proudly presents the
2020-2021 Student Artist Series
Gavin Thatcher, percussion
with
Jesse Milhoan, percussion
Oscar Casas, percussion
Richard Rios, percussion
Fabian Lopez, percussion
Kai Natseway, percussion
Abraham Arteaga, percussion
Steven Quintana, percussion
Noah Chesterman, percussion
Sunday, February 28, 2021
1:30 p.m., Livestreamed from Kitt Recital Hall This Junior Recital is given
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Music Education degree.
Blues for Gilbert Mark Glentworth (b. 1960) Gavin Thatcher, vibraphone
Meditation no. 2 Casey Cangelosi
(b. 1982) Gavin Thatcher, snare drum
Fractalia Owen Clayton Condon
(b. 1979) Gavin Thatcher, marimba
Jesse Milhoan, marimba Richard Rios, marimba Oscar Casa, marimba
Xylophonia Joe Green
(1892-1939)
Gavin Thatcher, xylophone Fabian Lopez, marimba Kai Natseway, marimba Abraham Arteaga, marimba
Steven Quintana, marimba Noah Chesterman, drum set
~ Intermission ~
Please turn off or silence all electronic devices. Unauthorized audio and video recordings are prohibited.
Rebonds B Iannis Xenaxis
(1922-2001)
Gavin Thatcher, multiple percussion
Suomineito Nebojša J. Živković
(b. 1962) Gavin Thatcher, vibraphone
Chandigarh Emmanuel Séjourné
(b. 1961) Gavin Thatcher, marimba
Program Notes
by Gavin Thatcher (2020) MARK GLENTWORTH (b. 1960)
Blues for Gilbert
Blues for Gilbert is a work for solo vibraphone that originated from transcribed improvisation sessions, resulting in a blues-inspired piece with heavy emphasis on a sense of loss. Posthumously dedicated to his former teacher, Gilbert Webster, Glentworth attempts to express his own mood upon learning of his teacher’s death. The work is structured in a slow-fast-slow form where the somber opening captures Glentworth’s reaction to his teachers passing, leading to an energetic middle section — a recollection of past memories, and finally closing with a resolve to the somber reality of his current mourning.
Mark Glentworth is a UK studio musician well known for his large quantity of stage, film, television, and TV commercial music, as well as his concert-style compositions. He is a graduate in percussion from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and he also studied in the Master Class for Percussion at Würzburg Academy of Music under Siegfried Fink, a prominent German percussionist. Glentworth is currently a freelance studio musician and composer based in London.
CASEY CANGELOSI (b. 1982) Meditation no. 2
Meditation no. 2 for solo snare drum incorporates the use of sticks, brush textures, and even the fingers of the performer. This fast-paced work features a variety of effects, such as rim shots, rim knocks, finger flicks, and brush sweeps. Organized into two sections, the first explores the various timbre possibilities of the snare drum by utilizing one stick and one brush, along with extended techniques to create a melodic yet rhythmically jolting opening. The closing section, summarized by the tempo indication “faster,” features a flurry of notes with diverse timbres and dynamics that compel the performer to cultivate top speeds and extended endurance.
Self-titled “Paganini of Percussion” and “voice of the new generation,” Casey Cangelosi is a prominent percussion composer, performer, and educator who has received numerous commissions and guest artist invitations across the globe. Currently an Assistant Professor of Percussion at James Madison University, Cangelosi coordinates a robust program while regularly being called upon for commissions, seminars, and other performance opportunities. Cangelosi frequently pushes the boundaries of percussion performance practices by implementing odd instrumentation, notation, and techniques. In addition, he blurs the lines between electronic and acoustic sound by his unique use of live electronics and playback recordings in many of his compositions.
OWEN CLAYTON CONDON (b. 1979) Fractalia
Owen Clayton Condon originally wrote Fractalia in 2011 for Third Coast Percussion, a professional percussion quartet of which he is a former member. The title is inspired by the “fractals” of the melodies that each member in the ensemble play, which come together to make one coherent soundscape. Fractalia shows influences from minimalism, electronica, and Japanese taiko drumming. According to Condon, “the kaleidoscopic fractured melodies within this work are created by passing repeated figures through four players in different registers of the marimba.”
Condon received a doctoral degree in music from Northwestern University and was previously director of percussion studies at Northeastern Illinois University. Condon has performed with the Chicago Civic Orchestra and as a guest artist with contemporary music ensemble Eighth Blackbird, as well as his former quartet Third Coast Percussion (2004 to 2014). He currently works as a sound artist and freelance composer.
JOE GREEN (1892–1939) Xylophonia
In the late-1970s, the resurrection of novelty ragtime music was initiated by members of the NEXUS Percussion Ensemble. Member Bob Becker, a xylophone virtuoso, was instrumental in recovering and researching these original recordings (many of which were wax cylinder recordings) and arranging them for xylophone and four-voice marimba band. Xylophonia, composed by Joe Green and later arranged by Bob Becker, has become a staple ragtime work for its earworm melodies and fast-paced ending.
During the golden age of the xylophone (1890-1925), Joe, George, and younger brother Yew formed the Green Brothers Novelty Band. The older brothers began recording for Walt Disney cartoons in 1917. Many of Joe and George’s most famous compositions (e.g. Charleston Capers, Cross Corners, and Log Cabin Blues) were recorded between 1920-1927. The bright comical sound of the xylophone worked harmoniously with the lively syncopated dance styles of the 1920s and 1930s and soon became the most popular and widely recorded instrument of the time.
IANNIS XENAKIS (1922-2001) Rebonds B
Rebonds B opens with a driving sixteenth-note rhythmic line in the right hand that is countered against a spaced melodic pattern in the left hand. Both parts suggest a predictable pattern but ultimately avoid repetition though the use of indeterminacy, a common compositional approach from composers such as John Cage, Charles Ives, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Steven Schick writes in his book The Percussionist’s Art, “the increasingly frequent and potent monophonic interpolations mount an attack
sufficient to atomize the original material,” ultimately transforming it into something entirely different. Recurring interruptions provide for breaks in the initial material, only to return until the work blends the independent lines into a monophonic sound. Each section results in a gradual intensification in the dynamic and energy of the performance until the explosive finale of the work.
Greek composer, music-theorist, and architect Iannis Xenakis was a pioneer of post-World War II avante-garde movement. While he attended Athens Polytechnic School for a degree in engineering, Xenaxis also began to heavily pursue studies in music. These two juxtaposing interests influenced his approach to composition. After becoming blind in one eye during his service in World War II, Xenaxis set his focus on music composition. His works are the result of mathematical models often composed, in part, using computers, which allows for highly complex results. He used probability laws, Markovian chains, game theory, group theory, set theory, Boolean algebra, Gaussian distributions, and golden number theory in order to create what he calls “stochastic music,” or music generated through mathematical probability. Some of his notable works that utilized these mathematical structures include: Psappha, Pléïades, and Okho.
NEBOJŠA J. ŽIVKOVIĆ (B. 1962) Suomineito
Suomineito is a Finnish word originating from the “Suomi” people, as the Finns call themselves, which means “Finnish Girl.” The composition was inspired by a happy and upbeat Finnish folksong called “Heili Karjalasta.” However, Živković provides a reflective take on this folksong, paying homage to Finland and a particular Suomineito whom he met there. The repeating bassline and shimmering melody slowly blossom to a powerful climax as the melody evolves only to return to a diminished opening statement. This composition provides numerous opportunites for the performer to draw upon dramatic emotional nuance while conveying a sense of nostalgia — a reminiscing upon fond memories.
Hailed by the critics as one of the most unique and expressive marimba and percussion artists in the field today, Nebojša J. Živković has greatly influenced the international percussion scene during the last three decades — as both a masterful composer and virtuoso performer. A native of Serbia, Živković completed his master’s degrees in composition, music theory, and percussion in Mannheim and Stuttgart, Germany. He is currently the professor of percussion at the Music and Arts University in Vienna, Austria.
EMMANUEL SÉJOURNÉ (B. 1961) Chandigarh
The solo marimba work, Chandigarh, was commissioned by percussionist Guy Frisch and is among Séjourné’s vast discography. Chandigarh is a city, district and union
territory in India that serves as the capital of the two neighboring states of Punjab and Haryana. This episodic work frequently revisits multiple themes across the composition’s structure with stark contrasts between sections titled “furioso, powerful, and brutal” to other more relaxed styles of “misterioso, worrying, and elegant.” The piece centers around a whole-half diminished scale with the low-D tonic being relentlessly reiterated over the course of the work.
Emmanuel Séjourné is an internationally renowned composer, performer, and educator whose compositions range from composed solo and ensemble music to improvisation. After studying classical piano and violin at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, he was introduced to the world of percussion by Jean Batigne and focused on contemporary and improvised keyboard percussion. Séjourné also has composed many works for symphonic orchestra, as well as chamber music and works for choir. Currently, Séjourné is the Head Teacher of Percussion Department at the Strasbourg Superior Academy of Music & Arts and Associate Professor at HEMU Lausanne, while maintaining a career as a soloist having premiered over one hundred compositions.
Artist Profiles
GAVIN THATCHER (percussion) is a senior at Northern Arizona University majoring in music education. Thatcher graduated from Canyon Del Oro High School (Tucson, Arizona) in 2017 where he studied with Director of Bands, Grant Studer, from 2013-2015 and Daniel Bitter from 2015 until his graduation. Thatcher served as principal percussionist in concert band and section leader with the marching band. He also performed with the Southern Arizona Regional Band and Orchestra in 2016 and 2017 and with the Arizona All-State Band in 2017.
Spending his first two years of collegiate education at the University of Arizona, Thatcher performed at the CBDNA Regional Conference in Sonoma, California, with the UA Wind Ensemble. Thatcher also performed with the UA Crosstalk Electronic Percussion Ensemble, steel band, and percussion ensemble while at the University of Arizona. In 2019, Thatcher served as an upper-battery instructor for Walden Grove High School for the 2019 indoor season.
Currently, he is treasurer of the NAU Percussion Society, historian of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity, and performs with the NAU Percussion Ensemble, Panorama Steel Band (playing double seconds), NAU Symphony Orchestra, and NAU Wind Symphony. Thatcher received the John Philip Sousa Award in 2017 and is currently under scholarship from the NAU School of Music.
JESSE MILHOAN (percussion) is a senior at Northern Arizona University majoring in music education.
OSCAR CASAS (percussion) is a senior at Northern Arizona University majoring in music education.
RICHARD RIOS (percussion) is a second-year master’s student at Northern Arizona University studying percussion performance.
FABIAN LOPEZ (percussion) is a junior at Northern Arizona University majoring in percussion performance.
KAI NATSEWAY (percussion) is a junior at Northern Arizona University majoring in percussion performance.
ABRAHAM ARTEAGA (percussion) is a freshman at Northern Arizona University majoring in percussion performance.
STEVEN QUINTANA (percussion) is a second-year master’s student at Northern Arizona University studying music with an emphasis in instrumental conducting. NOAH CHESTERMAN (percussion) is a junior at Northern Arizona University studying English education with a minor in music.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank:
My family for constant support and trust in my decisions throughout my college career. Dr. Hemphill for taking me into his program and giving me a new perspective on teaching and performance philosophy.
My fellow studio percussionists both at NAU and the University of Arizona for constantly motivating me to be the best performer and person I can be.
And, finally, to all of my former musical educators and mentors in my life for influencing me and guiding me to where I am today.
