duo vela |ˈvālə| plural form of VELUM: of Latin origin, meaning sails

With a ship and the stars to guide, let Duo Vela transport you across the ocean to other lands. Experience new sounds and

indulge your senses in the colours and picturesque scenes painted by the flute and guitar.

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Hello! Welcome to our concert! We are Daniel and Marla- one recent graduate and one still attending the Eastman School of Music located in Rochester, NY. Daniel is a long way from his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, and Marla is not quite as far away from her beloved Chesapeake, VA. Recently engaged in Prague, we are setting out in life as a chamber ensemble and newlyweds!

Daniel is an excellent Italian chef and makes the most delicious pizzas. Marla enjoys eating Daniel’s pizzas and has a rambunctious cat that she has trained to sit, turn in a circle, and sometimes retrieve.

Now that you know a little about us, please come introduce yourself during intermission or at the end of the show!

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**As you may have already guessed, this is not the traditional, run-of-the-mill classical music concert program. Duo Vela’s primary goal is to engage you, the

audience member, as much as possible and bring you a little bit closer to our art and craft. In this program, you will get to read about the composers, detailed

information on each piece, fun facts, and learn about various musical techniques. It is our hope that this selected repertoire will captivate, inspire, and leave a lasting

impression.

From the dreaming by Phillip Houghton

Phillip Houghton is an Australian composer and guitarist, born 1954 in Melbourne, Australia. Like many other Australian composers, Houghton’s music vividly portrays Australian landscapes, particularly those of the outback. Houghton was originally trained as a visual artist and this visual element can be experienced in his music by the colourful sonic landscapes he produces.

I. Cave Painting

II. Wildflower

“ Cave Painting was inspired by ancient aboriginal rock art, rock

formations, mystery and ‘powerfields’. The guitar in this movement tries to

imitate the didjeridu.”

“Wildflower is the song of a single flower in an ever changing

panorama and climate of storms, drought, heat and isolation --- isolation and endless space.”

III. Gecko

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Suite Buenos Aires (2001)Máximo Diego Pujol

I. Pompeya

II. Palermo

III. San Telmo

Daniel: I had the pleasure of meeting Máximo a couple years ago in his hometown of Buenos Aires. He was very warm and friendly and treated me to some Asado, which is a traditional barbeque of Argentina. Last year, Máximo and his group performed in Adeliade, Australia and I got to listen to some of the finest

tango music I’d ever heard performed.

Pujol is a guitarist himself and is perhaps one of the most popular living composers for the instrument. He studied with influential pedagogue Abel Carlevaro, whose technique books I use everyday! Pujol also studied the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos and Leo Brouwer, two of the most influential composers of the

mid-late 20th century for guitar.

Pujol’s music is very tuneful, accessible and draws heavily on the tango style of Astor Piazzolla, who we’ll learn more about next. Like Piazzola, Pujol strives for a fusion of traditional Argentine Tango concepts

with formal academic concepts.

Suite Buenos Aires is a clear example of this fusion, introducing very melodic, simple and memorable themes but developing them in fairly complex ways, modulating through many keys and varying the

textures in crafty ways.

Each movement represents a different region of Buenos Aires.

“Gecko is basically the life and times of a small gecko

lizard in scherzo form!”

~ Intermission ~

Sonatina, Op. 205 by Mario Castlenuovo-

Tedesco (1895-1968)

I. Allegretto graziosoII. Tempo di Siciliana III. Scherzo. Rondo

BackgroundItalian born Mario Castlenuovo-Tedesco is most well known today as a composer of guitar music, however Tedesco wrote for a large array of genres including opera, ballet, oratorio, cantata, and song. From 1940 to 1956 Tedesco worked in Hollywood as a film composer, eventually becoming one of the most sought after film score teachers, with pupils including Andre Previn, Henry Mancini and John Williams!

Tedesco’s output also includes String Quartets and Violin Concerto’s, most notably his 2nd Violin Concerto ‘i profeti’ written for Jascha Heifetz, a work that expressed Tedesco’s concern for Italian Jewry and was a means of taking a stand, saying that “I felt proud of belonging to a race so unjustly persecuted...’. The rising antisemitism forced Tedesco and his family to move to the USA in 1939.

For Tedesco, anything could be translated into musical expression, including “the landscapes I saw, the books I read, the pictures and statues I admired”. Three themes were central for Tedesco’s inspiration - his place of birth, the Bible and Shakespeare. His output numbers over 200, however many of these works, including Sonatina, are not widely performed today.

Sonatina displays Tedesco’s craft as a composer, introducing simple, memorable themes and developing them, changing their character and mood dramatically. One could almost imagine these themes as central characters in a movie or novel.

The first movement, Allegretto grazioso, has two main contrasting themes.

Theme 1 -

Theme 2 -

Themes together –

The Siciliana, which developed as a genre in the Baroque period, is the basis for the second movement. Characterized by a 6/8 pulse, the siciliana has a melancholic quality.

Sicilana theme -

The final movement is an exciting finale, with fast, lively figures pervading throughout.

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Histoire Du Tangoby Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

I Bordel-1900

II Cafe-1930

III Night Club-1960

Bordello, 1900: The tango originated in Buenos Aires in 1882. It was first played on the guitar and flute. Arrangements then came to include the piano, and later, the concertina. This music is full of grace and liveliness. It paints a picture of the good natured chatter of the French, Italian, and Spanish women who peopled those bordellos as they teased the policemen, thieves, sailors, and

riffraff who came to see them. This is a high-spirited tango.

Cafe, 1930: This is another age of the tango. People stopped dancing it as they did in 1900, preferring instead simply to listen to it. It became more musical, and more romantic. This tango has undergone total transformation: the movements are slower, with new and often melancholy

harmonies. Tango orchestras come to consist of two violins, two concertinas, a piano, and a bass. The tango is sometimes sung as well.

Night Club, 1960: This is a time of rapidly expanding international exchange, and the tango evolves again as Brazil and Argentina come together in Buenos Aires. The bossa nova and the new tango are moving to the same beat. Audiences rush to the night clubs to listen earnestly to the new tango. This marks a revolution and a profound alteration in some of the original tango

forms.

About the Performers

Marla Smith, MM ’15 Flute Performance, Eastman School of Music; BM ’13 Flute Performance, Virginia Commonwealth University. While attending ESM, Marla was teaching assistant to professor Bonita Boyd, taught the Flute Methods course, and maintained a studio of private students.

Passionate for soloing, Marla has placed first in many competitions, including the Richmond Flute Fest (2012 & 2010) and the South Carolina Flute Society’s Young Artist Competition (2011). In the summer of 2012, she had the privilege of attending the Aspen Music Festival and School. Most recently, Marla was chosen as the Principal Flutist for the month long festival, Prague Summer Nights where she performed Don Giovanni in the Estates Theatre where it was first premiered under Mozart’s baton.

Marla has performed for renowned flutists including Aaron Goldman, Mimi Stillman, Ransom Wilson, Brooks de Wetter-Smith, and Carol Wincenc. Former teachers include Dr. Tabatha Easley and Patti R. Watters.

Daniel Nistico has been a prizewinner of the Lions Global Youth Music Competition held in Seattle, and the Great Lakes Guitar Society Competition held in Buffalo. In 2013, Daniel won 2nd prize in The World Competition, an open instrument competition run entirely online. Daniel has performed around the globe including Serbia, Chile, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Also in 2013, Daniel recorded his debut album Un Viaje Mistico … A Mystical Journey. He is presently undertaking his Doctor of Musical Arts at Eastman, under both Nicholas Goluses and Paul O’dette, and was the first guitarist in the history of the school to be nominated for an Artist Certificate, a prestigious prize awarded to performers of the highest level.