Performance Etiquette
So that others around you may enjoy
the performance without distraction,
we ask that you refrain from:
speaking audibly;
taking flash photographs;
entering or leaving the hall unnecessarily;
or any other aural or visual distractions.
Please turn off cellular phones and
all other audible devices.
WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
College of Fine Arts & Communication
& School of Music
present
New Music Festival 2016
Concert II
The use of unauthorized recording devices
is strictly prohibited.
Thank you.
New Music Festival is made possible with support from the
Performing Arts Society and the School of Music.
COFAC Recital Hall
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
2:00 PM
Ushering services provided by the Western Illinois University Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon.
Pro gram
Little Child (2006)
Stacey Berk
Hannah Porter, soprano
Po-Chuan Chiang, piano
Hong Kong Blues (2009)
Té de Jasmin (2009)
Benjamin Willis
Michael Stryker, piano
Benjamin Willis, bass
The Swing (2016)
Julieta Mihai
two-channel electronic media
Twelve Tonalities (2015)
Peter Lothringer
Amy Broadbent, piano
String Quartet No. 2 (2009)
Luciana Hontilă, violin
Vlad Hontilă, violin
Milagros Gallardo, viola
Samantha Flores, cello
David Rappenecker
David Rappenecker (b. 1984) is a composer of acoustic instrumental and vocal
works. He holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Western
Illinois University, and is currently finishing his PhD from the University at Buffalo.
As a graduate assistant at the University at Buffalo, David taught courses in music
composition, music theory and fundamentals, and minimalist music and aesthetics.
His principal composition teachers are David Felder and Paul Paccione. David has
written works in a variety of mediums, including solo and small ensemble, large
ensemble, chorus, and enjoys working with dance collaboration whenever possible.
His works explore themes of gestural identity and recollection, repetition and
saturation, and he makes frequent use of symmetrical design structures while using a
pan-tonal harmonic language and modular formal construction. David currently
lives in his hometown of Burlington, Iowa, with his wife Elizabeth and their son,
Charlie. In his free time, he likes to read, go running, and cook for his family and
friends.
String Quartet No. 2 was written for the President’s International String Quartet
at Western Illinois University, and was commissioned by the WIU Dance Theater,
under the direction of Heidi Clemmens. It was choreographed for dance, and
premiered at the Spring 2010 Regional ACDFA Festival at the University of Illinois.
This piece will always hold a special place in my compositional oeuvre, as it is the
work where I first explored some of the ideas that have dominated my
compositional thinking since that time, including modular construction, repetition,
binary forms, and a simplified approach to harmony and counterpoint. The work is
divided into two halves, each of which contains three subsections. The first and third
subsection of each half are similar material, and the second subsections of each half
are different. The piece is approximately 10 minutes in length, and was originally
performed with the quartet on the stage interacting with the dancers while playing
from memory.
Julieta Mihai is a composition student of James Caldwell, who helps her explore
her interest in electronic music. Her past teachers include Paul Paccione, Sever
Tipei, and Ede Terényi. A violinist and chamber musician, she is associate professor
of violin at Western Illinois University and is a member of the Julstrom String
Quartet. She has studied in Bucharest and Cluj, Romania, and at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Samples of her works are available at
www.julietamihai.com.
The setting sun that lights the tips / Of TV's giant paperclips / Upon the roof; / The shadow
of the doorknob that / At sundown is a baseball bat / Upon the door, / The cardinal that
likes to sit / And make chip-wit, chip-wit, chip-wit / Upon the tree; / The empty little
swing that swings / Under the tree: these are the things / That break my heart. The song
for mezzo-soprano and harpsichord is a setting of a poem by John Shade, a fictional
character in Vladimir Nabokov’s 1962 novel Pale Fire. In the book, Shade’s young
daugther, Hazel, apparently committed suicide.
Peter Lothringer teaches music theory, composition, and guitar at Southwest
Minnesota State University. He has B.A. and M.A. degrees in music theory and
composition from Western Illinois University, and a D.M.A in composition from
the University of Arizona. His composition teachers were Paul Paccione, Jim
Caldwell, and Dan Asia. Lothringer's compositions include works for orchestra,
chorus, chamber ensemble, and solo instruments, as well as music for two
documentary films. His orchestral music has been performed by the Southwest
Minnesota Orchestra, the Western Illinois University Symphony Orchestra, and
the Orchestra de Camera Ripieno (Panama City, Panama). His music has also been
featured on the Minnesota Orchestra's Perfect Pitch New Music Reading Session
and the Plymouth Music Series' Orchestral Reading Project. Lothringer has made
two CD’s featuring his compositions for solo guitar, Fingerstyle Forms (2008) and
Hymnopedie (2014), and he performs regularly in a jazz duo with saxophonist/
clarinetist Ross Anderson.
In Twelve Tonalities, harmonic stasis alternates with harmonic instability. The
static sections stay on one minor triad, sometimes for extended periods, projecting
the chord tones with short repeating patterns. This music always leads to a
modulating chord progression that ends in a key one half-step higher than the
previous one. Throughout the piece the key centers ascend by half-steps, with
static minor-triad music occurring in each key along the way. After all twelve
tonalities have appeared, the final modulating passage leads back to the original key
(B minor), where the piece ends.
Biographies & Program Notes
Stacey Berk (formerly Willer) is Professor of Oboe and Music Theory at the
University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. Her compositions have been performed in
cities across the United States, in Europe and in Asia. She has received many
commissions for works, including from the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra, the
U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America, the Point Dance Ensemble, the Polaris Wind
Quintet, Lake Park High School and others. Her compositions often have a
programmatic or literary reference, and her works cover a broad spectrum of styles
including humorous ensembles, exciting fanfares, challenging contemporary works, and
serene lullabies. Her works are available through Cocobolo Music Press. In addition to
teaching and composing, Stacey is an active performer. She currently performs as
principal oboist with the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra and with Trio
Canna. She has been a concerto soloist with a number of orchestras and other ensembles
throughout central Wisconsin. She lives in Waupaca, Wisconsin with her husband and
daughter.
Little Child is a simple, tonal lullaby that aims to capture the love and wishes a mother
has for her infant. Written for my daughter when she was a toddler, this is my most
personal composition, but it shares a universal story with parents everywhere.
Benjamin Willis is a new face on the Latin American music scene in New York. Since
arriving here in 2010 this freelance bassist, vocalist, composer and arranger has
performed, recorded, and produced music with a variety of Cuban, South American and
other Latin American and jazz artists. He is currently a member of Juan Carlos Formell's
trio Formellx3 and plays with La Vitrola, the Lennon Sisters, ZEMOG, and has played,
produced, and arranged for Los Chamanes and InCubismos. He is also an ensemble
member of Teatro Pregones and has been part of their productions in the Bronx and the
Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in the theater district in midtown Manhattan since
2011. He has shared the stage with Lila Downs, Roberto Vizcaino, Ismael Miranda, Von
Freeman, Mauricio “hUESO” Diaz, Juan "Cotito" Medrano, La Sonora Santanera, the
Lennon sisters, Mary Wilson, Eric Kurimski, Yayo Serka, Oscar Aviles and recorded
with Nicholas Payton, La Tira, Isabel Alfonso and several other projects. His experience
has taken him across the United States, México, Cuba, Taiwan, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia,
France, Holland and Spain. He is also an activist and published author on US-Cuba
relations. He has two degrees from Western Illinois University (BM, 1995; MM 2011).
Hong Kong Blues was conceived after a frustrating day spent in Hong Kong trying to
get a visa. Its irregular form and changes imply a blues without being constrained by its
traditional forms.
Té de Jasmin was one of the compositions that I developed during a semester of
individual study with Dr. Michael Stryker while I was matriculating at WIU. It is a
melodious waltz that meanders through colorful harmonic changes.