December 16, 2007.
Holiday♫NotesThe First Coast Clarinet Society
& The Jacksonville Symphony Players Association Brass Quintet
December 16, 2007, 2:30 p.m.
Program Guide (pdf)
JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY PLAYERS’ ASSOCIATION BRASS QUINTET
Charlie Matthiessen | Randy Tinnin | Aaron Brask | Bill Thomas | Michael Hosford
Christmas Carols : arranged by Rob Roy McGregor
A Hanukkah Festival : arranged by Ted Blumenthal
A Christmas Jazz Suite : arranged by Arthur Frackenpohl
THE FIRST COAST CLARINET SOCIETY
Paul Barnes | Kristopher Beckstrom | James Coleman | Ralph Coleman | Walt Haworth
Lynn Jacobson | Jenny Kosar | Jason Philbrick | Chrystal Staples | Shannon Watson
Up on the Rooftop : arranged by Bill Holcombe
Christmas Festival : by Leroy Anderson, transcribed by Anthony Brackett
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear : by Richard S. Willis, arr. by William Ryden
Spiritual Christmas : arranged by Dave Thomas (Mary Had a Baby — Rise up, Shepherd, and Follow — Go, Tell it on the Mountain)
Deck the Halls Welsh Carol : arranged by Bill Holcombe
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing : by Felix Mendelssohn; arranged by Bill Holcombe
Joy to the World : arranged by Bill Holcombe
O Tannenbaum : arranged Bill Holcombe
Frosty the Snow Man : by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, arranged by Jeff Jarvis
Christmas Jazz Suite : arranged by Bill Holcombe
“Trepak” from the Nutcracker Suite : by P. I. Tchaikovsky, arranged by Douglas Smith
Carol of the Bells : by M. Leontovich, arranged by Douglas Smith
“Hallelujah Chorus” from Messiah : by George Frideric Handel, arranged by Bill Holcombe
Good King Wenceslas : arranged by William Ryden
The Twelve Days of Christmas : arranged by William Ryden
Sleigh Ride : by Leroy Anderson, arranged by Shannon Watson
The Musicians of the Jacksonville Symphony Players’ Association
(http://www.jsomusicians.org/) hail from 18 of these United States and
from 11 other countries, but all call Jacksonville home. They have come
to help make Jacksonville a better place to live through the beauty of live
music, serving our citizens and anchoring our city’s cultural life. They
continue to “keep the music alive” for residents by performing in various
venues around Jacksonville following the decision by the Symphony’s
Executive Board to suspend regular Symphony concerts in the Times
Union Center for the Performing Arts.
Charlie Matthiessen joined the Jacksonville Symphony
Orchestra in 1979, and has performed as trumpeter with
various orchestras across the Southeast, including the Atlanta
Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and the Savannah
Symphony. While in high school and college he spent
four summers at the Brevard Music Center, in Brevard,
North Carolina, and earned both Bachelor's and Master's
degrees in Music from Northwestern University. After college
he returned to the North Carolina mountains for an additional
18 summers performing as principal trumpet with the Brevard Music Center
Orchestra, and from 1984 to 2001 Charlie was also on the teaching faculty
at Brevard.
Award-winning trumpeter Randy Tinnin is Assistant Professor
of Trumpet and Director of the Brass Ensemble at
the University of North Florida, and performs regularly with
the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. An internationally
recognized authority in Baroque trumpet performance practice,
Randy is collaborating this season with New Trinity
Baroque, an Atlanta-based period instrument ensemble
praised as one of the finest in the country, and he is a
founding member of Serafini Brillanti, a trio that specializes in early to contemporary
works for soprano and trumpet. Dr. Tinnin hold degrees from the University
of North Texas (B.M.E.), Juilliard (M.M.), and Rutgers (D.M.A.), and has
preformed around the globe and with some of the world’s most respected conductors.
He has recorded for the New World and Naxos labels, and maintains
an active international schedule as soloist, lecturer, clinician, and conductor. A
strong advocate of the arts as an instrument of social change, Dr. Tinnin was
director of the H.O.P.E School of the Arts prior to moving to Jacksonville, mentoring
under-served children in New York City. He continues these efforts by
working with public school children locally and throughout the state.
Aaron Brask has been a full time member of the Jacksonville
Symphony Orchestra since 1988, and also has performed
with the Florida Orchestra in Tampa and toured
Europe with the American Sinfonietta. He has played with
the Glimmerglass Opera since 1990, and has participated
in summer festivals at the The Berkshire Music Center at
Tanglewood, Massachusetts, the Music Academy of the
West, in Santa Barbara, California, and the Interlochen
Summer Music Camp, in Michigan. Mr. Brask was educated
at the Interlochen Arts Academy and Boston University.
In addition to his private studio, Aaron has served as horn instructor at
Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Jacksonville University, and the
University of North Florida. Aaron Brask has made three recordings with another
in the works, including two with JSO harp player Kayo Ishimaru. His CD,
Can I Get You Anything?, available from the Library, showcases Aaron's versatility,
with performances ranging from the Baroque stylings of Marin Marais to a
traditional Spiritual to John Lennon's Imagine. Mr. Brask will be featured in the
next Intermezzo concert, on January 13th, 2008.
Bill Thomas recently uprooted from the Washington, D.C., area and moved to
Jacksonville as the Symphony’s new trombonist. He is a graduate of Philadelphia’s
Curtis Institute of Music, and has performed with the New World Symphony,
the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and the San Antonio
Symphony, as well as with Kennedy Center Opera. Bill was most recently a
member of the United States Navy Band in the Nation’s Capital, and was honored
with a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
For the past eight years Michael Hosford has been a member of the Sarasota
Opera, where he is the principal trombonist and the current orchestra librarian.
Michael, who is married to Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra violinist Karen
Pommerich, moved to Jacksonville about six years ago. He is substitute trombonist
for the JSO, and was their 2nd trombone between November 2006 and
December 2007. Before moving to Florida, Mr. Hosford played with the New
Haven Symphony for eight years, and the Charleston Symphony for one year.
Originally from Woodbine, Maryland, he lived in New York City for eleven years,
earning Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the famous Juilliard School, and
freelancing with such world-class ensembles as the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, as well as
playing for the Broadway productions of The King and I, 1776, Candide, Les
Miserables, The Music Man, Parade, and The Lion King. Since 2000, both
Michael and his wife have spent summers in Boulder, Colorado, performing
with the Colorado Music Festival.
The First Coast Clarinet Society (http://www.myspace.com/fccs) are
music educators and nonprofessional or retired clarinetists who share a
joy of making music together and making music fun, and they are always
on the lookout for new members! For more information about the Society,
please visit with the players at the reception following today’s concert,
or contact Shannon Watson at shawatson13@yahoo.com.
In addition to performing with the First Coast Clarinet Society, Paul Barnes (Bflat
Clarinet, E-flat Soprano clarinet) is the President and Principal Clarinetist of
the St. Augustine Community Orchestra. He has been a student of Ed Walters,
Norman Heim and the late Paul Eberly. Mr. Barnes was a member of the University
of Maryland Bands (1985-1990), the Statue of Liberty All-American
Marching Band (1986) and the United Way Centennial Honors Orchestra
(1987). He performed with the U.S. Navy Band at the U.S. Capitol (1985), also
with Manhattan Transfer, Shirley MacLaine and Richard Thomas, among others,
and has performed for President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Vice President
George Bush, French President and Mrs. Francois Mitterrand and Itzhak
Perlman. When Mr. Barnes is not playing with woodwinds, you’ll find him playing
with trains at CSX Transportation as Market Manager, Woodpulp.
Kristopher Beckstrom (B-flat Clarinet, E-flat Alto Clarinet) teaches Music Appreciation
and Critical Thinking at Landon Middle School, and in the seven
years Kristopher has been at Landon he also has taught Band and Chorus. He
is a graduate of Jacksonville University with a Bachelor of Music Education
degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish. Since 1994, Kristopher has
regularly performed with the First Coast Wind Ensemble, and he still tries to
find time for work and practicing around his busy schedule of spending time
with his son, Kyle.
James Coleman (B-flat Clarinet) has been playing the clarinet since 1996. He
was graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in 2002, where he
was a member of both the band and the orchestra. While working toward his
2006 degree in Criminal Justice at the University of North Florida, James continued
to hone his performance skills playing with the UNF Wind Ensemble. He is
now attending Florida Community College at Jacksonville, pursuing a Pharmacy
degree.
Ralph Coleman (B-flat Clarinet & Bass Clarinet) is the string instructor at Pine
Forest Elementary School of the Arts, and previously served as middle school
band director in Baker, Clay and Duval Counties for 28 years. He is the music
director at Terry Road Baptist Church and has been associated with the Florida
Baptist Convention All-State Orchestra since 1984. A Jacksonville native, Ralph
has been playing the clarinet since he was in junior high school.
Walt Haworth (B-flat Clarinet) is a musical instrument repair specialist at Music
Time on Dunn Avenue. Walt, a Jayhawk from Kansas, played in an U.S. Army
Band for 20 years before moving his family to Jacksonville.
Lynn Jacobson (B-flat Clarinet) is the Head of the Cataloging Department for
the Jacksonville Public Library, and holds a music history degree from the University
of Southern Mississippi and a Master's degree in library science from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lynn is a member of the First Coast
Pops Orchestra and the Jacksonville Community Band, and she has been playing
clarinet since she was in middle school.
Jenny Kosar (Bass Clarinet) is a trust officer with Merrill Lynch Trust Company.
After taking a 23 year hiatus from playing, the Jacksonville native took up the
bass clarinet again when her children started middle school, and for the past
three years she has spent three afternoons a week assisting with the Southside
Middle School band. She also plays with the Jacksonville Community Band.
Jason Philbrick (B-flat Clarinet) is excited to be playing his first concert with the
First Coast Clarinet Society. A native of Washington, D.C., Jason has performed
in many famous venues, including the Kennedy Center, the White House, and
the National Cathedral. Jason moved to Jacksonville a year and a half ago, and
has played with the First Coast Wind Ensemble and the Jacksonville Community
Orchestra. When not playing clarinet he can be found running BeautyFirst, a
salon in Saint Johns Town Center, as well as teaching lessons at Riverside Avenue
Christian Church.
Chrystal Staples (B-flat Clarinet) received her B.A. in music education with
emphasis in performance from the University of West Florida. She was formerly
the band director at both Nathan B. Forrest High School and Orange Park High
School. Although she now has her hands full as a full-time mom, Chrystal still
has time to assist husband Kent Staples, the current music director at Forrest
High. She is the band director at Jacksonville Country Day School, and is also
a woodwind instructor for the First Coast Community Music School located at
FCCJ's South Campus.
Society founder and former Jacksonville Public Library cataloger Shannon
Watson (B-flat Clarinet, E-flat Alto Clarinet) is now the Technical Services Librarian
for Hernando County Public Library in Brooksville, Florida, but she still
makes regular trips back to Jacksonville for F.C.C.S. rehearsals. Originally from
Cortland, Ohio, Shannon has a degree in music education from Youngstown
State University and taught private music lessons in Ohio before coming to
Florida. A versatile performer, she plays bassoon in the Citrus Concert Band
and sings with the Hernando Hills Hi-Lites, a women’s barbershop chorus.