Salem Symphonic Winds presents An Impulse to Soar

700 HOWARD STREET SE,Salem OR 97302

11 June, 2023

Description

Salem Symphonic Winds will conclude its 48th season with An Impulse to Soar on Sunday, June 11, at 3 pm in Rose Auditorium at South Salem High School. John Skelton will conduct the program featuring three selections, including the title work by Salem composer David A. Jones and symphonies by Aaron Copland and Julie Giroux. The concert will feature the Oregon premiere of the band version of An Impulse to Soar, originally written for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Jones was commissioned by a consortium of seven ensembles, including Salem Symphonic Winds, to transcribe the work for concert band. The expanded work takes full advantage of all the sounds and soloists within the band. “I began writing this work in April 2020, when the world was shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, performances everywhere were being canceled, and life was filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and fear. I felt inspired to write something filled with optimism and hope for the future,” said Jones. “The title of the piece is based on a quotation by Helen Keller: 'One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.' When deciding on the title, I felt that the Helen Keller quotation perfectly embodied this spirit of joy and optimism in the face of hardship, courage in the face of oppression, and hope in the face of fear.” Aaron Copland has long been celebrated as the “Dean of American Composers.” His Fanfare for the Common Man was written in 1942, as America was entering World War II, inspired partly by a speech by Vice President Henry Wallace, proclaiming the dawning of the “Century of the Common Man.” It has since become one of his best-known and popular works. The fanfare appears in many guises in Copland’s Symphony No. 3. There are hints of it with fragments presented in the first three movements. In movement four, it receives a quiet, reflective introduction from woodwind soloists, before a full presentation in all its glory from the brass and percussion, with a wonderful exploration of all of its possibilities from the full ensemble to complete the work. Salem Symphonic Winds brings the symphony to Salem courtesy of the transcription for band by James Hile, Director of Band at Elmhurst University. In Symphony No. 1 – Culloden, Julie Giroux celebrates everything Scottish – at least everything that happened in Scotland between 1745 and 1746. On 16 April 1746, around 1,300 men were slain in the Battle of Culloden. Giroux reflects on the history and culture by arranging more than twenty-four tunes from the time. You won’t encounter any bagpipes or fiddles in the hall, but a wealth of soloists in the band will step up to bring you this rich musical panorama. The symphony and our season will conclude with ample time left in the evening to find and retire to your favorite dining spot for haggis and an appropriate beverage. While the wearing of kilts and sporrans to the concert is not required, it will be warmly tolerated by the band. David A. Jones (b. 1990) is a composer and horn player based in Salem, Oregon. Through his music, Jones strives to vitalize and elaborate on ideas, gestures, stories and details, both musical and extra-musical. Many of his works engage with art and literature across disciplines. "Culloden (pronounced cuh-LAH-d’n) is an attempt to present the folk & Gaelic "commoners’" music from the 1745-6 period of Scotland in my own way, without losing its original charm and flavor. To be exact, the goal was to compose one large, flowing, multi-movement work, a symphony for band, using as many as I could of those 8 and 16-bar tunes/songs. The melodies were originally for bagpipe, fiddle, or voice and had either no accompaniment or only a drone. The hundreds of hours of research alone would have prompted me to compile them into a work of some kind, but after immersing myself in the history, the music, and overall "flavor" of the period, I became extremely fond of these tunes and my desire to see them breathe the air of the 21st century became overwhelming." Julie Giroux, composer Aaron Copland by candlelight at a studio in the Berkshires, September 1946. Copland's Symphony No. 3 was written between 1944 and 1946, and its first performance took place on October 18, 1946, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing under Serge Koussevitzky. Yo Soy María from a January 29, 2023 performance of the Tango Suite from María de Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla and arranged by Gregor Kovacic. The performance was by Salem Symphonic Winds, conducted by John Skelton, with vocalist, Hannah Penn, accordion soloist, Tommy Thompson, and Rainbow Dance Theatre. The Rose Auditorium entrance is at 700 Howard Street NE in Salem. An accessible ramp is located to the left of the stairs to the main entrance. Elevator service is available for access to the lower auditorium level.