Wind Symphony

Florentiner March (1907)
Although most audiences remember Julius Fučik for his Entry of the Gladiators March, a recent international popularity poll indicates a preference for his Florentiner March. The length and content of this march lead the listener to suspect that, like Sousa with his Free Lance March, Fučik must have attempted to condense the most important material for an operetta into a march. 

The work opens with a short bugle fanfare and proceeds directly into a strain of repeated notes which seem to picture a flighty Florentine signorina chattering to her gentleman friend from Berlin who is given only enough time to answer a (two-note) "ja-wohl!" occasionally. The work continues with another fanfare; a light and beautiful trio melody; an interlude; and a triumphant repeat with a challenging piccolo part. 

In the November 1969 issue of The Instrumentalist, Uno Andersson notes that this march was originally titled La Rosa de Toscana, but that political reasons forced the composer to change his salute from the entire region of Tuscany to its capital, Florence.

- Program Note by Program Notes for Band

Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (1994)
The Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble was commissioned by James Umble and the Dana School of Music Symphonic Wind Ensemble on the occasion of the 125^th Anniversary of the Dana School of Music, Youngstown State University. It was premiered under the direction of Stephen L. Gage on February 28, 1994 in Powers Auditorium in Youngtown, Ohio. The composition of this work was supported in part by funding from the Dana School of Music and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Candide Suite (1956 arr. 1990)
The Suite for concert band is made up of five numbers from the musical Candide, which premiered on Broadway in 1956. The satiric novella Candide by Voltaire (1759) was the basis for a political and musical satire with a libretto by Lillian Hellman and music by Leonard Bernstein. Candide as a musical has since had many reincarnations, but the sections of this Suite utilize musical numbers that have remained virtually unchanged from the original Broadway production.

           I.                  The Best of All Possible Worlds

Doctor Pangloss, Voltaire’s satirical portrait of the philosopher Gottfried von Leibnitz, tutors his Westphalian pupils. (Candide and Cunegonde among them) in the finer points of optimism, refined by a classical education. The music alternately enjoins the pupil’s responses with Pangloss’s pedantic free-associative explanations that the ills of this world are somehow all for the best. The refrain is, of course, that this is the best of all possible worlds.

        II.                  Westphalia Chorale and Battle Scene

The devout Westphalians sing a chorale praising the integrity of their homeland, after which they are massacred by the invading Bulgarian army. The Battle Scene adroitly juxtaposes major and minor modes of material familiar from the Overture.

     III.                  Auto-da-fé

Candide and Doctor Pangloss find themselves in Lisbon, where, being free thinkers (and optimists), they are prosecuted as heretics by the Spanish Inquisition. The handing of heretics was meant to prevent earthquakes, and the joyous music depicts the happy crowd celebrating their deliverance. However, the earthquake happens anyway, and Candide and Doctor Pangloss escape.

    IV.                  Glitter and Be Gay

Cunegonde, Candide’s true love, has become the reigning madam in Paris, France. In a parody of “Jewel Songs”, (such as that in Gounod’s Faust), she sings of how she endeavors to maintain a brilliant, carefree exterior, while she may (or may not) be tortured inwardly by self-doubt.

        V.                  Make Our Garden Grow

At the conclusion of the musical, and of Voltaire’s novella, Candide realizes that the only purpose of living is to cultivate the earth, and to create a garden. He enjoins the others to assist him in bringing things to life, and even Cunegonde proposes to bake a loaf of daily bread. Optimism is transformed into practical necessity, and the entire cast of characters join in a hymn full of hope.

Slava! (1977)
When Mstislav Rostropovich (“Slava” to his friends) invited Leonard Bernstein to help him launch his inaugural concert as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra, he also asked him to write a rousing new opening piece for the festivities. This overture is the result, and the world premiere took place on October 11, 1977, with Rostropovich conducting his orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. 

The first theme of Slava! is a vaudevillian razz-ma-tazz tune filled with side-slipping modulations and sliding trombones. Theme two, which prominently features the electric guitar, is a canonic tune in 7/8 time. A very brief kind of development section follows, after which the two themes recur in reverse order. Near the end they are combined with a quotation (proclaimed by the ubiquitous trombones) from the “Coronation Scene” of Mussorgsky’s Boris Goudonov, where the chorus sings the Russian word “Slava!”, meaning “glory!” In this way, of course, the composer is paying an extra four-bar homage to his friend Slava Rostropovich, to whom this overture is fondly dedicated. 

- Program Note by Jack Gottlieb

O Magnum Mysterium
Morten Lauridsen’s choral setting of O Magnum Mysterium (O Great Mystery) has become one of the world’s most performed and recorded compositions since its 1994 premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale conducted by Paul Salamunovich. The work was commissioned by Marshall Rutter in honor of his wife Terry Knowles.

About his setting, Morten Lauridsen writes: "For centuries, composers have been inspired by the beautiful O Magnum Mysterium text with its depiction of the birth of the newborn king amongst lowly animals and shepherds. This affirmation of God’s grace to the meek and the adoration of the Blessed Virgin are celebrated in my setting through a quiet song of profound inner joy."

Recordings of Lauridsen’s music have received numerous GRAMMY nominations, and the composer was a 2007 recipient of the National Medal of Arts. H. Robert Reynolds arranged the symphonic wind version of this popular work with the approval and appreciation of the composer.

O Magnum Mysterium

O magnum mysterium 
et admirabile sacramentum 
ut animalia viderent Dominum 
natum jacetum in praesepio! 
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera 
meruerunt portare 
Dominum Christum. Alleluia!

0 great mystery, 
and wondrous sacrament
that animals should see the new-
born Lord, lying in their manger! 
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb
was worthy to bear the
Lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia!

— Program Note by Catharine Sinon Bushman, University of Texas

La Chancla (2024)
La Chancla is Spanish for a slipper -- more accurately, a flip flop. While Cubans usually say "chancleta", Puerto Ricans refer to it as "chancla." It is a common meme or joke among Hispanics that a mother with a chancla in her hand could get an entire room of unruly kids in line or even chase away a bear (look it up on YouTube -- it happened!). It is the Excalibur of Hispanic mothers and grandmothers everywhere, and so I thought it would be a fun project to write a piece with this title and play between the mythical and merengue. 

The mythical element to La Chancla is represented by a combination of whole tone and octatonic collections. The merengue stands in stark contrast to the mythical representing the culture through more conservative functional harmony but intense rhythmic vitality. The piece is not programmatic -- just a fun collection of these styles and the interplay between them.

This work was commissioned by a consortium of band programs led by Thomas Verrier and Vanderbilt University. Tom had the vision of creating a work that was to be donated to bands in the Latin Americas who had limited budgets to purchase music. For every participating institution of this consortium, a copy of La Chancla will be donated to a band in the Latin Americas. 

- Program Note by composer

Flute
Emily Fluty
Ashley Busch
Elijah Ondrish, picc
Evelyn Purdin
Alyssa Brannon

Oboe
Michael Berchert
Megan Strait
Kathryn Swanson

Eb Clarinet
Ryan Kramer

Bb Clarinet
Adam Williams
Ryan Moore
Willis McClure
Alex Proctor
Andrew Sowders
Morgan Thompson

Bass Clarinet
Natalie Kyser

Contra Bass Clarinet
Alex Proctor

Bassoon
Jordan Wier
Lorelei Wilkerson

Saxophone
Mary Borus
Matthew Reed
Lukas Bass
Aidan Peper

Trumpet
Trace Coulter
Matt Pileski
Sydney Nitschke
Jack Mantonya
Bingcheng Li
Eliana Peron

Horn
Elena María Farmer Ocrus
Bird Birmingham
Mitchell Hemme
Tre Myers
Krystina Rodkey
Patrick Scully

Trombone
Peyton Gray
David Franklin
Christian Chang
Xander Soural, bass

Euphonium
Benjamin Bates
Zephyr McQuade

Tuba
Ethan Morris
Matt Brewton
Alyssa Shimmel

Percussion
Liam Lockhart
Brooke Guyton
Jacob Kendall
Jude Crawford
Alex Minniear
Zach Hallam
Matthew Graves

Piano
Wesley Romanko

Harp
Julie Buzzelli

Double Bass
Ellie Kornowa

Adam Hanna is an active saxophonist, educator, and interdisciplinary artist, currently pursuing a Dual Master’s in Instrumental Performance and Jazz Studies at Bowling Green State University. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Susquehanna University in 2024, receiving the Senior Academic Excellence Award and Outstanding Senior Musician Award, alongside honors including the Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award (2023), the Elizabeth G. Eyster Award in Music (2022), and the PMEA Council TTRR Continuing Education Scholarship (2023). Adam maintains an active performance career across numerous ensembles and music styles. He is a founding member of The Big Su Saxophone Quartet, an award-winning and nationally recognized ensemble specializing in contemporary repertoire. The quartet earned First Prize at the 2025 Douglas Wayland Chamber Music Competition and Silver Medal with the Saxophone Prize at the 2025 Coltman Chamber Music Competition in Austin, Texas. Through The Big Su and other chamber involvement, Adam has appeared as a select performer at PMEA’s In-Service Conference (2024), the International Saxophone Symposium - U.S. Navy Band (2025), Bowling Green State University’s Discovery Day, and various regional outreach programs throughout the Midwest.

As a performer, Adam has collaborated with ensembles including the EMP Trio and KASE Quartet. His performance experience spans jazz combo, wind ensemble, opera, and musical theater, with performances in productions including Urinetown (2022), The Pirates of Penzance (2023), and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical (2025). As an active recording artist and composer, Adam has released two self-produced albums and multiple singles spanning contemporary, jazz, and experimental genres. Recent releases include Seeds and the Creatures That Eat Them (2025), The Breath He Could Draw (Remastered) (2025). He also appears as principal saxophonist on select tracks on River Winds (Mark Records, 2023) by Dr. Eric L. Hinton. His conducting experience includes assistant roles in two operatic co-productions, notably the U.S. fully staged premiere of Ethel Smyth’s Fête Galante and Gian Francesco Malipiero’s The False Harlequin. As an educator, Adam has instructional experience across K–12 and collegiate settings. He completed his student teaching at Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he instructed wind bands, jazz bands, music theory, percussion methods, and marching band. At Bowling Green State University, he holds a Cooperative Band Director Assistantship, directing bands for grades 5–8 at St. Patrick of Heatherdowns School in Toledo, Ohio.

In Summer 2023, Adam traveled to Iceland as part of an interdisciplinary fieldwork program, researching the intersectionality of street art and social movement. This experience inspired his interest in crosscultural study, and through a recent class at BGSU exploring Protest Music, he deepened his understanding of key disciplinary approaches to ethnomusicology topics, further strengthening a long-term curiosity on performance practice and music education structures as critical components of cultural identity construction. In the future, he hopes to commit to these research interests in a professional capacity.

The music of composer Marilyn Shrude is characterized by its warmth and lyricism, rich timbre, multi-layered constructions, and complex blend of tonality and atonality. The result is a bright, shimmering and delicately wrought sound world that is at once both powerful and fragile. Her concentration on color and the natural resonance of spaces, as well as her strong background in Pre-Vatican II liturgical music, give the music its linear, spiritual, and quasi-improvisational qualities.

Shrude received degrees from Alverno College and Northwestern University, where she studied with Alan Stout and M. William Karlins. Among her more prestigious honors are those from the Guggenheim Foundation (2011 Fellow), American Academy of Arts and Letters, Rockefeller Foundation, Chamber Music America/ASCAP, Meet the Composer, Sorel Foundation (Medallion Winner for Choral Music 2011), and the National Endowment for the Arts. She was the first woman to receive the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award for Orchestral Music (1984) and the Cleveland Arts Prize for Music (1998). Her work for saxophone and piano, Renewing the Myth, was the required piece for the 150 participants of the 3rd International Adolphe Sax Concours in Belgium (2002).

Active as a composer, pianist, teacher, and contemporary music advocate, Shrude has consistently promoted American music through her many years as founder and director of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music (1987-99) and as chair of the Department of Musicology/Composition/Theory at Bowling Green State University (1998-2011). She joined the faculty of BGSU in 1977, has served as Visiting Professor of Music at Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory and Heidelberg College, and was a faculty member and chair of the Composition and Theory Department at the Interlochen Arts Camp (1990-97). She has received four Dean’s Awards for Service and for the Promotion of Contemporary Music on the Campus of BGSU (1994, 1999, 2005, 2011) and a 2008 BGSU Chair/Director Leadership Award. In 2001 she was named a Distinguished Artist Professor of Music. Together with saxophonist, John Sampen, she has premiered, recorded and presented hundreds of works by living composers both in the United States and abroad.

Matthew Dockendorf is Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Bowling Green State University. His duties include guiding all aspects of the concert band program, artistic director of the BGSU Wind Symphony and teaching courses in undergraduate and graduate conducting and music education.

Previous professional appointments include interim Director of Bands, Associate Director of Bands and Director of the “Golden Buffalo” Marching Band, and Assistant Director of Bands all at the University of Colorado Boulder. During this time, he developed a national profile for music education, artistic performance, undergraduate and graduate teaching, and a generous collaborator.

Dr. Dockendorf is an advocate for new music, music education, and developing artistry in all ages of musicians. He has most recently commissioned and premiered works by composers Kevin Day (Glimmerglass, Concerto for Flute and chamber winds, Christina Jennings), Annika Socolofsky (The Full Hundred), Alexandra Gardner (Concerto for Saxophone, Nathan Mertens), and collaborated with ~Nois Saxophone quartet and Viet Cuong. Other meaningful musical collaborations include Stacey Berk, Lindsay Bronnenkant, Peter Cooper, Henry Dorn, Tyler Grant, Jennifer Jolley, Ricardo Lorenz, David Maslanka, Abigail Nims, Chris Pilsner, Kevin Poelking, Ivette Herryman Rodríguez, James Stephenson, Luka Vezmar, and Cheldon Williams.

Dockendorf maintains an active teaching, conducting, and clinician schedule with engagements throughout the United States. He has guest conducted high school and middle school bands in Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina, and has presented clinics at various state music conferences, the Texas Music Educators Association convention, and the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.

Dockendorf taught public school at Lakeville South High School in Minnesota where he was the Assistant Director and was involved in administering and teaching: marching band, concert bands, chamber music, percussion ensemble, pit orchestra, and guitar class.

Dr. Dockendorf earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from Michigan State University under Dr. Kevin L. Sedatole; a Master of Music in Conducting from The Ohio State University under Dr. Russel Mikkelson; and a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Minnesota where he studied and performed under Prof. Craig Kirchhoff, Prof. Jerry Luckhardt, and Dr. Timothy Diem.

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