Up on 10

Copperwave | (2006) Joan Tower (b. 1938)

Laudibus in Sanctis | William Byrd (c. 1540-1623)

Sonata for Brass Quintet | (2008) John Cheetham (b. 1939)

1. Moderato

2. Andante

3. Animato

Intermission

Color, Fabric, Mood | (2021) Julienne K. Tsang (b. 2000)

(Performed as a single movement)

1. Intro - Hesitantly

2. Maroon Velvet: Determined

3. Cyan Chiffon: Melancholy

4. Crimson Satin: Bold

5. Aubergine Silk: Nostalgic

6. Golden Fur: Callous

7. Ivory Wool: Gentile

8. Forest Canvas: Legato

9. Crimson Satin: Bold

10. Azure Tulle: Energized

Music in 6 parts | William Byrd

Haec Dies (1591)

This Sweet May (1590)

Turn our Captivity (1611)

Sing Joyfully

Liza Malamut, trombone

Khorush (خروش) | Noura Hodhodi

Alphorn Antiphon (2023) | Paul Von Hoff (b. 1978)

Winter Breviary Reena Esmail | (b. 1983)

1. We Look for You (Evensong – Raag Hamsadhwani

2. The Year’s Midnight (Matins – Raag Malkauns)

3. The Unexpected Early Hour (Lauds – Raag Ahir Bhairav)

About the Music

Joan Tower writes about her composition, Copperwave, “My father was a geologist and mining engineer and I grew up loving everything to do with minerals and rocks. Copper is a heavy but flexible mineral that is used for many different purposes and most brass instruments are made of copper. The ideas in this piece move in waves, sometimes heavy ones and at other times lighter--also in circles, turning around on the same notes. Occasionally, there is a Latin-type of rhythm that appears, which is a reminder of my years growing up in South America where my father was working as a mining engineer.”

In 2023 musicians all over the world are commemorating the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death. He music is still played, sung, and loved by many. Music from this time period was often written with flexible and unspecified instrumentation. Brass players could join singers or even fill in for them in vocal works - a tradition that Gaudete gladly continues. This is particularly appropriate in Laudibus in Sanctis, Byrd’s setting of Psalm 150, where all the families of instruments (including brass) join in the celebration of praise. In the second half we are joined by Liza Malamut, newly appointed director of Chicago’s Newberry Consort, to perform 4 more of Byrd’s imaginative anthems.

John Cheetham’s Sonata for Brass Quintet is one of Gaudete’s early commissions. It was also the first piece written for us that we got to hear other quintets perform which is particularly exciting for a commissioning group. The first movement is in some ways an expansion on Dr. Cheetham’s youthful and perennially popular Scherzo and its beautiful second moment and tight “horn section” writing of the third movement allow our group (as well as many others) wonderful expressive possibilities.

Julienne K. Tsang’s Color, Fabric, Mood was a piece we had the privilege of performing on an ETHOS New Music Society concert at SUNY Fredonia in the winter of 2023. We loved the idea of the multiple descriptions at the beginning of each section. It generated a lot of discussion in rehearsal about how to perform each section as each of us would be inspired by the listed color, fabric or mood in unique ways. It was a lot of fun to put together. The work also functions as an interesting puzzle as a familiar chime melody is frequently present but not always easy to pick out.

Noura Hodhodi shares that Khorush (خروش) is a Persian word and in English it means uproar. When Natalie first played her alphorn for Gaudete we were in my living room rehearsing. Slightly tight on space, the alphorn bell ended up right behind my chair. We experimented playing a few things and it was striking to hear the similarities of the deep tones of the alphorn and Scott’s tuba sound emerging from both in front of me and behind me at the same time. This became the inspiration for Alphorn Antiphon, a simple chant like tune that mostly takes its harmonic language from the notes of the alphorn’s overtones and the antiphonal spacing of the alphorn and tuba that creates what feels like a new piece in each unique space.

Reena Esmail writes about her Winter Breviary “This set of three carols, on new texts by poet Rebecca Gayle Howell, traces a journey through the solstice, the longest night of the year. The texts follow the canonical hours of Evensong, Matins and Lauds, and the music maps onto Hindustani raags for those same hours (Raag Hamsadhwani, Malkauns, and Ahir Bhairav . This set is a meeting of cultures, and of the many ways we honor the darkness, and celebrate the return of light.”

About the Quintet

Gaudete is made up of five musicians who believe strongly in the expressive and communicative

power of brass chamber music. Since 2004 the quintet has engaged in creatively expanding the brass

quintet repertoire, developing unique programs that have resonated with chamber music audiences

all over the country.

The group has engaged in live performances at venues such as Symphony Space and Merkin Hall in

New York City and Millennium Park in Chicago, commissioned new works from noted composers

such as Stacy Garrop, David Sampson, Jonathan Newman, Kile Smith, John Mackey, and Alice

Jones, and appeared on radio broadcasts on WFMT in Chicago, WQXR in New York, and Nashville

Public Radio. In the 2020-2021 season Gaudete received a grant from Chamber Music America for a series of online concerts broadcast live from our homes using the open source software Jacktrip.

Gaudete has also presented educational programs and concerts at prominent institutions including The Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music, community outreach concerts for the Quad City Arts and the Virginia Arts Festival, and has enjoyed multi-year ensemble-in-residence positions at Carthage College and Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts.

While keeping this rigorous performance schedule, Gaudete has recorded four albums: Brass Outings(2006), winner of the CDBaby Editors’ Choice distinction and nominee for Just Plain Folks Best

Classical Chamber Album; Conversations in Time with organist R. Benjamin Dobey (2011, Pro Organa); Chicago Moves, produced by Grammy winner Judith Sherman and featuring several of its commissioned works (2012, Cedille Records) and sevenfive (2017, Cedille Records) featuring five new works commissioned for Chicago’s John Corigliano 75th birthday festival.

Gaudete (gow-day-tay) is a form of the Latin word for “Joy.” We support the idea that chamber music, even (and perhaps especially) the serious kind, can powerfully communicate both the poignant and the exuberant. To learn more about the Gaudete Brass, please visit www.gaudetebrass.com.

Trumpets - Bill Baxtresser and Charles Russell Roberts

Horn - Natalie Grana Trombone - Paul Von Hoff Tuba - Scott Tegge

Gaudete would like thank everyone who helped make tonight possible,
especially the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra