20 October 2024
4:00 p.m.
Newton High School Auditorium
Elizondo – Estampas Mexicanas
Estampas Mexicanas is a three-movement suite for orchestra featuring Mexican folk elements. In articular, it is inspired by the rhythmic vitality of the music of Carlos Chávez, the ritualistic mysticism of Silvestre
Revueltas, and the lyric melodies of Manuel M. Ponce.
The first movement, Ferial, is a festive parade of simple, colorful, folk-like tunes and rhythms. The opening of this movement pays homage to composer Carlos Chávez, paraphrasing the opening measures of his magnificent “Sinfonía India”.
The second movement, Danza del Pájaro Sagrado, presents an imagined Aztec ritual. The orchestration is sparse and symbolic. The heartbeat of the volcano is heard in the bass drum. The ritual dance steps of the priest are evoked by the rhythm of the congas. The layered music in the pizzicato strings creates a musical step-pyramid that the piccolo melody climbs to invoke the connection with the sacred bird.
The third movement, Teotlalli, includes a celebratory statement of this movement’s main theme in a symphonic version of the mariachi band. (Note by the composer)
Dvořák – Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”
Classical music began to flourish and take roots in a young United States following the Civil War. The 19th century saw the founding of an orchestra that would become the now world famous New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Although the Julliard School wasn’t founded until 1905, its predecessors sought to bring European composers to our shores to found a distinctly “American” school of composition. As part of this effort Antonin Dvořák was brought to the United States, where he taught in New York and
spent time at an artist’s retreat in lowa. It was during this time that he was exposed to the music of Indigeounous Americans and African Americans. Dvořák believed that any American school of composition needed to make use of this music: “I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. These can be the foundation of a serious and original school of composition, to be developed in the United States. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them.”
The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and was premiered on December 15, 1893 in New York. A day prior, a local paper published an article about the work in which Dvořák describes the genesis of the work and its relationship to The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. “I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written
original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, courterpoint, and orchestral colour.”
As one becomes familiar with the work and Longfellow’s Hiawatha it becomes immediately clear that this is less composed of subjects than it is composed of scenes and characters. In the aforementioned article, Dvorák stated that he regarded the symphony’s second movement as a “sketch or study for a later work, either a cantata or opera … which will be based upon Longfellow’s (The Song of Hiawatha” (Dvořák
never actually wrote such a piece). He also wrote that the third movement scherzo was “suggested by the scene at the feast in Hiawatha where the Indians dance.
Several scholars have noted that, whereas early 19th century symphonies may be more or less considered as abstract developments of subjects and themes, the late 19th century symphony was infused with programmatic implications. The symphonic poems of Strauss and large programmatic symphonies
of Mahler were the result of this century of musical transformation. In fact, in the light of these works, this symphony is quite reserved and traditional. However, it is worth noting that this is Dvořák’s last symphony, the remainder of his output contains some of his most popular programmatic symphonic poems. Many see this symphony as a transitional work, somewhere between a symphony and
the programmatic work (opera or cantata) Dvořák had in mind. The beauty of this enigma is that you get to choose the story, you can hear this one or create one of your own. Let your imagination run wild with this performance of the quintessential American symphony, “The New World Symphony.”
Dr. Chris David Westover-Muñoz
Award-winning conductor/creator, Chris David Westover-Muñoz has conducted and curated programs for wind ensembles and orchestras nationally and internationally. He was awarded First Prize by the jury of the 2019 Warsaw Wind Ensemble Conducting Competition and his work has been described as “elegant, bold, vibrant, inspiring and centered,” by Augusta Read Thomas. Dr. Westover-Muñoz is assistant professor of music at Denison University and was named Music Director of the Newton Mid-Kansas Symphony Orchestra in 2021.
Westover-Muñoz sees his work as a conductor as equal parts collaborator, curator, and creator. His work is primarily motivated by the social function of music–how music brings people together to engage with the challenging issues of our time through the collective act of music making.
Prior to his current appointment at Denison, Dr. Westover-Muñoz led wind ensembles, orchestras and operatic performances at Bethel College (KS), the University of Oklahoma, and the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. He has received acclaim for his performances with educational and professional ensembles in the US and abroad. Since 2017 he has been a frequent winner of the American Prize for Conducting in the choral, orchestral, and wind ensemble divisions.
Dr. Westover-Muñoz maintains an active profile as a research scholar and has presented his work on Vincent Persichetti and Beethoven at Hong Kong Baptist University and the conferences of the College Band Directors National Association and Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik. His album of IWW music was recorded and released in January 2024. He has conducted across the United States and in the People’s Republic of China and maintains a relationship with ensembles and conductors in Poland.
He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Oklahoma and the Master of Music in Wind Conducting from the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. Chris lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife Angie and their bearded collie, Natalie.