Spring 2011: Annual Mother’s Day Concert

The Gainesville Community Band, official band of the City of Gainesville, invites you to its 37th annual Mothers Day Concert, Sunday, May 8 at 2 p.m. Treat yourself and mother to an extra special event, a concert by a first-class musical organization.

We dedicate this concert to mothers everywhere, and we look forward to welcoming all mothers who attend as our special guests. There is no charge for admission.
Our setting will be Trinity United Methodist Church, 4000 NW 53rd Avenue in Gainesville. This is a great venue for playing (and listening to!) a concert. The acoustics are wonderful, and there is ample seating and parking.
Dr. Gerald Poe, music director for the Gainesville Community Band, has put together an exciting program, including solo performances by GCB trombonist Nicholas Simpson and percussionist Nathan Bisco. The list of compositions scheduled for the concert includes the following:

The Program

Combination March, by Scott Joplin; arr. Gunther Schuller.
Gunther Schuller’s writing, compositions, and performances as a horn player and conductor in the field of jazz are widely known. In 1972, he presented the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble at a Festival of American Music premiering his arrangements of works by Scott Joplin (1867-1917). They were subsequently recorded by the same group, receiving a Grammy Award in 1973, and have been credited with sparking the popular ragtime revival that followed. Schuller created the band arrangement of Combination March from Joplin’s original work.

The Soldier’s Song, by John S. Kitts-Turner.
Originally written for symphony orchestra, the composer rearranged this work for performance by symphonic band, and it is premiered in this concert by the Gainesville Community Band. John S. Kitts-Turner is UF Professor of Music Emeritus and GCB’s principal bassoonist.

Pavane, by Maurice Ravel; arr. Toshio Mashima.
Originally, the pavane was a slow decorous and processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century. This version, however, represents a completely different approach. Toshio Mashima has taken Ravel’s (1875-1937) plaintiff Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) and framed it as an upbeat trombone solo. Nicholas Simpson, GCB’s principal trombonist, does the honors.

Resplendent Glory, by Rossano Galante.
Rossano Galante lives in California where he composes and arranges for motion pictures. He has also written music under commission for various performing groups around the country. Resplendent Glory is a 2005 composition commissioned by and dedicated to the Hofstra University Symphonic Band.

Marche Des Parachutistes Belges, by Pierre Leemans, arr. Charles Wiley.
Near the end of World War II, Belgian Pierre Leemans (1897-1980) was having dinner with a group of his country’s paratroopers and was asked to compose a march. As the group commander drove him home that night, the theme of a march he had started but never finished back in 1918 came to his mind. After reaching home, he wrote out all of the parts for the official “March of the Belgian Paratroopers.” This arrangement was made by Charles Wiley at the request of his Lamar (Texas) University Band students for the first U.S. performance of the march.

Moto Perpetuo, by Nicolò Paganini, arr. David Smith.
One definition of the musical form “perpetuum mobile” is “music . . . characterized by a continuous steady stream of notes, usually at a rapid tempo.” That is certainly the case with Paganini’s (1782-1840) Moto perpetuo Op. 11 (N° 6) for violin. And that is most certainly the case with David Smith’s arrangement for marimba with band accompaniment. Our soloist is GCB percussionist Nathan Bisco, Santa Fe High School’s band and choir director.

Danza Final, by Alberto Ginastera, arr. David John.
Argentine Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers. In 1941, the American Ballet Caravan commissioned Ginastera to compose the ballet, Estancia. Ginastera compiled a four-movement suite from it, which soon became well known as an orchestra piece. Estancia is the Argentinean word for “ranch,” and the work reflects many aspects of Argentine ranch life. “Final Dance ‘Malambo’” is the last of the Estancia suite’s four ballet scenes. A malambo is a lively, exciting, and often lengthy dance tournament between two gauchos (South American cowboys).

“The Merry Widow”: Selections, by Franz Lehar, arr. Eiji Suzuki.
Lehar’s (1870-1948) operetta The Merry Widow (German: Die lustige Witwe), set in Paris, focuses on a rich widow and her Pontevedrian countrymen’s attempt to keep her money in their principality by finding her the right husband. The operetta has enjoyed extraordinary international success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna and continues to be frequently revived. Eiji Suzuki has actively written for winds since attending secondary school. His original works, arrangements and transcriptions are popular and frequently performed.

Galop “Fire Jump,” by Merle Evans.
For 50 years Evans (1892-1988), the ”Toscanini of the Big Top,” thrilled crowds as he led the blaring band of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He wrote this composition in 1936 for the famous equestrienne Dorothy Herbert who concluded her act by riding high jumping horses over flaming hurdles. The galop, short for galoppade, is a lively French country dance of the 1820s named after the fastest running gait of a horse. Ordinarily in a fast 2/4 time, the galop is a forerunner of the polka.

The Musicians

Nicholas Simpson, inspired by his parents, began playing trombone at age 11 and has had a life-long interest in music. Throughout his high school and collegiate years, he was a member of the American Federation of Musicians and performed with a number of concert, swing and jazz bands in the Flint and Detroit, Michigan areas. He studied at the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Emory University. After a near decade hiatus from playing and performing, he joined the Gainesville Community Band in 2009 and is a member of the Gainesville Community Jazz Band. In his professional life, Nick is Dr. Nicholas E. Simpson, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida. He resides in Alachua with his wife and two daughters.

Nathan Bisco

Nathan Bisco began music studies in Buffalo, New York, where he was principal percussionist of the All-New York State Wind Ensemble and the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra. He graduated cum laude from the University of Miami Honors Program with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education, taught four years at a Miami-Dade middle school (where he was nominated Rookie Teacher of the Year), then began master’s degree study at the University of Florida. While at Florida, he served as principal percussionist of the Wind Symphony and studied orchestral conducting with Raymond Chobaz. Nathan is currently Santa Fe High School’s director of bands and choir. He was nominated SFHS’s 2011 Teacher of the Year and has helped lead the Raider Regiment marching band to its 7th and 8th state championships. An active performer, he has played with the Alhambra and Ocala Symphony Orchestras.