Classical saxophonist

maureen walsh plays

The Music of America

 

Meet the musicians:

Pianist Nikola Paskalov:

​Nikola Paskalov made his first leap in to the professional concert stage during the time of his musical education at the “High School under the Moscow Conservatory P.I. Tchaikovsky” in Moskow. By 16 years old he started his professional career performing concerts with orchestras and playing recitals.

Studying in the class of prof. B. Romanov in Moscow, and than at the Faculty of Music (FMU) in Skopje - Macedonia in the class of the same professor he graduated in 1995, and after he continued his professional development at the “European Mozart Academy” in Krakow – Poland where he worked with several visiting professors: A. Satz, I. Roman, V. Lobanov, J. Vitenbah, D. Golub, A. Newman. 

Nikola Paskalov participated at numerous international master classes and worked with well known pianists and pedagogues: Paul Badura – Skoda, Georg Sebok, Gunter Rainhold and Peter Feuchtwanger.​

Maureen’s Note: I have played two previous programs with Nikola, including French music and 80’s music (which we will play again in 2026.) He is a prolific teacher and always has something interesting to tell me about the composers we are working with, so in a way he is teaching me too!

Cellist Daniel Strawser (Fairbanks, AK):

Dr. Daniel Strawser is an active cellist throughout the United States who has taught at all levels of music education. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Strawser studied music education at Denison University and holds masters and doctoral degrees in cello performance from the University of Memphis, where he studied with Brazilian cellist Leo Altino. 

Active in symphonic, chamber, and solo performance, Dr. Strawser has performed throughout the Midwest, the Mid-South region, Alaska, and beyond. The principal cellist of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, he previously served as principal cellist of the Delta Symphony Orchestra while also performing with the Starkville Symphony, The Jackson Symphony Orchestra, and the Memphis-based Eroica Ensemble. Additionally, he has performed with orchestras in Ohio, Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Washington, and Italy. Dr. Strawser has also been active in regional chamber music, performing with the Arkansas State Piano Quartet and pursuing duet performances with colleagues. Dr. Strawser has performed solo recitals on a variety of repertory in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Ohio. The little-known Austrian composer Hans Gál is a particular favorite of his, and Gál's cello music was the subject of Dr. Strawser's doctoral dissertation. 

Working in disadvantaged urban schools, Dr. Strawser taught in the public school system in Memphis, Tennessee for nine years. Dr. Strawser organized and maintained active orchestra programs throughout the city of Memphis in some of the most impoverished and crime-ridden neighborhoods in the United States. This time in public education gave Dr. Strawser a great passion for helping the disadvantaged have access to the classical music experience and access to excellent training in the field. 

Dr. Strawser has served on the faculties of Arkansas State University and Union University as an instructor of cello, where he helped to develop each school's respective cello program by teaching their very first performance majors on the instrument. 

As instructor of music education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Strawser brings a strong commitment to excellence and community. Students studying Music Education at UAF are guided through a variety of unique experiences that help to prepare them for classroom teaching. These include participation in professional organizations, such as the collegiate NAfME chapter and AMEA that involve students in fundraising, conferences, and other professional activities. Students are also encouraged and given opportunities to work alongside local advocates for music education in Fairbanks, and are given many opportunities in both curriculum and outside of it to practice their teaching in real classroom settings.

Cellist Emily Doveala (DC Metro Area):

Dr. Emily Doveala is a cellist and music educator who is passionate about creating meaningful musical experiences for both audiences and music students. Emily began playing the cello at age nine and later started her formal musical training at Mannes Prep, studying with Dorothy Lawson of the ETHEL Quartet. She went on to receive her Bachelor of Music at Ithaca College, studying with Elizabeth Simkin and Heidi Hoffman, and her Master’s Degree from Stony Brook University, studying with Colin Carr. In 2022, Emily completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Maryland, studying with Dr. Eric Kutz. Emily has taught at the Mclean School and was an adjunct faculty member at College of Southern Maryland.

Currently, Emily is an active freelance musician and cello teacher in the Washington, D.C. area. In addition to teaching private lessons, Emily teaches at the International School of Music. Emily is involved in several chamber music projects, performing around the DC Metro area at salon concerts, faculty recitals, social clubs, and more. As an orchestral musician, she has played with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Amadeus Orchestra, PanAmerican Symphony Orchestra, Great Falls Philharmonic, American Festival Pops Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony, Annapolis Opera Company, Binghamton Philharmonic, Washington City Choir, and Baltimore Choral Arts Society. In a 2021 recital project on the music of jazz-classical composer Nikolai Kapustin, Emily performed with pianist Ria Yang for both the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Balcony Bar at Home series and for a recital at the Baltimore venue An Die Musik LIVE. Emily also had the opportunity to join the spring 2019 tour of the cutting-edge group Cordis, playing five-string electric cello. She has had the privilege of performing in famous venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, the Barnes at Wolf Trap, Symphony Space, Alice Tully Hall, the Mozarteum Great Hall in Salzburg, and National Sawdust in Brooklyn.

On the Program:

Duo ..................................................................................................... Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900, in Brooklyn, New York, to his parents Harris Morris Copland and Sarah Mittenthal Copland,  both of whom were Jewish immigrants from Russia. He was the youngest of five children. His earliest musical training came from his older sister, Laurine, as she taught him how to play the piano. He began formal training in 1914 with Leopold Wolfsohn, and began studying counterpoint and composition with Rubin Goldmark 2 years later. Discouraged by the strict rules of 19th century music imposed on him by Goldmark, Copland took it upon himself to explore the music of the more innovative and modern composers of his day.

In June of 1921, his explorations led him to France, where he attended the Summer School of Music for American Students at Fontainebleau. While abroad, Copland began thinking about the American soundscape. “There is a French-sounding music, a German sound, why not American?” Copland returned to New York in 1924 with 2 goals in mind: to compose the best music he could, and to promote the cause of American music and to increase performance opportunities for composers. Throughout his decades-long career, he composed a wide range of music, from abstract concert music to collaborative works for radio, film, ballet, and opera. His works placed him in the center of the contemporary music scene as a leader, where his efforts and dedication helped to establish the American sound on a global scale and set new standards for composers to come.

Duo was commissioned by John Solum and fellow students and friends of flutist William Kincaid after his passing in 1967. The piece was originally composed for flute and piano, in honor of the flutist. It is around 14 minutes in length, and is composed of 3 movements: Flowing; Poetic, somewhat mournful; and Lively, with bounce. It premiered in Philadelphia on October 3rd, 1971. Copland described the piece as “lyrical and in a pastoral style,” saying that “lyricism seems to be built into the flute…the whole is a work of comparatively simple harmonic and melodic outline, direct in expression. Being aware that many of the flutists who were responsible for commissioning the piece would want to play it, I tried to make it grateful for the performer...it requires a good player.”

Maureen’s Note: William Kincaid’s students wrote a book from his collected writings called Kincaidiana, which became essential in my development of musicianship during college. So now I am grateful to him for two reasons!

Summerland ................................................................... William Grant Still

William Grant Still was born on May 11, 1895 in Woodville, Mississippi, to parents who were teachers and musicians. William lost his father when he was only a few months old, and his mother moved them to Little Rock, Arkansas. His music education began at the high school where his mom taught, as he received private violin lessons, and later found inspiration from the Red Seal operatic recordings bought for him by his stepfather. He attended Wilberforce University to obtain a B.S. degree, but ended up spending his time there conducting the band, learning to play the various instruments involved and making his initial attempts to compose and to orchestrate. He eventually went on to study at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, which was financed at first by a legacy from his father, and later by a scholarship established by the faculty just for him.

Still was a true pioneer in the music scene. He was  the first Afro-American in the United States to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra; The first to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States, when in 1936, he directed the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in his compositions at the Hollywood Bowl; The first Afro-American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the Deep South in 1955, when he directed the New Orleans Philharmonic at Southern University; The first of his race to conduct a White radio orchestra in New York City; The first to have an opera produced by a major company in the United States, when in 1949, his Troubled Island was done at the City Center of Music and Drama in New York City; The first to have an opera televised over a national network. He had an innate ability to compose music capable of capturing the interest of the greatest conductors of the time: truly serious music, but with a definite American flavor. He is “The Dean of African-American Classical Composers.”

Summerland is the second of three movements of the Three Visions suite. The suite tells the story of the human soul's experience after death. Summerland is where the “good” souls go, and is often correlated with the Spiritualist idea of Heaven. The suite was originally written for chamber orchestra, and was composed for Still’s wife, Verna Arvey, who played for the premiere of the piece in Los Angeles in 1936. Summerland is about 5 minutes in length, making it the longest movement of the 11 minute suite. Still’s composition mixes elements of jazzy harmony and European impressionist styles to evoke a quiet, warm atmosphere with a relaxed and lyrical tone.



Porgy and Bess Suite ..................................................... George Gershwin

George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 26, 1898, and was the second son to his Russian immigrant parents. As a child, George showed no interest in anything studious, so it came as a delightful surprise to his family when they discovered he had been secretly learning to play the piano. In 1914, George dropped out of school to work as a Tin Pan Alley song plugger. Within three years, “When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em; When You Have ‘Em, You Don’t Want ‘Em,” was published, though it created little interest. It was “Swanee”– turned into a smash hit by Al Jolson in 1919– that brought George into the limelight. His career ambition was to compose serious music… and the first low chuckle of the solo clarinet and its spine-tingling run up the scale in Rhapsody In Blue caught the attention of the public and opened the doors to a new era in American music. In 1924, George teamed up with his brother, Ira, and “The Gershwins” became the dominant Broadway songwriters, creating infectious rhythm numbers and poignant ballads, fashioning the words to fit the melodies with a “glove-like” fidelity. George was in the height of his career when he tragically collapsed and died of a brain tumour on July 11, 1937. He was only 39 years old.

The Porgy and Bess Suite or Catfish Row (as retitled by Ira Gershwin) was directly influenced by the music of the Gershwin musical, Porgy and Bess. In 1926, George read Porgy, DuBose Heyward’s novel of the South Carolina Gullah culture, and immediately recognized it as a perfect vehicle for a “folk opera” using blues and jazz idioms. Porgy and Bess was co-written with Heyward and Ira Gershwin. The musical was George’s most ambitious undertaking, integrating unforgettable songs with dramatic incidents. The show opened its Broadway run on October 10, 1935. During this run, George contemplated how he could prolong the life of his beloved musical, and thus, The Porgy and Bess Suite was born. The suite synthesized the original score into five movements: Catfish Row, Porgy Sings, Fugue, Hurricane, and Good Morning, Sistuh. The piece premiered with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Smallens, on January 21st, 1936, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. It was performed at a number of concerts Gershwin conducted in 1936 and 1937, and disappeared from the American orchestral repertoire upon his death. It only resurfaced again in 1958 when George’s original manuscript was discovered in Ira’s house, then retitled as Catfish Row. 

Maureen’s Note: This version of the Porgy and Bess Suite comes from another arranger, Percy Grainger, who created a suite for two pianos. This was my favorite arrangement as it has more songs than other arrangements, and gives some heavy work to either of the pianists. In order to arrange it, I put the melody in the soprano sax line and cut any repeated material I could. With my pianist’s help in fixing anything that didn’t work, we created our own unique arrangement of Porgy and Bess.

Yes, No, Maybe? .................................................................... Jennifer Higdon

Jennifer Higdon was born on December 31, 1962, in Brooklyn, New York. She taught herself to play flute at the age of 15, began formal music studies at age 18, and started composing at age 21. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Music from Bowling Green State University, an Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Hartt School and Bowling Green State University. Dr. Higdon has become a major figure in contemporary classical music. Her works span over several genres, including, but not limited to,  orchestral, chamber, wind ensemble, vocal, choral, and opera. She has won several awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, a 2010 Grammy for her Percussion Concerto, a 2018 Grammy for her Viola Concerto and a 2020 Grammy for her Harp Concerto. In 2018, Dr. Higdon received the Nemmers Prize from Northwestern University, which is given to contemporary classical composers of exceptional achievement who have significantly influenced the field of composition. 

Yes, No, Maybe? is the most recent composition in the program, composed by Dr. Higdon in 2022. The piece is approximately 8 minutes long, and was specifically written for a saxophone and piano. The dynamic piece is a testament to her mastery of contemporary composition, captivating the audience with intricate melodies and compelling rhythms.

Maureen’s Note: Higdon may not be a household name yet, but among major orchestras and chamber groups she seems to be one of the most frequently played living composers in the U.S. Especially important to me, she has written many works for the saxophone, including a wonderful saxophone concerto and unaccompanied works. She never sees our instrument as gimmicky and writes with the same seriousness and delicacy one wants as an artist. Nikola was happy to find that Higdon became one of his favorite composers on the concert, after being unsure at first!

“Reflections” from Escapades ....................................... John Williams

John Williams was born on February 8, 1932 in Long Island. He moved to Los Angeles in 1948 with his family. He went on to attend UCLA; and he also studied composition privately with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He joined the Air Force, and upon completing his service, returned to New York to study at the Juilliard School with the renowned Rosina Lhevinne. Williams cut his teeth as a jazz pianist in Manhattan before returning to Los Angeles, where he began working in films and television. In January 1980, Williams was named as the 19th music director of the Boston Pops Orchestra. He retired in 1993 after 14 seasons and assumed the title of Laureate Conductor. He also holds the title of Artist-in-Residence at Tanglewood.

In a career that spans five decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage. He has received five Academy Awards and 50 Oscar nominations, making him the Academy’s most-nominated living person and the second-most nominated person in the history of the Oscars. He was named "the most successful composer of film music in the history of the medium" by the Boston Globe, as he has given us the brassy, unabashedly romantic, optimistic sound of an all-American art form. His sound is distinct and instantly recognizable, and his scores for what have become classics of the Cinema have earned him a place of honor in the history of American film and American music.

Reflections is the second of the three movements within Escapades, and is approximately 6 minutes in length. The piece was composed for the Spielberg 2002 film, Catch Me If You Can, which tells the story of  Frank Abagnale, the teen-aged imposer, who baffled FBI agents with his incredible exploits. Reflections refers to the fragile relationships in Abagnale’s broken family. The premiere performance of Escapades for concert band was conducted by John Williams as part of the 205th anniversary concert of the United States Marine Band, July 12, 2003, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Williams wrote about the piece, “The film is set in the now nostalgically tinged 1960s, and so it seemed to me that I might evoke the atmosphere of that time by writing a sort of impressionistic memoir of the progressive jazz movement that was then so popular. The alto saxophone seemed the ideal vehicle for this expression and the three movements of this suite are the result.” 

Maureen’s Note: John Williams, while one of the greatest composers of all time, is notorious for referencing other composers and making their motifs his own. In this piece I found several sections which clearly borrow from one of the major works for saxophone, the Sonata by William Albright. It made me very happy to think of John Williams listening studiously to a piece that comes from any saxophone student’s required repertoire, and finding something he enjoyed in it that he could use in his writing. If there are any saxophonists in the audience, perhaps they can spot those measures!

Tallahatchie Concerto ................................................... Jacob Ter Velduis (JacobTV)

Dutch ‘avant pop’ composer JacobTV (Jacob ter Veldhuis, 1951) started as a rock musician and studied composition and electronic music with Luctor Ponse and Willem Frederik Bon at the Groningen Conservatoire. He received the Composition Prize of the Netherlands in 1980 and became a full time composer, who soon made a name for himself with melodious compositions, straight from the heart and with great effect…In the US they call him JacobTV. Sounds cool, just like his music, packed with slick sounds and  quirky news samples. "I pepper my music with sugar," he says. You can not accuse him of complex music, but some of his pieces are so intense, that people get freaked out by it. Or simply blown away….The self-proclaimed 'avant pop composer' won the first BUMA Classical Award in 2016 for the best selling classical export product from the Netherlands…JacobTV’s so-called Boombox repertoire, for live instruments with a grooving sound track based on speech melody, became internationally popular. With around 1000 world wide performances a year, JacobTV is nowadays one of the most performed European composers.

Tallahatchie Concerto is approximately 19 minutes long and consists of two movements– the slow movement which goes straight into the fast movement. The piece was commissioned in 2001 by the Dutch broadcasting company NCRV and dedicated to Arno Bornkamp, who performed it with different orchestras. The world premiere and radio broadcast was March 3 2002, at Vredenburg Utrecht, with the Radio Kamerorkest conducted by Thierry Fischer. JacobTV describes the piece as such: “Pink shadows of orange clouds hang over the slow movement, a stretched out crescendo-accelerando, in which the saxophone gradually descends from celestial atmospheres to terrestrial ones. I regard this concerto as an abstract piece of music, which is quite exceptional in my work, because I love to connect an anecdote to each composition. All I can say about the piece is that the word "tallahatchie" occurred to me spontaneously. ‘Tallahatchie’ is a Native American word, meaning ‘river of rocks’, a metaphor for the concerto: The river representing time and the rocks representing happenings…”

Maureen’s Note: There are many arrangements of this Concerto which have been made by the composer himself. Originally for saxophone and orchestra, it was arranged for my colleague Connie Frigo, who performed a version for sax and wind ensemble. The composer also reduced it for sax and piano, and then created a version for sax, string quintet, and piano. In order to make the sax and piano version work better, I incorporated one string instrument, the cello, to provide some of the long, sustained notes that are heard in the beginning. It was fairly easy to take some material from the quintet parts and make a part for cello, and now it can be considered a world premier!

Tallahatchie Concerto – Jacob TV. www.jacobtv.net/product/tallahatchie-concerto. 

Special thanks:

Thank you to Janice and Moreen for hosting my pianist and I for the third time! I am honored to be Janice’s teacher and a friend to you both. Thank you to Larry Bennett and the team at the Music and More Recital Series for hosting me for the second time. Thank you to Christian Zamora, my arranger who does the hard work of inputting each note of my arrangements. And thank you to my new colleague, Rayna Ketch for assisting with many details behind the scenes of the recital, including these wonderful program notes!