the Mayans\, 1939). \n\n\n\nRevueltas had a varied and useful musical education\, comprised of a fair amount of practical experience. After three years in Mexico City (1913-1916)\, Revueltas traveled to the United States\, where he studied violin and composition in Austin and Chicago. In the late 1920s\, he played violin in a theater orchestra in San Antonio and conducted an orchestra in Mobile\, Alabama. He returned to Mexico in 1929\, when Carlos Chávez\, one of the country’s foremost composers and musicians\, invited him to become assistant conductor of the Mexico Symphony Orchestra\, a post he held until 1935. \n\n\n\nThese experiences combined to make Revueltas a sensitive and insightful writer for orchestra and a composer with an intrinsic ability to express Latin-American culture musically. Sensemayá first materialized in a (still unpublished) version for chamber ensemble in 1937. Revueltas based the work on a poem that describes the ritual killing of a snake from Cuban writer Nicolás Guillén’s collection West Indies Ltd.\, published in 1934. The atmosphere of the poem\, which pits life against death\, the snake against its ritual executioners\, is ideally captured by Revueltas in his brief\, vibrant musical work\, even more so in the version for full orchestra premiered by the composer with a pick-up orchestra at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City on December 15\, 1938. The obsessive rhythms (the work is in 7/8 – and occasionally 7/16 – time)\, the slithering\, pictorial wind writing\, and the threatening brass all combine to create a raw evocation of the ceremony\, comparable to what Stravinsky did for pagan Russia in The Rite of Spring. \n\n\n\n— John Mangum \n\n\n\nSymphony in B-flat\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Symphony for Concert Band was composed at the request of Lt. Col. Hugh Curry\, leader of the United States Army Band\, and was premiered in Washington\, D.C.\, on April 5\, 1951\, with the composer conducting. This three-movement work is the only symphony that Hindemith wrote expressly for the wind band. The suite shows Hindemith’s great contrapunctal skill\, and the organized logic of his thematic material. His melodies develop ever-expanding lines\, and his skill in the organization and utilization of complex rhythmic variation adds spice and zest to the strength of his melodies. \n\n\n\nAlthough Symphony in B-Flat features unique uses of dissonant chords and nonharmonic tones\, it preserves neo-classical tonality\, forms\, and rhythmic and melodic patterns. Short figures are apt to form themselves into ostinatos to provide the background to broad and declamatory melodies; these melodies will often repeat characteristic phrases of awkward lengths so as to disturb the even flow of the basic rhythm. A slow section will alternate with a scherzando section\, and the two will combine to form the third portion of a movement. \n\n\n\nThe first movement is in sonata allegro form in three sections\, with the recapitulation economically utilizing both themes together in strong counterpoint. The second and third movements develop and expand their thematic material in some of the most memorable contrapunctal writing for winds. The second movement opens with an imitative duet between alto saxophone and cornet\, accompanied by a repeated chord figure. The duet theme\, along with thematic material from the opening movement\, provides the basic material for the remainder of the movement. The closing section of the third movement utilizes the combined themes while the woodwinds amplify the incessant chattering of the first movement. The brass and percussion adamantly demand a halt with a powerful final cadence. \n\n\n\nThe Symphony in B-Flat rivals any orchestra composition in length\, breadth\, and content\, and served to convince other first-rank composers — including Vittorio Giannini\, Vincent Persichetti\, Paul Creston\, and Alan Hovhaness — that the band is a legitimate medium for serious music. \n\n\n\n— Andrew Grenci and Joel Baroody \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\nHub New Music\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCalled “contemporary chamber trailblazers” by the Boston Globe\, Hub New Music is a “prime mover of piping hot 21st century repertoire” (The Washington Post). Founded in 2013\, the “nimble quartet of winds and strings” (NPR) has commissioned dozens of new works for its distinctive ensemble of flute\, clarinet\, violin\, and cello. Hub actively collaborates with today’s most celebrated composers on projects that traverse a rich musical landscape. \n\n\n\nRecent and upcoming performances include concerts presented by the Kennedy Center\, Seattle Symphony\, Kaufman Music Center\, Suntory Hall (Tokyo)\, the Williams Center for the Arts\, Yale Schwarzman Center\, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center\, King’s Place (London)\, Soka Performing Arts Center\, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music\, and the Celebrity Series of Boston.  \n\n\n\nTo celebrate its recent 10th anniversary\, Hub co-commissioned and premiered new works by Angélica Negrón\, Nico Muhly\, Tyshawn Sorey\, Andrew Norman\, Jessica Meyer\, and Donnacha Dennehy. Upcoming commissioning projects include substantial electroacoustic works by Christopher Cerrone and Daniel Wohl (2025); a work by Yaz Lancaster co-created with Black Mountain College Museum & Art Center (2025); and a collaborative project with composer\, vocalist\, and multi-instrumentalist Bora Yoon (2026). \n\n\n\nHub New Music’s recordings have garnered consistent acclaim. The group’s most recent record with Silkroad’s Kojiro Umezaki\, a distance\, intertwined \, features five works for Hub and shakuhachi which I Care if You Listen called “beautiful\, haunting music that presents a clear and authentic dialog between varied cultural paradigms and traditions.” Hub’s debut album\, Soul House\, released on New Amsterdam Records\, was called “ingenious and unequivocally gorgeous” (Boston Globe) and “intensely poignant” (Textura). In 2022\, Hub’s album with Carlos Simon\, Requiem for the Enslaved \, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Composition. \n\n\n\nHub is also dedicated to educating\, inspiring and guiding future generations of artists. The ensemble has been a guest at leading institutions including Princeton University\, University of Michigan\, University of Southern California\, and Indiana University. In 2021\, Hub was a  resident ensemble for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Nancy and Barry Sanders Composer Fellowship program for high school aged composers. As part of its 10th anniversary celebration\, Hub designed a fellowship program with the Luna Lab in NYC that was awarded to Luna Lab alumna Sage Shurman. \n\n\n\nHub New Music is Michael Avitabile (flutes)\, Gleb Kanasevich (clarinets)\, Magnolia Rohrer (violin/viola)\, and Jesse Christeson (cello). Currently based in Detroit\, the ensemble’s name is inspired by its founding city of Boston’s reputation as a hub of innovation. Hub New Music is exclusively represented by Unfinished Side.  \n\n\n\nGala Flagello\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGala Flagello (b. 1994) is a composer\, educator\, and nonprofit director whose work is inspired by a passion for lyricism\, rhythmic vitality\, and fostering meaningful collaboration. Her music\, described as “at times endearingly whimsical\, at times ominous\, but always moving” (Cleveland Classical)\, resonates with audiences through its emotional depth and dynamic expression. Flagello’s collaborations with leading ensembles\, artists\, and institutions on national and international stages build impactful projects for audiences and performers alike.  \n\n\n\nFlagello’s 2024/25 season features the European premiere of Vitality with the BBC Symphony Orchestra\, including an international performance broadcast\, along with orchestral performances of Bravado by Detroit Symphony\, Chautauqua Festival\, Lansing Symphony\, Wichita Falls Symphony\, Central Ohio Symphony\, and Dearborn Symphony. She is a recipient of the 2024 Barlow General Commission\, which will support a new work for the Thalea String Quartet. This season also includes consortium premieres of Flagello’s Love & Nature\, a wind band work commissioned by 55 ensembles across the United States. \n\n\n\nUpcoming projects include a new piano concerto for soloist Henry Kramer and commissions from the Contemporary Youth Orchestra\, the University of Nebraska–Omaha School of Music\, and the University of Florida Bands. Album releases this season include Tallā Rouge’s Shapes in Collective Space featuring Burn as Brightly and a commercial recording of The Bird-While with Hub New Music and the University of Illinois Wind Symphony. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe renowned UNCG Bands are dedicated to the performance\, study\, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality\, and are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression. The UNCG Bands are considered to be among the very finest collegiate band programs in America based upon our active profile of excellence in our performances\, recordings\, tours and convention performances. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary practices in organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands provide exceptional experiences for our members\, sharing outstanding performances throughout the year and enhancing the institutional spirit and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands seek to support music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by providing leadership and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nProgram Notes\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/wind-ensemble-12/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hub-new-music.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251008T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251008T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T174610Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251008T132941Z UID:10003281-1759951800-1759957200@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Symphony Orchestra: Pines of Rome DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/ttzUdStEcfI?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nJungho Kim\, conductorCori Trenczer\, cello \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nNIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOVCapriccio espagnol\, op. 34 (1887) \n\n\n\nFRANZ JOSEPH HAYDNCello Concerto No. 2 in D Major\, Hob. VIIb/2 (c. 1783)III. Rondo: Allegro \n\n\n\nOTTORINO RESPIGHIPines of Rome\, P 141 (1924) \n\n\n\nI pini di Villa Borghese (The Pines of the Villa Borghese)Pini presso una catacomba (Pines Near a Catacomb)I pini del Gianicolo (The Pines of the Janiculum)I pini della via Appia (The Pines of the Appian Way) \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nCapriccio espagnol\, op. 34\n\n\n\nConsidering the great interest in Spanish music demonstrated by the father of Russian art music\, Mikhail Glinka (Glinka traveled extensively in Spain\, collected folk materials\, and composed pieces based on them)\, it is not surprising that a Glinka disciple such as Rimsky-Korsakov would look for similar geographic sources of inspiration. So it is that the Russian Rimsky-Korsakov conceived a fantasy on Spanish themes; he originally intended it to be for violin and orchestra. As it developed\, however\, the Capriccio espagnol came to be not only a virtuoso work for violin\, but also a work that could rightly be subtitled “Fantasy for violin\, clarinet\, oboe\, flute\, horn\, trumpet (etc.\, etc.).” Which is to say that while the composition’s accent is Spanish\, its emphasis is on solo instrumental virtuosity as well as on the orchestral effulgence that is so typical of Rimsky-Korsakov. \n\n\n\nThe composer himself commented on the dazzling merits of the piece\, saying\, “It is intended as a brilliant composition for the orchestra. The change of timbres\, the felicitous choice of melodic designs and figuration patterns\, exactly suiting each kind of instrument\, brief virtuoso cadenzas for solo instruments\, etc.\, constitute here the very essence of the composition and not its garb or orchestration. The Spanish themes of dance character furnished me with rich material for putting in use multiform orchestral effects. All in all\, the capriccio is undoubtedly a purely external piece\, but vividly brilliant for all that.” \n\n\n\nThe piece is in five sections\, played without pause. \n\n\n\n1. Alborada. This “morning song” begins with eye-opening\, full orchestral thrust\, out of which emerge clarinet and violin solos\, the latter ending the section quietly. \n\n\n\n2. Variations. A simple Spanish folk melody is given by horns. Five variations—really just elaborations on the theme—exploit various solo voices\, the last ending with languorous flute chromatics.  \n\n\n\n3. Alborada. The first section returns; here\, violin and clarinet reverse their first-movement solo passages.  \n\n\n\n4. Scene and Gypsy Song. A side drum initiates a fanfare for horns and trumpets alone; solo trumpet blazes out the theme. Next\, solo violin takes it up; then flute and clarinet\, with percussion and strings accumulating. A flute plays a cadenza over a timpani roll\, then clarinet over cymbals\, after which there is a harp and triangle duet. Finally\, the strings interject a ferocious idea; this is the gypsy song\, which then alternates with the opening fanfare motif in orchestral splendor.  \n\n\n\n5. Asturian Fandango. Trombones present the first part of the theme\, winds the second. After varying timbral treatment\, the Alborada returns to bring the capriccio to a fiery close.  \n\n\n\n— Orrin Howard \n\n\n\nSinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major for Violin and Viola\, K. 364\n\n\n\nBy 1779—a few years before Haydn wrote his Symphony No. 76—the 23-year-old Mozart was chomping at the bit to break free from the restrictions imposed by his employer in Salzburg\, the Archbishop Colloredo. His recent tour westward to Mannheim and Paris had proved of decisive importance; it apparently stirred a desire to experiment with some of the instrumental forms and styles Mozart had been encountering. \n\n\n\nOne result was the Sinfonia Concertante\, a work that bursts with the joy of exploring new instrumental sound combinations and possibilities. It also marks a sort of turning point\, in essence summing up much of what Mozart had achieved to date as an artist. Not long afterward—and in part on account of indulging in such purely pleasurable creative endeavors\, at the expense of his duties as court organist—he was summarily dismissed by his boss (as he sardonically puts it in a letter\, “with a kick on my arse”) and left Salzburg for good to live in Vienna. \n\n\n\nThe genre here\, as the name indicates\, is basically a hybrid between the symphony and the concerto – what\, later in the 19th century\, would be labeled a double concerto for violin and viola. Yet the Sinfonia Concertante wondrously unifies these several dimensions. Like Haydn\, Mozart exploits his rather modest orchestral ensemble to the maximum; there’s no percussion\, nor even flutes or Mozart’s beloved clarinets\, but he divides the violas into two for a richer string blend. The proportions of the opening movement (marked with the epic-sounding tempo “Allegro maestoso”) are generous and expansive\, further contributing to the work’s symphonic aspect. \n\n\n\nFor many\, this piece represents the grandest of Mozart’s violin concertos\, surpassing the five official ones. At the same time\, the viola is no second fiddle here. Mozart’s choice of instrument for the second soloist is telling: although an excellent violinist\, he himself loved to play viola in string quartet ensembles\, enjoying the perspective of being “in the middle.” One unforgettable characteristic of the Sinfonia Concertante is the remarkable partnership and equality shared by both soloists and the searingly beautiful sound blend they create. Mozart’s original score even inscribes the viola part in D major\, thus requiring the violist to tune the strings up a half-step. The intention is to give the usually more-reserved viola a certain resonance to offset the violin’s usual limelight-hogging sonority. \n\n\n\nThe Sinfonia Concertante is in part about an extraordinary abundance of ideas and sonorities which – thanks to Mozart’s art – pour out with a seeming effortlessness\, like ripened fruit simply there to be plucked. The opening orchestral exposition makes this clear\, as one idea is laid out on top of another until\, with a half dozen in the air\, one loses track. And more are yet to come as the curtain opens and the soloists enter in one of the most sublime passages of all Mozart\, soaring out from the background on a sustained high E-flat. It’s perhaps no surprise that George Balanchine choreographed a famous ballet to this music\, for the role of the duo soloists entails a conversation not just with the orchestra at large but with each other (it’s intriguing\, as well\, to imagine Mozart’s own voice represented by the viola). This is clear in the many echoing passages he unfolds and in his construction of the cadenzas\, expressly written out. \n\n\n\nBeyond these instrumental dimensions\, there’s yet another. This is the world of opera\, of lamenting song\, with a hint of archaic baroque sentiment\, which comes to the fore in the sensitive and lengthy Andante\, one of Mozart’s relatively rare minor-mode slow movements. Here we find an emotional depth that\, as Maynard Solomon speculates in his notable biography\, may reflect the composer’s experience of loss in coping with the recent death of his mother. Specifically\, the duality of the violin-viola sound contributes to another aspect of the piece’s stunning beauty: listen as the solo violin takes up its plaintive aria of grief and the response from the viola\, now providing a sudden but believable consolation. The two continue to form a complementary pair as Mozart unfolds his song seamlessly\, virtually prefiguring what Wagner would later coin as “infinite melody.” \n\n\n\nWith the presto rondo finale\, an irrepressibly joyful spirit returns. As Alfred Einstein observes\, its “gaiety results principally from the fact that in the chain of musical events the unexpected always occurs first\, being followed by the expected.” Or\, to return to Hesse’s ethereal Immortals\, the Sinfonia Concertante ends with their characteristic laughter\, which is “laughter without an object…simply light and lucidity.” \n\n\n\n— Thomas May \n\n\n\nPines of Rome\n\n\n\nRespighi managed to get a couple of operas staged in his native Bologna by the time he was 31 years old\, but work as an orchestral musician (violin and viola)\, teacher\, piano accompanist\, and arranger of Baroque music sustained his peripatetic career in its early years. A move to Rome in 1913 as professor of composition at the Liceo Musicale of Santa Cecilia proved decisive\, since Rome was then the center of orchestral life in Italy. In 1916\, he completed Fountains of Rome\, a four-part symphonic tone poem that gradually became a huge success\, making Respighi famous and wealthy. \n\n\n\nIn 1919 the Liceo became the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia\, and in 1923 Respighi was appointed its director. He held that administrative post only three years\, during which he composed Pines of Rome\, a sequel to Fountains and even more lucrative for Respighi. Its success\, following its premiere in December 1924\, enabled Respighi to quit as director of the Conservatory in 1926\, although he continued the teaching he loved\, as an advanced composition professor there until 1935. \n\n\n\nThe great popularity of this music is not hard to understand. It is brilliantly evocative\, well-crafted\, and emotionally sincere musical pageantry. The first section of Pines – all four are played without a break – is a short prelude depicting children at play in the pine grove of the Villa Borghese\, their dances and games raucously projected through quick brass and woodwind exchanges. \n\n\n\n“Pines Near a Catacomb” presents a serene\, even somber scene\, with muted strings supporting an orchestral chant which “re-echoes solemnly\, sonorously\, like a hymn” rising from the catacomb\, in the composer’s words. \n\n\n\n“The Pines of the Janiculum” is night music in which a solo clarinet sings plaintively\, introducing the actual song of a nightingale (Respighi even specified the recording to be used) over tremolo strings. “The Pines of the Appian Way” suggests morning dawning over the march of imperial Roman glory in trumpet-driven triumph. Mussolini adored Respighi’s orchestral music\, but the sound of a fascist parade here is probably the result of purely musical muscle flexing rather than any consciously propagandistic intentions on the part of the rather non-political composer. \n\n\n\n— John Henken \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\nCori Trenczer (Third Prize\, Student Artist Competition)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCori Trenczer is a cellist\, chamber musician\, and teacher from the Hudson Valley region of New York. Coming from a musical family and a family of educators\, Cori is both an avid performer and a teacher to a robust studio of cello students. Cori has her bachelors degree in cello performance from the Eastman School of Music and she is a graduate assistant in the graduate string quartet at UNCG. \n\n\n\nCori enjoys playing in the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra as a section cellist\, and teaching her studio of roughly 18 cello students\, ranging from age 8 to adult. She is interested in contemporary music and playing music by underrepresented composers. Cori is a virtual cello teacher on the faculty of Cornerstone Music Studios and on wyzant.com\, and teaches in-person at Moore Music Company and through UNCG’S Community Music Lessons Program. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Orchestras\nThe vibrant UNCG Orchestra program has long been recognized for performance excellence\, adventurous programming\, and high artistic standards. A diversity of offerings allow students the opportunity to perform repertoire for ensembles ranging from the largest cornerstone and contemporary works for full orchestra\, to intimate pieces for chamber orchestra\, to string orchestra. \n\n\n\nStudents in the UNCG Orchestra program are dedicated to the performance\, study and cultivation of orchestral music of the highest quality. The UNCG Orchestras offer outstanding performances throughout the year and enhance the institutional spirit and community of UNCG. We seek to promote music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by supporting secondary school orchestra programs and other organizations through our outreach activities and other annual events on campus. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Orchestras\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nProgram Notes\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/symphony-orchestra-the-pines-of-rome/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/choral-orchestral-collage-2.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251007T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251007T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250529T175307Z LAST-MODIFIED:20251007T145246Z UID:10003280-1759865400-1759870800@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Symphonic Band DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/Ca5-DGMkn_I?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nJonathan Caldwell\, conductorStephanie Ycaza\, tuba \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nKEVIN DAYStride (2023) \n\n\n\nIVETTE HERRYMAN RODRÍGUEZSantiago (2019) \n\n\n\nNORMAN DELLO JOIOVariants on a Mediaeval Tune (1963) \n\n\n\nGALA FLAGELLOVitality (2022) \n\n\n\nDREW BONNERDeep\, Dark Night (2019) \n\n\n\nDMITRI SHOSTAKOVICHDance I from Suite for Variety Orchestra (1938) \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\nStride (2023)\n\n\n\nKevin Day is a composer\, jazz pianist\, producer\, and conductor who is known to juxtapose diverse musical traditions including contemporary classical\, jazz\, R&B\, and soul with classical composition. His father was a prominent hip-hop producer\, and his mother was a popular gospel singer. Day is one of eight founding members of the Nu Black Vanguard\, a collective dedicated to the advancement of Black composers\, and a graduate of Texas Christian University\, the University of Georgia\, and the University of Miami Frost School of Music. In 2024\, Day joined the faculty at the University of California San Diego as a lecturer in theory and musicianship. \n\n\n\nStride celebrates Day’s college marching band experiences and the idea of walking with confidence and decisiveness to overcome obstacles within one’s path. The piece includes a high energy theme\, a contrasting slower section\, and a return to the theme for an optimistic\, high-energy end. \n\n\n\n— Note by Kevin Day and Patty Saunders \n\n\n\nSantiago (2019)\n\n\n\nIvette Herryman Rodríguez\, a Cuban-born composer\, often incorporates elements of Cuban musical traditions into her work. Santiago takes its name from Santiago de Cuba\, a city renowned for its vibrant musical life and carnival traditions. At the heart of this culture is the “Comparsa Santiaguera\,” a parade of singers\, dancers\, and musicians that has become a defining feature of the city’s identity. The work celebrates Cuban musical traditions while paying tribute to Santiago de Cuba\, capturing both the spirit of its music and the lively energy of the comparsa. The piece opens with a lyrical statement of the main melody played by the corneta china\, a double-reed instrument with a piercing\, trumpet-like sound that traditionally announces the comparsa. The theme is followed by three titled variations: Variation I: Chorale\, which takes a lyrical approach to the main melody; Variation II: Lullaby and Dance\, which introduces a waltz-like dance; and Variation III: Comparsa\, which fully embraces the celebratory energy of the Cuban carnival.  \n\n\n\n— Note by Ivette Herryman Rodríguez and Molly Allman \n\n\n\nVariants on a Mediaeval Tune (1963)\n\n\n\nNorman Dello Joio\, an American composer best known for his choral works\, came from a musical family and first studied organ with his father before pursuing formal training. He is often identified as a postmodern\, specifically neoromantic\, composer. Postmodernism in music is characterized less by a unified style than by an emphasis on individual expression\, extending modernism’s break from tradition by encouraging composers to reject past conventions and write freely. Neoromanticism is a branch of postmodernism but shows a distinct return to emotional expression in music seen in 19th-century Romanticism.  \n\n\n\nVariants on a Mediaeval Tune premiered on April 10\, 1963\, as Dello Joio’s first original work for band. It is based on a melody titled “In dulci jubilo\,” a traditional Christmas carol\, which acts as the main theme. It includes a brief introduction followed by the theme and five variants that strongly contrast in tempo and character\, fully utilizing the possibilities of the band. The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation commissioned the piece for the Duke University Band with Paul Bryan\, conductor.  \n\n\n\n— Note by Jaden Brown  \n\n\n\nVitality (2022)\n\n\n\nGala Flagello is an American composer\, teacher\, and non-profit director. In 2022\, Flagello was a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. Part of her fellowship requirement was to submit a piece to be read and recorded by the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra. For this\, Flagello chose to write Vitality. \n\n\n\nFlagello wrote Vitality in 2022 for the Aspen Conducting Academy orchestral readings. It draws inspiration from a quote by Martha Graham\, a renowned American dancer\, teacher\, and choreographer.  \n\n\n\nThere is a vitality\, a life force\, a quickening\, that is translated through you into action\, and because there is only one of you in all time\, this expression is unique. And if you block it\, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.  \n\n\n\nFound in a letter from Graham to fellow dancer and choreographer Agnes De Mille\, this quote contains three ideas: the what\, the how\, and the why. Graham defines the “what” as the universal life-force within each person\, the “how” as its unique expression through individual actions\, and the “why” as the necessity of expression\, since otherwise that force would be lost. Flagello writes that “the piece loosely follows this structure\, musically exploring the prickly and potent glimmers of one’s life force alongside the uncertainty of self-expression and vulnerability.”  \n\n\n\n— Note by Gala Flagello and Jaden Brown \n\n\n\nDeep\, Dark Night (2019) \n\n\n\nDrew Bonner is a composer and euphonium player. As a performer and educator\, he writes for a range of ensembles\, including euphonium quartets and wind bands. Deep\, Dark Night is originally written for solo tuba and British brass band and explores the thoughts and emotions that arise as night falls: moments of reflection\, grief\, anxiety\, and ultimately resilience. The piece captures experiences we have all faced: the quiet heaviness of the mind at night\, as well as the emotional struggles that can accompany it.  \n\n\n\nThe first movement begins with percussion and introduces a four-note motif that recurs throughout. This movement reflects a sense of melancholy and inner weight\, as the motif is developed and varied\, leading to a cadenza that descends into the tuba’s lowest register. The second movement\, “Agitato\,” conveys anger and a willingness to fight\, driving forward with continuous motion through repeated rhythms\, shifting melodies\, and overlapping parts. The main motif reappears in the accompaniment while the soloist rises above it\, creating contrast and ultimately concluding the work with determination and strength.  \n\n\n\n— Note by Tiffany Galus and Molly Allman \n\n\n\nDance I from Suite for Variety Orchestra (ca. 1956)\n\n\n\nDmitry Shostakovich was a highly regarded 20th century Russian composer who lived in the Soviet Union for much of his life. As a composer\, he lived in the shadow of constant criticism and fear from Soviet authorities which dictated the trajectory of his work. When Shostakovich died in Moscow in 1975\, his legacy included a prolific oeuvre that also reflected his personal experience of composing within the context of political oppression. \n\n\n\nDance no. 1 is taken from Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra which was compiled by Shostakovich’s colleagues in the 1950s from his film and stage scores. “Dance no. 1” was adapted from “No. 16\, ‘The Market Place’” in Shostakovich’s film score for The Gadfly and is a galloping race from the start. The dance includes a main theme\, a contrasting middle section\, and a return to the opening with whirling\, scalar flourishes in the woodwinds and punctuated brass. \n\n\n\n— Note by Patty Saunders and Gerard McBurney \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\nStephanie Ycaza\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStephanie Ycaza is the Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She previously held the position of Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Northern Iowa\, and has also served on the music faculties of Virginia Commonwealth University\, Virginia State University\, Longwood University\, the University of Richmond\, and Shenandoah University. Stephanie is active as a masterclass teacher and as a clinician for middle and high school bands.  \n\n\n\nStephanie is a founding member of Calypsus Brass\, a brass quintet dedicated to performing new works and providing high-quality recordings for composers. Calypsus is committed to promoting the works of composers from historically marginalized groups\, and serves as an Ensemble-in-Residence for Rising Tide Music Press. Stephanie is Principal Tuba of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony\, and has also performed with the Virginia Symphony\, the Williamsburg Symphony\, the Capital Wind Symphony\, and the Virginia Grand Military band. She has also contributed to recording projects at Spacebomb Records in Richmond\, VA. Stephanie’s recent solo performances have focused on music for tuba with electronic accompaniment\, music by women composers\, and her own transcriptions and arrangements for low brass. She has appeared as a soloist at the International Tuba Euphonium Conference\, the Northeast\, Southeast\, and Midwest Regional ITEA Conferences\, the Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Workshop\, and the International Women’s Brass Conference. Stephanie also writes and gives presentations on the topic of mindfulness in the practice and performance of music.  \n\n\n\nStephanie holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Shenandoah University\, a Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from Yale University\, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. She studied with Dr. Ross Walter\, Toby Hanks\, Mike Roylance\, Andrew Hitz\, and Michael Bunn. Stephanie is a Miraphone tuba artist.  \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\nThe renowned UNCG Bands are dedicated to the performance\, study\, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality\, and are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression. The UNCG Bands are considered to be among the very finest collegiate band programs in America based upon our active profile of excellence in our performances\, recordings\, tours and convention performances. \n\n\n\nThrough exemplary practices in organization\, training\, and presentation\, the UNCG Bands provide exceptional experiences for our members\, sharing outstanding performances throughout the year and enhancing the institutional spirit and character of UNCG. \n\n\n\nThe UNCG Bands seek to support music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by providing leadership and sponsorship to secondary school band programs and other organizations. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Bands\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\nProgram Notes\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/symphonic-band-9/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Stephanie-Ycaza-e1764967911560.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251006T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251006T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250825T150416Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250926T211301Z UID:10003379-1759779000-1759784400@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Chamber Singers DESCRIPTION:https://youtube.com/live/EW6Xcs1mzuw?feature=share\n\n\n\n\nCarole Ott\, conductorAlexander Ezerman\, celloErika Boysen\, fluteMichaela Kelly\, soprano \n\n\n\nProgram\n\n\n\nTHEODORE MORRISONA Chant for Peace in Our Time \n\n\n\nMEIRA WARSHAUERAkhat Sha’alti \n\n\n\nANDREA CLEARFIELDPrayer for the Schechinah \n\n\n\nREENA ESMAILShe Will Transform You \n\n\n\nFRANZ SCHUBERTMirjam’s Siegesgesang \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Program\n \n\n\n\n\nAbout the Artists\n \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Choirs\nThe mission of the UNCG Choirs is dedicated to the teaching\, performance\, study and cultivation of choral music of the highest quality representing not just the western choral canon but also choral music of other cultures by a diverse body of historical and new composers. We believe that the UNCG Choirs are a serious and distinctive medium of musical expression\, of vital service and importance to its members and to UNCG. Through ensemble performance\, we strive to create an environment of trust\, communication\, and expressive freedom\, to present outstanding performances throughout the year\, and to enhance the institutional sprit and character of UNCG. To music as an art and a profession\, the UNCG Choirs seek to bring increasing artistry\, understanding\, and respect by efforts within our own immediate sphere and by providing leadership and sponsorship to school choral programs and through cooperation with all other agencies pursuing similar musical goals. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Choirs\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEvent Details\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram\n\nFacebook\n\nX\n\nYouTube URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/chamber-singers-4/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/choir-event-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250504T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250504T170000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20250429T204245Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250429T211233Z UID:10003271-1746363600-1746378000@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:North Carolina All-State Honors Bands DESCRIPTION: URL:https://www.ncbandmasters.org/clinic#new_tab LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/university-bands-feature.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250429T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250429T210000 DTSTAMP:20260427T130654 CREATED:20240717T210709Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250410T151630Z UID:10001128-1745955000-1745960400@vpa.uncg.edu SUMMARY:Symphony Orchestra\, Sinfonia\, and Choirs DESCRIPTION:Program\n\n\n\nJungho Kim\, conductorMarissa Guarriello\, conductorCarole Ott\, conductorCalvin Godfrey\, trumpet \n\n\n\nwithRobin Sukhadia\, tablaJohn Stephens\, sitarLindsay Kesselman\, sopranoAlannah MacMillan\, mezzo-sopranoEric Laine\, tenorRobert Wells\, baritone \n\n\n\nKHACHATURIAN Waltz from Masquerade \n\n\n\nSTEKKE Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra \n\n\n\nESMAIL This Love Between Us \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDownload Program\n\n\n\n\n\nParking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe importance of philanthropy has never been greater. Please consider a gift to the School of Music to support our mission and ensure the future of music at UNCG. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout the Soloist\n\n\n\n\nCalvin Godfrey is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance at University of North Carolina Greensboro where he holds a Graduate Assistantship and studies with Dr. Garrett Klein. An active performer\, he has played with numerous professional ensembles\, including the Charlotte Symphony\, and advanced to the semi-final round of the graduate solo division at the 2024 National Trumpet Competition. Calvin was also recognized for his paper Beethoven and Shostakovich: The String Quartet in Soviet Russia\, winning the UNCG Best Musicology Project award in April 2024. Calvin graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Virginia Tech\, where he studied trumpet with Dr. Jason Crafton. \n\n\n\n\nUNCG Orchestras\nThe vibrant UNCG Orchestra program has long been recognized for performance excellence\, adventurous programming\, and high artistic standards. A diversity of offerings allow students the opportunity to perform repertoire for ensembles ranging from the largest cornerstone and contemporary works for full orchestra\, to intimate pieces for chamber orchestra\, to string orchestra. \n\n\n\nStudents in the UNCG Orchestra program are dedicated to the performance\, study and cultivation of orchestral music of the highest quality. The UNCG Orchestras offer outstanding performances throughout the year and enhance the institutional spirit and community of UNCG. We seek to promote music education in the state of North Carolina and in our region by supporting secondary school orchestra programs and other organizations through our outreach activities and other annual events on campus. URL:https://vpa.uncg.edu/single-event/symphony-orchestra-and-choruses/ LOCATION:UNCG Auditorium\, 408 Tate Street\, Greensboro\, NC\, 27412\, United States CATEGORIES:College of Visual and Performing Arts,School of Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vpa.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/choral-orchestral-collage-2.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR