Event Title
Fantasy (…those harbor lights)
Performer / Ensemble
Timothy Bonenfant (Clarinet), Martha Saywell (Piano)
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Concert
Abstract / Program Notes
Joan Tower is widely regarded as one of the most important American composers living today. During a career spanning more than 50 years, she has made lasting contributions to musical life in the United States as composer, performer, conductor, and educator. In 1990, Tower became the first woman to win the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. She is the first composer chosen for a Ford Made in America consortium commission of sixty-five orchestras. From 1969 to 1984, she was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players. Dr. Wallace Rave writes in his liner notes for Robert Spring’s recording of tonight’s work: “Any composition by Joan Tower is likely to possess a quality of spontaneity, perhaps partly to do to the absence of a priori compositional system, but more clearly stemming from the nature of the musical procedure it embodies: once a piece begins, virtually every gesture audibly has its source in some facet of the preceding music. A resultant series of organic growth is manifest in “Fantasy (…those harbor lights)” for clarinet and piano.” Tower makes great use of the intervals of a popular song of the 50s, Harbor Lights, whose opening phrase outlines a major 7th chord (C-E-G-B) as the building blocks of this work, especially those of 3rds (major and minor) and the major 7th. However, Tower’s manipulation of these intervals is so varied and cohesive tha the listener never hears any suggestion of the original tune at all.
Biography
Dr. Timothy Bonenfant is Professor of Single Reeds at Angelo State University, where he also teaches Survey of Rock and Roll. He is also the Texas State Chair for the International Clarinet Association. He is a member of The Mesquite Trio, The Batik Quartet and the West Texas Jazz Orchestra. He holds three degrees from UNLV and a master’s degree from CalArts. With multiple recording credits, Bonenfant’s recently released solo album, Multiple Personae, features music by Virko Baley. It uses seven different members of the clarinet family. He also has premiered over thirty works, many written especially for him, including Virko Baley's Partita No. 4 for clarinets (bass, A, Eb and Bb contrabass) and piano. A former member of the Nevada Symphony Orchestra and the Las Vegas Philharmonic. Bonenfant’s ensemble credits also include the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Abilene Philharmonic, San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, Boise Symphony Orchestra, Nevada Opera Theater, and various groups on the Las Vegas Strip. Timothy Bonenfant has developed an international reputation as an extremely versatile clarinetist. He has performed at multiple International Clarinet Association ClarinetFests, at the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States National Conference, at the International Double Reed Society Conference, the American Single Reed Summit. and presented performances and panel sessions at the National Association for College Wind and Percussion Instructors Conference. Bonenfant has performed in the United States, Japan, Italy, Scotland, Portugal and Spain. His major teachers include Alberto Asercion, Felix Viscuglia, William Powell, Raphael Sanders, Marina Sturm and Michele Zukovsky.
Martha Saywell currently teaches at Texas A&M University – San Antonio where she is also designing the institution’s first music program. She has formerly served on the piano faculty of A Step Above Dance and Music Academy in Wisconsin, the University of Texas – Pan American, Laredo Community College, Angelo State University, and Texas A&M International University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in keyboard studies from Murray State University, along with Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees, both in collaborative piano from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Saywell’s musical endeavors have led her all over the United States and a handful of European countries. She has performed hundreds of concerts, both solo and collaborative, and has had the privilege of working with many internationally acclaimed artists including Alexa Still, Andrew Garland, Charles Abramovich, Maurice Hinson, and Warren Jones. Current collaborations are with various members of the San Antonio Symphony, soprano Catherine Nix, and clarinetist Timothy Bonenfant. In addition to her performance schedule and university obligations, she maintains a small, private studio of piano and voice students. Dr. Saywell is a member of the College Music Society, American College of Musicians/National Guild of Piano Teachers, International Alliance for Women in Music, Texas Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, and the Board of Governors for the Laredo International Piano Competition.
Keywords
Joan Tower, clarinet, piano
Description
25-minute performance
Fantasy (…those harbor lights)
Joan Tower is widely regarded as one of the most important American composers living today. During a career spanning more than 50 years, she has made lasting contributions to musical life in the United States as composer, performer, conductor, and educator. In 1990, Tower became the first woman to win the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. She is the first composer chosen for a Ford Made in America consortium commission of sixty-five orchestras. From 1969 to 1984, she was pianist and founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players. Dr. Wallace Rave writes in his liner notes for Robert Spring’s recording of tonight’s work: “Any composition by Joan Tower is likely to possess a quality of spontaneity, perhaps partly to do to the absence of a priori compositional system, but more clearly stemming from the nature of the musical procedure it embodies: once a piece begins, virtually every gesture audibly has its source in some facet of the preceding music. A resultant series of organic growth is manifest in “Fantasy (…those harbor lights)” for clarinet and piano.” Tower makes great use of the intervals of a popular song of the 50s, Harbor Lights, whose opening phrase outlines a major 7th chord (C-E-G-B) as the building blocks of this work, especially those of 3rds (major and minor) and the major 7th. However, Tower’s manipulation of these intervals is so varied and cohesive tha the listener never hears any suggestion of the original tune at all.