Program Notes
Dabble (2019)
Gala Flagello (b. 1994)
Program Notes:
Dabble (2019) for saxophone quartet, is a piece about the act – and perhaps art – of dabbling: doing things you’re bad at (or only superficially good at) precisely because you enjoy doing them, full well knowing you’ll never be the best at whatever it is, and that that is part of the fun. Throughout the work, the quartet explores the process of doing, making, and being, never letting sudden jolts and bumps, comments and interruptions, stop them in their pursuit of dabbling.
Composer Bio:
Gala Flagello (b. 1994) is a composer, educator, and nonprofit director whose work is inspired by a passion for lyricism, rhythmic vitality, and fostering meaningful collaboration. Her music, described as "at times endearingly whimsical, at times ominous, but always moving" (Cleveland Classical), resonates with audiences through its emotional depth and dynamic expression. Flagello's collaborations with leading ensembles, artists, and institutions on national and international stages build impactful projects for audiences and performers alike.
Flagello’s 2024/25 season features the European premiere of Vitality with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, including an international performance broadcast, along with orchestral performances of Bravado by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, Central Ohio Symphony, and the Dearborn Symphony Orchestra. She is a recipient of the 2024 Barlow General Commission, which will support the writing of Nebulous Beauty for the Thalea String Quartet. This season also includes over a dozen consortium premieres of Flagello’s Love & Nature, a wind band work commissioned by 55 ensembles across the United States, including the United States Air Force and Coast Guard Bands. Performances of Flagello’s works will be featured at music conferences across the country, including the Midwest Clinic, College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), and North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA).
Upcoming projects include a new piano concerto for soloist Henry Kramer and commissions from the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, the University of Nebraska–Omaha School of Music, and the University of Florida Bands. Album releases this season include Tallā Rouge’s Shapes in Collective Space featuring Burn as Brightly and a commercial recording of The Bird-While with Hub New Music and the University of Illinois Wind Symphony.
Flagello’s music frequently engages with topics such as environmental advocacy, gender equity, and mental health. The Bird-While, a concerto for Hub New Music and symphonic winds, is based on the environmental poetry of Michigan poet Keith Taylor, with each movement sonically exploring Michigan-specific flora and fauna. Other recent socially engaged projects include commissions from Diversify the Stand for Winds of Change; bassoonist Joseph Swift for his album Room to Breathe; mezzo-soprano Samantha Williams for her theatrical song cycle American Patriots; and the Georgia Run-Off Commissioning Project.
Flagello is a passionate educator and arts nonprofit leader. As the Festival Director and co-founder of the contemporary music festival Connecticut Summerfest, she champions the creation of new music and nurtures creative growth through collaboration. In her teaching, Flagello enthusiastically works with students to develop fledgling ideas into fully realized pieces, examine repertoire from Saint-Georges to Saariaho, and incorporate non-musical elements such as visual art and technology into their work. She maintains a private studio of composition students and has been engaged as Composer in Residence at institutions including the University of Michigan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Nebraska-Omaha, Virginia Tech, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Queen’s University (CAN). Flagello is proud to have co-designed and co-teach the course Commissioning and Collaboration Basics (ARTSADMN 406/506) at the University of Michigan with Hub New Music Executive Director Michael Avitabile.
Flagello earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition from The Hartt School, and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Michigan, where she was awarded the Dorothy Greenwald Graduate Fellowship. She has honed her craft as a Composition Fellow at prestigious institutions such as Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. Flagello’s works are self-published, with select works published by Just a Theory Press. When not composing, you can find her cooking up a new recipe, tending to her plethora of spider plants, or reading a good book.
Name note: Gala pronounces her name GAL-uh Flah-JEL-oh.
Nocturne for saxophone quartet (2021)
Zhou Tian (b.1981)
Program Notes:
Nocturne is a chorale for saxophone quartet conceived on a cold, winter night. Lyrical and reflective, the music carries a strong sense of romanticism, and strives to convey a sense of spiritual bliss. The piece was originally written as a middle movement of my first string quartet.
— Zhou Tian
Composer Bio:
Grammy-nominated Chinese-American composer Zhou Tian (JOH TEE-en) seeks inspiration from different cultures and strives to mix them seamlessly into a musically satisfying combination for performers and audience alike. The Wall Street Journal states his works “accomplish two important things: They remind us of how we got from there to here, and they refine that history by paying belated tribute to contributors who might otherwise be forgotten.”
His music — described as “absolutely beautiful…utterly satisfying” (Fanfare), “stunning” (the Cincinnati Enquirer), and “a prime example of 21st-century global multiculturalism” — has been performed by leading orchestras and performers in the United States and abroad, such as Jaap Van Zweden, Yuja Wang, Manfred Honeck, Long Yu, the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, “The President’s Own” US Marine Band, Dover Quartet, and Shanghai Symphony, where he recently served as the Artist-in-Residence. His Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned and recorded by Louis Langrée and the Cincinnati Symphony, earned him a GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2018, making him the first Chinese-born composer and the second Asian composer (following Tōru Takemitsu) honored in that category. In 2019, Beijing Music Festival named him “Artist of the Year.” In 2022, he became the first Asian-American composer to win the coveted Sousa-ABA-Ostwald Award from the American Bandmasters Association for Sinfonia.
Born into a musical family in 1981 in Hangzhou, China, Zhou moved to the US when he was 19. Trained at the Curtis Institute (B.M.), the Juilliard School (M.M.), and the University of Southern California (D.M.A.), he studied with some of America’s finest composers, such as Jennifer Higdon, Christopher Rouse, and Stephen Hartke. He is professor of composition at Michigan State University.
SAX-Drive! (2018)
Daniel Yiau (b.1986)
Program Notes:
SAX-Drive! is an energetic work for saxophone quartet (SATB), commissioned by Xin Quartet (Singapore) with the generous support and funding from the National Arts Council, Singapore. The work draws inspiration from contemporary genres (minimalism/pop/rock/EDM) and pays homage to the old western musical styles. SAX-Drive! also makes use of playing techniques (slap tongue, overtone-harmonics, lip bends) widely popular with contemporary saxophone music. a note to performers: Rhythm and rhythmical drive is the of utmost importance, speeds can be varied as long as both rhythmical and musical integrity are not comprised. Have fun and blow away!
Composer Bio:
Daniel Yiau is currently based in Singapore, having studied Wind/Brass band conducting in the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Sibelius Academy under the tutelage of Jan Schut and Petri Komulainen.
Daniel has conducted Symphonic Winds, Orchestra Collective, Philharmonic Winds, Amsterdamse Tramhamonie, Jeugd Project Orkest, Trompetterkorps der Koninklijke Marechausse, Amsterdam Brass, Lapland Military Band, Ilmavoimien soittokunta, Sinfonisches Verbandsblasorchester Markgräflerland, Estagio Nacional Orquestra Sopros, Filharmonica Mira, University of Louisville Wind Ensemble, amongst others.
As an active performer, Daniel plays all ranges of clarinets and has performed in various iconic performance venues across continents, mainly championing music written for the Bass Clarinet. He also currently plays in a mixed instrumental quartet K口U.
As an avid composer and arranger, Daniel has had performances of his compositions and arrangements in United States of America, Germany, Japan, China, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Singapore, and also on BBC radio 3.