And the Heart Replies was commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphonic Band, Indianapolis, Indiana, to honor of their late director, Mr. Robert Phillips.

The title is based on the following excerpt from William Cowper’s (1731-1800) Winter Walk at Noon:

There is in souls a sympathy with sounds;

And as the mind is pitched the ear is pleased

With melting airs or martial, brisk, or grave:

Some chord in unison with what we hear

Is touched within us, and the heart replies.

This chorale-style work features the opening statement by the brass choir, followed by development of chorale fragments and the secondary theme by the woodwinds. After further thematic development by the percussion choir and a re-entry by the brasses, the piece ends with a final statement of the opening chorale.

– Program Note from Program Notes for Band

Conducted by Thomas Bough

Angels in the Architecture was commissioned by Kingsway International and received its premiere performance at the Sydney Opera House on July 6, 2008, by a massed band of young musicians from Australia and the United States, conducted by Mathew George. The work unfolds as a dramatic conflict between the two extremes of human existence — one divine, the other evil. The work’s title is inspired by the Sydney Opera House itself, with its halo-shaped acoustical ornaments hanging directly above the performance stage.

Angels in the Architecture begins with a single voice singing a 19th-century Shaker song:

I am an angel of Light

I have soared from above

I am cloth’d with Mother’s love.

I have come, I have come.

To protect my chosen band

And lead them to the promised land.

This “angel” — represented by the singer — frames the work, surrounding it with a protective wall of light and establishing the divine. Other representations of light, played by instruments rather than sung, include a traditional Hebrew song of peace (“Hevenu Shalom Aleichem”) and the well-known 16th-century Genevan Psalter, Old Hundredth. These three borrowed songs, despite their varied religious origins, are meant to transcend any one religion, representing the more universal human ideals of peace, hope, and love. An original chorale, appearing twice in the work, represents my own personal expression of these aspirations.

Just as Charles Ives did more than a century ago, Angels in the Architecture poses the unanswered question of existence. It ends as it began: the angel reappears sings the same comforting words. But deep below, a final shadow reappears — distantly, ominously.

– Program Note by composer

As a member of, and musical arranger for the Eighth U.S. Army Band, John Barnes Chance served in Seoul, South Korea, during the Korean War. It was during this time that he became familiar with a traditional Korean folk song called Arirang. Chance explains, “The tune is not as simple as it sounds, and my fascination with it during the intervening years led to its eventual use as the theme for this set of variations”.

Arirang is a tune based on the pentatonic scale, and it can be dated back to the 18th century as a song of love and heartbreak. It was utilized in the 20th century as a resistance anthem during the Japanese occupation of Korea, when the singing of patriotic songs, including the national anthem, was criminalized. Chance’s set of variations, written for concert band in 1965, begins by presenting the Arirang theme, and proceeds to develop it through five variations. The piece alternates between fast and slow variations, with the final variation being marked “Con Islancio” (“with impetuousness”), and it uses a variety of time signatures and rhythmic motives to alter the theme. Chance maintains the Eastern influence of the original tune through his use of the pentatonic scale, as well as prominent use of distinct percussion instruments, such as temple blocks, cymbals, and a gong.

The piece was awarded the Ostwald Award in 1966 by the American Bandmasters Association.

– Program Note adapted from Baylor University Symphonic Band concert program, 15 September 2022

Conducted by Thomas Bough

A multiple prize winner in composition, Quinn Mason has received numerous awards and honors from such organizations as the American Composers Forum, Voices of Change, Texas A&M University, The Diversity Initiative, the Dallas Foundation, Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of New York, the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, the Heartland Symphony Orchestra and the Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, Quinn was named by the Dallas Morning News as a finalist for ‘Texan of the Year’.

Quinn’s mission is to compose music for various mediums “Based in traditional western art music and reflecting the times in which we currently live”. Quinn has studied with Dr. Lane Harder at the SMU Meadows School of the Arts, Dr. Winston Stone at University of Texas at Dallas and has also worked with renowned composers David Maslanka, Jake Heggie, Libby Larsen, David Dzubay and Robert X. Rodriguez.

​Upcoming world premieres include his ‘Symphony in C Major’ with the Heartland Symphony Orchestra, Symphony No. 4 “Strange Time” by the Meadows Wind Ensemble and ‘Princesa de la Luna’ by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and conductor Brett Mitchell. Upcoming guest conducting appearances include concerts with the MusicaNova Orchestra and the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra.

The composer writes: Soul to Soul is an elegy for wind ensemble written in the memory of David Maslanka (1943-2017), who I had the pleasure of working closely with for a brief period in February 2017. The work is a tribute to Dr. Maslanka and his unique style of writing for wind ensemble, complete with chorales and hopeful trumpet fanfares. In addition to the chorales, this piece also contains a quote from his 8th symphony.

Variations on “America” was originally a composition for organ. Composed in 1891 when Ives was seventeen, it is an arrangement of a traditional tune, known as My Country, ‘Tis of Thee, and was at the time the de facto anthem of the United States. The tune is also widely recognized in Thomas Arne’s orchestration as the British National Anthem, God Save the Queen, and in the former anthems of Russia, Switzerland, and Germany, as well as being the current national anthem of Liechtenstein and royal anthem of Norway.

The variations are a witty, irreverent piece for organ, probably typical of a “silly” teenage phenom like Ives. According to his biographers, the piece was played by Ives in organ recitals in Danbury and Brewster, New York, during the same year. At the Brewster concert, his father would not let him play the pages which included canons in two or three keys at once, because they were “unsuitable for church performance – They upset the elderly ladies and made the little boys laugh and get noisy!”

This work was transcribed for orchestra in 1964 by William Schuman and for band in 1968 by William Rhodes.

Composer James Reece Europe, one of the most famous African-American musicians of his day, was called the “Martin Luther King of music” by pianist Euble Blake. He became the first African-American bandmaster in the U.S. Army. Europe was born in Alabama in 1881. When he was ten years old, his family moved to Washington D.C. and he began to study violin. Later in life, he served as the bandmaster for the dance duo of Vernon and Irene Castle, the inventors of the foxtrot. He joined the U.S. Army and was eventually made a lieutenant whereupon he was ordered by his commanding officer to form a military band. He enlisted people from a variety of places, some as far away as Puerto Rico to join his band. This band became known as the 369th U.S. Infantry “Hell Fighters” band. Europe’s legacy includes bringing ragtime into mainstream society and elevating African-American music into an accepted art form.

-Program notes taken from the Arranger, Chandler L. Wilson (ASCAP)

Featuring Prof. Liam Teague, Steel Pan

The title Rhapsody in Steel carries two meanings, the first being the obvious reference to the Steelpan, which is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. The second reason refers to the City of Pittsburgh, famously known as the “Steel City,” which the River City Brass Band calls home. The piece takes the listener on a virtuosic journey exploring the broad technical and musical capabilities of the steelpan throughout a variety of musical styles. Rhapsody in Steel was composed in 2023 for steelpan virtuoso Liam Teague and the River City Brass Band under the direction of James Gourlay. 

Thomas Bough joined the faculty of Northern Illinois University in the fall of 2005 as the Director of Athletic Bands. He also conducts the Wind Ensemble and the Wind Symphony and teaches graduate conducting and instrumental arranging. Bough holds MM and DMA degrees in Tuba Performance from Arizona State University, where he was a student of Sam Pilafian and Dan Perantoni. He holds the degree Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Missouri State University, where he was active in both vocal and instrumental music. From 1999 – 2005 Bough served as the Assistant Director of Bands and Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, and from 1992-1999 as the Band Director at Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona. He served as the founding conductor and music director of the Fox Valley Brass Band in Aurora, Illinois from 2017 – 2021.

Bough’s diverse performance background includes wind bands, brass bands, orchestras, chamber music, jazz bands, Dixieland, the Walt Disney World All American College Band and the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. He is a Yamaha sponsored artist, and performs on the Yamaha 822 CC tuba and Yamaha 822 F tuba. In this capacity, he served as a brass consultant and guest instructor with the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps for six years. He was also an instructor with the Phantom Regiment Alumni Corps in 2016. Bough has contributed over twenty articles and hundreds of new music reviews to the Instrumentalist magazine, School Band and Orchestra magazine, and DCI Today, as well as articles to five volumes of the Teaching Music Through Performance series as well as Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz. He is also an ambassador for the Denis Wick company, and a lifetime performer on their mouthpieces and mutes.

Bough is an active conductor, arranger, composer, clinician, and adjudicator for concert band, marching band, and brass band, with dozens of appearances per year to his credit across the United States. His music is published by Alfred Publications, Cimarron Music and GPG Publications. He has served as a frequent masterclass clinician and/or conductor for the Music For All Summer Symposium and the Music For All National Concert Band Festival for over fifteen years. He has presented masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music, the Crane School of Music, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo, and UNC-Greensboro, among many others. Bough has presented four times at the Midwest Clinic and twice at the U.S. Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Conference, as well as the International Society for Music Education Conference in Beijing, China, and Helsinki, Finland, four NAFME multi-state regional conventions, the International Horn Society Conference, the International Women’s Brass Conference, and the Midwest Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference. In addition, he has presented at Music Educators Association State Conventions in Illinois, Arizona, Texas, Iowa, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, Nebraska, Arkansas, North Carolina, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Washington, Florida and the Texas Bandmasters Association.

 

In May of 2014, his first compact disc was released, entitled, Concertos for Brass: The Music of Thomas Bough. This disc features three original concerti for solo brass instruments and wind band, as well as a transcription of the Concerto in Eb by Neruda. It is available on the Summit Records label at www.summitrecords.com. Since then, recent commissions have included “Ring the Bell” for The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley; “Esse Quam Videri” for Olivet Nazarene University; “Chester’s Diadem” for Hauser Junior High School; “Musings on Mahler” for Solo Trumpet and Band; “Legacy of Luther” for Concordia University in Chicago; “Air Mobility Fanfare” for the U.S. Air Force Band at Scott Air Force Base; and “Poorest of the Poor: Music for Mother Teresa”, for the University of San Diego.

Learn more about his work at www.TomBough.com.

Leif Albertson is the current graduate assistant for the NIU Huskie Bands and studies wind band conducting with Dr. Thomas Bough. Leif grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Iowa State University. Leif has attended conducting symposiums at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, the University of Kansas City, Missouri, and Northern Illinois University, Leif has also participated at the Music For All Summer Symposium as a director in 2024.  Leif taught 6th-8th grade middle school band in Elkhorn, Nebraska, for two years before coming to NIU to pursue a master’s degree.

Liam Teague is Professor of Music and Director of Steelpan Studies at Northern Illinois University (NIU), where he also leads the renowned NIU Steelband. Teague is the recipient of an NIU Board of Trustees Professorship Award (2022) and a Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor Award (2018).

Hailed as the “Paganini of the Steelpan”, his commitment to demonstrating the great musical possibilities of the steelpan has taken him to throughout the world, and he has received many awards from his homeland of Trinidad and Tobago, including the Hummingbird National Award (Silver) and the Ansa McAl Caribbean Award for Excellence. In 2022, The San Fernando City Council honored Teague with the Keys to the City of San Fernando, his hometown in Trinidad and Tobago. He is also the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council (IACA) 2023 Artist Fellowship Award. In 2024, the Fox Valley Orchestra honored Teague with its Champion of the Arts Award.

Teague has won several notable competitions such as the Trinidad and Tobago National Steelband Festival Solo Championship and the Saint Louis Symphony Volunteers Association Young Artist Competition. He has also performed with many diverse ensembles which include National Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Panama National Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Vermeer String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet, Hannaford Street Silver Brass Ensemble, River City Brass Band, Nexus, Dartmouth Wind Ensemble, Indiana University Symphonic Band, University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band, Nutrien Silver Stars Steel Orchestra, and the BpTT Renegades Steel Orchestra.

Teague has appeared in concert with Grammy-Award winning musicians Paquito D’Rivera, Dave Samuels, Zakir Hussain and Dame Evelyn Glennie, and has regularly collaborated with NIU colleagues Robert Chappell(multi-instrumentalist) and Faye Seeman(harp) with whom he co-founded the steelpan and harp duo Pangelic.

He has also presented and performed at several Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (PASIC) and educational institutions across the globe. Liam Teague has served as an adjudicator for many events including the International Pan Ramajay Competition and Virginia Arts Festival- PANorama Caribbean Music Festival.

Many of his compositions and arrangements are published with MaumauMusic, PanPress, RamajayMusic, Wendeln Music Works, and he has commissioned outstanding composers to write for the steelpan, including Michael Colgrass, Jan Bach, Libby Larsen, Andy Akiho, Deborah Fisher Teason, Joey Sellers, Ben Wahlund, Erik Ross, Kevin Bobo, David Gordon, Robert Chappell, Geof Bradfield, Casey Cangelosi, Gustavo Leone, Victor Provost, Etienne Charles, James Gourlay, and Reggie Thomas.

He served as steelband director at Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Door County, Wisconsin, and has also taught and performed at the California State University Summer Arts Camp, and at the Interlochen Academy for the Performing Arts.

Teague is also the author of a steelpan method for beginners published by the Hal Leonard Corporation, the world’s largest publisher of print music.

Liam Teague has created arrangements for Panorama, the most celebrated steelband competition in the world, for Nutrien Silver Stars Steel Orchestra, Harvard Harps Steel Orchestra, Starlift Steel orchestra, and Skiffle Steel Orchestra. He has many recordings to his credit, including Hands Like Lightning, For Lack of Better Words, Panoramic: Rhythm Through an Unobstructed View, Open Window, and Sorcerer