PROGRAM NOTES and COMPOSER BIOGRAPHIES

Partita for Wind Quintet- Irving Fine

Irving Fine (1914-1962) studied with Walter Piston at Harvard University and with Nadia Boulanger at Radcliffe College and in Paris. He worked as composer, scholar and conductor, teaching at Harvard, Tanglewood and Brandeis. A close associate of Copland, Stravinsky, Koussevitzky and Bernstein, his works of 1940s show the strong influence of neo-classicism, combining formal precision, instrumental clarity, rhythmic suppleness and lively counterpoint. From the 1950s onwards, romantic ingredients appear, particularly an intense lyricism, combined increasingly with serial procedures. His last completed work before his untimely death was Symphony (1962), which he conducted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Fine's output also includes immaculately crafted chamber music and a series of imaginative choral works.

Pastorale-Amy Beach

Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (Mrs. H.H.A. Beach) (1867-1944) was born in New Hampshire. Musically precocious, she sang improvised harmony parts at age two, composed at age four, and began piano studies with her mother, Clara Imogene Marcy Cheney, at age six, giving her first public recitals at seven. In 1875 the Cheney family moved to Boston, where Amy studied piano, harmony, counterpoint, an composition. In 1885 she made her piano debut with the Boston Symphony. That same year she married Dr. Henry Beach, a socially prominent doctor, Harvard professor, and musical amateur. In accordance with his wishes, she limited her public appearances and concentrated on composition until after his death in 1910. In 1911 she traveled to Germany, where she toured as a virtuoso pianist, playing and accompanying her own works to critical acclaim. In 1914 she returned to the United States, where she maintained an active schedule of winter touring and summer composing for many years. Mrs. Beach composed works in many genres, including a Mass, a symphony, a piano concerto, and works for chamber ensembles, piano, mixed chorus, and solo voice. Her thirty works for women's chorus, including several cantatas, are well-crafted in a romantic idiom, always with intelligent text setting.

Amnesia Breaks-Lee Hyla

Lee Hyla was born in Niagara Falls, New York, and grew up in Greencastle, Indiana. He has written for numerous performers including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet (with Allen Ginsberg), Speculum Musicae, the Lydian String Quartet, Tim Smith, Tim Berne, Rhonda Rider, Stephen Drury, Mia Chung, Judith Gordon, Mary Nessinger, and Boston Musica Viva. He has received commissions from the Koussevitzky, Fromm, Barlow, and Naumburg Foundations, the Mary Flagler Carey Charitable Trust, Concert Artists' Guild, two commissions from Chamber Music America and two Meet the Composer/ Reader's Digest Consortium commissions. He has also been the recipient of the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a Guggenheim fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, the Goddard Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the St. Botolph Club Award, and the Rome Prize. His music has been recorded on Nonesuch, New World, Avant, Tzadik, and C.R.I., and is published exclusively by Carl Fischer. He currently lives in Boston where he is co-chairman of the composition department at the New England Conservatory.

Village Music-Scott Wheeler

Village Music was commissioned for Arcadian Winds by CrossCurrents, Margaret McAllister, director. Mr. Wheeler writes: "The village in the title of this wind quintet is an imaginary one, with no specific ethnographic locale. Also imaginary is a song called The Man in a Sycamore Tree, which concludes this set of interconnected fanfares and dances."

Composer Scott Wheeler (born 1952, Washington, D.C.) has received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Koussevitsky Foundation, the Fromm Foundation, Tanglewood, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Artist Foundation, Yaddo, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the MacDowell Colony. He is a recipient of the 1999 Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Scott Wheeler's works have been commissioned and performed by the orchestras of Minnesota, Houston and Indianapolis, New York City Opera, soprano Renée Fleming, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, the John Oliver Chorale, the New England Composers Orchestra, the Chicago Contemporary Players, Parnassus, the Newport Music Festival and Dinosaur Annex. Excerpts from his opera Democracy, on a libretto of Romulus Linney, were featured in "Showcasing American Composers" at New York City Opera in May of 2000 in a presentation starring soprano Lauren Flanigan. Scott Wheeler's music can be heard on GM Recordings, Northeastern Records, Palexa and Koch International. He teaches at Brandeis University and Emerson College in Boston, where he is Artistic Director of Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble. He studied at Amherst College, New England Conservatory and Brandeis University. His teachers include Virgil Thomson, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Arthur Berger and Lewis Spratlan.

Woodwind Quintet-Gunther Schuller

Gunther Schuller has written a wide range of orchestral and chamber music as well as jazz compositions. As an educator, he was associated with the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood for twenty-two years, mostly as its artistic director, and he was president of the New England Conservatory of Music from 1967 to 1977. He is the author of two landmark studies of the history of jazz, Early Jazz and The Swing Era, and in 1997 published The Compleat Conductor. He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant and in 1995 received the Pulitzer Prize in Music.

Picnic Music-Daniel Pinkham

I composed Picnic Music, An Arcadian Pastorale for Wind Quintet in the summer of 2000. This twelve-minute work was designed to be essentially light-hearted. I. We search for a rural and secluded spot: A seeking recitative alternates with a flowing melody in triple meter. II. We open the picnic basket: A duet between oboe and bassoon first presents the melodic material subsequently played by the other instruments. III. We enjoy the tranquility and the fine weather: A long cantilena from the oboe introduces this tranquil movement. IV. Refreshed by rustic pleasures, we return home: The finale, a lively and rhythmic rondo, combines humor with brilliance. The work is dedicated to The Arcadian Winds, the adventuresome and responsible Boston-based ensemble that has done much for the advancement of new repertoire for wind quintet.

Daniel Pinkham was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on 5 June 1923. He studied organ and harmony at Phillips Academy, Andover, with Carl F. Pfatteicher; then at Harvard with A. Tillman Merrit, Walter Piston, Archibald T. Davison and Aaron Copland. He also studied harpsichord with Putnam Aldrich and Wanda Landowska, and organ with E. Power Biggs. At Tanglewood he studied composition with Arthur Honneger and Samuel Barber, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger. He has taught at Simmons College, Boston University, Dartington Hall (Devon, England), and was a Visiting Lecturer At Harvard University (1957-58). In 1950 he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and in 1962 a Ford Foundation Fellowship as a choral conductor. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music where he is senior professor in the Musicology Department. He is Music Director Emeritus of historic King's Chapel in Boston where he actively served from 1958 until 2000. He is the recipient of six honorary degrees: Litt D., Nebraska Wesleyan university, 1976; Mus D., Adrian College, 1977; Mus D., Westminster Choir College, 1979; Mus D., New England Conservatory, 1993; Mus D., Ithaca College, 1994; Mus D., Boston Conservatory, 1998.

the PERFORMERS

ARCADIAN WINDS was formed at Boston University in 1987. Originally a woodwind trio consisting of flute, clarinet, and bassoon, the ensemble expanded to a wind quintet in 1989. Since its inception, the group has presented numerous recitals in the New England area, including frequent performances at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Fogg Art Museum, King's Chapel, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the All-Newton Music School, Gordon College, the South Shore Conservatory, and Boston University. With an emphasis on contemporary music, Arcadian Winds has premiered many compositions written especially for the group, and has presented seminars and concerts introducing younger audiences to contemporary music. Arcadian Winds is a regular participant on many contemporary music concert series, including ALEA III, the Warebrook (Vermont) Contemporary Music Festival, Cross Currents, and Composers in Red Sneakers. The members of Arcadian Winds serve as the core wind faculty for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and are active teachers and performers. The group has released two recordings: Bay of Dew, a CD of contemporary works written especially for Arcadian Winds, and a cassette of transcriptions and arrangments by Arcadian Winds clarinetist Mark Miller. Arcadian Winds is artist ensemble-in-residence at the South Shore Conservatory.

MATTHEW DOHERTY (flute), received his Bachelor of Music Degree from the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, Berea, Ohio, in 1986, where he studied with William Hebert, principal Piccolo of the Cleveland Orchestra, and Alice Chalifoux, principal Harp of the Cleveland Orchestra. He then earned a Master of Music Degree from Boston University in 1988, studying with Doriot Anthony Dwyer, principal Flute of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Doherty is a founding member of the Arcadian Winds woodwind quintet, which performs throughout New England. He has appeared as a soloist at the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival in Newport, Vermont, performances with CrossCurrents, Boston's FirstNight Celebration, and Arcadian Winds concert series. Mr. Doherty also performs regularly with The Gilded Harps of Boston and Copley Chamber Players of Boston. Mr. Doherty has coached chamber music for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he is on the adjunct faculty at the Walnut Hill School in Natick, Massachusetts, and Northeastern University in Boston.

JANE HARRISON (oboe), earned a Bachelor of Music degree at Ohio Wesleyan University. She attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with John Mack, and later received her Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Elaine Douvas. Before coming to the Boston area, Ms. Harrison played professionally with orchestras and chamber groups in Virginia and New York City. She has been a member of Arcadian Winds since 1989, and is also currently free-lancing actively in the New England area, appearing regularly with Emmanuel Music, Boston Academy of Music, Prism Opera, Cantata Singers, King's Chapel Choir, Brandeis Contemporary Chamber Players, Alea III, and the Portland Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in several commercial recordings and radio broadcasts. Ms. Harrison is on the faculty of Boston College, Gordon College, The College of the Holy Cross, The Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and All-Newton Music School.

MARK MILLER (clarinet) currently of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, was born and raised in Pensacola, Florida. He is principal clarinetist of the Cape Cod Symphony and assistant conductor and wind ensembles director for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. He teaches clarinet and chamber music at the South Shore Conservatory, and has performed in the Boston area with the New Bedford Symphony, the Boston Philharmonic, the Central Massachusetts Symphony, the Scarborough Chamber Players, Hyperprisms, and ALEA III. He coaches at Wellesley College's Chamber Music Center and the South Shore Conservatory Summer Wind Ensemble. Mr. Miller holds bachelor's degrees in clarinet and composition from Florida State University, and a master's in composition from Boston University. He has studied clarinet with Fred Ormand, Michael Webster, and Thomas Martin, and composition with Harold Schiffman, Theodore Antoniou, Joyce Mekeel, and Robert Sirota. Mr. Miller appears as clarinet soloist on several recordings by the Zamir Chorale of Boston, and his arrangements have been performed and recorded by Arcadian Winds.

JOHN PAUL AUBREY (horn) began his studies on horn in Santa Barbara, CA with Richard Dunn, Vincent De Rosa, and James Decker. He received a Bachelors Degree in Music Performance from Boston University, where his principal teacher was Daniel Katzen. In the summer of 1991 John traveled to London to study Baroque and Classical horn with Anthony Halstead. John has played principal horn with Emmanuel Music, The Rhode Island Philharmonic, The New Hampshire Symphony, The Portland Symphony, as well as orchestras in Houston, Mexico, and Portugal and is currently principal horn with the New York City Opera National Company. As a member of Boston's Arcadian Winds and as a soloist, John has participated in the premieres of more than 20 new works, including Alan Anderson's Cloud Caller for solo horn. He is featured on the Arcadian Winds' premiere CD Bay of Dew. He is a regular participant at the Warebrook Contemporary Music Festival and has been a featured recitalist in Boston, Houston, and Colorado. On period instruments John also performs regularly with the Handel and Haydn Society, The Chanticleer Sinfonia, and appears on the CD, The Virtuoso Double Bass with the Musicians of the Old Post Road.

JANET UNDERHILL (bassoon), a native of British Columbia, Canada, is the Chamber Music Manager for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra , Director of Instrumental Music at St. Mark's School, as well as bassoon instructor at Boston College. She is a founding member of Arcadian Winds. As a freelancer Ms. Underhill has performed with The Moody Blues, Placido Domingo, Tony Bennett and The Panamanian National Symphony Orchestra. Solo performances include concertos with The Pittsburgh Symphony, Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Little Orchestra of Victoria, several concerts including Audible Visions, Boston College, Boston University, as well as performances at the International Double Reed Conference in Minneapolis, the Gaudeamus Competition in Rotterdam, Holland, The Women's Avant Festival in Chicago, The Outoftowners series in New York City and Soundwaves in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is a member of Alea III, with whom she has been on four Greek tours and most recently St. Petersburg, Russia. As an improviser, Janet Underhill is a member of "Cast of Characters" and has been a member of Spectrum Dance Company, Kaleidoscope Theatre and Networks Orchestra. Also interested in archival projects, she has developed a cataloguing system for ethnic recordings with composer Martin Bartlett, and has organized Gunther Schuller's personal collection.