Saturday, December 2nd. 2023 | 2:00 pm | Wentz Concert Hall | Naperville, Illinois
With Special Guest, the Naperville Chorus
Dr. Reid Taylor, conductor
From the Music Director
Welcome to the third season of The Naperville Winds, an organization comprising musicians from across Chicagoland (and beyond) who share one common mission–to perform the finest wind band literature available at the highest level possible. This ensemble coalesced quickly; the energy and excitement at the first rehearsal on August 26, 2021 was palpable, and, immediately after rehearsal, it was clear that we were at the beginning of a truly special journey.
The road to today’s performance hasn’t been easy. In order for a major ensemble to establish itself in the time of COVID, it must overcome myriad challenges. We faced these head-on, knowing full-well the daunting challenges we’d face, and we overcame them all, together. The collective “brain trust” of the ensemble–through each member’s experience, outside-the-box thinking, and quick problem solving skills–has allowed us to deftly navigate around the detours and roadblocks and continue on our path, unwaveringly, toward our shared goal. Our third season is, therefore, not just a celebration of music, but a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
It has been an absolute joy to make music with the members of The Naperville Winds over the past two years. I am humbled by the collegiality, selflessness, energy, and of course, talent, that each member brings to the table. I strongly believe that The Naperville Winds will soon be a household name for lovers of wind band repertoire throughout the nation and the world. I sincerely hope you will support us throughout this incredible journey!
Sincerely,
Sean Kelley, D.M.A.
Music Director, The Naperville Winds
Repertoire
The Stars and Stripes Forever
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)
The Stars and Stripes Forever is widely considered Sousa’s most famous march, and ten-year international march popularity survey confirms this statement. The universal appeal of Sousa’s march is illustrated by an article in The New York Times by Harold Schonberg which tells of a tour to China by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1973. After sitting politely but stonily through a program which ranged from Beethoven to Copland, the orchestra struck up The Stars and Stripes. “All of a sudden electricity permeated the hall. Faces broke into smiles; feet began tapping; there was a general air of understanding and happiness. Maybe,… (it) really is the greatest piece of music ever written by an American. In any case, it has made more friends for America than any other piece of music…” Sousa stated that this march was divinely inspired and was born of homesickness. In his autobiography, Marching Along, he provides the details of its creation after he had received a cablegram in Italy that his manager, David Blakely, had died:
“Aboard the Teutonic, as it steamed out of the harbor on my return from Europe in 1896, came one of the most vivid incidents of my career. As I paced the deck, absorbed in thought, suddenly I began to sense the rhythmic beat of a band playing within my brain. It kept on ceaselessly, playing, playing, playing. Throughout the whole tense voyage, that imaginary band continued to unfold the same themes, echoing and reechoing the most distinct melody. I did not transfer a note of that music to paper while I was on the steamer, but when we reached the shore, I set down the measures that my brain-band had been playing for me, and not a note of it has ever changed. The composition is known the world over as The Stars and Stripes Forever and is probably my most popular march.”
Sousa explained to the press that the three themes of the final trio were meant to typify the three sections of the United States. The broad melody, or main theme, represents the North. The South is represented by the famous piccolo obbligato, and the West by the bold countermelody of the trombones.
– Program note from “John Philip Sousa: A Descriptive Catalog of His Works” by Paul E. Bierley
Heroes, Lost and Fallen
(A Vietnam Memorial)
David Gillingham (b. 1947)
Heroes, Lost and Fallen (A Vietnam Memorial) is a tone poem for symphonic band based on the following poem by the composer:
Banish our thoughts
From this grueling war.
Let Suffering and Death
Rule no more.
Resolve this conflict
In hearts so sullen
And bring eternal peace
To the heroes, lost and fallen.
The work opens with an air of mysteriousness on a sustained sonority by bowed vibraphone with marimba tremolo. There are interspersed motives suggesting trumpet calls and quotes from the Star-Spangled Banner and the Vietnamese National Anthem. This beginning section reflects the uncertainty and instability before war. Following is a warm and consonant chorale in the low brass alluding to the world ideal of peace and serenity. This section segues into a sort of slow “march to war”. Just as the realization of the inevitability of war increases, so does this section increase in dynamic and dissonant intensity. Climaxing the section are quotes from the Star-Spangled Banner and Taps.
The ensuing section expresses the war itself with driving rhythms, dense textures, chaotic accompanimental motives and sinister themes. Growing in intensity, the section culminates with haunting “trumpet calls” alternated between trumpets and horns followed by four hammered articulations of a tone cluster. A thunderous roll of drums then elides into the next section where the consonant chorale of “peace” reasserts itself, this time amidst the continuing conflict of war, suggesting that somehow “Good” will triumph over “Evil”. Both the chorale and the conflicting forces fade away, and a short dirge-like section follows based on the opening motive of the chorale, signifying destruction, death and aftermath. But the ever-present force of “Good” emerges and a serene yet powerful theme is stated, beginning in the horns. The theme grows to a glorious climax, diminishes and settles into C Major, the “key of the earth”. A unison “C”, with underlying tumultuous articulations by the drums, culminates the work–the drums reminding us that the threat of war will always be present.
–Program note by the composer
Armed Forces – The Pride of America!
Larry Clark (b. 1963) & Greg Gilpin (b. 1964)
Featuring:
SMSgt Jack Kinsella, narrator
NCC/Wheaton College Army ROTC “Rolling Thunder” Battalion Color Guard
Naperville Area Boy and Girl Scouts
This patriotic armed forces tribute presents the official songs of five of the six branches of the Armed Forces. Audience members who served in the armed forces are encouraged to stand as they are able for the song of their branch. In the second half, the Pledge of Allegiance and The Star-Spangled Banner are presented and audience members are encouraged to stand as they are able.
– Program note by Sean Kelley
America, the Beautiful
Samuel Augustus Ward (1847-1903)
Carmen Dragon (1914-1984)
Samuel Augustus Ward was an American organist and composer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of a shoemaker, he studied under several teachers in New York and became an organist at Grace Episcopal Church in his home town in 1880. He is remembered for the 1882 tune “Materna,” which he intended as a setting for the hymn “O Mother Dear, Jerusalem.” This was published ten years later in 1892. In 1903, after Ward had died, the tune was first combined by a publisher with the Katharine Lee Bates poem “America,” itself first published in 1895, to create the patriotic song “America, the Beautiful.” The first book with the combination was published in 1910.
The rich musical legacy that Carmen Dragon left the world usually includes his solid reputation as a consummate orchestrator. He is best remembered for the iconic arrangement of America, the Beautiful for both symphony orchestra and symphonic band. Samuel Ward’s familiar tune enjoys a sumptuous feast of harmonic color and instrumental nuance.
– Program note by Lynn Sherr and the publisher
Intermission (12 minutes)
Fanfare for the Festival of Lights
Evan VanDoren (b. 1987)
Fanfare for the Festival of Lights weaves two traditional Hanukkah melodies, Ma’oz Tzur and The Dreidel Song, into a colorful, rousing celebration.
VanDoren states, “As a young Jewish musician growing up in the United States, I performed an untold number of Christmas selections around the holiday season. Truthfully, I enjoyed them all! The concert band repertoire includes a wealth of masterfully crafted selections composed and arranged from melodies and concepts tied to the Christmas holiday. There are, however, fewer opportunities for young Jewish musicians to perform music derived from their own cultural and religious heritage. My hope is that through creating this brief work, Jewish musicians will have the opportunity to perform music from their background, while all musicians join together in a musical celebration of the joy and awe of the holiday season.”
– Program note by the composer
White Christmas
Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
Irving Berlin’s family was one of the thousands that fled Russia’s pogroms, arriving to New York’s lower East side tenements in the 1890s. In 1896, he had to start earning an income on the death of his father, and sold newspapers, then sang in bars. He left home for the Union Square and Bowery portion of Manhattan, teaching himself piano after-hours. His first published song, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, met with great success, as did Blue Skies, Puttin’ on the Ritz, and many of the approximately 1,500 songs he wrote over his sixty years as an active songwriter.
White Christmas became one of the most popular songs (recorded and performed) in history, part of the 1942 black-and-white movie “Holiday Inn,” remade in 1954 as “White Christmas,” and set in California. This version includes the original opening: “The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway; There’s never been such a day in Beverly Hills, L.A. But it’s December the twenty-fourth, and I am longing to be up north…” One story about the song’s first recording (and its most familiar), is that Bing Crosby recorded it in two takes, then went off to play golf.
– Program note by the Landsdowne Symphony Orchestra
Small Child Who Drums
Katherine Kennicott Davis (1892-1980)
arr. Aaron Newman (b. 1967)
World Premiere of “The Naperville Sauce” Jazz Ensemble
The Little Drummer Boy (originally known as Carol of the Drum) is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. It was recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers and realized on the choir’s first LP Christmas with the Trapp Family Singers and released as a single. This version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since.
In the lyrics the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the nativity where, without a gift for the infant Jesus, he played his drum with the Virgin Mary’s approval, remembering “I played my best for Him” and “He smiled at me.”
Aaron Newman, a trumpet player and section manager with The Naperville Winds, founded TNW’s first chamber group, The Naperville Sauce Jazz Ensemble, which debuts with this work. In it, he transformed this famous song into a cheerful, polyphonic chart filled with jazz riffs, lush harmonies, and a steady rhythmic foundation provided by our own drummer boy, Elias Martinez, TNW percussionist and section manager!
– Program note from Wikipedia and by Sean Kelley
A Christmas Festival
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
A Christmas Festival, composed in 1950, is a concert overture based on traditional Christmas songs. Originally recorded by the Boston Pops, legendary songsmith and arranger Leroy Anderson’s setting traverses the joy, celebration, and solemnity of Christmas in his arrangements of Joy To The World, Deck the Halls, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Good King Wenceslas, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, The First Noel, Silent Night, Jingle Bells, and O Come, All Ye Faithful.
– Program note from Walnut Creek Concert Band concert
Sleigh Ride Sing-Along
Leroy Anderson (1908-1975)
Sleigh Ride is a light orchestra standard whose music was composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had formed the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and he finished the work in February 1948. The original recordings were instrumental versions. The lyrics, about riding in a sleigh and other fun wintertime activities, were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. The orchestral version was first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. A selection of the artists who have recorded it include Herb Alpert, The Andrews Sisters, The Carpenters, Bing Crosby, The Boston Pops Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Debbie Gibson, The Muppets, and Andy Williams.
– Program note by Andy Pease
Personnel
Click to view members of The Naperville Winds
Click to view members of The Naperville Chorus
Thanks To Our Sponsors
Corporate Sponsor
Corporate Partner
Full Circle Creative & Media Services
Gold Sponsor
$500 to $1000
Michael & Caroline Kelley
Sean Kelley
Silver Sponsor
$250 to $499
Bruce Spitzer
Bronze Sponsor
$100 to $249
Friends of The Naperville Winds
$1 to $99
Special Thanks To:
North Central College Camps & Conferences Office:
Christopher Drennan
Brianna Avalos
Laura Cooper
Jennifer Holloway
Jennifer Berozek
Andrew Butler
Collin Trevor
Pete Ellman, Ellman’s Music Center
Susan Chou, Chairperson, NCC Department of Music
Lawrence Van Oyen, NCC Director of Bands
Joe LaPalomento, NCC Instructor of Percussion
Kim Richter, NCC Instructor of Bassoon & Music Director, Naperville Youth Symphony Orchestra
Stephen M. Caliendo, NCC Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
Cain Anderson, Stage Manager
Parker Belonio, Front-Of-House Operations
Shannon Blonski, Front-Of-House Operations
Laura Krambeer, Front-Of-House Operations
Faith Rios, Front-Of House Operations
Liliana Saucedo, Front-Of-House Operations
Daniela Velazquez, Front-Of-House Operations
Jennifer Wojcik (flute), Editor
Ethan Dunk (trumpet), Music Manager
Melissa Hickok (clarinet), Public Relations Chair
Barb Holland (flute), Secretary
Nate Dickman (Trumpet), Treasurer
Crystal Szewczyk (Flute), Fundraising Chair
Claudia Andrews (Horn), Melissa Hickok (Clarinet), Ken Kelly (Clarinet), Band Representatives
