Jerry F. Junkin, conductor

Douglas Henderson, guest conductor 

Gao Hong, pipa 

Gao Hong 

Musical Journey for Pipa and Band 

John Mackey 

Symphony No. 2 (U.S. premiere)

Music by Michael Robert Smith

Libretto by Demian Chavez Galvan

Madison Jackson, director | Douglas Kinney Frost, conductor

Sung in English with supertitles.

On July 16, 1945, New Mexicans awoke to Trinity, the world’s first nuclear test. Manhattan Project leaders did not inform residents, despite tens of thousands living nearby. In the years that followed, people in the surrounding areas began to report serious health issues. These individuals would be known as “Downwinders.” Downwind is the story of these people. 

This opera is a world premiere, written by students Michael Smith and Demian Galvan, who traveled to New Mexico to help bring this story to life. Smith writes, “While the family in our opera is fictional, the reality that they face is not.” 

Diego Rivera and Mike Sailors, directors 

Peter Bernstein, jazz guitar 

Leah Crocetto, soprano 

Donnie Ray Albert, baritone 

Ebonee Thomas, flute 

James Maverick, piano 

Sister Rosetta Tharpe 

Up Above My Head, I Hear Music in the Air 

Give Me Jesus, traditional 

Selections by Ricky Ian Gordon 

Samuel Barber 

Nocturne 

Carlisle Floyd 

Ain’t it a Pretty Night? from Susannah 

Cole Porter 

So in Love from Kiss Me, Kate 

George Gershwin from Porgy and Bess 

I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’ 

Bess, You Is My Woman Now 

My Man’s Gone Now 

Stephen Sondheim 

Selections from Sweeney Todd 

Gustav Holst 

Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity from The Planets 

Claude Debussy, arr. Ravel 

Trois Nocturnes 

Muzio Clementi 

Duet in B-flat Major Op. 12, No. 5 

Leonard Bernstein, arr. Brownell 

Three Dance Episodes from On the Town 

Jerry F. Junkin, conductor

Emily Warren & T.j. Anderson, guest conductors 

Ebonee Thomas, flute 

Seraph Brass

Lindsay Bronnenkant 

Tarot 

Anthony DiLorenzo 

Chimera 

John Corigliano 

Pied Piper Fantasy 

Mary Elizabeth Bowden, trumpet 

Raquel Samayoa, trumpet 

Layan Atieh, horn 

Lauren Casey-Clyde, trombone 

Robyn Black, tuba 

In its 11th season, Seraph Brass was founded by trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden with a mission to showcase the excellence of women brass players. Winners of the American Prize in Chamber Music, the group has been praised for its “beautiful sounds” (American Record Guide), “fine playing” (Gramophone), and “staggeringly high caliber of performance” (Textura). Seraph Brass performs a diverse body of repertoire, ranging from original transcriptions to newly commissioned works and core classics. Members of Seraph Brass are passionate about music education and hold teaching positions at the University of North Texas, Shenandoah Conservatory, Texas State University, and Texas Lutheran University. 

Melissa Aldana, tenor saxophone

Diego Rivera and Mike Sailors, directors 

Jerry F. Junkin, conductor

Cody Ray, guest conductor 

James Dick, piano

Sergei Rachmaninoff, arr. Patterson

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganinini, Op. 43

Samuel Barber

Commando March

Symphony No. 1 in One Movement (arr. Patterson)

J.D. Burnett, conductor of Concert Chorale

Holly Dalrymple, conductor of University Chorus ensembles

Concert Chorale

Thomas Weelkes 

When David Heard 

Eric Whitacre 

When David Heard 

Benjamin Britten 

Rejoice in the Lamb 

William Billings 

I am the Rose of Sharon 

Chester 

Charles Ives 

Psalm 90 

Irving Berlin, arr. Ringwald 

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor 

Traditionals 

Shenandoah (arr. Omar Thomas) 

I’ve Been in the Storm So Long (arr. Jeffrey Ames) 

Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel (arr. Moses Hogan) 

This Little Light of Mine (arr. Moses Hogan) 

University Chorus

Eric. W. Barnum

Spark   

Elaine Hagenberg

Measure Me Sky

Abbie Bettinis 

Jerusalem Luminosa

arr. Judith Watson

The Quiet Land of Erin

Peter Lyondev

Ergen Deda

Andrew Steffen

Spark of Light

arr. Douglas Wagner

Down by the Salley Gardens

Barrett

Indodana

Mendelssohn

Beati Mortuoi

Alec Schumacker

Cantate Domino

Johannes Brahms   

Geistliches Lied

Reginald Wright

We are the Music Makers

Music by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto by Giuseppe Adami & Giovacchino Forzano

Douglas Kinney Frost, conductor

Il Tabarro 

Yingmeige Xiong, stage director 

Suor Angelica 

Madison Jackson, stage director 

Gianni Schicchi 

Beatrice Huang, stage director 

Sung in Italian with English with supertitles.

Like short stories, one-act operas pack a big punch! Puccini’s last completed work was a triptych of these one-acts, telling three separate stories with one common theme: a hidden death. Il tabarro tells the story of a love triangle on a French barge. When jealousy strikes, who will survive? Puccini then transports us to a convent in Suor Angelica, where we meet a young nun, sent away in shame after giving birth out of wedlock. When her aunt appears, will she deliver news of redemption, or bring about even more pain? Gianni Schicchi closes the trilogy with a musical farce of the highest order. A greedy family hires trickster Gianni Schicchi to re-write the will of their wealthy patriarch, but does he really have their best interests in mind? All these characters, all these stories, all crafted by a composer at the pinnacle of his career. 

Concerto Competition Winners Concert 

Farkhad Khudyev, conductor

Winning soloists and repertoire will be announced later in the season after finals take place.