The Arizona Wind Symphony's final concert of the season is titled Festivities. It features the ensemble's principal flute Robert Heiligenberg in the Chaminade Concertino. The program contains a wide range of other music in celebration of the group's 25th anniversary. KBACH's Michael Keelan talked with conductor Jon Gomez about the May 7 program at Tempe Center for the Arts.
For more details, visit: arizonawindsymphony.com/concerts
Michael Keelan: This is KBACH’s Heart of the Arts and I’m Michael Keelan. I’m talking with John Gomez, who conducts the Arizona Wind Symphony. Their final program of this 25th anniversary season takes place May 7th at Tempe Center for the Arts. Thanks for joining us today.
John Gomez: Thank you Michael, glad to be here.
Michael: What makes this 25th anniversary season special in terms of programming?
John: First of all, we’ve had some incredible audiences thus far and near capacity if not sold-out houses. And they’ve had the pleasure and enjoy of having an all-star cast of guest artist performers that have joined us. Some of these, most of these artists like Joshua and Stephanie Gardner and Joe Burgstaller, Patrick Sheridan, guest soloists that have been with us in previous years, and some of the repertoire also our favorites of from past seasons. And so we wanted to try to just close out the season with a closing ceremony, if you will, using the Olympic kind of connotation.
Michael: This is quite a varied program and it includes a soloist who was the winner of a competition. How does that come about?
John: Well, the we started this, we wanted to be able to showcase an outstanding musician. So many, we have about between 85 and 90 members on any given cycle of performances. And we thought that in addition to featuring four internationally acclaimed artists, that we wanted to also feature one of our very own members. And so there was a call for soloists last spring and our principal flutist, Robert Hilgenberg, was the chosen artist. And we’re about to select the next one for next year. We enjoyed it so much that we thought we should continue to do that.
Michael: This piece is the Chaminade Concertino that he's playing. That's a piece that is often heard with piano, but what are some of the colors that you get from the sound of the band accompaniment?
John: Michael, that’s a great question. It was originally for flute and piano as part of the Paris Conservatory’s kind of evaluations, end-of-term evaluations. And the difference between flute and piano as opposed to string orchestra, or in this case the transcription for wind band, is that instead of two individuals, it’s now close to 90 individuals trying to recreate a very light classical French feel. And so we are in the process of really trying to discover the nuance of the piece and be able to do it with as many people as we do. And I find it very challenging but very exciting when we find those moments.
Michael: What’s the most recent piece on the program? Would that be the Solas Ane?
John: Yes, the Solas Ane is definitely one of the newer pieces by a very current composer, Samuel R. Hazo, and it’s a beautiful, beautiful work.
Michael: What is the nature of that piece? I saw that it had some Celtic connotations.
John: Well, it sure does. 20 years ago, a colleague and friend of mine, Margene Pappas, reached out to Samuel Hazo and asked if a commission could be created as she was retiring from Oswego High School in Illinois. And that was a just a famed program, still is. And she wanted to be able to end and have something that in honor of all of the years that she taught at Oswego. And so Samuel wrote something that translated from Gaelic as “Yesterday’s Joy.” It’s interesting to note, Michael, that on the night that this was premiered, just an hour after the concert, her father happened to have passed away. And so it has connotations and feelings that go professional and personal for her. And we hope to actually have her in attendance for the concert. She now lives in Tucson, Arizona, so it’s not too far from Tempe. We hope to see her there.
Michael: Oh, that’s remarkable. You’ve got the 1812 Overture on the program. Is it the whole overture, and what are you going to do about the cannons?
John: Well, we have to keep some secrets, Michael, but it will be exciting. And yes, I should probably add that in the program notes that folks need not be concerned or frightened. But the nature of this piece, it actually is Laurendeau and editor Loras Schissel actually kept the original. And so it’s transcribed, and so it has all of the same violin parts and everything. So it’s the full 18, 19 minutes or so of the work. And so we’re very excited. One of the things that we tried to do for the 25th anniversary is to be able to play hallmark works like Rhapsody in Blue or some of these concertinos in as close to original form as possible so that we could also challenge the members of the ensemble and be able to just raise the bar from a technical and artistic perspective. And so we’re very excited about being able to close with the 1812 Overture.
Michael: I believe this is your third year conducting the group in this banner 25th anniversary season. Where do you see the group going forward?
John: Well, we want to make sure that we continue to be able to celebrate with our community throughout the Valley of the Sun. A terrific balance of great repertoire from the past, both wind band and as well as orchestral transcriptions, to be able to celebrate that. Different cultures and music from different countries, as well as music that is just brand-new music. We actually debuted a—we commissioned a work as part of a consortium by Michael Markowski for the last concert. And so we also hope to be able to just offer something that everyone can enjoy at every one of our concerts. Regardless of theme, we hope that they are able to feel confident knowing that they’re going to have a great musical experience regardless of what is programmed.
Michael: The concert is titled Festivities. It’s May 7th at Tempe Center for the Arts with the Arizona Wind Symphony conducted by John Gomez. Thanks very much for talking with us today on Heart of the Arts.
John: Michael, thank you so much.