(photos below)
The 2007 ITG Conference started with a huge audience gathered in the Fine Arte Center Concert Hall. Opening remarks were delivered by ITG President Jeffrey Piper, UMASS Department Chair Jeffrey Cox, Dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts Joel Martin, Chancellor of the University John V. Lombardi, and 2007 Conference Host Eric Berlin. All of the speakers had great things to say to make the audience feel welcome. Berlin, in particular, exuded great excitement in knowing that the work he had done for more than a year was about to yield some great musical results for all in attendance. Eric thanked significant people in his life that had helped him succeed in music, among them his parents and his junior high band director all of which were in attendance at the concert.
To open the musical portion of the program, the UMASS Trumpet Ensemble, directed by Eric Berlin, took the stage and performed two works. Herald Trumpet Emeritus Fanfare by Jeffrey Holmes featured clean articulation, excellent response, and some fine multiple tonguing from the group. The second work Trumpetasia "In Fond Memory of Walter Chesnut" by Emmanuel Rubin was a disjunct piece that made great demands on the ensemble and was performed with accuracy and flair. The UMASS Trumpet Ensemble got the program off to a great start.
Throughout the opening concert the United States Coast Guard Band under the direction of CDR Kenneth W. Megan played with authority, precision, impeccable intonation, and balance, and just generally performed with the style, nuance, and command one expects from the top military performing groups of the United States Military. The first piece they performed featured the ensemble performing Edward Gregson's Celebration: Praeludium for Wind, Brass, Percussion, Harp and Piano. The work featured three trumpeters from the groups section placed anitphonally around the ensemble (middle and both sides). This piece, aside from the flawless playing of the three soloists, featured superb execution of technical lines from the entire woodwind section. What a great ensemble...a true joy to hear.
The first soloist of the evening, Jeffrey Work, performed Concerto for Trumpet by James M. Stephenson with flawless accuracy, control, and great endurance. This extended two-movement work included beautiful lyrical lines, lots of multiple tonguing demands, and several recitative-like cadenzas. The concerto is wonderfully accessible in its harmonic language and was a real joy for the audience to listen to as played so brilliantly by Work. In this composition Stephenson has crafted an excellent piece of music with beautifully developed motivic ideas and a variety of textures that work as long as the soloist, ensemble, and director are all in top form, and on this evening, that was truly the case. The second movement, in particular, seemed to combine elements of a Herbert L. Clarke solo into a wonderfully modern context. The result was a technical tour-de-force that was greeted with great enthusiasm by the audience upon its conclusion. Well done!
Remembrance by MUCS Thomas Briggs was written for Coast Guard Band Member Joel Flunker in memory of Sam Hasty a member of the trumpet section that had died of leukemia. This wonderful solo for flugel and trumpet is in the style of a jazz ballad. Flunker performed the solo with sensitivity, style, nuance, and great soulfulness. The lyrical nature of this ballad provided a perfect sense of contrast to the program.
The evening continued with Concerto for Two Trumpets and Band by Stephen Paulusa work originally written for Doc Severinsen and Manny Laureano, but this evening performed by Eric Berlin and Richard Kelley. In three movements, this substantial composition required the soloists to match tone qualities, technical abilities, and style in a variety of ways. One thing was obvious from the start and that was that the two soloists were genuinely enjoying the opportunity to perform with each other and with this fine ensemble. Througout the work they looked at one another, smiled, and pushed each other to perform with ever greater accuracy and enthusiasm. By setting up on either side of the conductor, many of the more antiphonally composed lines had a chance to come through the texture of the accompaniment. The overall effect of the piece was tremendously satisfying. This was a situation where a great ensemble, fine soloists, and clear direction all came together to do this fine piece by Paulus the justice it deserved in such a fantastic setting.
After intermission, Charles Schlueter and Eric Berlin took the stage to perform Duo Fantastique by James Stephenson. Berlin and Stephenson were both students of Charles Schlueter at the New England Conservatory. This piece was made possible by a generous grant from the Charles Schlueter Foundation. How thrilling it must have been for these former students to have this opportunity to collaborate with their mentor. In a theme and variation form, the Duo was wonderfully light-hearted, but presented with great musicality, control, and accuracy by the two soloists. Toward the middle of the work Schlueter presented an extended lyrical passage that was stunning in its musicality and attention to line through impeccable phrasing.
The program concluded with Carmen Fantasia for Two Solo Trumpets and Wind Ensemble arranged by Donald Hunsberger. Originally written for Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer, this evening's performance featured MU1 Thomas Brown and MU1 Gino Villareal on trumpets, flugelhorns, and piccolo trumpets. Soloists began with off-stage calls, and then came onstage to perform with brilliant technique, rhythm, multiple-tonguing flourishes, and sensitve lyricism. Both trumpet soloists and their support from two percussion soloists did justice to this long, involved, and demanding work. Indeed this was a great ending that featured the virtuosity of the U.S. Coast Guard Band and two fine members from an extremely strong trumpet section. Hats-off to the band, its director CDR Kenneth Megan, and to all of the fine soloists that set the bar so high in this opening concert.
