The KSC Concert Band performed the world premiere of Matthew Kennedy’s “Symphony No. 3: Death is Nothing at All” as part of the biennial Wet Ink Concert Series on Thursday, April 24, on the Redfern Arts Center’s Main Stage.
The Wet Ink Concert Series highlights the work of living composers, particularly compositions created within the last four years. Kennedy, along with fellow composers Gala Flagello and Stephen Michael Gryc, had their recent works performed to an audience of students, faculty and community members.
All three composers have a personal history with KSC Associate Professor of Music and Concert Band Director Dr. John Hart through the University of Hartford’s Hartt School, which has no relation to John Hart’s last name. Flagello, whose compositional reputation has led to commissions from “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, is a former student of Hart’s from when he taught at the Hartt School. Gryc, a Professor Emeritus at the Hartt School, previously taught Hart, and Kennedy is a former classmate from Hart’s own time as a student.
Flagello’s three pieces, which were “Flower Power,” “Star-Crossed” and “Slow Burn,” were conducted by senior Tori Young, who had the chance to collaborate with Flagello in preparation for the performance.
Young said having the chance to work with a living composer was a unique and rewarding experience.
“It was a really unique experience this time around because I got to meet and talk to the composer. It’s been very nice to be able to collaborate and learn more about her compositional process, and how that influences my conducting,” said Young. “Working with the composer of a piece I’m conducting was a unique experience that I haven’t had the chance to do before.”
Young and senior Peter Labonte were co-awarded the Douglas A. Nelson Outstanding Concert Band Member Award during the event.
Hart conducted the compositions of Gryc and Kennedy following Young’s conduction. Gryc’s pieces, “Daybreak (yellow to orange),” “Dust Devil (orange to red)” and “Mountains and Shadows (red to purple),” were performed before the world debut of Kennedy’s “Symphony Number 3: Death is Nothing at All.”
Kennedy said his symphony is a chapter in the composer’s long-term goal of writing ten symphonies before reaching the age of 40. The project, which is inspired by a longstanding superstition claiming that composers are meant to die after completing their ninth symphony, is a self-funded affair.
Each movement in Kennedy’s symphony is dedicated to the memory of a loved one from Kennedy’s life who has died, including his former cat Coopurr. The symphony includes four movements.
According to Kennedy, the symphony intends to inspire a relationship to death that focuses on celebrating memory.
“This is my sort of nod at mortality and thinking about legacy,” said Kennedy. “The ending is meant to be this sort of uplifting finding of solace and peace, and declawing this idea of death as being this vicious and hurtful and all encompassing and scary thing.”
Kennedy said he was proud of the performance given by the KSC Concert Band.
“[The band] did a marvelous job. I was just telling [KSC President Melinda Treadwell] you guys have a really special group. It’s quite the undertaking, and resource-intensive to put together a concert like this, especially at the end of the semester,” said Kennedy.
“For them to put this all together and all this effort and deliver such a marvelous performance is just remarkable,” added Kennedy.
Hart echoed Kennedy’s praise of the band and commented on what he views as the strengths of the Keene State music community.
“They have worked so hard on this, and this year they have had some of the hardest music thrown at them. They put in the hours, worked hard to sound better as a whole, which can only be done in rehearsal through listening, and that’s an important skill both within and outside music,” said Hart.
“It’s really the most extreme group project you could possibly work on, and I’m incredibly proud of them,” added Hart.
First-year Stephen Czesak played the euphonium during the performance.
“It was a lot of fun, and I loved all the music we performed. We’ve been rehearsing every Tuesday and Thursday over the course of the semester, and we sounded amazing,” said Czesak.
Czesak’s parents, Scott and Mary Ellen Czesak traveled from New York state to support their son and enjoy the show.
“We love the arts, and we’ve been taking our son to concerts and watching him in concerts all his life. The show was great, and there were a lot of parts to it, especially in the last sections where your imagination could run wild,” said Scott Czesak.
“We feel like this ensemble can help [Stephen] grow as a musician. It’s also really exciting to hear music written by living composers, which is a really rare thing,” said Mary Ellen Czesak. “I really love seeing how there’s so many community members here, and students of all years, and how much support they get from each other.”
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
