FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2014
CONTACT:
Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer
Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College
rebecca.a.bailey@dartmouth.edu
603.646.3991
Happy Birthday, Will! How does it feel to turn 450?
Photos (from top): The Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals; the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble,with conductor
Matthew Marsit.
HANOVER, NH—Two lively arts combine in "Play On! Shakespeare and Music," a concert by the Dartmouth
College Wind Ensemble on Saturday,
November 1, at 8 pm, in Spaulding
Auditorium.
This resident Hop wind and percussion
ensemble is joined by the Dartmouth
Rude Mechanicals, a student-run
Shakespeare group known for
irreverent, inventive performances that
underscore the enduring entertainment
value of that great author's plays. The
same program, in shorter form, is part
of the 2014-15 Hop School Matinee
Series for school groups and certified
homeschoolers. The program is in
honor of the 450th anniversary of
Shakespeare's birth in 1564.
Works of music inspired by Shakespeare
or written for modern productions of his plays will be interspersed with excerpts from the works performed by
the Rude Mechanicals. The program will be rounded out by Symphony for Winds and Percussion by American
composer Luigi Zaninelli.
Music selections include three works originating in commissioned incidental music for Great Britain's Royal
Shakespeare Company (RSC): Shakespeare Pictures, by Nigel Hess, which combines excerpts from Hess' scores
for Much Ado about Nothing, The Winter's Tale and Julius Caesar; The Sword and the Crown by Edward
Gregson, selections from scores for the plays about English royalty; and Bohemian Dances by Guy
Woolfenden, rousing dance music from his score for The Winter's Tale.
The wind ensemble always programs around a theme, often collaborating with artists or media. Past concerts
have centered on: music about New York City and (with the Handel Society of Dartmouth College) love; works
that incorporate electronic instruments (the concert included a light show performed by the audience's smart
phones); a commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg that included an actor's delivery of Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address; and a celebration of tango music, including on-stage dancing by an award-winning dance
couple. For its upcoming February 2015 concert, the ensemble will become the pit band in a movie house to
play a new score for the magnificent 1927 silent film Metropolis, which will be projected onto the 30-footwide Spaulding Auditorium
screen.
Wind ensemble Director
Matthew Marsit said the
idea for this fall's concert
came to him as he started
receiving word of new
music in honor of
Shakespeare's 450th
birthday. This led him to
investigate works
commissioned by RSC from
its composers-in-residence,
who include some of Great
Britain's best contemporary
composers. Naturally, the
program needed to include
actors, he said. "I love the
idea of working with other groups on campus and bringing an interesting collaboration to our audiences, and
theater was one type of collaboration we haven't yet explored."
Theater Professor Jamie Horton suggested the Rude Mechanicals, a group known not only for full-scale
productions but also brief, playful "pop-up" performances in unusual campus locations. The Dartmouth
newspaper described the group as "performing with enthusiasm and energy that made it difficult for the
audience to keep their eyes away from the action unfolding on stage." Member Reed Sturtevant told The
Dartmouth: "We take any opportunity we can to add fun characterization to what otherwise might be a
straightforward scene…Shakespeare is one of the greatest users of words in the English language, and the fact
that we’re still putting on shows he made 400 years ago is really unique. He wrote really true, very human
stories where the characters are people. There is no direct barrier of communication between people and the
audience. It’s a delightful experience, and it’s what I think the performing arts are really about."
That music is an important element in Shakespeare's plays is apparent even to the casual reader or viewer.
Music is attributed with powers over animals, people and the natural environment. Characters sing song lyrics,
some set to melodies that were published in that day and are still known. The Elizabethan-era explosion in
print and literacy also applied to musical notation, and social singing (with plenty of libations) was a popular
middle-class pastime.
Shakespeare has also inspired plenty of music over the years, including scores for ballets inspired by A
Midsummer Night’s Dream (the source of Felix Mendelssohn’s famous bridal march) and Romeo and Juliet,
and works like Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky's Hamlet, Fantasy Overture after Shakespeare¸ Op. 67, a musical
reflection on that great tragedy.
Complementing the Shakespearean music and text on the wind ensemble program, Zaninelli's symphony is a
feast of different instrumental combinations and sound textures, with many variations on dance themes
woven in. Zaninelli has published more than 300 works, including instrumental jazz and classical works and
well known concert arrangements of gospel and folk songs.
"The first half of the program is shared between music and spoken text, so I wanted to make sure that the
second half focuses on the wind ensemble alone," Marsit said. "The Zaninelli was one of those pieces that has
stayed on my desk, that I want to make sure the wind ensemble encounters. It is one of the real windensemble genre works. What captivates me most about it is the orchestration and writing style. The scoring is
done to suit the musical ideas. It doesn't have everyone playing all the time, which gets tiring to the ear.
There's a wonderful interplay of instruments, the blending of one family of instrument on stage with another,
the traveling back and forth between small and light to larger and more weighted."
The Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble is a select, auditioned wind ensemble of 45 members, performing a
wide variety of music from the late 19th, 20th and 21st century wind ensemble repertoire. The DCWE serves
as a melting pot for the students of Dartmouth College as well as residents of the Upper Valley, sharing music
with our community and those communities beyond the boundaries of our campus through concertizing,
small and large outreach projects and performances, and charitable endeavors that bring the gift of music and
music making to all who welcome it.
An active conductor and clarinetist, Marsit has led ensembles and performed as a solo, chamber, and
orchestral musician throughout the United States. In addition to directing the wind ensemble, he also directs
the Dartmouth College Marching Band, directs the wind ensemble at Williams College, and is artistic director
of the Charles River Wind Ensemble, based in Watertown, Massachusetts. He has previously held conducting
positions with Cornell University, Drexel University, the Chestnut Hill Orchestra, the Bucks County Youth
Ensembles and the Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary. Matthew has served as a guest conductor,
clinician and consultant for a great number of schools, institutions and festivals throughout the eastern United
States, and has produced a recording project for the United States Military Academy West Point Band.
RELEVANT LINKS
http://matthewmarsit.wix.com/dcwe
https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/nov14_dcwe
http://dartmouthrudemecha.wix.com/dartmouthrudemechs
http://www.myramusic.co.uk/
http://edwardgregson.com/en/home/
http://findingshakespeare.co.uk/writing-the-music-for-shakespeares-plays-an-interview-with-guywoolfenden
http://www.arielmusic.co.uk/composers.html
http://www.halleonard.com/biographyDisplay.do?id=272&subsiteid=1
http://findingshakespeare.co.uk/exhibitions/shakespeare-and-music
Download high-resolution photos:
https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScont
ent::loadArticle::article_id=A14ACB33-679C-469F-9E075A08469894E7&sessionlanguage=&SessionSecurity::linkName=
CALENDAR LISTING:
"Play On! Shakespeare And Music," a concert by the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble
The Hop’s resident wind ensemble teams up with the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals—the campus’
energetic and irreverent student-run Shakespeare group—for this evening of musical selections and the
Shakespeare texts that inspired them. Marking the 450th anniversary of the Bard’s birth, the program
includes three works commissioned by Great Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company, complemented by a
major work by American composer Luigi Zaninelli.
Saturday, November 1, 8 pm
Spaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH
$10, $5 Dartmouth students
Information: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422
* * *
Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing
arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and
the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each
year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students
and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with
outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop
enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the
development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.