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Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center
220 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago map…
Gwendolyn Brown, contralto
Elmhurst College Choir
Northern Illinois University
Choirs
Paul Freeman, conductor
Samuel Barber
Adagio for Strings
James Kimo Williams
Buffalo Soldiers
Serge Prokofiev
Alexander Nevsky
Gwendolyn Brown, contralto
The Chicago Sinfonietta and the Chicago Humanities Festival collaborate to present a concert reflecting this year’s festival theme, Peace and War.
The Sinfonietta will begin the concert with American composer Samuel Barber’s deeply poetic and emotional Adagio for Strings. The performance continues with Buffalo Soldiers, created in honor of the famed all-black regiments who served in the Civil War. War veteran and Columbia College professor James Kimo Williams composed this work, with text by General Colin Powell. Joined by contralto-soprano Gwendolyn Brown and the Northern Illinois University and Elmhurst Concert Choirs, the Chicago Sinfonietta will conclude the concert with Sergei Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky.
All Artists, Programs, Dates and Locations subject to change.
In 1995, Gwendolyn Brown lent her voice to the character of the great Marion Anderson for Soul of The Game, an HBO Productions movie. It is a fitting match, for this young singer herself possesses a true contralto instrument showing much the same rare quality as that of the late legendary star. The voice is luminously rich in its dark lower tones, and continues to shimmer glowingly as Miss Brown moves throughout her range.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Gwendolyn Brown graduated from George Washington Carver High School there. She went on to obtain a Bachelors degree in Musical Arts from Fisk University where she gained — and continues to hold — membership in the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers®. Thereafter,Miss Brown pursued the Masters degree in Vocal Performance at the former Memphis State University (University of Memphis) where she received critical acclaim for her performances with the Memphis State University Opera Theater as Baba (The Medium) and The Mother (Amahl and The Night Visitors). She later earned the rank of Regional Winner with the Metropolitan Opera Council (Memphis), and distinguished herself as a Finalist in the Central Region (Chicago) of the same Metropolitan Opera competition. Miss Brown was placed as a semi-finalist for the New York Oratorio Society Solo Auditions and also won Third Place, Artists Division at the Classical Singer Magazine Competition. This competition gave her the official certification of Certified Classical Singer with the organization. Ms. Brown recently received Third Place honors at the 2006 National Opera Association Vocal Competition.
Miss Brown began her quest to enter the ranks of professional opera when she was accepted for resident studies with the Lyric Opera Center for Young American Artists in Chicago. Having understudied several primary roles with Chicago Lyric Opera, she also has sung a number of supporting roles with the company.Miss Brown’s repertoire — both extant and “in-process”— is richly diverse and strong.With the surety of a great voice and much solid preparation behind her, Gwendolyn Brown is set for her imminent launch as a principal artist in opera houses worldwide. Success is truly in her grasp as she has achieved critical acclaim at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon sponsored by Four Seasons Concerts. Already she wins the hearts of audiences everywhere through routinely superb performances in opera, oratorio and recital concerts.
Elmhurst College Concert Choir is an auditioned group of students from a variety of majors who sing traditional and contemporary choral music. The Concert Choir maintains a long-standing tradition of touring throughout the United States performing in both churches and schools.
Among their diverse performance credits, the Elmhurst College Concert Choir has sung in Howard Shore’s production of “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago, appeared on NBC’s Channel 5 Chicago’s Easter Special for “A Different Drummer” and recorded the vocal sound track for a new video game for Midway Games for PlayStation 2, XBox and GameCube.
Charitable work includes a performance at the Shedd Aquarium for the 51st Annual Caritas Benefit as part of St. Coletta’s Annual Benefit to help raise money for special needs children and adults. They also participated in a service project at Williamson County Habitat for Humanity near Nashville, TN., as well organizing and participating in a benefit concert to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
This Spring the choir toured to Nashville, TN; Enterprise, AL; and were chosen to perform in Florida at Epcot Center at Walt Disney World. Spring 2006, several members of the Elmhurst College Concert Choir traveled to Prague, Czech Republic with the Chicago Children’s Chorus. They performed Leonard Bernstein’s, Chichester Psalms, under the direction of Maestro Paul Freeman and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. The Elmhurst Concert Choir under the direction of Susan Moninger is proud to be singing again with Chicago Sinfonietta this fall under Maestro Paul Freeman.
A music educator, Susan Moninger holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Millikin University and a Masters degree in Music Education from Northwestern University. Director of Student Choral Activities at Elmhurst College,Ms. Moninger conducts the Elmhurst College Choir, Chamber Singers, & the internationally acclaimed vocal jazz ensemble “Late Night Blues.”
Recently named in Who’s Who Among Teacher’s in America, Susan has also served as an adjudicator for numerous high school and collegiate clinics, District and All-State Festivals, and competitions in the United States, Canada, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and London. Recently she has been invited to adjudicate for the World Show Choir Competition to be held in Beijing as part of the Olympic Cultural Events in 2008. Also, for the past six years she has been the adjudicator for the prestigious Downbeat Magazine’s “Student Music Awards” in the vocal jazz ensemble category. As a composer her educational songs are published by KJOS of San Diego, California.
Susan Moninger has persuaded consumers through her singing on commercial jingles for companies such as United Airlines, Green Giant, Kraft, 7-Up,Montgomery Ward, United Express Airlines,McDonald’s, and Molly McButter among others. She has served as the Standard and Repertoire Chairperson for Vocal Jazz and Show Choir Central Division of the American Choral Directors Association.
Celebrating her 27th year as Co-founder and Co-director of Showchoir Camps of America‚, she has worked with over 25,000 students and directors from around the world. These workshops have been held at Millikin University, Heidelberg College, and Walt Disney World Resorts‚ and focus on teaching and refining singing, dancing, and performing techniques.
The NIU Choral department offers a rich environment in which to create music, develop personal artistry, and participate in the power of voices joined in song. NIU choral ensembles are active in a variety of venues and idioms. Under Dr. Johnson’s leadership, the Chamber Choir has traveled to and toured England in 2006, Sweden and Denmark in 2004, and Poland in 2002. In the fall of 2006 Chamber Choir performed at the first National Collegiate Choral Organization conference in San Antonio.
Locally, Concert Choir has performed at the Chicago Symphony Center, Fourth Presbyterian Church Concert Series in Chicago, Norris Center for the Performing Arts, Hemmen’s Auditorium, and numerous local schools and churches. Concerts on campus feature the wealth of choral traditions spanning an array from choral orchestral masterworks such as Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms to the intimate and sublime works of Arvo Part.
In addition to regular performing opportunities, NIU choral students have had the opportunity to host international choirs and attend choral concerts of the highest caliber in our Boutell Memorial Concert Hall. Ensembles that have recently performed at NIU include Chanticleer, Cantus, Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble (Sweden), Clare College Choir (England), Eteläsoumalaisen Osakunnan Laulajat (Finland), and Adam Mickiewic University Academic Choir (Poland).
Dr. Johnson is Director of Choral Activities at Northern Illinois University where he directs the Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, and teaches choral literature and conducting. Ensembles under his direction have performed at ACDA and MENC conventions, been featured in live public radio concerts, and appeared with many professional orchestras.Dr. Johnson was a Conducting Participant at the Oregon Bach Festival where he studied with Maestro Helmut Rilling and conducted in public concerts and master classes. He has had articles published in the Choral Journal and presented interest sessions at national, divisional, and state ACDA conventions.
He is active nationally as a clinician presenting sessions on developing audition skills in the choral rehearsal and refining expressive conducting through Laban techniques. As a guest conductor and adjudicator, Dr. Johnson has worked extensively with festival high school choirs from Michigan to Montana. Dr. Johnson is also the Music Director for Bach Chamber Choir, Rockford, IL, which performs choral/orchestral masterworks of the Baroque and Classical eras.
Dr. Johnson is president of the Illinois American Choral Directors Association and has served on both the Central Division and Illinois State Board of Directors.He earned his B.A. from Luther College,Decorah, IA; M.M. from the University of Wisconsin,Madison; and D.M.A from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Prior to collegiate teaching he taught choral music for numerous years at the high school level.
James “Kimo”Williams was born in 1950 on Long Island, New York. The son of a career Air Force sergeant, Kimo as a child spent time on several Air Force bases. Upon graduation from high school, Kimo enlisted in the Army. In 1970 he was sent to Viet Nam and assigned to a combat engineer company, building roads and clearing land in the jungle.To deal with the stress of combat Kimo took to the guitar and started practicing, hoping to play like his hero, Jimi Hendrix.
In 1972, using his GI Bill, Kimo left Hawaii and enrolled at Berklee School of Music in Boston Massachusetts. It was during his five years as a student at Berklee that he developed his compositional talents, combining his own harmonic concept; Diagonal Harmony with traditional jazz and classical teachings.
In 1976 Kimo formed his ensemble The Paumalu Symphony, (now called Kimotion) as a vehicle to perform his unique style of composing. After graduating in 1976 with a BA in composition, Kimo spent a year on the Berklee faculty before he and his wife joined the Army Band program as musicians. Following a tour with the 9th Infantry Division Band in Tacoma Washington,Kimo attended Officer Candidate School, and in January 1980, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army. The next seven years were spent at Fort Sheridan, IL, where he also earned his Masters Degree in Management and Human Relations from Webster University. In 1987, after reaching the rank of Captain,Kimo resigned his commission to pursue composing full time.
From 1987 to 1990, the civilian Kimo was on the faculty of Sherwood Conservatory of Music in Chicago as the program director for commercial studies. He then accepted a position in the Music Department of Columbia College in Chicago. During this time,Kimo was in the Army Reserves as a Bandmaster, conducting and commanding the 85th Division Band. Kimo is currently a full time Faculty member at Columbia College Chicago.
Kimo released his first album War Stories nationally in 1991on his own label, Little Beck Music.This CD received critical acclaim from national magazines and newspapers, emphasizing Kimo’s arranging and composing abilities.He received 4 1/2 (out of 5) stars from Downbeat magazine.This album featured his original compositions performed by his thirty-member Kimotion ensemble. War Stories is a Symphonic- jazz-rock big-band album,and along with some of his classical works, is considered a part of his Vietnam catharsis.
In November 1991 Kimo’s full orchestra score Symphony For The Sons of Nam was one of three scores selected for a reading session in a national search for African-American composers by the Savannah and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. Since then, this work has been performed extensively, was regularly programmed on NPR’s “Performance Today”.
Kimo has written five string quartets, Two Gether, Quartet For The Sons of Nam,New Beginnings, Quiet Shadows and September in Saigon. Quiet Shadows was premiered August 26th at the opening of the Vietnam National Art Gallery in Chicago.
He has returned to Vietnam four times through his program the United States Vietnam Arts Program (formerly ArtSynergy), which he founded in 1998. (www.usvap.com)
His new score Buffalo Soldiers, a commission by The West Point Academy to celebrate their 2002 Bicentennial, premiered February 1999 at West Point.This score, along with a narrative based on speeches by Abraham Lincoln and General Colin Powell, honors the Buffalo Soldier of the 1800’s. Buffalo Soldiers receives its Chicago debut performance tonight.
Kimo is currently working on an opera The Winds of Spring with libretto by Vietnam Veteran Gary Tillery.
As a composer Kimo uses music to speak from the deepest part of his soul. His philosophy is “Music is the conduit to the hearts of people”.
Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Samuel Barber grew up surrounded by singing. His aunt was the celebrated Metropolitan Contralto, Louise Homer, whose husband Sidney was a famous composer of songs. During his studies at the famed Curtis Institute, Barber developed a fine Baritone voice. It therefore comes as no surprise that his musical language became essentially lyrical with a sense of the dramatic, but powerful and personal. Barber and Aaron Copland are no doubt the most frequently performed of American composers in the international symphonic repertoire.
Adagio for Strings was in its original form the slow movement of his String Quartet, which was completed in 1936 at age 26. The great conductor Arturo Toscanini decided to perform the slow movement as a separate work for full string orchestra two years later with the NBC Orchestra. Since that time, the Adagio has been performed hundreds of times around the world.
The work grows out of its lyrical theme and is developed into a climax of great intensity. Through imitation, enrichment of harmonic texture, and progressively increasing dynamics, the climax creates such excitement that the listener’s heart almost skips a beat. The procedure is then reversed, and the work ends with a final hushed statement of the lyrical theme which opens this incredibly moving gem of a composition. Playing this work first on tonight’s concert emphasizes the theme of “Peace and War” and serves to remind us of the human struggle for Peace.
Program Notes by Peter Fodor.
Black Americans have been involved in our nations’ military actions as early as the Revolutionary War. However, at the start of the Civil War, even free Blacks from the northern states were not allowed to participate. It was not until after the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, that Black troops in great numbers were enlisted to serve the Union cause. They were called the “Colored Troops”.
After the Civil War, Congress passed a bill that reorganized the Army, and as part of this, two Black cavalry units (among others) were activated, commanded by White officers. These units were assigned to serve in the American West: They were the Ninth and Tenth US Cavalry. Their primary duty was to fight hostile Indians and to protect the American settlers as they moved west. The Indians named these troops the Buffalo Soldiers, as these men of African descent with their curly hair and dark complexion reminded them of the great buffalo. The term was given with respect and honor, as the buffalo was an essential component in the lives of the Native Americans. The buffalo eventually became a proud symbol of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, and was included on their unit crest.
In 1866, Lt. Francis Moore, (a great-great-uncle of the composers’ mother-in-law, Dorothy Perkins) was responsible for recruiting soldiers for the 9th US Cavalry. To his office in New Orleans came a varied group of recruits; some were Civil War veterans from the “colored troops”, but most were former slaves looking for a better way of life. Lt. Moore knew these recruits would need special handling during their transition from civilian life, and made sure they were well taken care of. An entry into his diary in 1866 reads:“Two hundred men had already been recruited, and something had to be done to have them cared for.” In spite of harsh living conditions, bad food, inferior horses and worn-out equipment, eleven of these Buffalo Soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery.
Buffalo Soldiers includes narratives from speeches by Abraham Lincoln (given in 1857, responding to the Dred Scott Decision by the Supreme Court), and by General Colin Powell (at the dedication of the Buffalo Soldiers memorial at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1992). The passage by Lincoln is unusually poetic, and, unfortunately, prophetic, as history proves. It would be another hundred years before those “hundred keys” began to unlock the prison of discrimination. The Civil War ended the institution of slavery, but had little effect on the institution of racism: Only through the collective efforts of individual Americans, Black and White, have we been able to begin to create a society of equal participation.
The story of the Buffalo Soldiers is just one dramatic example of this evolution. We celebrate the struggle of these heroes not because we support the nature of their duty: In retrospect, their participation in Americas’ mission to rid the West of the indigenous Native American tribes parallels the same thought-process as the pre-war governments’ plan to return the slaves to Africa. They must have been keenly aware that the same racism which denied them their freedom was now using them to deny that freedom to others. Yet, they met oppression with an attitude of pride, rather than self-pity. Now, we acknowledge their superior abilities as well as their devastating obstacles, and recognize that their triumph as soldiers helped to level the field for others to follow. The concluding words of General Powell reinforces the idea that honorable military service has been one way for Black Americans to unlock those “heavy iron doors” Lincoln referred to in 1857. And through music, we hope to suggest that the love of country seems to transcend all burdens, and that even with our tragic history still resolving, we do see ourselves as one nation of Americans.
Prepared by Army Veteran Carol Williams.
Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky was composed originally as a score for Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein’s acclaimed production of the same name. Both the film and the score (1938) were instrumental in capturing the heroic spirit and historic importance of Prince Alexander Nevsky’s defense of Novgorod which in the year 1242 was being besieged by the militaristic Knights of the Teutonc; a band of crusaders who marched under the pretext of Christianizing East Prussia and large areas of Russia.
Nevsky, having led the people of Novogorad against invading Swedes two years earlier, was once again petitioned to organize and lead a militia which could supplement the regular Russian army. The inevitable clash occurred on April 5 on the frozen Lake Chud, near Pskov. The Germans, during the course of a fiercely contested battle, were soundly thrashed, and Nevsky emerged as a national hero and patriot.
The composers music was an immediate success. Its warm reception, together with his own infatuation with the subject matter and music, prompted Prokofiev to expand Nevsky into an independent concert work.Thus evolved Alexander Nevsky – Cantata,Op. 78 for mezzosoprano, chorus, and orchestra. Prokofiev himself, in collaboration with V. Lugovskoi, wrote the cantata’s text which includes seven harmonic scenes depicting the now famous Russian epic. Prokofiev is considered one of Russia’s most outstanding composers of the twentieth century.
Program Notes by Peter Fodor.
Sinfonietta
builds on 'War and Peace'
Chicago Tribune review
Listen
to an excerpt of James Kimo Williams' Buffalo Soldiers…
Chicago Public Radio's 848,
November 10, 2006
Co-Presented by:
Official Restaurant & Hotel
Special Pre & Post-Concert 3-Course Menu, $35/person.
$9 valet parking during the concert with dinner purchase.