The Dallas Winds

Jerry Junkin, Artistic Director & Conductor
In his 28th season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Winds, Jerry Junkin is recognized as one of the world’s most highly regarded wind conductors. He has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia since 2003, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music Wind Symphony in Tokyo since 2007. Additionally, 2021-2022 marks his 34th year on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands. There, he also holds the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor. Previously, he served on the faculties of both the University of Michigan and the University of South Florida. In addition to his responsibilities as Professor of Music and Conductor of the Texas Wind Ensemble, he serves as Head of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles and teaches courses in conducting and wind band literature. He is a recipient of multiple teaching awards, and students of Mr. Junkin hold major positions throughout the world. Performances under the direction of Mr. Junkin have won the praise of such notable musicians as John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Gunther Schuller, Karel Husa, William Kraft, Jacob Druckman and Michael Colgrass, among many others. Mr. Junkin has released over 30 compact disc recordings for the Reference, Klavier and Naxos labels. The New York Times named his release on the Reference Recordings label, Bells for Stokowski, one of the best classical CD’s of the year. His performance of Circus Maximus with The University of Texas Wind Ensemble was released on the world’s first Blu Ray audio disc in 5.1 surround sound by Naxos and was nominated for a GRAMMY. During the summer of 2014, he led The University of Texas Wind Ensemble on a four week tour around the world. Mr. Junkin is an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, having conducted All-State bands and festivals in forty-eight states and on five continents. He spends his summers in residence at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, as well as appearing at major music festivals throughout the world. Mr. Junkin has served as President of the Big XII Band Director’s Association and is a member of the Board of Directors of The John Philip Sousa Foundation, is Past-President of the American Bandmasters Association, and is Past President of the College Band Directors National Association. Regularly making guest appearances with ensembles such as the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and the Taipei Symphonic Winds, he continues to conduct throughout the United States in addition to multiple appearances in Japan, China, and Europe. In 2005, he was presented the Grainger Medallion by the International Percy Grainger Society in recognition of his championing of Grainger’s works, and he has received numerous career awards from Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Beta Mu, and the Midwest Clinic, among others. Mr. Junkin is a Yamaha Master Educator.

Thursday, December 16, 2021 – 7:30pm
McCormick Place Convention Center – Chicago, Illinois

Program Notes

Wiener Philharmoniker Fanfare (1924)

Richard Georg Strauss (1864-1949)

Strauss was a musical prodigy whose career spanned the late romantic and early modern eras of classical music.  He grew up in a musical family, and got his earliest musical training from his father, who was principal horn for Court Opera in Munich.  Strauss wrote his first composition at age six, and by his early teens he was composing piano and chamber ensemble pieces, most of which have been lost to history.  He didn’t begin to find his mature musical style until 1885, at age 21.  A spate of his best-known works followed over the next eleven years: the tone poem Don Juan in 1888; Death and Transfiguration in 1889; Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks in 1895; and Also Sprach Zarathustra in 1896.  Over the course of his career, he wrote operas, lieder, tone poems, and works for special occasions.

Although the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1842, it didn’t host an annual benefits ball until 1924, when it threw a lavish party to raise money for a pension fund for the musicians.  To celebrate the occasion, Strauss wrote Wiener Philharmoniker Fanfare to be played as the orchestra’s wealthy donors entered the ballroom.

BASH (2021)

Frank Ticheli (b. 1958)

Born in Monroe, Louisiana, and raised in Richardson, Texas, Frank Ticheli is a highly respected composer for wind ensemble, orchestra, choral, and chamber ensembles.  He teaches composition at the University of Southern California.  His works have been performed and recorded by ensembles around the world.

BASH is a euphoric romp. It unfolds as as a tidal wave of episodes, each one unique, and yet united by a singular source. The middle section is more raucous, with driving rhythms and solo shouts, building in intensity, exploding in a powerful burst of sound. Then, the bottom suddenly drops out. Short fragments quietly bounce from one player to another only to coalesce into the return of the opening dance. A new energy emerges, triumphing over all obstacles—a celebration of joyous rapture.

BASH was commissioned by the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in celebration of their 75th anniversary meeting.

Funeral Music for Queen Mary (1695)

Henry Purcell (1659-1695), transcribed & elaborated by Steven Stucky (1992)

Henry Purcell was the greatest English composer of the Baroque era, alongside such European contemporaries as Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, and George Fredric Handel.  Born into a family of musicians in the shadow of Westminster Abbey, Purcell was said to have begun composing at age nine, although his earliest known work was written when he was eleven.  Throughout his career he wrote choral and instrumental music for the church and for the theatre.

Purcell wrote his Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary in 1695, for the funeral services Mary II, Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, who ruled alongside her husband, William III from 1689 until her death in late 1694.

Tonight’s performance is an arrangement of Purcell’s work by American composer Steven Stucky, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2005 for his Second Concerto for Orchestra.

Re(new)al

Viet Cuong (1990)

American composer Viet Cuong was born in West Hills, California, and raised in Marietta, Georgia.  His works have been performed on six continents, in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and the Library of Congress.  The New York Times called his music “alluring,” and “wildly inventive.”

Re(new)al was originally written for a chamber ensemble with strings.  It made its debut in 2017 with the Albany Symphony.  Shortly thereafter, a consortium of wind ensembles—including the Dallas Winds—commissioned a version for winds.

On his website, Cuong explains:

I have tremendous respect for renewable energy initiatives and the commitment to creating a new, better reality for us all. Re(new)al is a percussion quartet concerto that is similarly devoted to finding unexpected ways to breathe new life into traditional ideas, and the quartet therefore performs on several “invented” instruments, including crystal glasses and compressed air cans. And while the piece also features more traditional instruments, such as snare drum and vibraphone, I looked for ways to either alter their sounds or find new ways to play them. For instance, a single snare drum is played by all four members of the quartet, and certain notes of the vibraphone are prepared with aluminum foil to create buzzy, nearly electronic sound effects. The entire piece was conceived in this way, and it was a blast to discover all of these unique sounds.

Come Sunday (2018)

Omar Thomas (1984)

One of the most interesting new American composers on the current scene, Omar Thomas combines jazz, gospel, and classical influences to create sparkling new works that audiences love.  Born to Guyanese parents in Brooklyn, New York in 1984, Thomas moved to Boston in 2006 to pursue a Master of Music in Jazz Composition at the New England Conservatory of Music. He is the protégé of composers Ken Schaphorst and Frank Carlberg, and has studied under multiple Grammy-winning composer and bandleader Maria Schneider.

At the age of 23, while still completing his Master of Music Degree, Thomas was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor of Harmony at Berklee College of Music.  He served for several years on the faculty of the Music Theory department at The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  He is now Assistant Professor of Composition at the Butler School of Music, University of Texas at Austin.

Thomas was commissioned to write “Come Sunday” by a sixteen-member consortium of wind ensembles, including the Dallas Winds. Thomas’ work harkens back to the African-American gospel music that is at the root of much modern American popular music, including jazz, blues, and rock.  He explains the work this way:

“Come Sunday is a two-movement tribute to the Hammond organ’s central role in black worship services. The first movement, Testimony, follows the Hammond organ as it readies the congregation’s hearts, minds, and spirits to receive The Word via a magical union of Bach, blues, jazz, and R&B. The second movement, Shout!, is a virtuosic celebration – the frenzied and joyous climactic moments when The Spirit has taken over the service.”

And he adds, “To all the black musicians in wind ensemble who were given opportunity after opportunity to celebrate everyone else’s music but our own – I see you and I am you. This one’s for the culture!”

The Glory of the Yankee Navy (1909)

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)

Historians may call Stephen Foster the “Father of American Music” but John Philip Sousa was America’s first serious classical composer.  He began his musical education when he was six, and apparently settled on a musical career early on because his father apprenticed him to the United States Marine Band at age thirteen so young Sousa wouldn’t run away to join a circus band. He served out his apprenticeship with the Marines, then joined a series of theatrical orchestras, where he learned to conduct.  In 1880 he returned to become the conductor of the “President’s Own” Marine Band, serving under five different presidents. In 1892 he left to form his own civilian wind ensemble, and rapidly scaled the heights of popular music to become the first American superstar.  Over the next 39 years, until Sousa’s death, the Sousa Band toured America nearly every year, traveled to Europe at least three times, and once toured all around the world, with stops in England, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii before returning to the mainland United States—all in the age of railroad and steamship travel. Despite Sousa’s distinguished military career, The Glory of the Yankee Navy was not written to celebrate the United States’ ocean-going armed forces.  Rather, it ties into Sousa’s long-standing love of musical theatre. In 1909 a singer and actress named Blanche Ring was the toast of Broadway.  That year, she was preparing a new musical called The Yankee Girl, set to open in 2010. When her director decided the show needed a march, Sousa agreed to write one, dedicated to Ms. Ring. The Glory of the Yankee Navy is the charming result.

The Firebird

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

One of the most influential composers of the modern era, Igor Stravinsky studied under the great Russian romantic composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, wrote early works in the Neo-Classical Style, and experimented enthusiastically with serial tonality in his later works.  Perhaps in parallel with his wide-ranging stylistic periods, Stravinsky began his life as a Russian, emigrated to France mid-career, and spent his last years as an American citizen. The Firebird was Stravinsky’s first big hit. In 1910, the same year Sousa’s The Glory of the Yankee Navy premiered on Broadway, ballet empresario Sergei Diaghilev’s company, Ballets Russes, premiered The Firebird in Paris. A popular figure in Russian folklore, the Firebird is said to be a glorious bird with golden feathers that glow like embers even after the bird sheds them.  Those who find a firebird’s feather often embark on a quest to find the living bird, finding both a blessing and a curse for their efforts. Stravinsky’s ballet tells the story of Prince Ivan, who uses the power of the Firebird’s magical feather to defeat an evil sorcerer, free thirteen captive princesses, and marry the most beautiful of the former captives. The dance was a sensation when it opened, with imaginative costumes to match Stravinsky’s fiery music.

Song of Hope

Peter Meechan (b. 1980)

From 2000 to 2003, Ryan Anthony was a member of the Canadian Brass. He was also a member of other leading recording and performing ensembles, including the Center City Brass Quintet, Burning River Brass, and All-Star Brass. In 2004, he joined the trumpet section of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, becoming principal trumpet in 2006, a post he held until his death. From 2016, he served as adjunct professor of trumpet at Southern Methodist University‘s Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas.

After receiving a multiple myeloma diagnosis in 2012, Ryan and his wife Niki founded the Ryan Anthony Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting cancer research via a music concert series called “CancerBlows.”  The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation named Anthony its 2016 “Spirit of Hope,” and later awarded him the “Courage and Commitment” award in October 2017 to recognize the success of CancerBlows and Anthony’s personal work with patients. In July 2019, he was awarded the prestigious International Trumpet Guild’s Honorary Award.

A feature documentary entitled Song for Hope highlights the importance of art to Anthony while he battled his own terminal cancer, as well as the power art has on our lives. On October 8, 2020, the International Trumpet Guild announced the renaming of the annual ITG Conference Competitions as “The Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition.”

Ryan Anthony was a great friend of the Dallas Winds, often appearing as soloist and trumpet section performer when his busy schedule would allow. His impeccable musicianship, warm, caring, persona and beautiful smile touched all he encountered. As he often said, “at heart, I’m a band guy.”

Jens Lindemann, trumpet

As the first classical brass soloist to ever receive the Order of Canada, Jens Lindemann is hailed as one of the most celebrated artists in his instrument’s history and was recently named “International Brass Personality of the Year” (Brass Herald). Jens has played both jazz and classical in every major concert venue in the world: from the Philharmonics of New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Moscow and Tokyo to Carnegie Hall and even the Great Wall of China. His career has ranged from appearing internationally as an orchestral soloist, being featured at the 2010 Olympics for an audience of 2 billion people, national anthems at the Rose Bowl and for the San Francisco Giants on Memorial Day, performing at London’s ‘Last Night of the Proms’, recording with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to playing lead trumpet with the renowned Canadian Brass and a solo Command Performance for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Jens has also won major awards ranging from Grammy and Juno nominations to winning the prestigious Echo Klassik in Germany and British Bandsman 2011 Solo CD of the year as well as receiving several honorary doctorates.

​Classically trained at the renowned Juilliard School in New York and McGill University in Montreal, Jens’ proven ability to perform as a diverse artist places him at the front of a new generation of musicians. He has performed as soloist and recording artist with classical stars such as Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Angel Romero, Pinchas Zukerman, Doc Severinsen, Charles Dutoit, Gerard Schwarz, Eiji Oue, Bramwell Tovey, Kent Nagano, Lior Shambadal, Boris Brott and Jukka Pekka Saraste. Having recorded for BMG, EMI, CBC and the BBC, Jens is helping to redefine the idea of the concert artist by transcending stylistic genres and the very stereotype of his instrument by performing with “impeccable attacks, agility and amazing smoothness” (The Clarin, Buenos Aires).

A prodigious talent, Jens Lindemann performed as a soloist with orchestras and won accolades at numerous festivals while still in his teens. A prizewinner at numerous jazz and classical competitions including the prestigious ARD in Munich, Jens also placed first, by unanimous juries, at both the Prague and Ellsworth Smith (Florida) International Trumpet Competitions in 1992. Since then, he has performed solos with orchestras including, the London Symphony, Berlin, Philadelphia, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Beijing, Bayersicher Rundfunk, Buenos Aires Chamber, Atlanta, Washington, Seattle, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Montreal, Toronto, National Arts Centre, Vancouver, Warsaw, Mexico City, Costa Rica, Bogota, Welsh Chamber, I Musici de Montreal, St. Louis, and Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center.

Heralded internationally as an outstanding artist, critics have stated: “He played with golden timbre and virtuosic flair” (New York Times)“, “a world-class talent” (Los Angeles Times), “it was one of the most memorable recitals in International Trumpet Guild history” (ITG), “performed brilliantly in the North American premiere of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Concerto with the Toronto Symphony” (Toronto Star), and “he gave the virtuoso highlight of the evening with the Montreal Symphony”.

Michael Martin, trumpet
A native of Marietta, Georgia, Michael Martin joined the trumpet section of the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops as Fourth/Utility trumpet in October 2010. Mr. Martin attended Northwestern University where he received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in trumpet performance studying with Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer. Mr. Martin was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2006 and 2008, receiving the Roger Voisin Trumpet Award both summers. He has performed with orchestras across the country and around the world including the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Chicago symphonies and with the Pacific Music Festival of Sapporo, Japan, and the Grand Teton Music Festival of Jackson, Wyoming. He has performed as guest principal trumpet with the Honolulu Symphony and the Seoul Philharmonic and with the Malaysian Philharmonic of Kuala Lumpur. From 2006 to 2009, Michael was a regular member with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony. A champion of new music, Mr. Martin has performed with acclaimed contemporary music groups eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet and has also performed with members of the Chicago Symphony as part of their “MusicNow” series at the Harris Theater. An award-winning composer, Mr. Martin has also studied composition at Northwestern University and orchestration at the University of Chicago with renowned composer, orchestrator and conductor Cliff Colnot and has been commissioned by members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. In addition to being the first brass player in 25 years to win the Northwestern University Concerto Competition, in 2006 Mr. Martin was also the winner of the National Trumpet Competition in Washington, D.C. and was subsequently invited to perform at the Kennedy Center representing Northwestern University as part of “The Conservatory Project,” an initiative aimed at highlighting the nation’s most distinguished collegiate musicians. A devoted teacher, Mr. Martin has taught students ranging from age 10 to 24 and in middle and high school concert and marching band programs around the country. Mr. Martin is also a brass instructor with the Drum Corps International World Champion Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps of Rockford, Illinois. He currently consults with the Arizona Academy of the Performing Arts of Tucson. Prior to joining the Boston Symphony, Mr. Martin enjoyed a dynamic freelance career with a diverse group of ensembles and performing artists including Sufjan Stevens, the Burning River Brass, and the Still Swingin’ Big Band of Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Martin has been a finalist for positions in the President’s Own United States Marine Band, the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic as well as the symphonies of Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, and San Francisco. Mr. Martin is also co-Artistic Director of the National Brass Symposium.
José Sibaja, trumpet
José Sibaja is one of the most highly acclaimed Costa Rican trumpet players of his generation with worldwide audiences and broadcast media in the Classical, Latin, Jazz, and Pop musical genres. His career ranges from international appearances as an orchestral soloist with Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica Venezuela, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Costa Rica, to worldwide tours with Ricky Martin for the Vuelve and Living la Vida Loca tours. Currently, Jose plays lead trumpet with the world renowned Boston Brass. Receiving his musical training at the New World School of the Arts and the University of Miami, Jose’s vast musical repertoire and his masterful artistry make him a prominent figure in a new generation of musicians. He has held positions as principal trumpet with the Miami Symphony, the Sinfonieta de Caracas and Orquesta Sinfonica Venezuela, as well as a position with the Dallas Brass. With televised performances on the American Music Awards, the MTV Awards, the Grammy Awards, and the Latin Grammy Awards shows as well as appearances on Conan O’Brian, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Today Show, Late Night with David Letterman and numerous television appearances in more that 40 countries; Jose’s talents are not limited to live audience performances. Having recorded with such artists as Ricky Martin, Alejandro Sanz, Luis Enrique, Rey Ruiz, Tito Nieves, Celia Cruz and Gloria Estefan among others; Jose Sibaja redefines the idea of a concert artist with a rich mix of stylistic genres surpassing the very stereotype of today’s classical musician. Most currently Mr. Sibaja can be heard with the Boston Brass on their Rewired, Reminiscing and Simple Gifts CDs; as well as his solo records, Inner Voice and Spanish Air. Sibaja currently serves as a performing artist for the Yamaha Music Corporation; giving concerts, clinics and master classes worldwide. Proclaimed internationally as “a major young talent, the next Wynton Marsalis”, Jose played his solo debut at age 17 with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and only five years of trumpet and music training. Jose is Associate Professor of Trumpet for the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee).