The Last Hivemind Shuying Li Born: 1989 Composed: 2018 Duration: 7 minutes The Last Hive Mind was written for conductor Glen Adsit and the Foot in the Door Ensemble at The Hartt School. Inspired by several episodes of the British TV series Black Mirror and the general idea of recent increasing debate around the artificial intelligence and how it will affect our daily lives as human being, I put some of my personal thoughts, standing and imagination into this work. Thanks to G

Fanfare after Seventeenth Century Dances Donal Michalsky Born: 1928, Pasadena, CA Died: 1975 Composed: 1965 Duration: 8 minutes Donal Michalsky was a native Californian. Born and raised in Pasadena, he received his DMA from the University of Southern California, studying theory with Halsey Stevens and composition with Ingolf Dahl. After completion of his studies, he chose to remain in the Golden State, teaching composition at California State University- Fullerton, until his

Three Comments on War Jan Meyerowitz Ed. Erik Leung Born: 1913, Germany Composed: 1964 Duration: 10:40 Three Comments on War was commissioned by the Southern Division of the College Band Directors National Association. The melody that serves as “Chorale” of the first movement, an anonymous secular French ballad of antiquity is the folk song “Jean Renaud,” which tells the story of a mortally wounded king who comes home to die. His mother makes desperate efforts to hide the tra

Paul Hindemith's Konzertmusik, Op. 41, composed in 1926, was, in some ways, written to promote the importance and relevance of wind music in classical performance. Although designed as a piece for amateurs, the piece is certainly challenging enough for professional players - a comparison may be drawn to the Schoenberg Theme and Variations, Op. 43a in this way. The piece is written for a variation on the German military band instrumentation, and has since become a standard of

Millennium Canons Kevin Puts Arranged by Mark Spede Composed: 2003 Duration: 7 minutes Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his debut opera Silent Night, Kevin Puts has been hailed as one of the most important composers of his generation. Critically acclaimed for a richly colored, harmonic, and freshly melodic musical voice that has also been described as “emotional, compelling, and relevant,” his works, which include two operas, four symphonies, and several concertos, have

I wander the world in a dream of my own making Christopher Theofanidis Born: December 18, 1967, Dallas, Texas Composed: 2005 Duration: 8 minutes The composer writes: When Robert Rumbelow approached me to write a piece for wind ensemble for this wonderful consortium commission, I was really delighted, as I had been thinking of a piece for these forces for some time and was eager to try some of the acoustic things that I do in my pieces for symphony orchestra in a different con

Kammerkonzert Berg, Alban Born: February 9, 1885 – December 24, 1935, Vienna, Austria Composed: 1923-1925 Duration: 42 minutes On March 3rd, 2018, UMWO will perform, for the second time since the group's inception, Alban Berg's incredible Chamber Concerto, or Kammerkonzert. This piece is a great example of "Second Viennese" composition in its breadth and intricacy. The piece has a background and program (intrinsic and extrinsic) that is fascinating, and similar to today's mod

Serenade for brass and percussion Willem van Otterloo Born: December 27th, 1907, Winterswijk, Netherlands Died: July 27th, 1978, Melbourne, Australia Composed: 1944 Duration: 18 minutes Conductor and composer, Willem van Otterloo was born in Winterswijk, Netherlands and died in Melbourne, Australia. After studying medicine for a time, he went to the Amsterdam Conservatory where he studied cello under Orobio da Castro and composition with Sem Dresden. He was a young cellist wi

Danse Funambulesque Jules Strens Born: December 5, 1893, Brussels, Belgium Died: March 19, 1971, Brussels, Belgium Instrumentation: Chamber Orchestra Duration: 11 minutes Composed: 1925 Jules Strens studied violin at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and for a while he received advice from Paul Gilson in orchestration. In 1926 he became member of the “Synthétistes” group of young progressive composers of the twenties who were all pupils of Paul Gilson. During this period, h

Concerto for Winds and Percussion Christian Lindberg Born: February 15, 1958, Danderyd, Sweden Composed: 2003 Duration: 16 minutes Christian Lindberg is widely considered to be one of the finest trombone soloists to have ever lived. Born in Danderyd, Sweden (a suburb of Stockholm), he began playing the trumpet in his youth and later took up the trombone as a teenager in order to join a friend’s Dixieland band. His formal studies began in 1976 at the Swedish Royal Academy of M