Nov. 24th 2013 - 3pm
The Englert Civic Theatre
Carey H. Bostian II, Conductor
Concert Program
Sonata 1 for Trumpet and Strings - Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Randy Grabowski, trumpetAllegro
Adagio
Allegro
Hussite Fantasy (2008) - Philip Wharton(b1969)
Max and the Amazing Tinkus(2012) - Jonathan Schwabe
Randy Grabowski, trumpetIdyll for String Orchestra - Leoš Janácek(1854-1928)
Andante
Allegro
Moderato
Allegro
Adagio
Scherzo
Moderato
Orchestra Members
Violin 1
Miera Kim
Candace Wiebener
Danielle Celiarrier
Africa Espina
Beth Hoffman
Karen Shaw
Susan ReuterViolin 2
Ronda Marshall
Astrid Bennett
Karen Novak
Osean Perez
Sarah Fersdahl
Nick Shimmin
Sue Braverman
Roger Mills
Lisa Horst Shrock
Amanda Nichols
Maria Valentine
Hannah ValentineViola
Barry Stoll
Julie Iverson
Janet Ault
Chrystal Faltis
Heidi Madsen
Ute Brandenburg
Michael KimberCello
Diane Platte
Pat Addis
Erika Holm-Brown
Michelle Bartos
Rachel Reimer
Gloria Lowther
Julie Anolik Cassell
Helen Kent
James EllisBass
Gary Dixon
Heidi Ranschau
Laird Addis
Jeannette Welch
Biographies
Randy Grabowski is Professor of Trumpet at the University of Northern Iowa School of Music. He teaches applied trumpet, instructs related classes, directs the UNI Trumpet Ensemble, and collaborates with colleagues in various faculty ensembles.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Dr. Grabowski continues to be active as a commercial musician, performing with such recording artists as Ray Charles, the Manhattan Transfer, Aretha Franklin, Moody Blues, Mannheim Steamroller, and the Jimmy Dorsey, Nelson Riddle, Harry James, and Benny Goodman orchestras. Prior to settling in Iowa, Dr. Grabowski also performed with numerous television and recording artists such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dionne Warwick, Shirley MacLaine, and Sammy Davis Jr. In addition, he was Principal Trumpet of the Reno Philharmonic, MGM-Grand and Reno Hilton orchestras, was a member of the Great Basin Brass Quintet, and performed with a potpourri of musical organizations.
Currently Principal Trumpet of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Grabowski has been an active soloist and clinician as well as a dedicated educator and accomplished performer. He has been principal trumpet with the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Chestnut Brass Company and the Britt, Spoleto, Bear Lake, Great Music West, and Five Seasons Music Festivals. In addition, he has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony and Indiana University Faculty Brass Quintet and has presented Masterclasses in the United States and Hungary.
Dr. Grabowski has been affiliated with the International Trumpet Guild as an associate editor of theITG Journal (Music Reviews) and author of the Ask the Teacher column on their youth web page. He was selected for inclusion in the Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2000 and 2002. He has also been involved in recording several commercials and compact discs. He received his M.M. degree from the University of Nevada-Reno, and his B.M.E. and D.M. degrees from Indiana University.
Jonathan Clarke Schwabe (DMA University of South Carolina) is Professor of Theory and Composition at the University of Northern Iowa. His works have been performed in the US and in Europe by such organizations as the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Valley SO, the Sheboygan WISO, the Indiana Ballet Theatre, and the University of Northern Iowa SO.
In 2010 he composed Follow, a work for wind symphony and mixed voices to commemorate a historic visit by His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama to the University of Northern Iowa. In July of 2012 his work A Toi Cometé Vagabonde was premiered at the World Saxophone Congress in Aberdeen Scotland.
His teachers include Samuel Adler, John Anthony Lennon and Dick Goodwin. He has participated in master classes with David Diamond, David Amram, Libby Larsen, and Karel Husa among others. His music is published by Musikverlag Bruno Uetz, Veritas Musica Publishing and Alafia Press.
Email: jonathan.schwabe@uni.edu
Website: http://www.uni.edu/schwabe
Program Notes
Max and the Amazing Tinkus, is a short character work for trumpet and string orchestra, which I began writing last year with Dr. Grabowski in mind. The work is only loosely programmatic; Max refers to Max Reger, the late romantic German composer, whose influence can be felt in the compositional language of the work. Tinkus is a “latinization” of Tinky, who is my smush-faced marmalade cat who finds in necessary to interrupt me, especially when I am composing. During the early stages of composition, Tinky was not in the best of health and I worried at one point that this work might serve as a memorial to her. But I am happy to report that she is back to robust health now and interrupting me as often as possible.
Hussite Fantasy (ca. 11 minutes) A Czech-Presbyterian Church in Iowa commissioned me to write a short string quartet as part of their 150th anniversary celebration. (I ended up writing two quartets, since this one became too adventurous for a Sunday morning church service—both tonally and technically.) At their suggestion, I took the Hussite Hymn as inspiration for melodic ideas. Legend tells us that during the Hussite Wars (1419-ca. 1434), the followers of Czech protestant Jan Hus would sing this hymn with such intensity that it instilled overwhelming fear in the enemy army and they would turn and flee. Adopted as an unofficial national anthem, Czech composers then used in it their compositions—Antonín Dvorák in his Hussite Overture and Bedrich Smetana in his Má vlast.
The piece (now orchestrated for full string orchestra) opens with fragments of the hymn emerging from a shifting texture until the melody fully emerges in a waltz-like form. After the waltz, the opening texture returns, settles over a pedal point that builds until bursting forth into a wild furiant inspired section. The final section is a quasi-medieval contrapuntal treatment of the hymn tune in its original form with a short codetta at the end that drifts into the mist.
I have an affinity for things Czechoslovakian because I grew up in a town nine miles from Spillville IA, where Antonín Dvorák and his family spent the summer of 1893.