American Masters: Aaron Copland & Leonard Bernstein

The second concert of OSW's Fourth Season will be presented on Sunday, March 11, 2013 at 3:00 pm in the Elkhorn High School Auditorium

(1401 Veterans Drive, Omaha, NE). The program will be dedicated to the music of master composers Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein.

Aaron Copland (1900-1990) forged a distinctive style of composition that was so influential he has been called the "Dean of American Composers." Among his composition teachers were Rubin Goldmark in New York, and Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Copland became best known for his compositions of the 1930s and 1940s including the ballets Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Billy the Kid, and the Fanfare for the Common Man. Copland's Emblems was written for concert band through a commission from Music Educators' National Conference in 1964.

For the American Masters concert OSW will perform three of Copland's works, Fanfare for the Common Man, A Lincoln Portrait, and "Variations on a Shaker Melody," the last section of Appalachian Spring.

OSW will be joined By KETV Senior News Anchor Rob McCartney who will serve as narrator for Lincoln Portrait. McCartney is an experienced musician having played euphonium in high school, and has narrated Lincoln Portrait on several occasions.

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) is well known as a conductor and as a composer for serious music as well as hit Broadway musicals. Undoubtedly, his best known work is West Side Story, but his symphonies and Mass show his skill in the classical genre as well. Bernstein came to public attention in 1943, when he first conducted the New York Philharmonic, substituting at the last moment for an ailing Bruno Walter. In 1944, his musical On The Town opened and gained popularity for his energetic dance scenes choreographed by Jerome Robbins. The pair collaborated a decade later on West Side Story. Bernstein remained an active conductor throughout his life and was a major interpreter of the composer/conductor Gustav Mahler.

Omaha Symphonic Winds will perform a suite drawn from Bernstein's musical Candide, Three Dance Episodes from On The Town, and the rollicking overture Slava! written to honor his friend, the Russian cellist Mistislav Rostopovich, on becoming the principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Tickets for the March 11th concert are $10 adults, $5 seniors and students, and $25 for families of 3 or more.

For more information visit http://www.omahasymphonicwinds.org/ or call William Hall at 402.575.8220.

ROB McCARTNEY TO APPEAR WITH OMAHA SYMPHONIC WINDS

KETV Senior News Anchor, Rob McCartney will collaborate with Omaha Symphonic Winds in a performance of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” on Sunday, March 24, 2013, at 3:00 PM in the Elkhorn High School Auditorium. McCartney’s appearance is part of OSW’s American Masters concert featuring the works of Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein.

Although Rob grew up in an Air Force family and lived in a number of different states, he has spent more than 35-years in Nebraska, marrying a local girl, and raising three children. He graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln majoring in Journalism, and spent much of his time playing sports and music.

Rob first came to KETV as the station's Capital Bureau Chief in 1992 and then moved to the Anchor desk in 1995. As Senior Anchor for KETV Newswatch 7, Rob has been honored with numerous awards for his work and has had the opportunity to cover stories from Bosnia, to the White House, to flying with the Blue Angels, to going into a burning house as part of a firefighting crew, to Husker National Championship games.

Rob is involved in several charitable organizations and feels being part of the community is an important part of being a civic leader. If he isn’t volunteering or on KETV, Rob’s probably doing something with his lovely bride, Sherry, playing with the kids and the dog, messing around with the guitar, or on the golf course. Rob is an experienced bandsman, having played euphonium in his high school band.

For the concert, Rob will perform the narration on “Lincoln Portrait.” Aaron Copland assembled the script from several of Abraham Lincoln’s speeches. The work was commissioned in 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, by conductor Andre Kostelanetz for an upcoming concert tour. The patriotic message of Lincoln’s words have inspired audiences ever since. Rob has performed the narration on several occasions.

In addition to “Lincoln Portrait,” Omaha Symphonic Winds will also perform Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” and “Variations on a Shaker Melody.” compositions by Leonard Bernstein will include “Candide Suite,” “Lonesome Town” from the musical On the Town, and the rollicking overture “Slava!”

Admission for the concert is $10 adults, $5 seniors and students, and $25 for families of 3 or more. Tickets are available at the door. For more information contact William Hall at 402.575.8220 or email whall@omahasymphonicwinds.org.

Omaha Symphonic Winds presents MONUMENTS

Omaha Symphonic Winds will present the third concert of the season, “MONUMENTS,” on Sunday, May 5, 2013, at 3:00 pm in the Elkhorn High School Auditorium (1402 Veterans Drive). Two monuments of the concert band repertoire, the Giannini “Symphony No. 3” and the Mennin “Canzona” will highlight the program. Featured soloist is Jaime Tyser, trumpet, who will perform the Oskar Böhme concerto in F minor. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 seniors/students, and $25 for families of 3 or more. More info at www.omahasymphonicwinds.org or call 402.575.8220.

Vittorio Giannini (1903-1968) came from a well-known Philadelphia operatic family. He studied composition at the Milan Conservatory and at Julliard, and taught at the Manhattan School of Music, Curtis Institute, and North Carolina School of the Arts. Giannini created four works for band, including the Symphony No. 3, which was commissioned by Duke University in 1958. The symphony is cast in the conventional four movement forms with beautiful soaring melodies and lush harmonies. 

Peter Mennin (1923-1983) was born in Erie, Pennsylvania and studied music at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. For many years Mennin was President of the Julliard School of Music. A composer of symphonies and chamber music, Mennin was commissioned in 1951 by Edwin Franko Goldman through the League of Composers to write a piece for concert band. Mennin chose the Renaissance instrumental form of Canzona for this work. The music alternates between chordal and polyphonic textures while frequently employing imitation, characteristics of the Renaissance style.

FEATURED SOLOIST: JAIME TYSER

Jaime recently earned her Master of Music degree at Lynn University where she studied with Marc Reese, second trumpet of the Empire Brass Quintet.  She grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska and completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance in the studio of Dr. Keith Benjamin. Jaime was a National Trumpet Competition semi-finalist in 2009, winner of the 2009 Lincoln Municipal Band Young Artist Competition, and the 2008 Lincoln Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition. In the summer of 2010 she attended the summer program at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians.

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