Mat-Su Concert Band paints “Portraits of the North” with Alaska theme
Contributed by Drewcilla Holifield
Mat-Su Concert Band celebrates the musical wonders of our Alaskan home with a performance emphasizing music about the state and its people, including a world premiere of a new composition.
The “Portraits of the North” concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 11 at the Glenn Massay Theater at Mat-Su College. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $5 for students. Children under 5 get in free. Tickets can be purchased online at www.matsuconcertband.org.
The band is made up of nearly 70 volunteers who come from different walks of life and professions to play music under the baton of Gleo Huyck.
This concert features the world premiere of Anthony Susi’s “Alaska: The Last Frontier”. Combining traditional Alaska Native song lyrics and dance rhythms, this piece attempts to capture the spirit of Alaska’s indigenous peoples as seen in the inspirations for different sections: Kodiak Alutiiq Dance; Tsimshian Dance; and “Neets’ee T’yaa”, a Gwich’in two-step. Susi has been teaching music in Connecticut schools at the middle, high school and college level since 1985. A guest conductor and adjudicator, he has also composed and recorded seven CDs of original music.
The band will also perform “A Klezmer in Alaska” by Marcus Bishko, a teacher, performer and vocalist who presents workshops on the art of phrasing in the Klezmer tradition and taught music at Mat-Su College and the University of Alaska from 1997 until 2005. Klezmer music has its origins in Europe among the Ashkenazi Jews; the word is a Yiddish contraction of the Hebrew words for instrument (kley) and song (zemer).
“Kivgik” by Carl Strommen recognizes the “messenger feast” a ritual thousands of years old and still celebrated, most recently this year in early February at Barrow High School where hundreds gathered for dancing, visiting, feasting, sharing stories and exchanging their crafts. Three pieces by composer Robert Buckley -- “Arctic Fire”, “Land of the Midnight Sun” and “Iditarod” -- round out the northern theme. Huyck is one of three co-founders of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
The concert will include a few pieces off the main theme. “Nimrod” by Edward Elgar is the most played of the composer’s “Enigma Variations” and described as the most beautiful.
Composer Julie Giroux dedicated “In My Father’s Eyes” to the four little girls who died in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that injured 23 others. Giroux called the bombing “an act of racial terrorism” in her program notes. “We remember and honor all of you. We have made strides but not enough.” The piece is written for wind ensemble, solo cello and singers.
Mat-Su Concert Band got its start in 1984 as the Mat-Su Community Band, formed by Matanuska Music owner Hank Hartman. Other directors have included Neil Long and Phil Munger.
Current director Huyck is a retired music educator and private instructor. Under his baton, the band performs a wide-ranging selection of challenging music. The band this season numbers about 70 amateur musicians who assemble every Monday night for rehearsals at Teeland Middle School.
