2013 VISITING ARTISTS SERIES Radius Percussion

2013 VISITING ARTISTS SERIES
Radius Percussion
Wednesday 24 July—7pm—Merriwa School of Arts
Friday 26 July—7pm—Scone High School
Radius Percussion
Wednesday 24 July—7pm—Merriwa School of Arts
Friday 26 July—7pm—Scone High School
F Major Invention, No. 8, BWV 779 —JS Bach
Brazilian Fantasy—Ney Rosauro
DTKT—Kerryn Joyce
Nagoya Marimbas—Steve Reich
Marimba Music—Eckhard Kopetzki
— Interval —
Marimba Spiritual—Minoru Miki
Alborada del Gracioso—Maurice Ravel arr Safri Duo
Conversation for Two Tambourines—Bobby Lopez
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6—Franz Liszt arr Radius Percussion
As One – Gene Koshinski
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Adam Wills
Percussionist Adam Wills is also the Director of the Upper Hunter
Conservatorium of Music, a role which was appointed to him in 2006.
He’s since enthusiastically and generously given his time to building the
UHCM's presence in the Upper Hunter region. He is also one of the
UHCM's percussion teachers, and leads the Percussion Ensemble as
well as the Upper Hunter Orchestra (with Jennifer Kershaw) and the
Upper Hunter Show Band. He established Radius Percussion, a
percussion duo, with James Townsend in 2012.
Adam completed his Master of Creative Arts degree at The University
of Newcastle in 2005, having previously completed the Bachelor of
Music degree, graduating with 1st Class Honours.
Adam has worked with various companies in Sydney and Newcastle in
conducting roles, including assistant to German conductor Michael
Boder for the Opera Australia productions of Carmen and Ariadne auf
Naxos. For Opera Hunter, he conducted Oklahoma!, followed by The
Music Man, and was assistant conductor for The Marriage of Figaro
and Don Giovanni. For Newcastle Festival Opera, Adam was assistant
conductor for the productions of Cosi fan Tutte and The Merry Widow.
James Townsend
James began the study of drum kit whilst a student at Scone Public
School. Soon after this James discovered his passion for orchestral
percussion and began to focus on these instruments.
Whilst a student at SPS and St Joseph’s High School Aberdeen, James
was an active participant in school ensembles and ensembles of the
Upper Hunter Conservatorium of Music. James toured internationally
with the Upper Hunter Show Band and performed with the UHCM
Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble.
In 2008 James was awarded a UHCM Scholarship and continued the
study of the Marimba before completing the HSC in 2010, gaining first
place in the Dioceses for Music 1.
In 2011 James began study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
with renowned percussion teacher Daryl Pratt. He has since been
performing in the Sydney Conservatorium’s Wind Symphony
Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and Modern Music Ensemble. He has
also been performing with Sydney Youth Orchestra, the NSW
Ambulance Marching Band and the Sydney University Intercollege
Orchestra.
James has twice taken part in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Snare Drum Award, and in 2012 performed in the finals concert.
Whilst residing in Sydney, James continues to return to the Upper
Hunter to perform with UHCM ensembles and with Adam Wills in the
duo Radius Percussion.
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ABOUT THE MUSIC
The Inventions and Sinfonias BWV 772–801, also known as the Twoand Three-Part Inventions, are a collection of 30 short keyboard
compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): 15 inventions,
which are two-part contrapuntal pieces, and 15 sinfonias, which are
three-part contrapuntal pieces. They were originally written as musical
exercises for his students.
Bach referred to the collection as an “Honest method, by which the
amateurs of the keyboard – especially, however, those desirous of
learning – are shown a clear way not only (1) to learn to play cleanly in
two parts, but also, after further progress, (2) to handle three obligate
parts correctly and well; and along with this not only to obtain good
inventions (ideas) but to develop the same well; above all, however, to
achieve a cantabile style in playing and at the same time acquire a
strong foretaste of composition.”
JS Bach
Invention No 8 in F Major
BWV 779
Click here to see a performance
on Piano by Glenn Gould
Many of JS Bach’s works have been transcribed for marimba including
works originally written for violin, keyboard instruments and cello. It
is no coincidence that the low range of the marimba matches that of the
cello, allowing the marimbist to perform transcriptions of cello works
without having to transpose pitch.
To better understand the fantasy concept in this piece, two things must
be explained. Firstly, Brazil is a very musical country and it is
common for a visitor to find people playing music on the streets, and
anyone is welcome to join the music and enjoy the moment. Secondly,
I often found that in Brazilian music, some melodic aspects have
similarity with the music of JS Bach. With these two thoughts in mind
I imagined what would have resulted if Bach were to have travelled to
Brazil and made music with Brazilian composers, such as Villa Lobos,
Carlos Gomes or other folk composers. Brazilian Fantasy is my view
of such a possible meeting where these composers would be playing a
Brazilian baião with a Bach influence (Baião Bachiano).
The first theme used in the piece comes from Brazilian folklore and
was also used by Villa Lobos in his Bachianas Brasileiras No.4. The
second theme is from the overture to the most famous Brazilian opera,
The Guarani by Carlos Gomes. The main theme is from my own composition for solo vibraphone, Brazilian Landscape and variations are
developed until the piece reaches its climax. The second part begins
with a theme from JS Bach, and a recapitulation of the main themes is
presented prior to a slow coda.
This piece is also playable with String Orchestra and both versions are
dedicated to marimba virtuoso and a good friend of mine Katarzyna
Mycka.—Ney Rosauro
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Ney Rosauro
Brazilian Fantasy
Click here to watch a
performance.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
DTKT is an exploration of rhythmic cells for untuned percussion
instruments inspired by the vocal sounds of Indian rhythms. The
particular rhythmic cell featured here is the Dha Tit Kit Tak
(pronounced dha titta kitta takka). The opening explodes with vitality
and then it is pure groove to the end.
Kerryn Joyce
DTKT
Click here to see a performance.
Kerryn graduated with a Bachleor of Music from the University of
Queensland, a Postgraduate Diploma from the Queensland
Conservatorium Griffith University and continues to extend her studies
in Japan. Kerryn is currently TaikOz’s Education Co-ordinator,
establishing events and opportunities for school student to work with
TaikOz and is a sought after performer, taiko and percussion teacher.
Arguably one of the most famous pieces for percussion duo, Nagoya
Marimbas is frequently performed around the world. The composer
has written the following note to introduce Nagoya Marimbas (1994):
Steve Reich
Nagoya Marimbas
Nagoya Marimbas is somewhat similar to my pieces from the 1960s
and '70s in that there are repeating patterns played on both marimbas,
one or more beats out of phase, creating a series of two-part unison
canons. However, these patterns are more melodically developed and
change frequently, and each is usually repeated no more than three
times, similar to my more recent work. The piece is also considerably
more difficult to play than my earlier ones and requires two virtuosic
performers."
Click here to see a performance.
Eckhard Kopetzki was born in Hannover in 1956. He studied music at
the University in Osnabrück and at the Hochschule für Musik
Würzburg. Since 1985 he teaches music theory and percussion at the
Berufsfachschule für Musik in Sulzbach-Rosenberg in Bavaria. He has
published elementary pieces for a variety of percussion instruments, as
well as concert music for chamber groups and orchestra music.
Eckhard Koptezki
Marimba Music
Marimba Music is composed for marimba solo, with either a single or
two person accompaniment.
The work, as performed tonight, is composed in three sections, and
follows a fast-slow-fast structure.
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Click here to see a performance.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Marimba Spiritual by Japanese composer Minoru Miki is a prime
example of the wonderful music for marimba that composers there
have taken the lead in writing over the last 50 years. The
instrumentation of the percussion parts is broadly defined and left to
the players for final selection. Miki has also been in the forefront of
the revival of traditional Japanese instruments and music. The
composer says of Marimba Spiritual “This piece was composed from
1983 to the beginning of 1984, keeping in mind the acute period of
starvation and famine in Africa which was occurring at that time. The
piece is composed in an organic fashion, with the first half of the piece
as a static requiem and the last part a lively resurrection. The title is an
expression of the total process. The rhythm patterns for the second part
are taken from the festival drumming of the Chichibu area Northwest
of Tokyo.”
Minoru Miki
Marimba Spiritual
Click here to see part of a performance of the quartet version.
Tonight Radius Percussion will be performing the second half only.
The quirky and passionate Alborada del gracioso was originally the
third of five solo piano pieces entitled Miroirs (1904-5) which Ravel
orchestrated in 1912. With its Spanish rhythm and evocation of
castanets and guitars it is the most famous number of the suite.
Alborada means morning serenade while gracioso implies buffoonery;
the commonest English translation is Aubade of the Jester. The world
famous Safri Duo arranged the piece for two marimbas and recorded it
on their 1996 CD entitled Goldrush Since then it has been a firm
favourite with percussion duos around the world.
Conversation for Two Tambourines was written when I was a graduate
student. I was doing a substantial amount of tambourine playing and
orchestral study when I cam across an excerpt in Britten’s Young
Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. There is a tambourine excerpt that
has a quarter note preceded by three grace notes. This section required
the grace notes to be played very close to the release yet still maintain
the articulation of every note.
After spending what seemed like an eternity of time in the practice
room on this concept, I fell in love with the feeling and sound of that
particular triplet figure on the tambourine. It was that idea that became
the impetus for this piece.
This piece explores many (but not all) of the sounds and colours the
tambourine has to offer. - Bobby Lopez.
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Maurice Ravel
arr Safri Duo
Alborada del Gracioso
Click here to see a performance.
Bobby Lopez
Conversation for Two
Tambourines
Click here to see part of a performance of the quartet version.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 in D-flat major is the sixth work of the 19
Hungarian Rhapsodies composed by Franz Liszt. This work was
dedicated to Count Antoine of Appony and uses the form of Lassan and
Friska like many other rhapsodies. The piece has been arranged for
many different ensemble including orchestra and now, percussion duo.
The piece is divided into three main sections:
Franz Liszt
arr Radius Percussion
Hungarian Rhasody No. 6
Click here to see a performance
of the original piano version..
Introduction (Tempo Giusto—Presto)
Lassan (Andante)
Friska (Allegro
As One was written for Quey Percussion Duo (Gene Koshinski and
Tim Broscious) and was completed on Ausust 9, 2006. The piece was
written for the duo’s 2006-2007 concert season and was premiered on
September 27, 2006 and Bloomsberg University (Bloomsberg
Pennsylvania)
Multiple percussion duo scored for 5.0 octave marimba, two sets of
bongos, two congas, two toms, one concert bass drum, and two splash
cymbals. Both performers have identical set-ups and work "as one" by
complementing each other with complex hocketed music played on
marimba (shared: one player on each side) and multiple percussion.
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Gene Koshinski
As One
Click here to see a performance
by the composer.
This year the Upper Hunter Conservatorium of Music is again providing a
wide range of concerts and events as part of its 2013 Visiting Artists Series.
The Series is funded in part by Arts NSW, through the Regional
Conservatoriums Grants Program.
The 2013 Series continues the Conservatorium’s mission to bring high quality
concerts and experiences to residents of the Upper Hunter region.
The year began with the delicious voice of Janet Seidel, and will continue
with a final concert by the Sirius Chamber Ensemble on Saturday 27 July.
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www.uhcm.com.au
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