NEWS | ||
"The entire concert was
filled with music that could be immediately understood and enjoyed.
Dr. Owen's work is exquisitely crafted, filled with obvious
intelligence and compositional integrity, and is also highly
compelling and appealing, as evidenced by the standing ovation at
the evening's end." |
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Coming October 10, 2020The Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale under the dirction of Dr. Gerald Krietzer will perform the 2008 work Canticle Chorale with orchestra at the First Lutheran Church of Cedar Rapids, IA. The Concert Chorale commissioned the three-movement piece in celebration of the 60th anniversary of their founding. Based on haiku poetry written by the composer, Canticle Chorale is an "earth mass" seasonal adoration of our natural surroundings. Additionally, several other Cedar Rapids composers will have works on a program designed to feature area choral composers. Coming October 25th, 2020Miller Borne: The Residency of a Native Son The Music of Jerry Owen featuring Duo Sequenza (flute and guitar) Debra Silvert, flute; Paul Bowman, guitar and supportive musicians in the World Premiere of Pimpaalitaawi Neekawikamionki (Let's Walk Along the Great Sand Sea) for flute and guitar At the Gardner Art Center, Lake Street, Miller Beach, IN (Gary) * * * * * * *
Recently ...
Six artist pianists performed five of Dr. Owen's major piano works at the composer's 75th Birthday Year Celebration Concert in Daehler-Kitchin Auditorium on the campus of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S.A. Performing were Marita Wolgast, Julia Titus, Benjamin Loeb, Rene Lecuona, Abbie Brewer, and Miko Kominami playing the Four Dances for Two Pianos, Sonata 2, selections from Encounters, Sonatina, and Sonata 4. A capacity audience heard the fifth in the series of milestone birthday year concerts (40, 50, 60, 70, and 75) presented by Owen. These videos from the 75th Birthday Year Concert have been posted to YouTube. Here are the titles and the links: Sonata 2 performed by Benjamin Loeb
https://youtu.be/QJ6mQDNJeVw
Sonatina performed by Abbie Brewer https://youtu.be/fW-w_kC0DSg (there is an underscore between the
Encounters mvt. 1, “Salutation” performed by Réne
Lecuona
https://youtu.be/HoztTHxjUx0
(the last character is a zero)
Encounters mvt. 4, “On Seeing a Grant Wood”
performed by Réne Lecuona
https://youtu.be/pn2EpGCVIxs
Encounters mvt. 7, “The Angst in the Air After the
Presence of a Rock Musician” performed by Réne Lecuona * * * Sonata 4, performed by Miko Kominami https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4YX31TR2t8 * * * * * * * A video of Miko Kominami's performance of the Grant Wood Gallery can be found at: * * * * * * *
Navona Records (WFMT) released DUO SEQUENZA Yes It's a Thing, a CD of new music premieres for flute and guitar containing Meshquanowat' (Red-tail Hawk), [nv6225] released through Naxos in April, 2019. * * * * * * * The Duo Sequenza; Debra Silvert, flute, and Paul Bowman, guitar; performed Meshquanowat' at the MidAtalantic Flute Convention in Washington, D.C., on February 18th, 2019 * * * * * * * The Murasaki Duo (Eric Kutz, cello and Miko Kominami, piano) performed Dr. Owen's "Mr. Raggity's Sublime Dance" in recital at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD) March 26, 2018 * * * * * * * Duo Sequenza's Debra Silvert and Paul Bowman (flute/guitar ensemble located in Valparaiso, Indiana), performed the Mesquanowat' in an August 2017 concert featuring living composers with an Indiana connection. Dr. Owen who was born in Gary (Miller), Indiana, and whose first two composition degrees came from Indiana schools was thus featured on the program. A recording has been made and is soon to be released. * * * * * * * After the passing of Dr. Donald H. White in October of 2016, Dr. Owen composed his fourth piano sonata, dedicated to the memory Dr. White. Here is the provenance of this work: When, as an undergraduate, I studied at DePauw University, in Greencastle, Indiana, I met and worked with the man who would become my musical mentor. An admirable composer, Donald H. White was a spiritual, sensitive, knowledgeable, and respected artist teacher. He was a gifted pianist as well. His sense of humor was always just below the surface - - perhaps seriously jolly is the best way to describe him in two words! While studying composition with Don (I always called him Dr. White both directly and indirectly) I wrote three piano sonatas, the third in 1968. I had written no piano sonatas since that third sonata.
In October of 2016 I received word that Don had
passed away at age 95. I was deeply
moved by this news, for not only did this mean my mentor had passed on, but his
October 4th death occurred on my late mother’s birthday.
A great many emotions stirred inside me simultaneously that week and the
piano sonata that had been long growing idly in my musical subconscious suddenly
began birthing itself, coming into the light.
This sonata is dedicated to
Donald H. White, whose initials D.H.W. became the common name students used to identify his favorite
sonority, one that amused him to giggles at times when he played it as a sonic
signal that theory class was beginning.
It became his aural signature!
“He has just played the D.H.W…we’d
better settle down and pay attention!” The sonority is
a six-note bi-chord constructed as an open-structure pair of triads outlining
tenths: E-flat minor over C major.
It is a striking sonority with implications of tension in its rather
jazzy sound. As a hexachord (forming
a six-note scale) it also implies the octatonic (eight-note) scale (alternating
intervals of major and minor seconds, or the converse).
Naturally, the D.H.W. had to be the source material for a sonata dedicated to its
progenitor.
So, after a hiatus of 48 years (!) I began writing a fourth piano sonata.
Its three movements oscillating among energetic, lyrical, or dramatic
musics, form a rather traditional sonata form, unashamedly symmetrical and
unconventionally tonal.
Thank you, Dr. White.
Dr. Owen has recently completed a 16-minute work for flute and guitar entitled RED CEDAR WALTZES at the request of flutist Jan Boland and guitarist John Dowdall, who were the original artist nucleus of Red Cedar Chamber Music. Jan, John, and Jerry Owen have created music in many projects over the span of 35 years, from 1980 to 2015. This new work presents versions of four of those many compositions:“Nota” from GYPSY INSPIRATIONS (2003), HIDDEN TANGO (1999), "I Shall Buy a Black Horse", from TRIO CONCERTANT OVER CZECH FOLK SONGS (2002), and "Allegro" from DUO CONCERTANT (1998). * * * * * * * The complete CONCERTANT OVER CZECH FOLK SONGS, originally written for a trio of flute, viola, and guitar (as commissioned in 2002 by the Red Cedar Chamber Music ensemble) was performed in the chamber orchestra version by the Iowa City Community String Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Carey Bostian, on November 19th, 2017, at the Englert Theater for the Performing Arts in Iowa City, Iowa. * * * * * * * The Murasaki Duo of Eric Kutz, cello, and Miko Kominami, piano, performed MR. RAGGITY'S SUBLIME DANCE at the Arts Club of Chicago in early August, 2017, as part of a recital given there in support of the educational efforts for the Millenium Park Festival (Grant Park Orchestra) Youth Program. That recital was repeated in the Sondheim Theater in the Fairfield Performing Arts and Convention Center in Fairfield, Iowa, as a part of the Concert Association's 2017-18 concert series. The program will be repeated in late March, 2018, at the University of Maryland School of Music, College Park, Maryland. * * * * * * * The Trio Concertant Over Czech Folk Songs originally written for the Red Cedar Chamber Music ensemble was recently performed as the Concertant Over Czech Folk Songs in new media. Its four movements were recently transcribed for chamber orchestra and for string quartet. The chamber orchestra version was performed by the Coe College Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Owen in September of 2016, and the string quartet version has been toured by the newly minted form of the Red Cedar Chamber Music ensemble during their 2016-17 concert series at schools, libraries, and residences, culminating in a "main stage" performance at the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapids, IA, on February 26th, 2017. * * * * * * * Music Director of the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band, Dr. Steve Shanley, premiered a new work for trumpet solo and concert band, SOARING ON AIR, on the concerts of July 13, 2016, at the Johnson STEAM Academy, and 17, at Ellis Park, as a part of their regular season. Trumpeter, commissioner, and dedicatee Alan Naylor was the featured soloist. * * * * * * * Maestro Ivar Lunde, Music Director of the Eau Claire (WI) Chamber Orchestra, selected the Suite From Grant Wood Country to open his final concert as Conductor of that ensemble. The concert was held in Grace Lutheran Church in downtown Eau Claire. A pre-concert interview for broadcast over Wisconsin Public Radio featured Dr. Owen, Maestro/composer Lunde, and composers Cheryl Leah and Edward Willett. The concert took place on April 16, 2016. * * * * * * * Trumpeter Alan Naylor, instructor of trumpet and jazz studies at Coe College and Kirkwood Community College, both in Cedar Rapids, IA, has commissioned Dr. Owen to compose a work for trumpet and concert band. The piece, entitled Soaring On Air, was completed in March of 2016 to be premiered before the end of the year in Cedar Rapids. * * * * * * * A new work for Horn quartet, Horns Fore!, was completed in time for the students of David Law to perform the work at the Iowa State Solo and Ensemble Contest in April of this year. * * * * * * * The Music Teachers’ National Association (MTNA) has announced that Dr. Owen won Honorable Mention in the 2015 national composition competition. The Iowa Music Teachers' Association (IMTA) had selected ,via a State-wide competition, and commissioned a new piano work to be premiered at the State convention in June of 2015. The SONATINA (2015) was performed by pianist Miko Kominami. * * * * * * *
Dr. David Vayo invited Dr. Owen to be guest composer at Illinois Weselyan University
in Bloomington, IL, in early November 2015. In
addition to addressing students in the composition seminar, several
works were presented in concert including selections from the Five
Songs on Poems of Ann Struthers, the piano suite Grant
Wood Gallery, and the cello/piano work Mr.
Raggity’s Sublime Dance.
Dr. Owen’s Four
Songs on Poems by William Blake (1986)
were performed in a pair of concerts in late October 2015. Dr.
Ann Cravero, mezzo soprano, and pianist Jessica Anderson, both of
Drake University, Des Moines, IA, presented two full recitals of
songs composed by members of the Iowa Composers Forum. The
first concert was performed at the Opus Concert Café under the
auspices of Orchestra Iowa and Arts Iowa on Saturday, October 24th . The
second program was at the Des Moines Social Club, on Sunday,
October 25th . Dr.
Cravero has been a featured soloist in Dr. Owen’s work on several
occasions, most recently in the Five
Songs on Poems by Ann Struthers at
the 70th Birthday
Year Concert of Dr. Owen’s music in March, 2015, at Coe College’s
Sinclair Auditorium in Cedar Rapids, IA.
The Iowa Music Teachers’
Association (IMTA, a State chapter of the Music Teachers’ National
Association) has announced that Dr. Owen won the 2015 composition
competition and commission for a new piano work to be premiered at
the State convention in June of 2015. The SONATINA (2015) was performed by pianist Miko Kominami.
THE MAROON SPITTOON AT THE
TYCOON SALOON (a ragtime fantasy) (2009) was performed by the
University of Northern Iowa Brass Quintet at the annual Iowa
Composers Forum Festival of New Music at the University of Northern
Iowa, Cedar Falls, on March 28, 2015.
Dr. Owen's "70th Birthday
Year Concert," a celebration of the composer's works completed in
the last decade, included MR. RAGGITY'S SUBLIME DANCE. Other works
on the program were FIVE SONGS ON POEMS BY ANN STRUTHERS (2007 - -
mezzo soprano Ann Cravero, Miko Kominami, piano; the poet reading
her poetry before each song); SWING FUGUE AND FANTASY VARIATIONS ON
A JAZZ TUNE (2005 - - Harvey Sollberger, flute; Todd Seelye, guitar;
Volkan Orhon, double bass); DANCE MOMENTS (2004 - - Tarn Travers,
violin; Miko Kominami, piano); SUITE FOR A LITTLE ANGEL (2006 - -
Jan Boland, flute; Gretchen Brumwell, harp); THE ANGEL'S LITTLE
BROTHER (2014 - - Jan Boland, flute; Christine Bellomy, clarinet;
Gretchen Brumwell, harp); and SAMBA A TROIS (2014 - - Tarn Travers,
violin; Eric Kutz, cello; Miko Kominami, piano). The concert
was held in Sinclair Auditorium on the campus of Coe College in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on March 8, 2015.
The three-movement suite
THE ANGEL’S LITTLE BROTHER, for flute, clarinet, and harp received
its premier performance at Dr. Owen’s “70th Birthday Year Concert”
celebration at Coe College on March 8, 2015, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Performing were Jan Boland, flute; Christine Bellomy, clarinet;
Gretchen Brumwell, harp.
The six-movement piano
suite, GRANT WOOD GALLERY (2011), had its professional premier by
pianist Miko Kominami on February 19, 2015, at Luther College in
Decorah, Iowa, as one of two large piano works based on paintings by
famous artists. The other was Mussorgsky’s Pictures
at an Exhibition.
GLEE, A CONCERT OVERTURE
(1983) opened the fall concert of the Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra,
conducted by Dr. Carey Bostian II, on October 11, 2014, at the
Indian Hills Community College St. John Auditorium in Ottumwa, Iowa.
Members of the Luther
College Piano Quartet premiered the SAMBA A TROIS (2015) for piano
trio at the Iowa Composers Forum Festival concert at the Opus
Concert Café in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on October 4, 2014. The
trio consisted of violinist Tarn Travers, cellist Eric Kutz, and
pianist Miko Kominami.
The VARIATIONS FOR TWO
TUBAS AND PIANO (1965) and the tuba/piano arrangement of I SHALL BUY A BLACK
HORSE (from TRIO CONCERTANT OVER CZECH FOLK SONGS [2002],
see below) were recorded by John Manning, professor of tuba at the
University of Iowa, for release in the summer of 2014. The recording
was made at the Champagne/Urbana campus of the University of
Illinois.
MR. RAGGITY'S SUBLIME DANCE
(2012) was commissioned by the Murasaki Duo (Eric Kutz, cello; Miko
Kominami, piano) to complement their touring program for a tour of
colleges and universities in the eastern United States in the spring
of 2013. The cello/piano duo premiered the work at Luther College in
March, 2013, and performed it in five succeeding concerts,
concluding the tour with a performance at the Malibu, CA, Music
Festival in August, 2013. A recording of the work is forthcoming.
GRANT WOOD GALLERY (August,
2011) was presented at the 2014 Iowa Composers Concert festival of
New Music at the University of Iowa School of Music on February 15.
The six movement piano suite based on famous paintings by Iowa's
most famous artist was performed by Elise Duvall.
The concert overture GLEE
(1983) was the first work performed by Orchestra Iowa in a concert
to celebrate the newly renovated and re-opened Paramount Theater for
the Performing Arts in Cedar Rapids, in September 2012. The 1928
Victorian-style performance space had been closed for four years by
damage incurred during the devastating flood of June, 2008, which
inundated the entire center of the city in 12 feet of water. Maestro
Timothy Hankewich conducted the gala performance which was aired on
Iowa Public Television.
The premier of several
movements from the piano suite, GRANT WOOD GALLERY (August, 2011),
was presented at the Spring Festival of Music by members of the Iowa
Composers Forum at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, on February 4th,
2012. The pianist was Jessica Paul.
Conductor Carey Bostian of
the Iowa City Community Chamber Orchestra premiered the string
orchestra version of Scherzo on Bagpipes in the Village from the
TRIO CONCERTANT OVER CZECH FOLK SONGS on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, at
theEnglert Theater
in Iowa City. This appearance of an Iowa work marks the continuation
of a long and admirable (6-year) string of concerts that have
featured a work by living composer (mostly Iowa composers),
conducted by Maestro Bostian.
Red Cedar Chamber Music
with cellist Carey Bostian performed the newly penned arrangements
of Serenade on I Shall Buy and Black Horse and Scherzo on Bagpipes
in the Village from the TRIO CONCERTANT OVER CZECH FOLK SONGS at the
First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The October 8,
2012, concert was recorded in both audio and video and uploaded to
YouTube.
The CHILDHOOD SONGS for
soprano, flute, cello, and piano were performed at the New Brunswick
Competitive Festival of Music, May 5, 2011, in Saint John, New
Brunswick, Canada. The Samulnori Quartet
had the honor of presenting the Canadian premier of the humorous
set.
The Red Cedar Chamber Music
recording (Fleur de Son FDS 57974) of GYPSY INSPIRATIONS was
featured on the nationally syndicated NPR show Classical Guitar
Alive (based in Texas) on September 22, 2011. The broadcast has
drawn attention to the pieces from far ranging parts of North
America.
The new ragtime fantasy for
brass quintet, THE MAROON SPITTOON IN THE TYCOON SALOON was
performed by the members of the Orchestra Iowa Brass Quintet on the
evening concert of the Iowa Composers Forum Spring Festival,
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010, in Cedar Rapids. Concert location: Lovely
Lane United Methodist Church, 42nd Street N.E., Cedar Rapids.
The suite of pieces, GYPSY
INSPIRATIONS, was performed by Bret and Annette Heim, the marvelous
Heim Duo of guitar and flute, in these locations at these times:
March 14, 2010 Creagan Concert
Series at the Eichold Gallery,
Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL and April 24, 2010 Christ Church
Concert Series, Christ Church, Pensacola, FL.
The String Ensemble of
Cornell College, conducted by James Ellis, performed I SHALL BUY A
BLACK HORSE in the string orchestra version, in the Recital Hall on
the Cornell campus in Mount Vernon, IA, Monday, April 19, 2010.
April 18 & 22, 2010,
Orchestra Iowa at the Englert Theater
in Iowa City and Coe College in Cedar Rapids performed Owen's TANGO
FOR STRING ORCHESTRA as a part of their "an Iowa composer on every
Masterworks concert" season. This "Signature Sounds" program also
presented works by Bach, Mozart, and Delius. This version of the
TANGO was also performed on two March 20th youth concerts.
April 17, 8:00 p.m., at Coe
College's Sinclair Auditorium, Dr. William Carson conducted the
newly revised AMERICAN CELEBRATION OVERTURE for symphonic band on
the annual Festival of Bands Grand Finale Concert, featuring the Coe
College Concert Band.
Robert Thurston, euphonium
soloist, and the Bonita Springs Concert Band, the official concert
band of Bonita Springs, Florida, performed VARIATIONS FOR EUPHONIUM
AND BAND on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Municipal Park Band Shell,
in downtown Bonita Springs. This fine band is under the direction of
Dr. Dennis Hill, retired Director of Music and Bands, for Edison
State College, Ft. Myers, Florida. Robert Thurston, euphonium
soloist, is principal euphonium, for a number of bands including the
professional Sarasota Concert Band; the National Community Band,
conducted by the former conductor of the U. S. Marine Band, Col.
John Bourgois,
under the sponsorship of the John Phillip Sousa Foundation; and the
Naples Florida Concert Band.
January 25, 2010, John
Mueller, trombone and euphonium professor at the University of
Memphis, in Memphis Tennessee, performed I SHALL BUY A BLACK HORSE
on euphonium in a faculty recital with the clever title of "The
Hunting of theSnark and
other programmatic works." ...BLACK HORSE was commissioned by
University of Northern Iowa tuba professor Jeffrey Funderburk in
2005 in memory of beloved trombonist Bill Behrens. It is an
adaptation of the 2nd movement of the TRIO CONCERTANT OVER CZECH
FOLK SONGS written in 2003 for Red Cedar Chamber Music, an ensemble
of flute, viola, and guitar.
October, 2009: The Maia
String Quartet, in residence at the University of Iowa School of
Music, performed the TANGO AND WATUSI at the composers' festival
which combined performances of works by composers from Region V of
the Society of Composers Inc. and the Iowa Composers Forum at Clarke
College in Dubuque, IA. During the same period the Maia Quartet
performed the TANGO alone at their concert on the Old Capitol Pentacrest.
September through November,
2009, mezzo-soprano Dr. Ann Cravero, Drake University, and pianist
Miko Kominami toured Iowa colleges with a program of song cycles by
Iowa composers featuring Dr. Owen's FIVE SONGS ON POEMS BY ANN
STRUTHERS. September 21, Iowa State University; September 27, Luther
College; November 1, Coe College.
April 18, 2009 - C.R.
Concert Chorale Premieres CANTICLE CHORALE
January 1, 2009 - Coe
College, Cedar Rapids IA, Stewart Memorial Library announces via its
supporter newsletter the "Bibliophile" that an archive of the music
of Jerry Owen has been established. This article and partial list of
works to be archived appeared in the spring volume of Coe's
"Bibliophile."
Owen Compositions Among
Works
The following books and
other creative works by Coe alumni and faculty have been added in
the past year to the George T. Henry College Archives. Among the
entries is a large number of works composed by Alma A. Turechek
Emeritus Professor of Music Jerry Owen, who retired in 2006. Owen
composed nearly 70 works during his years at Coe, including many
written for Coe occasions or people. Prominent among them are "Music
a Coensis:
Music for a Gleeful Rite," which has been performed at every
commencement since 1976, as well as works written for the
inaugurations of Presidents John Brown and James Phifer and
a major composition written in celebration of Coe's Sesquicentennial
in 2001.
Dances of the Mind.
(Orchestral score) Indian Hill Road Music, IHRM 8501-3. Cedar
Rapids, IA, 1983.
Dialog. (a.k.a. Dialog 1 or
I)(viola score) Indian Hill Road Music: Cedar Rapids, IA, 1973.
Dialog III. (Piano/Oboe
score) Pembroke Publications (Carl Fischer, New York). 1973.
Dialog IV. (a.k.a. Dialog
4) Indian Hill Road Music, IHRM 8001. 1980-rev. 2010.
Dialog V. (Bassoon/piano
score). Indian Hill Road Music. 1980.
Dialog VI. (“Smoker”).
Trumpet score. Indian Hill Road Music. 1981.
Dialog VII. (a.k.a.
Dialog VIII, The Wick Dialog). Indian Hill Road Music. 1981.
Duo Concertant. (flute,
guitar, chamber orchestra score). Indian Hill Road Music. 1998.
Flight of the Hawk (a.k.a.
Flight of the J-Hawk) (orchestral score) Indian Hill Road Music:
Cedar Rapids, IA, 2006.
Four Songs on Poems of
William Blake. (vocal/piano score) Indian Hill Road Music: Cedar
Rapids, IA, 1985.
Haiku Set. (vocal/piano
score) Indian Hill Road Music: Cedar Rapids, IA, 1968.
Music for Friends.
(clarinet/viola/piano score) Indian Hill Road Music: Cedar Rapids,
IA, 1982.
One By One.
(SATB/soprano/bass/orchestra score). Indian Hill Road Music: Cedar
Rapids, IA, 2001.
Out of America.
(vocal/piano score) Indian Hill Road Music: Cedar Rapids, IA, 1994.
Pas de deux (a.k.a.
Diversion)(2 saxophone/concert band
score) Indian Hill Road Music, IHRM 7101. 1971-rev. 2010.
Piano Sonata No. 1. (piano
score) Indian Hill Road Music IHRM 6401. 1964.
Piano Sonata No. 2. (piano
score) Indian Hill Road Music IHRM 6802-5. 1968.
String Quartet No. 3
(a.k.a. Tango and Watusi)(string quartet
score) Indian Hill Road Music: Cedar Rapids, IA, 1994
Terrains. (Saxophone
quartet score) Indian Hill Road Music: Cedar Rapids, IA, 1969. |
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