2024 Performance Tour

Monday, February 19, 2024

• 12:15 p.m. Metea Valley High School (Aurora, IL)
• 7 p.m. Wheaton Warrenville South High School (Wheaton, IL)–joint concert with Wheaton Warrenville South High School Wind Ensemble

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

• 9:15 a.m. Batavia High School (Batavia, IL)
• 1:45 p.m. Oswego East High School (Oswego, IL)
• 7 p.m. Naperville North High School (Naperville, IL)–joint concert with Naperville North High School Wind Ensemble

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

• 7 p.m. Illinois State University Center for the Performing Arts–joint concert with Morton High School Wind Ensemble (Morton, IL)

Anthony C. Marinello, III, conductor

• Flute
  Alexandra Adrowski
  Christopher Bulding
  Chelsea Davis
  Gina Russell*

• Oboe
  Melanie Castillo
  Emma Edwards
  Elli Ji*

• Bassoon
  Kendra Chaney*
  Rosalie Truback
  Emma Turner

• Clarinet
  Olivia Ariza
  Erin Brown
  Ryan Daimid
  Alec Jenkins*
  Hunter Kitterlin
  Charlie Miller
  Holly Peters
  Christian Rucinski*
  Nicole Schmidt

• Saxophone
  Ryan Baur*
  Jennifer Budlong-Brewer
  Thomas Guilfoyle
  Mikey Schelinski

• Horn
  Lydia Cermak
  Kizzie Cobden
  Carly Gussman
  Lucy Harazin
  Jeason Lopez
  Daniel Ota*

• Trumpet
  Lauren Cancio
  Charlie Machamer
  Serena Mielke
  Joshua Mobley
  Alexis Piña*
  Ryan Valdivia

• Trombone
  Joseph Buczko*
  Connor Franke, bass
  Peyton Gray
  Elton Gund

• Euphonium
  Phil Denzmore*
  Joseph Rhykerd

• Tuba
  Micah Crouse*
  Anne Griffin

• Percussion
  Jack Cacciabondo
  Elias Castillo
  Sara Eckert*
  Hannah Fedorchak
  Nadia Jensen
  Sam Kelly
  Ry Montgomery

• Double Bass
  Jay Cebrero

• Keyboard
  Jay Cebrero

• Electronics
  Olesia Pupina

• *Denotes Principal or Co-Principal

• Graduate Teaching Assistants:
  Jeason Lopez
  Christopher Bulding
  Alexis Piña

Airborne
Year Composed: 2023, Duration: 4:00

Peyton Gray is a composer from Evansville, Indiana. His music is largely inspired by nature and his own life experiences. Gray is in his fourth and final year at Illinois State University currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in music composition.

He has studied composition with Dr. Roy Magnuson, Dr. Carl Schimmel, Dr. Alex Stephenson, and Dr. Roger Zare, and studied trombone with Dr. Mark Babbitt. During his time at Illinois State University, he has performed with the Wind Symphony, Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Winds, Symphonic Band, University Band, Big Red Marching Machine, Trombone Choir, and the Cookin’ with Brass Quintet. Gray has had many of his pieces premiered at student composer concerts held every semester and has had several pieces read by the ISU Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra. 

Program notes by composer:

Airborne is a thrilling piece that captures the essence of flight. The piece explores contrasting ideas of flying, from calm and weightless moments to an intense, turbulent, and breathtaking soundscape highlighted by fanfare-like elements in the brass and sweeping technical passages in the woodwinds. 

Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537
Year Composed: 1723/1997, Duration: 8:30

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg concerti, the Mass in B minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, two Passions, keyboard works, and more than 300 cantatas, of which nearly 100 cantatas have been lost to posterity. His music is revered for its intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty.

Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach, into a great musical family; his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the director of the town musicians, and all of his uncles were professional musicians. His father probably taught him to play violin and harpsichord, and his brother, Johann Christoph Bach, taught him the clavichord and exposed him to much contemporary music. Apparently at his own initiative, Bach attended St Michael's School in Lüneburg for two years. After graduating, he held several musical posts across Germany: he served as Kapellmeister (director of music) to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, Cantor of the Thomasschule in Leipzig, and Royal Court Composer to August III. Bach's health and vision declined in 1749, and he died on July 28, 1750. Modern historians believe that his death was caused by a combination of stroke and pneumonia.

Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognized as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the nineteenth century. He is now generally regarded as one of the main composers of the Baroque period, and as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Program notes from UT-Austin Wind Ensemble:

Many compositions by J.S. Bach have been the source for wind orchestrations over the past century. The four-voice chorale settings, the chorale preludes, and especially the contrapuntal large-scale works for organ, have provided editors, transcribers, and arrangers with a high level of musical inspiration as well as ample opportunity for the development of wind timbres and textures.

The Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537, is unique among Bach compositions in that little is known about its origin. According to F. K. Griepenkerl (in 1845), it was found in a book from the estate of J. L. Krebs, a famous pupil of Bach, in a very careful manuscript copy, with the inscription “Soli Deo Gloria den 10, Januarii, 1751.” This would indicate that it had been copied less than one half a year after Bach’s death. 

American Hymnsong Suite 
Year Composed: 2007, Duration: 10:00

Major Dwayne S. Milburn is an American composer, conductor and military officer. In 1986, Dr. Milburn graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a B.F.A. in music and received a Master of Music in orchestral conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1992. He received his Ph.D. in music from UCLA in 2009.

During his undergraduate career, Major Milburn was an arranger for the UCLA band and choral programs, as well as the Special Projects Division of ABC-TV. Upon graduation, he became the director of cadet music for the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, serving as the conductor for the internationally renowned West Point Glee Club. During graduate studies in Cleveland, he contributed several arrangements to the Cleveland Orchestra.

Prior to his Ph.D. studies, Major Milburn served as one of 24 commissioned officer conductors in the United States Army Band Program. His assignments included duties as the associate bandmaster for the U.S. Continental Army Band, Fort Monroe, Virginia; The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” Washington, DC; and the U.S. Army Europe Band and Chorus, Heidelberg, Germany. He also commanded the Army Ground Forces Band in Atlanta, Georgia. Since he completed his Ph.D. studies, he resumed his military service and currently serves as the commander and conductor of the U.S. Army Europe Band and Chorus in Heidelberg. Among his military honors are the President Benjamin Harrison Award, the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and the NATO Medal.

Major Milburn is active as a composer, conductor, and adjudicator. He has received commissions from the instrumental programs at UCLA, the University of North Texas, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His choral and wind ensemble works are published by the Alfred, Kjos and Ludwig Masters Music companies.

From 2005-2009, Major Milburn was the composer-in-residence for the Music Guild of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Pacific Palisades, California. During that time, he wrote three major works for the St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra and contributed over 25 anthems, several psalm settings, and a major service music setting to the parish choral music program. Major Milburn continues to serve as an instrumental adjudicator for the Heritage Music Festival series and is currently completing commissioned works for Pacific Serenades Chamber Ensemble in Los Angeles, California and Vocal Arts Ensemble in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Dr. Milburn currently teaches composition and conducting at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Program note by the composer:

American Hymnsong Suite is firmly rooted in my family history as church musicians. I grew up singing and playing many different hymns, including the four tunes featured in this work. The final impetus to compose this particular treatment came during the course of an organ concert in Atlanta, Georgia. One section of the program featured innovative settings of three hymns. With the gracious consent of composers Joe Utterback and Brooks Kukendall, I adapted their settings to act as the inner movements of the suite, bracketed with my own original treatments of favorite hymns.

The Prelude on Wondrous Love (“What Wondrous Love is This”) opens with a chant-like statement of this Southern tune before proceeding to a more kinetic retelling. Ballad on “Balm in Gilead” features a rich jazz harmonization of this familiar spiritual. The Scherzo on “Nettleton” (“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”) contains all the rhythmic playfulness inherent in the best orchestral third movements, and the March on “Wilson” (“When We All Get to Heaven”) calls to mind the wildest marching band ever heard.

While audience members will certainly make various connections to this piece, the ongoing goal is to introduce all listeners to the richness of our American musical heritage.

The Liberty Bell
Year Composed: 1893/2001, Duration: 4:00

John Philip Sousa was America's best-known composer and conductor during his lifetime. Sousa was born the third of 10 children of John Antonio Sousa (born in Spain of Portuguese parents) and Maria Elisabeth Trinkhaus (born in Bavaria). Sousa's father, Antonio, played trombone in the U.S. Marine band, so young John grew up around military band music. Sousa started his music education, playing the violin, as a pupil of John Esputa and G. F. Benkert for harmony and musical composition at the age of six. He was found to have absolute pitch. When Sousa reached the age of 13, his father, a trombonist in the Marine Band, enlisted his son in the United States Marine Corps as an apprentice. Sousa served his apprenticeship for seven years, until 1875, and apparently learned to play all the wind instruments while also continuing with the violin.

Several years later, Sousa left his apprenticeship to join a theatrical (pit) orchestra where he learned to conduct. He returned to the U.S. Marine Band as its head in 1880 and remained as its conductor until 1892. He organized his own band the year he left the Marine Band. The Sousa Band toured 1892-1931, performing 15,623 concerts. In 1900, his band represented the United States at the Paris Exposition before touring Europe. In Paris, the Sousa Band marched through the streets including the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe – one of only eight parades the band marched in over its forty years.

Sousa wrote 136 marches. He also wrote school songs for several American Universities, including Kansas State University, Marquette University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Minnesota. Sousa died at the age of 77 on March 6, 1932 after conducting a rehearsal of the Ringgold Band in Reading, Pennsylvania. The last piece he conducted was The Stars and Stripes Forever.

Program note by John Philip Sousa: An Annotated Catalog of His Works

For $500 more, this march probably would have been named The Devil's Deputy. Sousa was composing music for an operetta of that name at the request of the famous comedian Francis Wilson. Sousa asked $1500 for the work, but Wilson offered $1000. When they could not come to an agreement, Sousa withdrew his partially completed manuscript, which included a lively march.

Sousa and George Frederick Hinton, one of the band's managers, were in Chicago witnessing a spectacle called America when a backdrop, with a huge painting of the liberty bell, was lowered. Hinton suggested The Liberty Bell would be a good title for Sousa's new march. By coincidence, the next morning Sousa received a letter from his wife in which she told him that their son had marched in his first parade in Philadelphia – a parade honoring the return of the liberty bell, which had been on tour. The new march was then christened The Liberty Bell. It was one of the first marches Sousa sold to the John Church Company and was the first composition to bring Sousa a substantial financial reward.

According to a story told by the Sousa Band's first soprano, Marcella Lindh, she contributed one of the themes of the march. Sousa had heard her whistling a catchy tune of her own and had asked her permission to incorporate it into one of his marches. Several years later she heard The Liberty Bell march being performed by a band in Europe and recognized her own melody in the march.

Ara Bátur
Year Composed: 2008/2010, Duration: 9:00

Kjartan Sveinsson is former keyboardist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. He joined the band in 1998. Being something of a multi-instrumentalist, he has also played such instruments as the flute, tin whistle, oboe and even the banjo, as well as many of the unorthodox instruments that contribute to Sigur Rós's distinctive sound. He also plays the guitar.

Kjartan has performed under the pseudonym "The Lonesome Traveller" with Sigur Rós bandmate Orri Páll Dýrason and Amiina violinist María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir (whom Kjartan married in 2001). "The Lonesome Traveller" covered Sigur Rós songs acoustically in an alt-country style. Kjartan also composed scores for the 2005 Academy Award nominated short film Síðasti bærinn (The Last Farm), for award winning director Ramin Bahrani's 2009 short film Plastic Bag which features the narration of legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, and for the 2009 film Ondine directed by Neil Jordan. Kjartan also contributes to Sigur Rós's orchestral and string arrangements, along with the group Amiina. He is also featured heavily on The Album Leaf's album, In a Safe Place, playing a wide variety of instruments.

Kjartan is a member of the advisory board for Kraumur Music Fund, which aims to "strengthen Icelandic musical life, primarily by supporting young musicians in performing and presenting their works."

Program notes by California State University-Stanislaus:

Ara Bátur (Row Boat) is a track originally recorded by the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós and composed by band member Kjartan Sveinsson. The work of Sigur Rós is compelling for many reasons, but especially because of the unique sound world they create through a mélange of acoustic and electronic sounds. Their music typically evokes paradoxical feelings that strike listeners deeply, of intimate openness, hopeful longing, or satisfied yearning, for instance.

This track, originally scored for solo vocalist, electric bass, piano, orchestra, and children’s choir, has been reimagined by arranger David Vickerman for bass, piano, wind ensemble, and women’s choir in an evocative, haunting, and inspired translation to concert performance. The text is sung to an absent companion, a steadfast friend who brought inspiration and support even while being a handful themselves; it is sung with obvious love for the absent companion. It is a simple piece, and in its simplicity lays its evocative power. Two musical ideas, spun out slowly and carefully, end with a life-affirming wave that breaks, crashes, and leaves the singer alone at the very end, considering how companionship makes life more bearable for all of us. 

Dionysiaques, Op. 62, No. 1
Year Composed: 1913/2011, Duration: 10:00

Florent Schmitt was a French composer. He began composition lessons with local composer Gustave Sandre, before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19. While at the Conservatoire, he studied with composers like Gabriel Faure and Theodore Dubois, winning the Prix de Rome in 1900.

Throughout his life, he composed for most major forms of music, except for opera. His style was primarily impressionistic, similar to that of Debussy, but also included elements of Wagner and Richard Strauss. His Piano Quintet in B minor, composed in 1908, helped to establish his reputation, but today his most famous compositions are La tragedie de Salome and Psaume XLVII (Psalm 47). It has been speculated that Schmitt’s involvement in World War I brought him into contact with military bands, which influenced his compositions to included pieces for such ensembles.

Program notes by Cynthia Johnston Turner:

Dionysiaques was composed for the 100-member Garde Républicaine Band in Paris in 1913, mere months after Schmitt attended the premiere performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Its own premiere had to wait until 1925 because of World War I, but it has been performed frequently since the mid-20th century and it now stands as one of the cornerstone pieces of the early wind band repertoire.

The title comes from the “Dyonisia”, ancient Greek celebrations honoring Dionysus, the god of wine. He was thought to have provided man with the vineyard, and subsequently the harvest, winemaking, drunkenness, and the means for mystical trances.

The piece itself begins ominously as the low brass and woodwinds set the stage for an exotic and almost hypnotic journey. Schmitt’s impressionistic tendencies are immediately evident: wandering melodies emerge in the woodwinds and gradually gain momentum. Their fluidity is slowly abandoned in favor of festivity, perhaps encouraged by the ‘fluid’ of Dionysus, be it red or white. The bacchanal eventually bursts forth, brimming with rhythmic vitality and a relentless insistence on partying all the way to the verge of control, and perhaps a bit beyond.

Dr. Anthony C. Marinello, III serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Illinois State University where he is the conductor and music director of the Illinois State University Wind Symphony. In addition to overseeing all aspects of the wind band program, he leads the graduate program in wind conducting and teaches undergraduate courses in instrumental conducting.

As conductor of the Illinois State University Wind Symphony, Dr. Marinello has collaborated with numerous esteemed colleagues and composers including William Bolcom, Steven Bryant, Donald Grantham, and Chen Yi. He is also active in the commissioning and performing new works for wind band including a recent commission, world premiere, and subsequent recording of Come Sunday for wind ensemble by composer Omar Thomas.

He joined the faculty at Illinois State University after serving at The University of Texas at Austin as the Assistant Director of the Longhorn Band and Director of the Longhorn Pep Band. Prior to his appointment at The University of Texas, Marinello served on the faculty of Virginia Tech as Assistant Director of Athletic Bands. Marinello has previously taught in the public schools of Louisiana, Ohio, and Texas and remains committed to serving the music education community as an active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator.

Dr. Marinello has been inducted into Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Illinois State University College of Fine Arts Service Initiative Award, the Illinois State University College of Fine Arts Research Initiative Award, the Illinois State University New Faculty Start-up Award, The Eyes of Texas Excellence Award, and the Delta Omicron Music Professor of the Year Award at Virginia Tech. He has received invitations to participate in the National Band Association’s International Conductor’s Symposium in Rome, Italy, the West Point Conducting Workshop, and the National Band Association’s Young Conductor Mentor Project.

Dr. Marinello holds memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, the National Association for Music Education, Tau Beta Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Marinello holds the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Louisiana State University, the Master of Music Degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from The University of Texas at Austin.

Illinois State University

We at Illinois State University work as a diverse community of scholars with a commitment to fostering a small-college atmosphere with large-university opportunities. We promote the highest academic standards in our teaching, scholarship, public service, and the connections we build among them. We devote all of our resources and energies to creating the most supportive and productive community possible to serve the citizens of Illinois and beyond.

Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts

The Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts at Illinois State University is comprised of the Schools of Art, Music, Theatre and the Creative Technologies program. Degrees offered include the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Music Education, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Music Education, and Master of Fine Arts.

Students study in highly specialized studios, laboratories, and classrooms with highly trained faculty who are committed educators and practicing artists/scholars. Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts students not only meet the admission standards of Illinois State, but also meet rigorous admission standards of the College. As a result, graduates of the College enter into fulfilling careers and lives in a variety of arts and arts-related professions.

All students in the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts are expected to understand how the arts influence the larger society and, conversely, must understand how the world at large must inform their work. To this end, the College embraces the liberal education of artists and values the training of artists in the context of a university.

School of Music

Music has played a significant role at Illinois State University throughout its 162-year history. The School of Music enrolls nearly 400 undergraduate and graduate music majors who study with a dedicated teaching faculty of 50 that include world-class performers, published scholars, and leading educators. Undergraduate programs lead to degrees in music education, performance, music therapy, jazz studies, music business, arts technology, and music theory/composition. The graduate program offers a Master of Music Education and five sequences in the Master of Music: performance, music therapy, conducting, composition, jazz performance, string pedagogy, and collaborative piano.

Bands at Illinois State University

The Illinois State University Bands will promote and foster the highest artistic achievement in music-making, music learning, and musical experience for our student musicians and our patrons. We will create a diverse educational environment that addresses the needs of our future performers, educators, and scholars with a commitment to the growth of each individual as an artist.

We will foster the growth of the wind band medium by carefully creating concert experiences for our students and audiences that uphold essential histories and traditions but also innovatively look to future possibilities. We will support recognized and promising composers and seek out new opportunities for creative collaborations.

The Illinois State University Bands will strive to become a cultural destination for the university and its surrounding community by maintaining a welcoming environment for students across campus and the community at large. We will expand the impact of Illinois State University through outreach, service, and leadership at the community, state, national, and international levels.

Illinois State University Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts

• Jean Miller, Dean
• Sara Semonis, Associate Dean
• Janet Tulley, Associate Dean

Illinois State University School of Music

• Adriana Ransom, Director
• David Collier, Associate Director
• Angelo Favis, Graduate Coordinator

• Mack Wood, Associate Director of Bands
• TJ Mack, Assistant Director of Bands
• Lydia Sheehan, Bands Administrative Clerk
• Jeason Lopez, Bands Graduate Teaching Assistant

• Kim Risinger, Flute
• Jillian Kouzel, Oboe
• David Gresham, Clarinet
• Anne Dervin, Clarinet
• Midori Samson, Bassoon
• Paul Nolen, Saxophone
• Rachel Hockenberry, Horn
• Anne McNamara, Trumpet
• Mark Babbitt, Trombone
• Andy Rummel, Euphonium and Tuba
• David Collier, Percussion
• Ben Stiers, Percussion
• Phillip Hash, Coordinator of Music Education
• Trevor Gould, School of Music Facilities Manager
• Nick Benson, Coordinator, Center for the Performing Arts