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| Dr Chi-Sun Chan, Tuba Soloist |
Dr Chan has chosen Capriccio for Tuba and Band by contemporary British composer Rodney Newton, who has scored music for British films and TV and was Music Consultant to the London Film School for 21 years. In the Capriccio, Newton intertwines extremely fast percussive sections with flowing melodies. Originally written for British tubist James Gourlay in 2002, the piece has become a worldwide favorite for soloists and bands. With several short cadenzas neatly woven into the structure it is effectively a one movement concerto that is sure to please the audience.
A native of Hong Kong, Chi-Sun Chan resides in Cambridge and received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in brass performance from Boston University. As a professional tubist, he has played concert tours throughout the US, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In 2003, Dr. Chan arranged and performed in a recital, “Guzheng Suite” (for tuba and Guzheng, a Chinese plucked zither) at the Northeastern Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference at the University of Massachusetts. He has given Chinese music lectures at Harvard University, Boston University, Berklee College of Music, Lasell College, Wellesley College, and the University of Kentucky.
The balance of the Fall Concert program features music requested by Concord Band members and written by American and international composers, comprising a wide variety of symphonic band musical styles and genres. Twentieth-century British band composer Gordon Jacob, the late American composer Clifton Williams, contemporary American composers Robert Jager, Eric Whitacre, Roger Cichy, and contemporary Dutch composer Johan de Meij are represented.
New England composer and University of Rhode Island Professor, Roger Cichy, has become a favorite of the Concord Band. His Flowing Pens From Concord was commissioned by the Band for its 50th anniversary in 2009. His newly-published composition, Quartets, is described by Cichy as “a unique work exposing a multitude of quartets that exist within the full ensemble.” Encompassing twenty “quartet” moments, the work exploits the instrumental timbres of traditional quartets, which weave a musical tapestry. According to Concord Band Music Director James O’Dell, the work “really begins to cook and features jazzy rhythmic grooves contrasted with beautiful soaring lyricism and sonorities.”
American choral composer and Grammy-nominated “virtual choir” innovator Eric Whitacre composed the lush and pastoral October in 2000 for Brian Anderson and the Nebraska Wind Consortium, comprising more than twenty-five high schools, colleges and universities throughout the Mid-West. Whitacre said his favorite month is October and attempted to capture the essence and mood of a crisp October day, with its beautifully natural harmonic language and flavor of the changing season. Whitacre said that “I feel there just isn’t enough lush, beautiful music written for winds.” No wonder that October has become a favorite of bands everywhere.
