Performance

Hop on Tour

Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble

live at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

November 05, 2023

This event occurred as part of the 23/24 Hop Ensemble season. This is an archived view.

The ensemble brings the Mexican Repertoire Initiative to the storied Boston hall, alongside guest conductor Luis Manuel Sánchez and musicians from the UNAM Banda Sinfonica.

23/24 Hop Ensemble

The program of the Americas, entitled Be Glad Then, America will feature Ciudad Dormitorio by UNAM student Erick Tapia and In the Night, We Saw a Shadow, a work from the inaugural Composition Competition by Boston resident, Emi Nishida, ahead of launching the second round of the competition.

The Mexican Repertoire Initiative is a musical, cultural and diplomatic initiative committed to bringing Mexican repertoire to the international stage, providing opportunities for Mexican composers, combating institutionalized racism in educational and professional performing ensembles, and bringing artists together across borders.

Brian Messier, director

Photo: Katie Lenhart

The Program

The Hop Presents

Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble

Brian Messier, director
Luis Manuel Sánchez Rivas, guest conductor

Sunday, November 5, 3 pm
New England Conservatory Jordan Hall • Boston, Massachusetts • 2023

Generously supported by the Deborah E. and Arthur E. Allen, Jr. 1932 Fund and Friends of the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble.

Program

Approximate duration: 75 minutes

Be Glad Then, America

Brian Messier, conductor
Luis Manuel Sánchez Rivas, guest conductor

In The Night, We Saw a Shadow, Emi Nishida
World Premiere

New England Triptych, William Schuman/William Billings
II. When Jesus Wept
Katelyn Hadley ’24, trumpet; Margaret Frazier ’25, euphonium

Ciudad Dormitorio, Erick Tapia
I. Tlatelolco 203, Eje Central, Av. Central
II. Bardagi 19, Misiones 21
III. La Guerrero? ¡No, Aragón!, Valle 1era, Salón los Ángeles, Metro Deportivo Oceania, Maldito Bongocero

Wine Dark Sea, John Mackey
II. immortal thread, so weak
Ulises Herrera Martínez, clarinet; Greta Richardson ’26, harp

Cantares de Galicia, Michael Gandolfi
Jacob Crawford ’27 and Bradyn Quintard ’25, trumpet

Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble

Brian Messier, conductor
Luis Manuel Sánchez Rivas, guest conductor

Piccolo
Roberto Ivan Mendoza Duran UNAM

Flute
Tim Bonis ’26
Elsa Coulam ’27
Abby Cushman ’27
Clara Schaefer ’25
Crystal Ye ’27

Oboe
Nathaniel Chen ’25
Anika Larson ’26
Bea Sears ’26

Bassoon
Sonny Hur ’27
Brianna Shaw FS

Contra Bassoon
Lucy Langenberg ’22

Eb Clarinet
Dwight Aspinwall C

Bb Clarinet
Ramsey Ash ’24
Conor Joyce C
Catherine Liao ’25
Ulises Herrera Martínez UNAM
Connor Perrotta ’27
Anna Raymond ’27
Elias Rosenberg ’22
Julia Spigai ’26
Marge Tassey C
Leah Zamansky ’24

Bass Clarinet
Jim Lenz C
Morgan Reik GR

Soprano/Alto Saxophone
Devontae Lacasse ’24

Alto Saxophone
María Elena Ríos Ortiz UNAM
Tracy Weener ’26

Tenor Saxophone
Jake Twarog ’24

Baritone Saxophone
Mickie McCorkle FS

Trumpet
Blaine Boxwell ’27
Jake Crawford ’27
Julia D’Antico C
Steve Felix C
Katelyn Hadley ’24
Brady Quintard ’25

Horn
Ameya Deo ’27
Jack Duranceau ’23
Shannon O’Leary C
Janet Proctor C
Sophia Scull ’25
Shisui Torii ’27

Trombone
Alice Cook ’25
Sam Young ’27

Bass Trombone
Ian Smith ’24

Euphonium
Margaret Frazier ’25
John Rieling ’26

Tuba
Chase Harvey ’25

String Bass
Nicholas Browne FS

Piano
Annie Tang ’25

Harp
Greta Richardson ’26

Percussion
Beccy Abraham GR
Siri Bjerke ’27
Lucy Coleman ’26
Rafa Godinho ’24
Jack Liedtka ’27
Abi Pak ’26
Diana Zaira
García Soto UNAM
Adam Svoboda ’27

C = Upper Valley Community Member
GR = Dartmouth College Graduate Student
FS = Dartmouth College Faculty or Staff
UNAM = Member of the Banda Sinfónica de la UNAM

Program Notes

In The Night, We Saw a Shadow
After spending years playing in a wind ensemble, Emi Nishida had always envisioned a time when she would compose a piece for band. In 2021, Emi was selected as a finalist for the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble Competition for In the Night, We Saw a Shadow. Now, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble is supporting her again with the world premiere of the piece. As her first piece for a wind ensemble to be premiered live, she mentions how heavy the inspiration she took from the Japanese wind band composers for this piece.

Emi Nishida is a composer, conductor, pianist and percussionist. She was born and raised in Japan and in 2014, moved to the United States to study Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music. Over the last several years, she has been revising the piece remembering an experience she had watching a musical. By the end of that performance, she remembered sitting in complete awe, feeling unable to stand up. Soon, she realized that this moment had to be recorded somehow, and soon put the feelings into In the Night, We Saw a Shadow. Towards the beginning of the piece, the music employs light and quirky inspiration from jazz rhythm and melodic distinctions. However at the end of the piece, she reveals that the music has developed with a deeper meaning overall. According to Emi, the “shadow” in the title refers to the illusion of the music and potentially even something more meaningful. She mentions that unknowingly some shadows will change the perspective put onto performances, but still encourages the listener to enjoy the piece for its jolly nature.
Chase Harvey ’25

When Jesus Wept
When Jesus Wept (1958) is the second movement of William Schuman’s New England Triptych, based on a hymn written by William Billings in 1770. The piece begins with a presentation of Billings’ hymn by the trumpet and euphonium duet, followed by a round featuring the full ensemble, and growing into a more contemporary take on the hymn. Schuman wrote the piece for Russo-American conductor Andre Kostelanetz, which, during the height of the Cold War, was seen as a bridge between the two cultures.

Within the New England Triptych, When Jesus Wept is representative of strength growing within communities after a dark time. Given its composition just 13 years after the end of World War II, this theme resonated strongly with its American audience. William Schuman (1910-1992) holds numerous musical achievements, including serving as the president of Juilliard School of Music and the first president of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, as well as winning the first Pulitzer Prize for music in 1943 for A Free Song and the National Medal of Arts in 1987. William Billings (1746-1800), who wrote the hymn upon which this piece is based, was one of the earliest American choral composers. Billings was heavily influenced by his British predecessors but described himself as “not confined to rules of others, yet… [as] near as [possible]… to a set of rules which [he has] carved out for [himself].” The text of the original hymn goes,

When Jesus wept, the falling tear
In mercy flowed beyond all bound.
When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear
Seized all the guilty world around.

When Jesus Wept was published in The New-England Psalm-Singer and is based upon a text by Perez Morton. The New-England Psalm-Singer was the first collection of church hymns composed entirely by Americans. The original hymn is written as a round, which Schuman incorporates into his setting. Billings spent the entirety of his life in Boston and was friends with other famous Bostonians such as Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. When Jesus Wept features Dartmouth’s 2022 and 2023 Culley Concerto Brass and Percussion winners, Katelyn Hadley and Margaret Frazier.
Margaret Frazier ’25

Ciudad Dormitorio
Ciudad Dormitorio, composed by Erick Tapia, is a reflection of his daily life in Mexico City. Ciudad Dormitorio translates to “dormitory town” or “commuter town,” a place where people return to after working all day in another place, much like in Mexico City. Tapia uses every section of his piece to represent an aspect of the busy city that resonated with him in his childhood, including Tlatelolco 203, which is the apartment he grew up in, as well as the network of roads that connected him to home and other places throughout the city. Another section of this piece is labeled La Guerrero? ¡No, Aragón!, which are two neighborhoods of the metropolitan zone where music and dance play a central role in the lives of their residents. Additionally, there’s Salón Los Ángeles, a nearby dance venue where Tapia often went to see musical groups such as Los Angeles Azules, Rayito Colombiano, Grupo Cañaveral, etc. He also mentions Metro Deportivo Oceanía, a metro station located in the northeast of Mexico City, where every Saturday night there was a baile sonidero underneath the bridge.

The last section is labeled Maldito Bongocero, the nickname of David Rodríguez, to whom Ciudad Dormitorio is dedicated. David Rodríguez was Tapia’s mother’s husband, who was a musician and always took Tapia to his events. David raised Tapia to love music, especially cumbia, which is incredibly present throughout the second half of Ciudad Dormitorio. This piece is a tribute to David, as a way to thank him for bringing music to Tapia’s life. Tapia says that the ending of this piece with the conga solo is a part of David’s soul. Ciudad Dormitorio expresses all that Tapia has lived, felt, known, loved and mourned within Mexico City. The Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble is committed to bringing authentic Mexican repertoire to the stage through the Mexican Repertoire Initiative, seeking to spotlight the musical richness of Mexico, tear down barriers and make lasting friendships. In March 2023, the ensemble went on tour to Mexico City, where they collaborated with the Banda Sinfónica de la Facultad de Música de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Their diverse repertoire spanned from cumbia to danzón, all composed by contemporary Mexican artists. During this tour, a profound connection between the musicians formed, fostering a cultural exchange and a shared growing love for music. The DCWE continues to pursue its goal in expanding and enriching the available Mexican repertoire for music ensembles, combating stereotypes and uniting musicians in Mexico and the United States.
Abi Pak ’26

Wine Dark Sea, Mvt II: immortal thread, so weak
Wine Dark Sea, composed by John Mackey, is a symphony for the “truly epic tale of Odysseus, as told thousands of years ago by Homer in The Odyssey.” The symphony is set “after ten years of bloody siege; the Trojan War was won because of Odysseus’s gambit: A horse full of soldiers, disguised as an offering. The people of Troy took it in as a trophy, and were slaughtered. Odysseus gave the Greeks victory, and they left the alien shores for home. But Odysseus’s journey would take as long as the war itself. Homer called the ocean on which Odysseus sailed a wine-dark sea, and for the Greek king it was as murky and disorienting as its name; he would not find his way across it without first losing himself.”

The second movement, immortal thread, so weak, is the song of the beautiful and immortal nymph Kalypso, who finds Odysseus near death, washed up on the shore of the island where she lives all alone. She nurses him back to health, and sings as she moves back and forth with a golden shuttle at her loom. Odysseus shares her bed; seven years pass. The tapestry she began when she nursed him becomes a record of their love.

But one day Odysseus remembers his home. He tells Kalypso he wants to leave her, to return to his wife and son. He scoffs at all she has given him. Kalypso is heartbroken.

And yet, that night, Kalypso again paces at her loom. She unravels her tapestry and weaves it into a sail for Odysseus. In the morning, she shows Odysseus a raft, equipped with the sail she has made and stocked with bread and wine, and calls up a gentle and steady wind to carry him home. Shattered, she watches him go; he does not look back.”

John Mackey composed Wine Dark Sea in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Wine Dark Sea, Mvmt II: immortal thread, so weak features Dartmouth’s harpist Greta Richardson and Banda Sinfónica FaM UNAM’s Ulises Herrera. The Banda Sinfónica de la Facultad de Música de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México has several other members joining Dartmouth Wind Ensemble for this concert, continuing our ongoing collaboration.
Greta Richardson ’26

Cantares de Galicia
“My wife’s mother, Aurora, hails from Viveiro, a beautiful seaside Galician town. During my travels there I have discovered several traditional songs that Aurora often sings to or with my wife Maria. I also quickly discovered the importance of bagpipes in traditional Galician songs, dance and instrumental music. I was impressed by the blend of what sounded like Celtic-influenced music and southern-Spanish influenced music. In fact, the British Isles (due north of Galicia, across the Cantabric Sea) are only slightly more distant (in the northerly direction) from northern Galicia than is the southernmost tip of Spain (in the southerly direction), which likely explains this crossroad of cultures.

Cantares de Galicia, a 15-minute work, features several Galician folk melodies, with harmonizations, accompaniments and orchestrations of my own design, interspersed with episodes. Cantares de Galicia translates literally as ‘Galician singing’, but it is also poetically interpreted as ‘Songs of Galicia.’

The first several sections of the work feature the popular song Miña nai (My mother), which is the lament of a daughter who lost her mother. I found several versions of this song, most of which bear little resemblance to each other melodically, but which share a common text. I thought it appropriate to explore traditional, as well as contemporary, versions of Miña nai, to reflect the ongoing nature of singing (and melodic variation) that abounds in Galician music. The opening melody is a variation on the most contemporary version that I found (as performed by the Spanish ensemble, Luar Na Lubre). It is heard in canon between two offstage-trumpets. After three brief episodes, a traditional version, as sung by my wife and her mother, is played by a single offstage-trumpet.

After a brief fanfare, Muiñeira do Miño (music to accompany a traditional Galician dance) is heard. In its traditional form it is a bagpipe melody accompanied by castanets and a drum. My orchestration here, as elsewhere in the piece, refers to the rich and unique timbre of bagpipes.

Following an extensive episode, we return to Miña nai but now in a folksy, ‘playground’ version. This prompted me to respond with a brief, renaissance-inspired variation. The work’s penultimate melody, Miudiño, follows. It is a traditional song that Aurora and Maria sang for me on a recent visit to Viveiro. It is typically sung without accompaniment, but I was motivated to provide a detailed, impressionist-inspired accompaniment for this bold tune.

Lastly, Fullín Fullan is heard. It is a sassy, vigorously sung, courting song, traditionally sung by a woman, with a very active percussion accompaniment, but with little or no harmonic support. I discovered a version sung by women and men in call-and-response style that served as the model for my instrumental version. I composed a rich, harmonic texture as an accompaniment that serves to match the high-intensity power of the traditional, purely vocal forms. At its conclusion, a brief coda emerges, featuring a phrase from Muñeira do Miño played simultaneously with a Miudiño motive, both of which drive the piece to its climactic ending.”
Michael Gandolfi

American composer Michael Gandolfi was born in Massachusetts and chairs the composition department at the New England Conservatory of Music. Gandolfi has a longstanding relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and he has been very involved with music educational projects in Boston and throughout the country. Cantares de Galicia was commissioned by the Ithaca College of Music in 2015 and was premiered in 2018 by the New England Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble.
Sophia Scull ’25

About the Artists

Dr. Brian Messier is Director of Bands at Dartmouth College, where he directs the Wind Ensemble and Marching Band, and teaches courses in applied conducting, musical leadership and arts entrepreneurship. After arriving at Dartmouth in 2019, Messier launched a Mexican Composition Competition, which he has since stewarded into The Mexican Repertoire Initiative at Dartmouth; a musical, cultural and diplomatic initiative sponsored by the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth. The initiative is committed to bringing Mexican repertoire to the international stage, providing opportunities for Mexican composers, combating institutionalized racism in educational and professional performing ensembles, and bringing artists together across borders. In the spring of 2023, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble toured Mexico in partnership with the US Department of State and the Mexico Ministry of Culture’s celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico. Recently, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the 2024 CBDNA Conference at Cornell University, where they will offer a program of original Mexican repertoire for wind band.

In addition to his work at Dartmouth, Messier is founder and Artistic Director of the 2016 American Prize-winning Valley Winds based in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, a group for which he also won the 2023 American Prize in conducting. Prior to his position at Dartmouth, Messier served as Artist in Residence and Director of the Wind Ensemble at Williams College, and served for 11 years in the public schools of Belchertown and Amherst, Massachusetts, receiving invitations to perform at the state conference with each program respectively. Lauded for his work with ensembles ranging from youth to professional, Messier is in high demand as a clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor.

Messier received his bachelor’s degree in music education from Ithaca College, his master’s degree in wind conducting from the University of Massachusetts, and his doctoral degree in conducting from the University of Minnesota where he studied with Craig Kirchhoff.

Luis Manuel Sánchez Rivas has been the Principal Conductor for the Symphonic Band of the UNAM Faculty of Music since 2008, and in February 2023 he was appointed as the Principal Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of Fine Arts. Prior to his current appointments, Sánchez served as the Principal Conductor of the Wind Symphony of the Federal Police from 2007 to 2015, and as the Principal Conductor of the Mexico City Typical Orchestra from 2017 to 2020. Between 2019 and 2023, he held the position of Assistant Musical Conductor at the National Opera Company. In 2019, he secured first place in the prestigious Conducting Competition organized by Bilbao Musiká in Spain, and during the same year, he received a Latin Grammy nomination for his role as a conductor with the FaM UNAM Symphonic Band on the album Vereda Tropical.

In addition to his conducting appointments, Sánchez has guest conducted many distinguished ensembles and orchestras, such as the Mexican Fine Arts Opera, the Mexican National Dance Company, the UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, the University of Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, the Mexiquense Philharmonic Orchestra, the Youth Orchestra Eduardo Mata University, the Sinaloa Symphony Orchestra of the Arts, the Puebla Symphony Orchestra, the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, the Fine Arts Theater Choir, the Fine Arts Madrigalists Choir, the INBA Ensemble Soloists, the Traditional Choir of the Diaspora in Greece, the Symphonic Band National of Costa Rica, the Integrated Symphonic Band of the Americas in Colombia, the Northern Arizona University Wind Symphony and the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble in the United States, as well as the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Symphonic Band and the Bilbao Municipal Symphonic Band in Spain.

Sánchez studied as a tuba player under the tutelage of Dwight Sullinger and graduated with honors from the Faculty of Music at UNAM. His studies were conducted under the guidance of Ismael Campos, complemented by advanced courses in Mexico, the United States and Spain, with esteemed mentors including Ronald Zollman, Enrique Bátiz, José Vilaplana, Robert Meunier, Franco Cesarini and Fernando Lozano.

Messages from Directors

From the Hop’s Executive Director
It is with great joy that we have witnessed the Mexican Repertoire Initiative grow and expand over the past few years. The huge interest in the project is a testament to the need for creating and supporting authentic Mexican compositions and expansive views of America. The initiative started at Dartmouth and since then, we’ve built partnerships and friendships with counterparts in Mexico and around the U.S., stimulating a new body of work that otherwise might not have been created, work that helps us understand each other and our worlds a bit better. We’re thrilled to reach a new community here in Boston and hope the music delights, inspires and moves you profoundly.

Mary Lou Aleskie
Howard Gilman ’44 Executive Director

From the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble Director
Last spring, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, in realization of the Mexican Repertoire Initiative at Dartmouth, had the opportunity to travel to Mexico in collaboration and partnership with the Banda Sinfónica de la Facultad de Música de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In our concerts in Mexico City and Puebla, we performed and shared original, authentic music of Mexico. This fall, joined by several of our Mexican friends and partners in performance at New England Conservatory’s historic Jordan Hall, it seemed appropriate to turn the tables.

I am excited to present a program of Americana with connections to Boston. However, this is Americana in a truer, broader sense: music of the Americas, music of modern America, and music made possible in America. Emi Nishida, a Boston-based Japanese American composer, was a finalist for the 2020 Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble composition competition with In the Night, We Saw a Shadow. When Jesus Wept is the second movement of William Schuman’s New England Triptych, using hymns by the first United States choral composer and lifetime Boston resident, William Billings. Ciudad Dormitorio by Mexican composer Erick Tapia stretches outside of Boston to the greater Americas, however the title translated as “commuter town” could just as aptly and easily apply to Boston. John Mackey’s gorgeous and heartbreaking immortal thread, so weak was composed while the composer was in residence in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We then close the program with New England Conservatory composition department chair and head of composition at Tanglewood, Michael Gandolfi’s exhilarating Cantares de Galicia.

This version of Americana includes music of foundational and contemporary Boston, the greater Americas, and the influence of immigration in America. The title Be Glad Then, America, which is taken from the first movement of Schuman/Billing’s New England Triptych (not performed today), is used with a sense of irony, sarcasm, hope and celebration.

Brian Messier

In the News

The American Prize National winners: Conductors (band/wind ensemble), 2023

The Hop Launches Second Music Mexico Symposium in Houston

Dartmouth teams up with the University of Houston for event exploring Mexican music.

Wind Ensemble Plays in Mexico

Dartmouth musicians team up with their Mexican counterparts as part of the Mexican Repertoire Initiative at Dartmouth

All News Articles

Mexican Repertoire Collection at Dartmouth

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Dartmouth Wind Ensemble

"The shared experience of making music with this ensemble is the most exhilarating and refreshing thing I've been able to do at Dartmouth." Kevin Gillespie '15 Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble Fall...

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2023/24 Season

What makes a moment? There are certain times that stick with us. Events that define us as individuals, as communities, as society.

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Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble

Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble

The ensemble brings the Mexican Repertoire Initiative to the storied Boston hall, alongside guest conductor Luis Manuel Sánchez and musicians from the UNAM Banda Sinfonica.

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