FACS - Tess Remy-Schumacher and David Forbat "Remembrance and Renewal" - 4/18/24
From Bryan Mitschell
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Remembrance and Renewal
7:30 PM, April 18, 2024
Radke Fine Arts Theatre
featuring:
Dr. Tess Remy-Schumacher, Cello
Dr. David Forbat, Piano
Dr. Robert Glaubitz, Baritone
This concert is sponsored by:
Larry and Leah Westmoreland
Margaret Brisch
All proceeds from the Faculty Artist Concert Series
go towards scholarships for UCO music students.
Program
Sonata for Cello and Piano in D-major — Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
BWV 1028
Adagio-Allegro-Andante-Allegro
Mist Waves for Cello and Piano — Douglas Knehans(*1957)
Premiere Performance
Arabesque No. 1 for Piano — Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Lullaby for Cello and Piano — Zachary C. Daniels (*1992)
Premiere Performance
—- INTERMISSION —-
Some Other Time For Carl Sandburg for Cello and Piano — Michael Hoppe(*1944)
ASA for Cello Solo — Kitt Wakeley (*1969)
Dedicated to the Foster Children of the World
In memoriam Lynn Harrell April 22, 2020
Remembrance and Renewal: Scenes from a Life- Suite for Cello and Piano — Adam Berry (*1966)
Oklahoma Premiere Performance
Variations on a Hebrew Hymn (2003) — David Forbat (*1961)
Sonata for Cello and Piano in G-minor, Op. 19 — Sergej Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Andante
Suite Espagnole for Cello and Piano — Joaquin Nin (1879-1949)
Vieille Castille-Murcienne-Asturienne-Andalouse
Biographies and Program Notes
Douglas Knehans
“…wonderfully orchestrated… endlessly evolving…” wrote BBC Music Magazine of Douglas Knehans’s music. Winner of prizes, awards and recognitions for his compositions and recordings, Douglas Knehans’ work has been awarded twelve times by The American Prize; The Kennedy Center; Two time Best Classical Album winner of Clouzine International Music Awards; Two time Platinum and two time Gold Award winner of LIT Music Awards; Best Classical Album winner of Independent Music Awards; Two time Gold Medalist and Best in Show winner and five time Silver Medalist of Global Music Awards; The Australia Council; Gold Award fro Best Classical Music Recording from One Earth Music Awards; Individual Excellence Award from The Ohio Arts Council; and support from the National Endowment for the Arts; Meet the Composer; New Music USA; The American Music Center; Carnegie Hall and many others. His compositions feature at concert halls globally including Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall in NYC and similar venues in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Knehans’s music concerns complex relationships dramatically established and drawn over large timeframes through a technique he calls deep line. The expressive impact of his music is about power, richness and color and critics say that “…the sounds of nature course through the orchestral pieces… with a primitive force and melodic insistence that recall Stravinsky.” (The New Yorker)
Knehans has held professorships at the University of Alabama; Director & Head of School at the University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music in Australia; and Dean of CCM at the University of Cincinnati. He is currently the Norman Dinerstein Professor of Composition Scholar at CCM. Recordings of his work can be found on the ABLAZE Records, CRI, New World Records, Crystal Records, Move, ERM Media, and NAXOS labels. His work is published exclusively by Donemus (Netherlands).
www.douglasknehans.com
Douglas Knehans “Mist Waves”
Mist Waves is a kind of loose chaconne whose veiled repetition of the initial eight bars forms the basis for the work. Sometimes this initial idea is repeated entirely, sometimes truncated sometimes expanded and all of the time at close interplay with the freely evolving violin line which acts as the expressive core of the work.
Mist Waves is really about land-based cloud and how this forms in waves sometimes thick and predictable and at other times lightening up and revealing more to us. This serves as a metaphor for me of a type of human consciousness and how things are known and unknown to us in mixtures—sometimes equal, frequently unequal—which creates the mystery and magic of life.
The work is dedicated to brilliant cellist Tess Remy-Schumacher who inspired the idea of making this version of this work.
Zachary Daniels
Zachary Daniels (born 1992) is a composer of experimental, minimalist, and electronic music currently residing in Oklahoma City with his wife, Ashlie. His compositions employ forces ranging from symphony orchestra to solo flute, from experimental pieces for laptop quartet to full-length symphonies. His music makes regular appearances with Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center and the Oklahoma Chamber Symphony, and has been selected for performance at venues and events including the College Music Society, Inner sOUndscapes Concert Series, Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States, and the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. Zach’s music is often described to be driving, engaging, and highly eclectic in nature. After graduating from Drury University in 2014 with a BA in Music, Zach moved to Norman, Oklahoma, where continued his studies at the University of Oklahoma School of Music, serving as the composition area coordinator. He received his MM and DMA from the University of Oklahoma in 2016 and 2019 respectively, both in music composition. Zach continues to advocate for new music locally and across the region. This work includes the Composed in Oklahoma Anthology series which he is the organizer of, and having served on the inaugural SCI student council. Zach’s music is all under ASCAP rights, available through his website (https://zachdaniels.com), and published by Divisi Labs.
Zachary C. Daniels Lullaby for Cello and Piano
This Lullaby is a melody extrapolated from the song I wrote for my son, Oliver. It takes inspiration from traditional lullabies and folksong. It has features of traditional lullaby melodies with smooth melodic contours and a song-like cadence. This piece features a slow, free flowing solo-cello verse in the middle as a reflection on just how precious our children are to us. Near the end of this section, the cello breaks into a short cadenza written in a rhythmic, yet irregular beat that represents that slow, drawn-out moment that felt like a lifetime between my son being born, and his first cries which brings us back down to Earth with the re-emergence of the piano as we return to the feelings of love and amazement represented in the opening bars of the piece. This setting of Oliver’s Lullaby, for cello and piano, was started in August of 2023 and finished in November of that year on request from Tess Remy-Schumacher.
Samuel Magrill
Samuel Magrill, D.M.A., coordinator of graduate studies, professor of music and composer-in-residence in the School of Music at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he has taught music theory and composition since 1988. Previously, he taught at the University of Wyoming and California State University, Long Beach. He obtained his Bachelor of Music in composition from Oberlin Conservatory and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.
Magrill has written more than one hundred compositions for a variety of instruments, from solo piano and chamber music to choir, wind ensemble and symphony orchestra. His works have been performed throughout the United States and abroad and at many regional and national conferences including the Society of Composers, Inc., the National Flute Association, the North American Saxophone Alliance and the College Music Society. His CDs include electro-acoustic music (“The Electric Collection”), his four operas (“Gorgon’s Head,” “Paradise of Children,” “Showdown on Two Street,” and “Circe’s Palace”), wind symphony compositions (“Oklahoma Bandscapes”), and collections of music for cello and other instruments, many of which he wrote specifically for his colleague Dr. Tess Remy-Schumacher and the UCO Cello Ensemble. He has received numerous awards and commissions, including ones from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Music Center, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Illinois Arts Council, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), the Oklahoma Music Teachers’ Association, the American Composers’ Forum’s Continental Harmony Program and faculty research grants and merit credit awards from the University of Central Oklahoma. In the spring of 2000, he was inducted into SAI as an Arts Associate and won the AAUP-UCO Distinguished Creativity Award. Other memberships include ASCAP, Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda. Dr. Magrill is also an active collaborative pianist. In the fall of 2023, he received a “Modeling the Way” award from the University of Central Oklahoma.
His interest in World Music led him to collaborate with M.V. Narasimhachari. Together they produced two volumes of The Music of India: An Introduction (1996-2003). His work with Indian music came to fruition when he presented his “East-West Duo” for violin, cello and mridangam in a concert of his music in Chennai, India on January 1, 2005.
Recent compositions and performances include “Cello Dance”, performed by Linda Jennings, cello and Chindarat Charoenwongse, piano, on their Thailand tour (June 2013), “The Winding Way”, performed at the V Festival Internacional de Musica de Campina Grande in Brazil by the UCO Concert Chorale, Karl Nelson, D.M.A., director (July 2014), and “Stone Poems”, performed by Natalie Syring, flute and the composer at the piano, at the National Flute Association Conference in Chicago (August 2014).
“Concerto fantastique” for flute and orchestra was premiered 4/21/17 by Mira Magrill, flute and the Chelsea Symphony at St. Paul’s Church in New York City. “Five Bagatelles” (2018), for flute, violin, cello and piano was performed 4/17/18 by Mira Magrill, flute; Gregory Lee, violin; Jonathan Ruck, cello; Samuel Magrill, piano, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Oklahoma City on a brightmusic concert entitled “Old and New.” “Out of Thyme” for one piano six hands was premiered 2/4/20 on a concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Pianists’ Club at the UCO Jazz Lab. “Celloklavier: Beethoven Deconstructed” was written especially for cellist Dr. Tess Remy-Schumacher to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death and was premiered 8/30/22 on the Faculty Artists Concert Series at the UCO Jazz Lab.
Utitia’q’s Song
(Inuit)
I am happy.
This is good.
There is nothing but ice all around.
That is good.
I am happy.
This is good.
For land we have slush.
That is good.
I am happy.
This is good.
When I do not know enough
It is good.
When I tire of being awake
I begin to wake.
It gives me joy.
Dr. Tess Remy asked me to write a song for cello and voice that she could perform with Dr. Rob Glaubitz. I asked her if she had a text in mind and she sent me Utitia’q’s Song. It seems Utitia’q, while hunting seals, went adrift on the ice and only reached shore after much hardship.
I accepted the challenge, embracing the metaphor of singing a simple song in an indifferent environment, confronting the daily challenges of life. The cello emulates a percussive ritual with tritone double stops and arpeggios played pizzicato. The voice sings a hopeful lyrical pentatonic melody against the relentless cello ostinato. The environment is not intentionally destructive or malicious; it just is. Utitia’q takes a positive attitude and perseveres through the challenges, making the best of the situation, living to tell the tale.
Thank you, Dr. Tess for inviting me on this compositional journey and thank you Dr. Tess and Dr. Glaubitz for premiering my work!!
–Samuel Magrill (2024)
Michael Hoppe
Michael Hoppe is a British composer and music executive who has made significant contributions to the music industry throughout his career. Born in Cairo in 1944 to British parents, Hoppe grew up in England and developed a love for music at an early age.
In 1969 Hoppe began working in the music industry as a record producer and executive. He joined PolyGram Records that year where he worked in various positions, including Senior Vice President of International Marketing and Vice President of A&R. During his time at PolyGram, Hoppe signed and developed numerous successful artists, including ABBA, The Who, and Vangelis.
In addition to his work at PolyGram, Hoppe continued to compose music throughout his career. He has released currently 35 albums of his own compositions, including “The Yearning,” “Afterglow” (over 20 million streams on Spotify) “The Poet” and “Nostalgie” featuring the harmonica player Joe Powers. His music has been featured in films, television shows (“The Sopranos”) and commercials, and has been performed by orchestras around the world. Hoppe’s compositions are characterized by their lush, romantic melodies and evocative harmonies. He draws inspiration from classical music, as well as from world music traditions and popular music. His music has been described as “hauntingly beautiful” and “emotionally resonant.”
Throughout his career, Hoppe has received numerous awards and accolades for his work in both the music industry and as a composer. He was awarded a Grammy nomination for his album “Solace” along with several other awards. Today, Hoppe continues to compose music and is considered one of the most successful British composers of his generation. His contributions to the music industry and his unique musical voice have left a lasting impact on the world of music.
Michael Hoppe: SOME OTHER TIME
I originally composed the song for my young son Oliver, and it still remains one of my favorites.
When recording the album “The Poet-Romances for cello” I decided to start the album with this melody which I felt beautifully embraced Carl Sandburg’s lovely poem “The Great Hunt”
THE GREAT HUNT
I CANNOT tell you now;
When the wind’s drive and whirl
Blow me along no longer,
And the wind’s a whisper at last–
Maybe I’ll tell you then–
some other time.
When the rose’s flash to the sunset
Reels to the rack and the twist,
And the rose is a red bygone,
When the face I love is going
And the gate to the end shall clang,
And it’s no use to beckon or say, “So long”–
Maybe I’ll tell you then–
some other time.
I never knew any more beautiful than you:
I have hunted you under my thoughts,
I have broken down under the wind
And into the roses looking for you.
I shall never find any
greater than you.
Eventually the “Some Other Time” song also found another home in my
Requiem for Peace & Reconciliation
as “In Paradisum” which concludes Requiem.
Michael Hoppe
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
c 2023
Kitt Wakeley
Kitt Wakeley is a Grammy® winning composer/producer/artist and 5 time #1 Billboard Charting musician, and known for selling out venues such as Carnegie Hall in NYC.
Although, he’s a highly sought out producer for various genres, including dance, pop, rock, jazz-fusion, and Americana, his personal projects have brought him even higher acclaim as a composer for orchestral music that typically includes the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and famed studios such as Abbey Road in London, UK.
Recently inducted to the Indie Music Hall of Fame, Kitt has a total of 5 #1s on the Billboard Charts, along with an additional 8 top 10 Billboard rankings and a total of 16 Billboard projects. Many of these projects include famed orchestras and stellar artists, such as 15-time Grammy Award-nominated guitarist Joe Satriani, legendary guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, Michael Jackson’s beloved guitarist Orianthi, female sensation guitarist, Nita Strauss, world renowned drummer Kenny Aronoff, and many other notable musicians such as multi-Grammy winning flautist Wouter Kellerman.
When he’s not producing, recording or composing, Kitt enjoys time with his wife Melissa and their 6 children, living in Edmond, OK.
Kitt Wakeley’s ASA Cello Solo was commissioned by Tess Remy-Schumacher and in memoriam Lynn Harrell ON April 22, 2020. Asa is the story of a young boy who could not be adopted due to severe mental health challenges. This composition is dedicated to the Foster Children of the World!
“Asa” is part of Kitt Wakeley’s Grammy® winning CD “Adoption Story” and raises awareness and funds for Foster Youth.
Adam Barret Berry
Adam Berry is a 2x GRAMMY® and 2x Emmy award-winning composer, songwriter and producer who has scored over 600 episodes of television and 16 feature films and has produced two #1 Billboard chart-topping albums.
Adam’s career began in 1997 when he was asked to write a demo for a new Comedy Central series, ‘South Park.’ His demo secured him the job, and his guitar and mandolin music became the signature sound of the show. Adam scored the first four seasons and played bass guitar in Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s punk band.
In 1998 Adam began working for Disney, composing scores for six series and three movies, including one of Disney’s most popular and longest-running shows, ‘Kim Possible.’ A song from the show, ‘Naked Mole Rap,’ which was a collaboration between Adam and the show’s creators, hit the Top 10 on Radio Disney. Adam received his first Emmy nomination for his ‘Kim Possible’ music underscore.
Adam returned to Comedy Central to write music for ‘The Sarah Silverman Program.’ In addition to writing the underscore, Adam worked with Sarah and the cast, recording and producing the songs for the third season, and lending his vocals to a few of the tracks as well. The program’s score and songs were released on the soundtrack CD ‘Songs in the Key of Yuck.’ Adam’s collaboration with Sarah Silverman continued with her NBC pilot, several YouTube videos, including her Black Pencil Award-winning ‘The Great Schlep’ video, and her Emmy-winning HBO comedy special, ‘We Are Miracles.’
In 2008 Adam began work on Dreamworks / Nickelodeon’s ‘Penguins of Madagascar,’ writing the main title theme, the underscore and co-writing and producing over 30 original songs. Over the next four years Adam was nominated for eight Emmy awards and two Annie awards for his work on the show. He won an Emmy in 2011 for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Direction and Composition and again the following year for Outstanding Original Song. The show also won a BAFTA award in the International category, judges calling it ‘…exemplary in its technical aspects, storytelling, pacing, dialogue, musical score.’
Adam collaborated with Dreamworks and Nickelodeon again writing the main title and underscore for the show, ‘Monsters vs. Aliens.’
In 2014 Adam scored the award-winning indie thriller ‘Blood Punch,’ using a string quartet recorded in Los Angeles to highlight both the tense, claustrophobic atmosphere and the macabre humor of the film. The result is an emotional, intimate, darkly comedic score that one critic called, ‘freakin’ fantastic.’
Adam’s next project was the stunning Emmy-award winning Amazon series, ‘Lost in Oz,’ a retelling of the Wizard of Oz. The series is currently streaming on Amazon and playing on broadcast television in over 100 countries.
Adam also scored the Disney series ‘Big Hero 6’. His work on the 3-season, 56 episode series included writing the Main Title theme, the End Credit and the underscore, and co-writing and producing over 50 original songs. He was nominated for an Emmy award (his 10th nomination) in the category of Outstanding Original Song for the Broadway-inspired 11 o’clock number ‘Gonna Go Good.’
Recently Adam scored the film ‘Double Down South,’ the latest from Academy Award winning writer and director Tom Schulman (Dead Poet’s Society, What About Bob). Double Down South is a shadowy confidence game thriller set in the South, and Adam’s moody, bluegrass-infused score both highlights the film’s swampy location and the tense, engrossing story.
Adam is a member of the band White Sun and has produced several of their albums. Their second album, ‘White Sun II,’ won a GRAMMY® for Best New Age album, hit #1 on the Billboard New Age Music chart, and #2 on the Billboard World Music chart. Their following album, White Sun III, also hit #1 on the Billboard New Age chart. Their latest album, ‘Mystic Mirror,’ won a GRAMMY in the category of Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album. Since its release on September 23, 2022, Mystic Mirror has hit #1 on the iTunes Worldwide chart in five countries, including the US. In addition to Mystic Mirror, in 2022 White Sun had 15 singles hit #1 on iTunes Worldwide, New Age and Overall charts in 21 countries.
Adam Barrett Berry: Remembrance and Renewal: Scenes from a Life, Suite for Cello and Piano was commissioned by Tess Remy-Schumacher. She premiered this composition at Carnegie Hall and today’s performance is the Oklahoma premiere. This composition derived from conversations to turn loss into Remembrance and Renewal.
Robert Glaubitz
Rob Glaubitz, D.M.A., is the director of the School of Music and a faculty member of the vocal division, where he holds the position of director of UCO Opera and professor of voice and opera. He is passionate about helping students to reach their fullest potential as singers, performers, and educators.
Glaubitz has served as director of UCO Opera since 2015 and has directed numerous productions at UCO, including The Consul, Die Fledermaus, The Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte, The Tender Land, Cendrillon, The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Serse. He adapted multiple operas for performance at UCO, including a new version of Von Flotow’s Martha with an English text. Under his leadership, UCO Opera has grown to perform three staged and costumed operas a year in various on- and off-campus venues. These productions include UCO Opera’s popular Opera for Children, which introduces opera to more than 500 PK-6 students annually. Alumni of UCO Opera have sung with Seattle Opera, Virginia Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Chautauqua Opera, and Portland Opera, among others, as well as Oklahoma’s own Tulsa Opera, Lyric Theatre, and Painted Sky Opera.
As a vocal instructor, Glaubitz teaches classical and musical theatre singers with a strong emphasis on functional vocal training. His students have won multiple competitions and are performing on national tours of musicals and at professional opera companies and training the musicians and music lovers of the future as music educators. He holds a Level 1 certification in Somatic Voicework.
Glaubitz is the artistic director and one of the founders of Painted Sky Opera, a professional opera company based in Oklahoma City. Founded in 2015, Painted Sky Opera’s mission is to present innovative, inspiring opera through performance and education featuring emerging professional artists in Central Oklahoma. Through his leadership and that of his co-founder Barbara Fox DeMaio, Painted Sky Opera has developed into a strong voice for opera and classical singing in central Oklahoma. In 2017, Painted Sky Opera became a resident company at Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City and a professional company member of Opera AMERICA. Currently, Painted Sky Opera presents a three-show season, with recent productions directed by Glaubitz including As One, La Boheme, The Turn of the Screw, Scalia/Ginsburg, and Don Giovanni. Painted Sky Opera has also given the Oklahoma premieres of Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers and Stephen Temperley’s Souvenir. More information on Painted Sky Opera can be found at www.paintedskyopera.org.
Glaubitz is an award-winning stage director, including the 2023 American Prize for Directing – the Charles Nelson Reilly Award. He directed UCO Opera’s production of Cosi Fan Tutte which won 2nd place in the 2020 National Opera Association Opera Production competition as well as UCO Opera’s production of The Consul which won the American Prize in Opera in 2023. In addition, he directed Painted Sky Opera’s As One which was an honorable mention for the 2023 American Prize in Opera.
Glaubitz is active as a singer, having appeared across the United States and internationally in Brazil and China in multiple operatic and musical theatre productions as well as in concerts and recitals. In Oklahoma, he has performed with the OKC Philharmonic, Enid Symphony, and Painted Sky Opera. He appears on several recordings, including 2018’s Kindred Spirits performing the Dello Joio “Songs of Abelard”.
Glaubitz is well-regarded as a researcher and is best known for his website The Aria Database (http://www.aria-database.com), an online repository of information on more than one-thousand operatic arias. The Aria Database has received numerous awards and has been featured by the New York Times and Australian Public Radio. It has been aiding singers in their preparation of arias since 1996.
Originally from Virginia, Glaubitz received his D.M.A. in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy and his M.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of Colorado – Boulder. He received his B.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of Hartford.
David Forbat
David Forbat is Professor of Piano at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he has taught since 2005. Previous faculty appointments were at Geneva College (PA), University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie-Mellon University, and William Carey University (Mississippi). He holds degrees in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory (DMA), the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (MM) and the University of Southern California (BM). His principal teachers were Ann Schein (Peabody), Claude Frank (Aspen Music Festival), Frank Weinstock (UC-CCM) and John Perry (USC).
In addition to solo recitals and concerto performances, Forbat has collaborated with numerous vocal and instrumental musicians. Of special note are collaborations (recital and recorded) with cellist, Tess Remy-Schumacher. He has performed lecture recitals, also known as “informances,” on works of composers such as Liszt, Schumann, and Ravel. Furthermore, Forbat has garnered awards for his piano/dance collaborations with UCO ballet professor, Robyn Pasternack. Together, their choreographed collaborations include works by Grieg, Poulenc, and Chopin. In the summer of 2023, they embarked upon a recording project featuring 26 improvised movements designated for use in ballet classes.
In both the studio and the classroom, Forbat has promoted the integration of music theory and keyboard learning. He has composed teaching pieces dedicated to this aim of building music literacy and functional skill in developing musicians of all ages. He has presented on related topics at the local, state, and national levels of the Music Teachers National Association.
Since 2012, he has made regular visits to China to perform and conduct masterclasses at several universities and conservatories. Many of these visits have included a team of music faculty members and administrators from the University of Central Oklahoma. However, he has also returned as a featured guest clinician at the invitation of Beijing Normal University (2013) and Sphinx International Art Education (2019, 2023).
In August of 2022, the University of Central Oklahoma College of Fine Arts and Design presented Forbat with the prestigious Vanderford Distinguished Teaching Award by the College of Fine Arts and Design.
David Forbat: Variations on a Hebrew Hymn (2003)
The Hebrew melody (“YIGDAL”) upon which this set of variations is based finds its origins deep within Jewish tradition. Despite its antiquity, it remains in use in both Jewish and Christian worship services to the present day. In contemporary Jewish services, the text is often sung antiphonally: the first line of each stanza is sung by the cantor, and the second by the congregation. In Christian services, the melody, adapted in 1770 by Meyer Lyon and renamed “LEONI,” is most often sung as a strophic hymn entitled, “The God of Abraham Praise.” Regardless of the worship setting, the point of the text is to extol and praise the living God. As a professing Christian, David Forbat wrote these variations in 2003 as an expression of praise to God and as a tribute to his Jewish heritage. The theme is followed by four variations and a coda which cover a variety of pianistic textures. Set in the key of B minor, there is no modulation per se, but two of the variations (II and III) are in the major mode (B Major).
Tess Remy-Schumacher
Tess Remy-Schumacher is a featured Solo Artist on Kitt Wakeley’s 2023 GRAMMY® winning CD “An Adoption Story”, was the 2023 CL Shaddock Award Musician of the Year Recipient of the Mississippi Music Foundation, 2022 AKADEMIA Music Award Grand Prize Winner, a Global HOLLYWOOD Music Award multiple silver medal winner, and bronze medal winner with the Otis Trio (with Dawn Lindblade-Evans and Sallie Pollack), a Native American Music Award nominee with Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and 1st prize winner at the international Carlo-Zecchi Competition in Rome.
Recently, she was nominated for the “Musician of the Year” Award of the prestigious Josie Music Awards and inducted into the AKADEMIA Hall of Fame. She was the 2023 Winner of the ICMA awards in the category Best Instrumentalist. She is a featured solo artist on the 2024 GRAMMY® nominated CD Aquamarine by Kirsten Agresta Copely.
She has been a concert soloist for many years performing in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the U.S., including the Wigmore Hall in London, Jubilee Hall in Singapore, Bradley Hall in Chicago, and the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. In The New York Concert Review, Edith Eisler wrote about her most recent Carnegie Recital Hall performance, “Remy-Schumacher’s technique is disciplined… Her bow control and mastery of the fingerboard are complete; her intonation is excellent.” Remy also performed at the Brisbane Biennial Festival, the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, the Contempofest (Australia), the Weatherfield Music Festival (U.S.) and the Internationaler Klaviersommer(Germany).
As a member of the Serapion-Duo, she toured to Switzerland, Italy, Singapore, Thailand, England (including their 1995 Wigmore Hall Debut), the US and extensively in Germany. The “Nation Bangkok” described their concert as a ‘compelling performance…sheer excellence… highest level of musicianship… magisterial authority’. A recent concert at the UNESCO Site Kloster Waldsassen mentioned their “Perfect Collaboration- technically and musically, and highest level of musicianship. “
Tess has recorded for WDR, NDR and MDR (Germany), WNYC New York, K-USC Los Angeles, ABC National, Australia, MBS-FM Melbourne, Australia and Swiss and Italian television. Among her 20+ albums are premiere recordings of David Maslanka’s Cello Concerto “Remember Me” and Carter Pann’s Cello Concerto “High Songs” with the UCO Wind Symphony under conductor, Brian Lamb. Further CDs include her own transcriptions of Robert Schumann’s “Dichterliebe” with Marcus Reissenweber and Christoph von Sicherer, works by “In Sun Cho” for the Contemporary Music Society in Seoul, Korea, Villa Lobos with guitarist Stefan Grasse, the “Ibert Cello Concerto” recorded in 1999 at Radio Hilversum combined with solo cello works by Henze, Lutoslawki, Stahlke, Magrill, and the Rachmaninov Sonata in g-minor with pianist Michael Staudt. She has released two CDs of Cello Compositions by Sam Magrill and recorded “Trios” by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Michael Daugherty, as well as the first volume of the “Suites for Cello Solo” by Johann Sebastian Bach. Recent CD recording projects include “” romanza, pasion y danza”” with guitarist Stefan Grasse, a Beethoven CD with Ben Davis, “Music for Peace”, a Trilogy of 3 CDs. Her CD “To Awaken the Sun” has received the national NAPPA Award in 2020 and has been nominated for the 2022 Native American Music Award. She has been a featured Solo Artist on Kitt Wakeley’s 2023 GRAMMY® winning CD “An Adoption Story” and just released ASA: Reimagined for Solo cello by Kitt Wakeley dedicated to the Foster Children of this World.
Remy received a DMA and MM from the University of Southern California and her Artist Diploma (terminal degree) from the Musikhochschule Koeln, Germany. Among her teachers were Boris Pergamenschikow Eleonore Schoenfeld, Lynn Harrell, and Jacqueline du Pre.
She is a voting member for the Recording Academy, the “ GRAMMY® Foundation”, a Grammy U Mentor, serves on the selection committee for the “Fulbright Commission” and also reviews for the national ASTA magazine. Remy-Schumacher received the Neely Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Vanderford Engagement Award. Tess was a Visiting Scholar and Performance Fellow at Harvard University 2010-2012. Previously, she was tenured faculty at James Cook University, Australia. Currently, she is Professor for Cello and cofounder of the Brisch Center for Historical Performance at UCO.
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