Warwick Valley High School Music Department celebrates American composers on Feb. 21

Warwick - “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.” Thus begins a moving narration during “Lincoln Portrait,” American composer Aaron Copland’s musical tribute to Abraham Lincoln. This stirring piece will be performed by the Warwick Valley High School Wind Ensemble as part of the high school Music Department’s celebration of American composers at the fifth annual Pops Concert on Feb. 21. “The Pops Concert is one of my favorite concerts every year,” said WVHS Director of Bands Chris Persad, “(because) it’s a chance for the students to perform familiar pieces with an acclaimed professional musician.” Past guest artists have included clarinetist abd conductor David Dworkin, pianist and composer Richard Kimball and trumpeter Tony Kadleck. The guest artist for this year’s concert will be saxophonist and composer Tom Christensen of New York City. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music (for both bachelors and masters degrees), Christensen has performed around the world with various jazz orchestras, including the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, the BMI Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra. Christensen also has played for several Broadway shows, television and radio commercials and film scores. For the Pops Concert, Christensen will play tenor sax with the Warwick Valley High School Jazz Band and will be featured on alto sax in a piece entitled, “Harlem Nocturne” by Earl Hagen with the WVHS Wind Ensemble. Another unique feature of the Pops Concert is a performance by the Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Keely Gould, who combines the High School String Orchestra with several members of the Wind Ensemble. Despite being able to rehearse as a combined ensemble only two or three times, the Symphony Orchestra always impresses the audience with the student’s musicianship. This year, the Symphony Orchestra will play Leroy Anderson’s “The Typewriter,” a fun piece which features a percussionist playing an actual typewriter. The combined ensemble will conclude its portion of the program with a symphonic arrangement of Chuck Mangione’s well-known Latin jazz piece, “The Children of Sanchez.” The WVHS Jazz Band and the select choral group, Meistersingers, also will perform. The Jazz Band, with guest artist Christensen on tenor sax, will play: “St. Thomas” by Sonny Rollins, “Honk” by Jeff Jarvis,and “Sister Sadie” by Horace Silver. The Meistersingers, under the direction of Brian Clark, will perform James Taylor’s “That Lonesome Road” and “Hit Me With a Hot Note” by Duke Ellington. The Meistersingers will join the Jazz Band for another Duke Ellington classic, “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” As part of their tribute to American composers, members of the WVHS Concert Band will perform “Symphonic Soundtracks” by John Williams and “At a Dixieland Jazz Funeral” by Jared Spears. The Pops Concert will conclude with the Wind Ensemble and their performance of “Lincoln Portrait.” Conductor Andre Kostalanetz commissioned this work in the 1940’s as a way to convey the spirit of America through music to a large audience. Kostalanetz wanted “portraits of individuals who would exemplify the courage, dignity, strength and humor of our nation.” Copland, after reading a biography of Lincoln that included quotations from his many speeches, came up with the idea of using a speaker in the piece as a means of “making (Lincoln) come more alive for an audience.” The result was “Lincoln Portrait.” In addition to Copland’s inspirational and provoking music, the narrative includes quotes from the Lincoln-Douglas Debates from October 1858 and Lincoln’s Annual Message to Congress in 1862. In the culmination of both the music and narration, the speaker will intone Lincoln’s most famous quote from the Gettysburg Address: “…That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.” Persad invited Dr. Marijane Reinhard, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instructional services, to be the guest speaker for “Lincoln Portrait.” Reinhard has gone up to the high school during third period several times to work with the Wind Ensemble, rehearsing to perfect the timing of both music and narration. She said that she is enjoying working with Persad and the students on this “very powerful piece. I hope I can do justice to both Abraham Lincoln and the Wind Ensemble.” The Warwick Valley High School annual Pops Concert will take place on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. in the WVHS auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.