Program note provided by Tyler Looney

Valence is a bright and powerful fanfare, in both sound and meaning that brings forth a mighty and energetic “charge” of sound. Clary is a relatively new but well accomplished composer. He serves as the Director of Bands at Kings Mountain Middle School in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Kings Mountain not only provides him with a fulfilling career, but also a home he shares with his lovely wife, Gabrielle and his daughter, Valerie. He is also known to be an exceptional trumpetier, having been a founding member of the Gold Street Brass and the “Black Coffee Quartet”.

Concerning this new work, the composer states the following:

Valence is a word with many meanings—scientific, psychological, and relational—but in all of these contexts, it speaks to the invisible forces that shape connection between things- elements, experiences and people. In chemistry, valence is an atom’s potential to bond, to complete itself through relationship. In psychology, it marks the emotional weight—positive or negative—that we place upon people, memories, and moments. Across these fields, valence reflects the energy that exists between things—the power to attract, repel and transform through relationships. This composition takes inspiration from those layered meanings. It explores tension and release, harmony and dissonance, stillness and motion—sonic metaphors for the ways we encounter each other. Beneath it all lies a meditation on the sacredness of relationship: the responsibility we carry in the ways we touch one another’s lives. Just as molecules shape matter and emotion shapes memory, we shape one another—sometimes gently, but always indelibly.

Program note provided by Mary Burchette

Eric Whitacre was born on January 2, 1970, in Reno, Nevada. As a teenager, he played piano and joined his high school’s marching band, dreaming more about rock stardom than classical music. Everything changed when he later joined the choir at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He began studying composition with Virko Baley and David Weiller, earned his bachelor’s degree in music in 1995, and later completed his master’s at Juilliard, where he worked with composers such as John Corigliano and David Diamond. While at Juilliard, Whitacre composed Ghost Train, his first wind ensemble piece, a work that quickly gained attention and helped launch his career. Since then, his choral pieces such as Sleep, Lux Aurumque, and Water Night are known for their shimmering harmonies and emotional depth. His music often feels cinematic, blending classical tradition with a modern, expressive voice that resonates with performers and audiences everywhere. Whitacre’s music is often described as deeply emotional and dreamlike, which leaves the listeners with a sense of connection.

October, was commissioned by a consortium of thirty Nebraska high school bands. The idea came from Brian Anderson, a band director from the region, who organized school music programs for the project. Whitacre accepted the challenge of composing for music accessible to younger musicians, aiming for something rich, rewarding, and meaningful. Inspired by the quiet beauty of fall, October reflects Whitacre’s love for the season. He described it as his “most lush and romantic” work, filled with gentle melodies and warm harmonies that echo the style of English composers such as Vaughan Williams and Elgar. Whitacre stated “The music doesn’t rush, but it breathes.” It captures the feeling of crisp air, fading light, and the peaceful stillness that comes with change. Premiered on May 14, 2000, October remains one of Whitacre’s most cherished works for wind ensemble: a soft-spoken, heartfelt kind of music which lingers long after the final note.

Program note provided by Ashley Baker and Miles Funderburk.

Spanish composer and musician, Ferrer Ferran, was born on April 4, 1966, in Valencia, Spain. He studied music at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Valencia en España (Conservatory of Music in Valencia in Spain). He earned a degree in chamber music and accompaniment, and a prize for composition and orchestra direction at the Royal Academy of Music in England. Throughout his career, he has performed all across Spain, as a soloist, and chamber musician and has held leadership positions in other community and professional organizations in the area. He remains an active composer, pianist, and conductor, and continued to pursue his love for teaching, holding a professorship at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Valencia en España. His music is published and performed across the world. 

Lepe presents as a typical Spanish March, in the style of a Paso Doble. A Paso Doble, which translates to two-step or double-step in Spanish, is both a type of dance and a genre of music. The dance form is associated with flamenco-style, usually referred to as dramatic in Latin ballroom dancing. As a musical style, Paso Doble is associated with the moderately-paced tempos with singable melodies as found in the popular Amparito Roca by Jaime Texidor or Espana Cani by Marquina Narro. For Lepe, Ferran’s main goal was to pay tribute to his hometown for shaping him into the musician and composer he is today. To convey this gratitude, he uses bright tone colors and energetic rhythms, creating a picture in which the music dances through the streets.

Program note provided by Bruce Maroney, Molly Meyerhofer, and Mikhiel Breeden.

William Grant Still, born May 11, 1895, in Woodville, Mississippi is an American Composer and the first African American to conduct a professional symphony orchestra in the United States. After his father's death, Still's mother, Carrie Still moved them to Little Rock, Arkansas. Still took lessons in violin and taught himself to play a plethora of other instruments including clarinet, saxophone, oboe, cello, double bass, and piano. He attended Wilberforce University, studying conducting, and received his masters in composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio.

From the Delta is one of only four compositions by William Grant Still originally written for band and is Still’s musical reflection of life in the Mississippi Delta region of the southern United States. Composed in 1945 by commission from the Goldman Band of New York City, the work was first performed on June 17, 1947 in Central Park. From the Delta consists of three movements: Work Song, Spiritual, and Dance, and is a mixture of inventive harmonies, traditional forms, and memorable melodies. 

The first movement “Work Song” opens with a woodwind fanfare which sets the scene, then handing the melody to the brass and percussion, whose strong, accented, and syncopated lines emulate the sounds of the workday. The second movement “Spiritual” reflects how invaluable faith was in the lives of African Americans living in the Delta region. Spirituals were songs that mixed both sadness and hope, giving people strength during difficult times. Still brings this out with smooth, tuneful melodies which stand out like a prayer, between the “work” of the first movement, to the lively dance which follows. The third movement “Dance” has feelings of industrialization and moving forward in the workforce.

Program note provided by the composer.

Within the wind band community, the name of Norwegian composer and pianist Ola Gjeilo might not be immediately familiar. He is, however, an emergent star in the realm of choral compositions, with several studio albums of his works including a critically acclaimed 2013 release by The Phoenix Chorale entitled Northern Lights. His wind band compositions have a choral connection as well. His piece, Meridian, has an optional featured part for mixed chorus, and The Spheres is an arrangement of the opening “Kyrie” movement of his Sunrise Mass.

Serenity also owes its origins to a choral work of the same name. Originally cast for mixed chorus and solo string instrument, the piece sets the text of the responsorial chant “O magnum mysterium” from the Christmas Matins liturgy. The text is one that celebrates new life with hopefulness. Many composers, from Renaissance masters William Byrd and Tomás Luis de Victoria to living composers like Morten Lauridsen, often drew inspiration from these words, filling their musical presentations with resplendent optimism.

O magnum mysterium
et admirabile sacramentum
ut animalia viderent
Dominum natum
iacentem in praesepio.
Beata virgo, cuius viscera
meruerunt portare
Doniinum Christum. Alleluia!

O great mystery
and wonderful sacrament
that animals should see
the newborn Lord
lying in a manger.
Blessed is the virgin, whose womb
was worthy to carry
Christ the Lord. Alleluia!

This version for wind band, arranged by Dr. Eric Wilson, Director of Bands at Baylor University, alongside Ola Gjeilo, maintains all the wonder of the original despite the absence of text. The opening is ethereal and somber, with sustained chords in clarinets, trombones, and bowed percussion supporting a delicate oboe solo (taking on the role of the obbligato string part from the original). The harmonic motion of this first section is thoroughly patient, with a careful placidity. The middle portion of the piece shifts the principal modality from minor to major, and, while the supporting harmonies move no more quickly than before, the layering orchestration and rising tessitura give birth to a tremendous rush of energy that reaches a moment of triumphant catharsis before receding. The closing section of the piece returns to the timbre of the opening, but now painted with hopefulness and healing, having been granted a sensation of peace.

“Gandalf the Wizard”

Program note provided by Yessy Paredes, Alan Rosales-Aveldanez, and Kenny Chavarria

Johannes Abraham “Johan” De Meij was born on the 23rd of November 1953 in Voorburg, Netherlands. He enrolled into the Royal Conservatory of Music at The Hague in the Netherlands, concentrating on the art of conducting and trombone. De Meij embarked on his musical journey with his trombone and euphonium. He played alongside well-known Dutch ensembles such as the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Radio Chamber Orchestra, the Amsterdam Wind Orchestra, the Dutch Brass Sextet, and the Orkest de Volharding (Perseverance Orchestra). De Meij has received thirty-one total awards and nominations over his vast musical collection. When he isn’t traveling, he spends his time between his three residencies in Hudson Valley, Manhattan, and Amsterdam. He lives alongside his wife, Dyan, and their two cats, Lenny and Lulu.

Johan de Meij’s Lord of the Rings Symphony No. 1 is derived from the trilogy of the same name, written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The symphony was composed between March 1984 and December 1987 and premiered in the capital of Belgium, Brussels, in March of 1988. A year later, Lord of the Rings Symphony No. 1 received its first prize in the Sudler International Wind Band Composition Competition in Chicago, followed by a grant from the Dutch Composers Fund in 1990. In 2001, an orchestral version of  Symphony No. 1 was premiered by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. The core premise of Lord of the Rings is a ring, created by primordial beings, that decides the fate of the world. The ring eventually falls into the wrong hands after being kept safe for years, and the only thing that can save the world from impending doom is to destroy the ring in the fire in which it was forged. The task to destroy the ring is delegated by Gandalf the Wizard to Frodo, a Hobbit, and a group known as the Fellowship. The first movement of Symphony No. 1, Gandalf (The Wizard), depicts Gandalf’s wise and noble personality, as well as his unpredictable nature.