The Cleveland Winds is honored to host the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony 2 and their directors, Michael Komperda and Mark Awad, at the Maltz Performing Arts Center on Sunday, March 6, at 3 PM.
After intermission, the Cleveland Winds will perform the American premiere of Luis Serrano Alarcon's Cello Concerto with guest conductor Timothy Reynish and his grandson, Andrew Reynish, as the soloist.
Free tickets are required: https://case.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=1604
The Cleveland Winds performance will become part of a new recording in the Timothy Reynish International Repertoire Recordings series. We are requesting donations to support this recording project via GoFundMe.
The Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony Group II
Mark Awad, Conductor
Michael Komperda, Conductor
The Thunderer - John Philip Sousa
What Goes in the Night - Julie Giroux
Salvation is Created - Pavel Tschesnokoff, arr. by Bruce Housknecht
Contrasto Grosso - Jacob de Haan
The Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony (CYWS) was founded in 1989 by Dr. Gary M. Ciepluch and Robert McAllister and is now in its 32nd season. 1995-96 marked the initial season for the CYWS Group II, and a second Group II was added in 2009. Sponsored by the Cleveland Institute of Music, the program was established to provide a musical venue for the most outstanding high school woodwind, brass, and percussion musicians throughout Northeast Ohio. Rehearsals run from mid-September through early May each Saturday morning at The Cleveland Institute of Music and at Case Western Reserve University.
The mission of the group is to perform the most significant wind band repertoire, and to provide the opportunity for outstanding young musicians to rehearse and perform together on a weekly basis. Selection in the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony is determined through auditions held each May for the following fall. Every year, approximately 400 students audition for selection into one of the three ensembles. In addition to the concerts they perform each season in Severance Hall, the home of the world renowned Cleveland Orchestra, the groups have performed numerous times at conventions and festivals, and in concert halls throughout the United States and abroad. In 1992, the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony was invited to perform at the Music Educators National Conference held in New Orleans, Louisiana. CYWS Group I has performed eight times at the Oho Music Education Association State Convention. In June 1994, the group began a series of international concert tours. They have performed in Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Australia (two times), New Zealand, Scotland, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Austria, and the Netherlands. In 2018 CYWS embarked on its 14th international concert tour to Italy with performances in Santa Margherita Ligure, Montecatini Terme, Florence, and Rome. As part of this concert tour, CYWS was invited to perform two concerts as a headline group for the Florence, Italy Festival of Youth Orchestras.
The Cleveland Winds
Dr. Birch Browning, Music Director
Timothy Reynish, Guest Conductor
Andrew Reynish, Cello
An Indoor Overture - Willem Strietman (1918 – 2001)
Cello Concerto - Luis Serrano Alarcón (b. 1972)
Timothy Reynish, Conductor
Andrew Reynish, soloist
Werneth Suite for Concert Band - Terence Greaves (1933 – 2009)
I. Miniature March
II. Sad and Sentimental March
III. Skittish Scherzo
IV. Elegy
V. Rondo from Rio
The Cleveland Winds premiere performance was October 5, 2009. Several charter members from that evening still perform with the Winds. Including that first night, the ensemble has given twenty-one performances at CSU, performed at the Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference in 2017, and in Severance Hall in 2018. The Cleveland Winds released a CD in 2019, which is available via Apple Music and Spotify.
The ensemble has shared the stage with many ensembles, such as the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, the North Royalton Community Band, and numerous high school bands. We’ve had the privilege of working with guest conductors such as Timothy Reynish, Dr. Joseph Parisi, Dr. Shanti Simon, Dr. Eric Rombach-Kendell, and Dr. Glen Adsit, and solo artists Jc Sherman, Shachar Israel, David Childs, and Robert Davis. In 2015, the Cleveland Winds were awarded the American Prize for Wind Band Performance - Community Division.
Program Notes
Willem Strietman was a Dutch composer, musicologist and pianist. His works were performed in The Netherlands and abroad, e.g., in Brussels, Lugano and München. His most important compositions are the song cycles L'amour fardé (1951) and Canti di Castelvecchio (1951), the orchestral works An Indoor Overture (1971) and Mercator sapiens (1977).
This overture was originally composed for symphony orchestra in 1969. The themes Strietman used were taken from an earlier work, The Marionetten Ouverture (Introduction to the Puppet Show), which was premiered in 1957 on the Dutch NCRV-radio network. Twelve years later, the then Radio Unie commissioned him to write An Indoor Overture, which was performed many times by various radio orchestras.
In 1998, the Indoor Overture appeared in a version scored especially for wind band by the composer himself. Of this version, Strietman said, "In 1964, I met the American composer-conductor-pianist-teacher Aaron Copland (1900-1990), who had come to The Netherlands while on a European tour. I have many fond memories of the discussions I had with him and of his performances here. In his memory, I wrote a new version in 1995 of piece I had originally written in 1970 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Metropole Orchestra, An Indoor Overture. This short work echoes Copland's An Outdoor Overture from 1938, in which light and serious art harmoniously converge."
- Program Note by World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE)
About the Cello Concerto with winds, percussion and piano by Luis Serrano Alarcón, the commissioner Timothy Reynish wrote:
In May 2001, our third son William Reynish died, and we began a series of commissions in his memory. By 2021 we had commissioned over twenty-five works for wind orchestra, and had planned to end the series with a score from Luis Serrano Alarcon. Sadly in August 2021 our second son Matt died, and since he was a cellist, it was natural that the Concerto should be dedicated to his memory as well.
Mr. Reynish will conduct the first three performances of this remarkable work his my eldest grandson, Andrew Reynish as soloist:
October 16, 2021, Union Musical Santa Cecilia de Villar del Arzobispo, Spain
March 13, 2022, Cleveland Winds, Cleveland USA
July 10, 2022, RNCM Alumni Wind Orchestra, Northwood, London
The distinguished conductor Frank Battisti wrote to me immediately after hearing the work:
I've just listened to the Cello Concerto twice. It's a wonderful piece and one that should be heard by all who conduct wind groups!!! Below are some notes I made as I listened to the music. The orchestration is clear and fresh, with a wonderful diversity of textures - cohesive, energetic and lyrical. The work is sophisticated but very inviting and engages both my intellect and emotions.
These are the very qualities which draw me to Alarcon’s music. Works such as Duende, Concertango, the extraordinary Marco Polo Trilogy, the two symphonies, the Spanish Dances, even the relatively slight paso dobles, have established Luis as a major figure in the world of wind music in the 21st. Century.
My first discussions with Luis after my meeting with the UMSC de Valle del Arzobispo at my memorable 80th birthday concert in 2018 concerned the possibility of a concerto for double bass and wind. Always the practical musician, Luis suggested changing it to a Cello Concerto. What a wonderful work it has turned out to be, for me especially exciting since Luis invited my eldest grandson Andy to be the soloist. Luis is I believe one of the great wind ensemble composers of today. He has a happy knack of writing fully scored works which treat all of the players as individual soloists, very much a chamber music approach on a big scale.
The work falls into clear sub-sections and is scored for wind ensemble without saxophones but with piano. Throughout the concerto the writing for the cellist and for wind brass soloists is brilliant, with substantial solos for all the woodwind and brass principals and a cadenza for the soloist and four percussion.
Born in Valencia in 1972, Luis Serrano Alarcón is a Spanish composer and director of great international projection. His works have been performed in more than 30 countries In 2012, the Southeastern Conference Band Directors Association commissioned his first symphony, which was premiered in October 2013. In 2017 he wrote the second of his symphonies commissioned by the University of Saint Thomas, a work that was premiered in May of that same year In 2011 his band work, Duende, obtained the Prize for Best Edition of a Classical Work at the Awards of the Music, which is awarded annually by the Academy of Music Arts and Sciences and which are the most important in the field of music in Spain.
Luis Serrano Alarcón has been, between 2011 and 2013, a member of the WASBE Board of Directors, Board of Directors of the World Association of Music Bands and Wind Ensembles.
- Program Note provided by Timothy Reynish.
Terence “Terry” Greaves (1933-2009) was a British composer, music teacher and examiner. He was a chorister at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire and read Music at Keble College, Oxford, before becoming a lecturer at the Birmingham School of Music and later Dean at the Royal Manchester College of Music. He was also a dedicated examiner and moderator for the ABRSM for over 40 years, writing many works as examination pieces.
- Program Note from musicroom.com.
Werneth was first performed by the Werneth Concert Band by Allan Jones at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, on March 2nd, 2008.
Biographies
Michael Komperda (he/him) is an alumnus of CYWS and a graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree. Currently in his thirteenth year teaching, Mr. Komperda teaches in Rocky River, where he directs the Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, two high school Jazz Bands, the Pit Orchestra and the Pep Band, and teaches Music Technology and AP Music Theory courses at Rocky River High School. He also teaches beginning Brass & Percussion and third grade music at Kensington Intermediate School. Outside of his teaching duties, Mr. Komperda plays clarinet in the Cleveland Winds, and directs and plays in pit orchestras around the Cleveland area. Recently, he has performed in productions of Seussical the Musical, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, and Mary Poppins. Professionally, Mr. Komperda is a member of the Ohio Music Education Association, and the Greater Cleveland Solo & Ensemble Association.
Mark Awad (he/him) is currently in his sixteenth year as director of bands at Bay Middle School. At the middle school, he teaches band in grades five through eight, in addition to the middle school jazz ensemble. Mr. Awad is also the assistant director of the Bay High Rocket Marching Band. Additionally, he is the director of the pit orchestra for the musicals at Bay High School. Some of the musicals that he has conducted include: 42nd Street, Grease, Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, The Addams Family, Shrek the Musical, and Chicago: High School Edition. Mr. Awad also serves as the chairperson for the Ohio Music Education Association, District 4 Middle School Honors Festival. Mr. Awad earned his master’s degree in music education from Case Western Reserve University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from Youngstown State University. His primary instrument is the trombone, on which he continues to perform.
Dr. Birch Browning is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Cleveland State University, and Music Director of the Cleveland Winds, a professional wind band based at CSU. He taught high school band and orchestra in Florida prior to earning a Ph.D. in Music Education at Florida State University. A member of the faculty at CSU since 2002, he previously taught music education courses at Stetson University and FSU.
Dr. Browning is a member of the College Band Director’s National Association Research Committee and has presented his research findings at numerous state and national conferences. His first book, Becoming a Musician-Educator: An Orientation to Musical Pedagogy, was published by Oxford University Press in April 2017.
Along with his research work, Dr. Browning is in demand as a conductor and clinician. Dr. Browning founded the Cleveland Winds in 2009. The Cleveland Winds performed at the Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference in Cleveland, Ohio in 2017. The CSU Chamber Winds performed at the same conference in 2005 and 2015. The CSU Symphonic Band, CSU Chamber Winds, and the Cleveland Winds appear on the recently released recording Timothy Reynish International Repertoire Series, Vol. 12, which is available on iTunes and Spotify.
Timothy Reynish has emerged as one of the leading conductors of wind bands and wind ensembles in the world. In the past few years he has conducted many of the principal professional bands in Asia, Europe, North and South America; these include civilian bands such as Dallas Wind Symphony, State of São Paulo Symphonic Band, Brazil, Volga Wind Orchestra of Saratov, Russia, Cordoba Symphonic Band, Argentina, Philharmonic Winds, Singapore, and leading military bands including the “President’s Own” US Marine Band, Staff Band of the Norwegian Army, US Military Academy West Point, Singapore Armed Forces Band, Croatian Army Symphonic Wind Orchestra Zagreb, Hungarian Army Symphonic Band Budapest, Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, the Band of the Royal Marines, Portsmouth, and the US Coast Guard Band.
He studied horn with Aubrey Brain and Frank Probyn, and gained his ARCM while still at school. After taking a music degree at Cambridge, he was principal horn with the Northern Sinfonia, Sadlers Wells Opera (now ENO) and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. His conducting studies were on short courses with George Hurst at Canford Summer School, Sir Charles Groves and Sir Adrian Boult, with Dean Dixon in Hilversum and Franco Ferrara in Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, where he won the Diploma of Merit. A prize winner in the Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition in New York, he has conducted concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the BBC Regional Orchestras and the London Symphony Orchestra as well as in Norway, Holland and Germany, and opera in Sweden.
In 1975 he was invited by Sir Charles Groves to become tutor for the Postgraduate Conducting Course at the Royal Northern College of Music. Two years later he succeeded Philip Jones as Head of School of Wind & Percussion, a post he retired from after a quarter of a century.
In the two decades since his retirement, he has held visiting professorships at Baylor University, University of Kentucky, Ithaca College, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Cornell University. He has given clinics, lectured, guest conducted and adjudicated in USA, Europe, Asia and Australia. He is a member of the International Chamber Music Studio at the Royal Northern College of Music, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the State University of the Arts, Kharkiv, Ukraine, and was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonic Winds, Singapore, and regularly conducts at the Senuko Gakuen Green Tie Wind Orchestra, Tokyo, and the Union Musical Santa Cecilia de Villar del Arzobispo who premiered the Alarcon Concerto last October. Since 1981, he has commissioned more than one hundred works for wind orchestra, many of which have entered the international repertoire.
British Cellist Andrew Reynish enjoys an active and varied career internationally as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. In 2022, he looks forward to numerous projects with his trio, The Triple A Society, performances of the Bach Cello Suites in Copenhagen, and the US and UK premieres of Luis Serrano Alarcón’s Concerto for Cello, Winds and Percussion, in Cleveland and London.
He attended Chetham’s School of Music, a co-educational specialist music school in Manchester before gaining his Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen under professors Morten Zeuthen and Tim Frederiksen. Competition successes include winning the 2011 Gregynog Young Musician of the Year Competition, becoming the Young Musician of the Preston Guild in 2012 and winning the Deena Shipytka Award in 2015. He has taken part in major music festivals, notably, the renowned Astona Summer Music Academy 2009-13, and the Lake District Summer Music Academy in 2016.
Andrew was a Graduate Assistant in Chamber Music at the University of Georgia’s, Hugh Hodgson School of Music under the tutelage of Professors David Starkweather and Michael Heald. One of many highlights of his time in Georgia was performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the UGASO. He was generously supported by the Secret Sits Pro Music Charity.
In late 2019, he co-founded The Triple A Society with the violinist Adrian Dima and the accordionist Alessandro Ambrosi. Following a period of intensive research, the Triple A Society will in 2022 present to the public their adaptations of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires arranged for violin, cello and accordion culminating in their debut album release toward the end of the year.
This afternoon, Andrew is performing on a cello graciously provided by Cleveland Violins. Andrew’s usual cello companion is an instrument by Sebastien Vuillaume, Paris 1860 c., called “Zerlina”.