Saturday, April 23 3pm - Little Brown Church, Clinton
Sunday, April 24 3pm - Oak Harbor Methodist Church
Sunday, April 24 3pm - Oak Harbor Methodist Church
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PROGRAM:
To the Earth - Frederic Rzewski Erica Montgomery, flower pots Faith Wilder Rhythms of Nature: a symphony in four movements Earth Sanctuary Meditation Im Treibhaus: “In the Greenhouse” - Richard Wagner, arr. B Nelson Eva Nelson, Soprano Brandon Nelson, Vibraphone Child of Tree - John Cage Brandon Nelson, Amplified Plant Material Janice O’Mahony Rhythms of Nature: Lessons of the Seasons Downsizing Claire de lune - Claude Debussy, arr. Siwe Erica Montgomery, Vibraphone Dallas Huth Rhythms of Nature The Garden Story Light that fills the Earth - John Luther Adams Violin - Anna Edwards, Marimba - Brandon Nelson Vibraphone - Erica Montgomery Keyboard - Rumiana Drumeva, Larry Heidel & Gary Wittlich Contrabass - Jon Small Conductor - Sebastian Serrano-Ayala Dianne Shiner Rhythms of Nature: lub dub, lub dub Relay Anthem Kingdoms - Russell Wharton Erica Montgomery, snare drum |
Poetry Readings by the Four Voices:
Faith Wilder Rhythms of Nature: a symphony in four movements Earth Sanctuary Meditation Janice O’Mahony Rhythms of Nature: Lessons of the Seasons Downsizing Dallas Huth Rhythms of Nature The Garden Story Dianne Shiner Rhythms of Nature: lub dub, lub dub Relay Anthem 
Special thanks to:
Little Brown Church - Emily Ruef and Paul Grubb Oak Harbor Methodist Church |
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ERICA MONTGOMERY retired from the United States Air Force Band, Washington DC in 2018 where she served as Principal Timpanist. Prior to joining the USAF Band, she served as Principal Timpanist with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Illinois Symphony. An active freelance musician she has performed with the Louisville Orchestra, Brass Band of Battle Creek, Monarch Brass, Brass of the Potomac, Evansville Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.
Erica earned a B.M. performance degree from the University of Illinois where she was recipient of the prestigious Edgard Varèse Award and a Master of Music performance degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Erica is excited to now call Whidbey Island home, the perfect place to play drums, drink coffee, and explore nature. In her spare time she is always keeping an eye out for the elusive Sasquatch or our local Southern Resident Orcas. |
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BRANDON NELSON is Director of Bands at Oak Harbor High School and has built an award-winning program ranging from marching band to jazz band to wind ensembles. Brandon has served as principal percussionist for Saratoga Orchestra of Whidbey Island since 2016. He earned his Masters degree in Music Performance from Portland State University and Bachelors degree in Music Education from the University of North Texas. A devoted educator, in 2018 Brandon was honored by School Band and Orchestra magazine as Washington's Director Who Makes a Difference.
Having worked as a band director and drumline coach in Oregon, Washington, and Texas, Brandon is passionate about training the next generation of musicians to clap on beats two and four. Outside of the classroom, he can be found performing on drumset, french horn, bassoon, voice, and as a conductor & adjudicator. Additionally, life has gotten even more fulfilling for Brandon and his partner Eva with the birth of their first child. |
Donations received will go toward scholarships to Percussion on the Rock 2022, a four day workshop hosted by Whidbey's Saratoga Orchestra.
This unique workshop is led by our very own Saratoga Orchestra musicians, Erica Montgomery and Brandon Nelson, along with nationally recognized percussion educators, Dr. Kathleen Kastner and William Wanser. Attendees from all over and of all backgrounds come to study and perform percussion ensemble music as this program is one of only a few offered on the West coast. All activities will be held in Coupeville and a community drum circle and final performance concert will be highlights of this summer’s POTR.
This unique workshop is led by our very own Saratoga Orchestra musicians, Erica Montgomery and Brandon Nelson, along with nationally recognized percussion educators, Dr. Kathleen Kastner and William Wanser. Attendees from all over and of all backgrounds come to study and perform percussion ensemble music as this program is one of only a few offered on the West coast. All activities will be held in Coupeville and a community drum circle and final performance concert will be highlights of this summer’s POTR.
PROGRAM NOTES:
Rzewski: To the Earth
Frederic Rzewski (born Westfield, Massachusetts, 1938) studied music first with Charles Mackey of Springfield, and subsequently with Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, and Milton Babbitt at Harvard and Princeton Universities. He went to Italy in 1960, where he studied with Luigi Dallapiccola and met Severino Gazzelloni, with whom he performed in a number of concerts, thus beginning a career as a performer of new piano music. His early friendship with Christian Wolff and David Behrman, and his acquaintance with John Cage and David Tudor, strongly influenced his development in both composition and performance. “To the Earth” was written in 1985 at the request of the percussionist Jan Williams. Williams asked for a piece using small percussion instruments that could be easily transported. I decided to use four flower pots. Not only do they have a beautiful sound but they don’t have to be carried around at all: in every place where one plays the piece, they can be bought for a total cost of about one dollar. The text, recited by the percussionist, is that of the pseudo-homeric hymn “To The Earth Mother of All,” probably written in the seventh century B.C. This simple poem is a prayer to Gaia—goddess of the Earth. The Earth is a myth, both ancient and modern. For us today as well, it appears increasingly as something fragile. Because of its humanly altered metabolism, it is rapidly becoming a symbol of the precarious human condition. In this piece the flower pots are intended to convey this sense of fragility. The writing of this piece was triggered by reading an article on newly discovered properties of clay, the substance of which pots and golems are made. Among these properties are its capacity to store energy for long periods of time and its complex molecular structure. This idea for clay as something half-alive, a kind of transitional medium between organic and inorganic materials, led me to look at flower pots. I found, in fact, that some pots are “alive” while others are “dead”: some emit a disappointing “thunk” when you tap them while others seem to burst into resonant song at the slightest touch.
Frederic Rzewski (born Westfield, Massachusetts, 1938) studied music first with Charles Mackey of Springfield, and subsequently with Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, and Milton Babbitt at Harvard and Princeton Universities. He went to Italy in 1960, where he studied with Luigi Dallapiccola and met Severino Gazzelloni, with whom he performed in a number of concerts, thus beginning a career as a performer of new piano music. His early friendship with Christian Wolff and David Behrman, and his acquaintance with John Cage and David Tudor, strongly influenced his development in both composition and performance. “To the Earth” was written in 1985 at the request of the percussionist Jan Williams. Williams asked for a piece using small percussion instruments that could be easily transported. I decided to use four flower pots. Not only do they have a beautiful sound but they don’t have to be carried around at all: in every place where one plays the piece, they can be bought for a total cost of about one dollar. The text, recited by the percussionist, is that of the pseudo-homeric hymn “To The Earth Mother of All,” probably written in the seventh century B.C. This simple poem is a prayer to Gaia—goddess of the Earth. The Earth is a myth, both ancient and modern. For us today as well, it appears increasingly as something fragile. Because of its humanly altered metabolism, it is rapidly becoming a symbol of the precarious human condition. In this piece the flower pots are intended to convey this sense of fragility. The writing of this piece was triggered by reading an article on newly discovered properties of clay, the substance of which pots and golems are made. Among these properties are its capacity to store energy for long periods of time and its complex molecular structure. This idea for clay as something half-alive, a kind of transitional medium between organic and inorganic materials, led me to look at flower pots. I found, in fact, that some pots are “alive” while others are “dead”: some emit a disappointing “thunk” when you tap them while others seem to burst into resonant song at the slightest touch.
Wagner: “Im Treibhaus”
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) revolutionized the world of music with his concept of Gesamtkunstwerk “total work of art”, a philosophy of synthesizing poetry, drama, music, and visual art into one great work. His mission to tell a story using powerful text, scenery, costuming, and music in unity lives on as basic rules for big stage and silver screen. Wagner is best known for his massive opera productions, dramatizations of Germanic folklore, and challenging complex harmonies.
“Im Treibhaus” is from a larger song cycle Wesendonck Lieder, featuring music written to poems of Mathilde Wesendonck. The poem “Im Treibhaus” (“In the Greenhouse”) addresses plants who are trapped away from home, beautiful yet homesick, provided for yet starved. Wagner composed this while living in exile in Zurich, while also drafting his opera Tristan and Isolde. You can hear harmonies in “Im Treibhaus” that are also featured in the opera’s score, and Wagner even subtitled this piece “Study on Tristan and Isolde”.
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) revolutionized the world of music with his concept of Gesamtkunstwerk “total work of art”, a philosophy of synthesizing poetry, drama, music, and visual art into one great work. His mission to tell a story using powerful text, scenery, costuming, and music in unity lives on as basic rules for big stage and silver screen. Wagner is best known for his massive opera productions, dramatizations of Germanic folklore, and challenging complex harmonies.
“Im Treibhaus” is from a larger song cycle Wesendonck Lieder, featuring music written to poems of Mathilde Wesendonck. The poem “Im Treibhaus” (“In the Greenhouse”) addresses plants who are trapped away from home, beautiful yet homesick, provided for yet starved. Wagner composed this while living in exile in Zurich, while also drafting his opera Tristan and Isolde. You can hear harmonies in “Im Treibhaus” that are also featured in the opera’s score, and Wagner even subtitled this piece “Study on Tristan and Isolde”.
Cage: Child of Tree
John Cage (1912-1992) was an American philosopher, poet, gardener, and musician. A student of contemporary mavericks Arnold Schoenberg and Henry Cowell, Cage made a career asking the question “Is this music?” His most well known composition is 4’33”, featuring a performer, a piano, and a stopwatch, where not a single note is played and the performer bows after 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Most of Cage’s compositions feature unique instruments and performance techniques that challenge both the listener and the performer. John Cage established techniques of using prepared pianos and indeterminacy in his compositions, along with a greater presence of “found” instruments like discarded cans, seashells, and noisy plants. While not universally liked, Cage’s impact on music history is indisputable, paving the way for a more beautiful world with modern percussion ensembles, film scores, and Foley artists.
Child of Tree is one of Cage’s later works, demonstrating concepts of both indeterminacy and found instruments. The written “music” does not use any notes or rhythms. The manuscript features 8ish pages of handwritten instructions, including edits and annotations in the margins. Cage instructs the performer to improvise upon a variety of amplified plant matter. The order of “instrumentation” and time length of each phrase is to be determined by I Ching divination: a kind of random number generation that uses coins or small sticks (traditionally 50 stalks of yarrow). Cage declines to specify which interpretation of I Ching to use, but is very specific about the kind of seed pod that should be included: one that is difficult to acquire outside of Arizona. This is the work of either a madman or a philosopher with a silly streak. Maybe something in between.
John Cage (1912-1992) was an American philosopher, poet, gardener, and musician. A student of contemporary mavericks Arnold Schoenberg and Henry Cowell, Cage made a career asking the question “Is this music?” His most well known composition is 4’33”, featuring a performer, a piano, and a stopwatch, where not a single note is played and the performer bows after 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Most of Cage’s compositions feature unique instruments and performance techniques that challenge both the listener and the performer. John Cage established techniques of using prepared pianos and indeterminacy in his compositions, along with a greater presence of “found” instruments like discarded cans, seashells, and noisy plants. While not universally liked, Cage’s impact on music history is indisputable, paving the way for a more beautiful world with modern percussion ensembles, film scores, and Foley artists.
Child of Tree is one of Cage’s later works, demonstrating concepts of both indeterminacy and found instruments. The written “music” does not use any notes or rhythms. The manuscript features 8ish pages of handwritten instructions, including edits and annotations in the margins. Cage instructs the performer to improvise upon a variety of amplified plant matter. The order of “instrumentation” and time length of each phrase is to be determined by I Ching divination: a kind of random number generation that uses coins or small sticks (traditionally 50 stalks of yarrow). Cage declines to specify which interpretation of I Ching to use, but is very specific about the kind of seed pod that should be included: one that is difficult to acquire outside of Arizona. This is the work of either a madman or a philosopher with a silly streak. Maybe something in between.
Debussy: Clair de lune
"Clair de lune" (English "Moonlight") is a poem written by French poet Paul Verlaine in 1869. It is the inspiration for the third and most famous movement of Claude Debussy's 1890 Suite bergamasque. Debussy also made two settings of the poem for voice and piano accompaniment. The poem has also been set to music by Gabriel Fauré, Louis Vierne, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, and Josef Szulc.
Your soul is a chosen landscape
Where charming masquerades and dancers are promenading,
Playing the lute and dancing, and almost
Sad beneath their fantastic disguises.
While singing in a minor key
Of victorious love, and the pleasant life
They seem not to believe in their own happiness
And their song blends with the light of the moon,
With the sad and beautiful light of the moon,
Which sets the birds in the trees dreaming,
And makes the fountains sob with ecstasy,
The slender water streams among the marble statues.
"Clair de lune" (English "Moonlight") is a poem written by French poet Paul Verlaine in 1869. It is the inspiration for the third and most famous movement of Claude Debussy's 1890 Suite bergamasque. Debussy also made two settings of the poem for voice and piano accompaniment. The poem has also been set to music by Gabriel Fauré, Louis Vierne, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, and Josef Szulc.
Your soul is a chosen landscape
Where charming masquerades and dancers are promenading,
Playing the lute and dancing, and almost
Sad beneath their fantastic disguises.
While singing in a minor key
Of victorious love, and the pleasant life
They seem not to believe in their own happiness
And their song blends with the light of the moon,
With the sad and beautiful light of the moon,
Which sets the birds in the trees dreaming,
And makes the fountains sob with ecstasy,
The slender water streams among the marble statues.
John Luther Adams: The Light that Fills the World
For John Luther Adams, music is a lifelong search for home—an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and remember our place within the larger community of life on earth. Living for almost 40 years in northern Alaska, JLA discovered a unique musical world grounded in space, stillness, and elemental forces. In the 1970s and into the ’80s, he worked full time as an environmental activist.
But the time came when he felt compelled to dedicate himself entirely to music. He made this choice with the belief that, ultimately, music can do more than politics to change the world. Since that time, he has become one of the most widely admired composers in the world, receiving the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, and many other honors.
In many works Adams brings the sense of wonder that we feel outdoors into the concert hall. A deep concern for the state of the earth and the future of humanity drives Adams to continue composing. As he puts it: “If we can imagine a culture and a society in which we each feel more deeply responsible for our own place in the world, then we just may be able to bring that culture and that society into being.”
About: The Light that Fills the World
For much of the year, the world in which I live is a vast, white canvas. Last winter, reading art critic John Gage's essay "Color As Subject", I was struck by the equivalence between the view out of my window and Mark Rothko's use of white in his paintings. The exquisite colours on the snow and those in Rothko's translucent fields suggested to me broad diatonic washes suffused with slowly-changing chromatic harmonies. Slowly, faintly, I began to hear a new music stripped to its most essential elements: harmony, timbre and texture, suspended in what Morton Feldman called "time undisturbed".
Listening to these "allover" textures, it's difficult to concentrate for long on a single sound. The music wants to move us beyond syntactical meaning, even beyond images, into the experience of listening within an enveloping whole, a transpersonal presence. These seemingly-static fields of sound embrace constant change. But rather than moving on a journey through a musical landscape, the experience of listening is more like sitting in the same place as the wind and weather, the light and shadows slowly change. The longer we stay in one place, the more we notice change. The Light That Fills the World was written in late winter and early spring when - following the long darkness of winter - the world is still white and filled with new light. If the unrelenting texture of this music embodies stasis, I hope its prevalent tone evokes the ecstatic. The title of the piece is borrowed from an Inuit song which sings of the close relationship between beauty and terror, risk and revelation.
--John Luther Adams
For John Luther Adams, music is a lifelong search for home—an invitation to slow down, pay attention, and remember our place within the larger community of life on earth. Living for almost 40 years in northern Alaska, JLA discovered a unique musical world grounded in space, stillness, and elemental forces. In the 1970s and into the ’80s, he worked full time as an environmental activist.
But the time came when he felt compelled to dedicate himself entirely to music. He made this choice with the belief that, ultimately, music can do more than politics to change the world. Since that time, he has become one of the most widely admired composers in the world, receiving the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, and many other honors.
In many works Adams brings the sense of wonder that we feel outdoors into the concert hall. A deep concern for the state of the earth and the future of humanity drives Adams to continue composing. As he puts it: “If we can imagine a culture and a society in which we each feel more deeply responsible for our own place in the world, then we just may be able to bring that culture and that society into being.”
About: The Light that Fills the World
For much of the year, the world in which I live is a vast, white canvas. Last winter, reading art critic John Gage's essay "Color As Subject", I was struck by the equivalence between the view out of my window and Mark Rothko's use of white in his paintings. The exquisite colours on the snow and those in Rothko's translucent fields suggested to me broad diatonic washes suffused with slowly-changing chromatic harmonies. Slowly, faintly, I began to hear a new music stripped to its most essential elements: harmony, timbre and texture, suspended in what Morton Feldman called "time undisturbed".
Listening to these "allover" textures, it's difficult to concentrate for long on a single sound. The music wants to move us beyond syntactical meaning, even beyond images, into the experience of listening within an enveloping whole, a transpersonal presence. These seemingly-static fields of sound embrace constant change. But rather than moving on a journey through a musical landscape, the experience of listening is more like sitting in the same place as the wind and weather, the light and shadows slowly change. The longer we stay in one place, the more we notice change. The Light That Fills the World was written in late winter and early spring when - following the long darkness of winter - the world is still white and filled with new light. If the unrelenting texture of this music embodies stasis, I hope its prevalent tone evokes the ecstatic. The title of the piece is borrowed from an Inuit song which sings of the close relationship between beauty and terror, risk and revelation.
--John Luther Adams
Russell Wharton: Kingdoms
Russell Wharton is a percussion educator, performer, arranger, and composer living in Nashville, Tennessee. With a wide range of experiences and influences, Russell brings a well-rounded approach to every musical scenario.
Kingdoms uses both traditional snare drum techniques and extended techniques (playing with fingers, etc). The piece explores different timbres from the drum (ringing, dead-stroke) as well as using different sticks choices (snare drum sticks, brushes and ballastix—which are many smaller round wooden sticks bound together). Additionally, the technique of putting a tambourine on the head of the snare drum and playing that and the snare drum in alternation is very effective.
When writing Kingdoms, Russell Wharton found inspiration in film and television, stating about his process: “I find myself envisioning a movie in my head, and simply attempting to write the soundtrack to that movie.” The resulting piece is a colorful, personality-filled portrayal of the insect life on our planet.
Russell Wharton is a percussion educator, performer, arranger, and composer living in Nashville, Tennessee. With a wide range of experiences and influences, Russell brings a well-rounded approach to every musical scenario.
Kingdoms uses both traditional snare drum techniques and extended techniques (playing with fingers, etc). The piece explores different timbres from the drum (ringing, dead-stroke) as well as using different sticks choices (snare drum sticks, brushes and ballastix—which are many smaller round wooden sticks bound together). Additionally, the technique of putting a tambourine on the head of the snare drum and playing that and the snare drum in alternation is very effective.
When writing Kingdoms, Russell Wharton found inspiration in film and television, stating about his process: “I find myself envisioning a movie in my head, and simply attempting to write the soundtrack to that movie.” The resulting piece is a colorful, personality-filled portrayal of the insect life on our planet.
Saratoga Orchestra of Whidbey Island
P.O. Box 1524 | Langley, WA 98260
©2022
P.O. Box 1524 | Langley, WA 98260
©2022
