Lyle Davidson Memorial Concert

Welcome and Remarks | Andrea Kalyn, President - New England Conservatory

Shane Simpson '15, '17 MM | What Do You Hear? (2021)

World Premiere

Program note

“I did not find a suitable teacher until I was a beginning graduate student and met Luise Vosgerchian.  She had just returned from several years of study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.  The intensive and demanding work LV assigned and expected changed my life as a musician.  It provided me with the background and understanding on which my musical career is based.”
        Lyle Davidson wrote these words to me in 2012 after I completed his Solfege I class at NEC.  I now find myself echoing his words, only replacing his teacher’s initials, LV, with his own, LD.
        Lyle’s influence on my life was utterly profound.  He, more than any teacher I ever encountered, helped me to realize my goal of becoming the “consummate musician.”  Every moment with him was an opportunity to learn: in his solfège classes, independent studies modeled on the teachings of Nadia Boulanger, Sunday Renaissance choir, 16th-Century Counterpoint, Music-in-Education classes, or even just hanging out with him, getting coffee or attending theory department meetings with him - his teaching and mentorship was fully transformative.  Before I met Lyle, I could barely sing a major scale.  I can clearly recall the first time when, while seated in Jordan Hall listening to a Symphony performance, I suddenly became aware of the viola lines!  I will always be indebted to him for that and everything else he taught me about music, education, and being a good person.
          What do you hear? is a tribute to Lyle and his legacy as a teacher.  A duo for violin and piano, it is based upon a figured bass by Paul Vidal from the very collection of figured basses that Lyle used both in his score-reading class and in his independent studies “à la Boulanger.”  The canon in the middle of the piece is a nod to Lyle’s notorious assignment to compose 32 canons in his counterpoint class.
– Shane Simpson

Remarks | Elizabeth Blythe-Davidson

Motets and Madrigals

Orlando Lassus | Oculus non vidit
Giovanni Matteo Asola | O vos omnes
John Farmer | Fair Phyllis
Josef Rheinberger | Abendlied

Program note and Texts

Lyle Davidson was an exemplary artist, teacher, and human being. He gave all of himself to his students, devoting time well beyond his contracted hours. On Sunday nights, he maintained what became much more than a student ensemble. Renaissance Choir was a ritual, a safe space for students to come together, sing, and connect as a community; it was a place to practice solfege, explore repertoire, and learn new languages; it was a laboratory that transformed what might have been didactic in a classroom into a lived musical experience. 
        The pieces we perform tonight are staples of our Renaissance Choir repertoire. The opening motet, Oculus non vidit, will also be familiar to students of Lyle’s Sixteenth Century Counterpoint class. Every individual memorized (and had to write out from memory!) this two-voice motet as part of their fall semester study of Lassus. For many of us, the opening of Oculus lives prominently among memories of learning from Lyle.
        Tonight, former Renaissance Choir members sing alongside NEC alumni and Lyle’s faculty colleagues. We perform tonight as Lyle would have: without a conductor, in equity, trading voices as needed. Together, we celebrate community and Lyle’s legacy.               
 

NEC Alumni Chorus

Valerie Arsenault ’95, Violin
Travis Bliss ’15, ’17 MM, Jazz
Claire Bourg ’17, Violin
Megan L. Dillon ’19 MM, ’23 DMA, Saxophone
Holly Druckman ’18 MM, Choral Conducting, Musicology
Ethan D'Ver ’15, Composition
Cody Forrest ’18 DMA, Composition
Josh Gilbert ’16, Jazz
Edward Guo ’08, Composition
Ruth Hertzman-Miller, School of Continuing Education
Farayi Malek ’17, Contemporary Improvisation
Stephanie Melzi ’09, Voice
Kate Salfelder ’09, ’17 DMA, Composition
Shane Simpson ’15, ’17 MM Jazz
Logan Strosahl ’11, Jazz
Jonas Tarm ’16, ’19 MM Composition
Riley Vogel 15, Voice, ’21 MM Instrumental Conducting
Michael Weinstein ’84 MM, Composition
Sarah Yakir ’17, ’20 MM, Violin
Hua Ye, School of Continuing Education
Sally Yu ’21 MM, Instrumental Conducting

Remarks | Larry Scripp, NEC Faculty Emeritus

Lyle Davidson | "...and a certain gurgling melodiousness..."

Program note

The title of this work is a quote from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, and it is a work that Jeffrey Aaron has performed multiple times.  As a student at New England Conservatory, he included the work on his senior recital, having been coached by both his teacher, Larry Wolfe, and the composer in preparation for the performance.  Aaron also featured the piece as a faculty performer at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for a 20th century music concert.  In fact, he attended a three-day residency/workshop about developing public-school curriculum, which was led by Lyle Davidson and Larry Scripp around the same time; this provided him the opportunity to share with Lyle that he had performed this work again.

Lyle Davidson | Phoenix at Her Zenith, from "Phoenix Cycle"

Program note

[composer’s note]
Reported by Herodotus to be the size of an Eagle, with plumage that is partly red and partly golden, the Phoenix is one of the oldest symbols of renewal and resurrection, of the day from sunrise to sunset. From its birth through the height of its magnificent flight and on to its fiery death, this set of pieces traces the life cycle of this magnificent bird, of our most beautiful concepts, of our most cherished accomplishments.
       Shakespeare, in Henry VIII, uses the Phoenix as a reference in his description of the young Elizabeth (who became Queen):

Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes newly create another heir
As great in admiration as herself;
So shall she leave her blessedness to one,
When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,
Who from the sacred ashes of her honour
Shall star-like rise as great in fame as she was,
And so stand fix’d.

Remarks | Howard Gardner, John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Head of Steering Committee of Harvard Project Zero

Lyle Davidson | Birth Song of the Bird of Paradise, from "Bird of Paradise"

Program note

Lyle Davidson began the first two movements of Bird of Paradise in 2010 and completed the final movement early in 2014. He writes the following:

“Red and golden, the Bird of Paradise encourages us to recall our journey. She strengthens us as we pass. She instills us with fresh strength as we look into the beyond that is at our turning point of time. Ancient image of rebirth and renewal, the Bird of Paradise reminds us of the many opportunities we have to rethink, reconsider, and revise before we take the next step, turn at the next fork, take flight again.
                Birth Song of the Bird of Paradise is the first of three reflections on the life cycle. It considers the initial emerging, the first glimpse of the new world that survived the fragrant frankincense smoke from the first flame of life. The new world quickly recedes far below as the beautiful bird ascends into the heavens.”

Remarks | Roger Graybill, NEC Music Theory faculty

Two Sacred Motets

Orlando Lassus | Tristis est anima mea
Charles Villiers Stanford | Beati quorum via

Program note and Text

For most students at NEC, their first point of contact with Lyle Davidson was in the context of either his 16th Century Counterpoint or Solfège classes.
        In Lyle’s 16th Century Counterpoint Classes, the central works of focus and exploration were the two and three voice motets of the late Renaissance composer Orlande de Lassus (1532–1594).  These classes were filled with a wide variety of solfège performances and alternating discussions and observations, examining Lassus’ music and craft with the guidance of Lyle’s quiet passion, historically informed sensibility and careful attention to detail. As students gained skill and insight into the art and craft themselves, their solfège and growing contrapuntal skills were turned to their own works and those of their contemporaries, singing motets of their own design.
       To honor Lyle’s memory this evening, we have selected the five-voice motet of Lassus, Tristis est anima mea.
       When Lyle first worked to establish the Solfège program at NEC in the early 1980s, he was open to a wide variety of creative ideas and learning strategies coming from students and faculty alike as the program came into being.  One tradition that emerged at this time - and stood the test of time - was the ’Solfège  Party’.   Once a semester, all of the Solfège classes would gather in a common room or hall and simply read a wide variety of different music.  In some cases, this music had been prepared by a single class; in most cases the music was sight-read.  Students of widely varying skill levels mixed together freely, with more proficient students taking the more difficult parts and the less experienced students learning from their informal guidance and example.
        The range of music that the faculty (and occasionally students) brought to
the Solfège Parties was quite broad - Christmas Music and Secular Songs from the Renaissance, Barbershop Quartets, Big Band music, and of course a wide variety of symphonic, choral, and chamber music, including early music.  The work we have selected for this evening, the third of C.V. Stanford’s Three Motets, Beati quorum via, was a favorite of Lyle’s on many of these occasions.  Note that we will be singing both of these works with Solfège Syllables, as was the practice in both Lyle’s Counterpoint Classes and the Solfège Parties over the past 30 years.  
-- Paul Burdick

NEC Student/Alumni Chorus

Allyson Bennett
Travis Bliss
Hannah Dunton
Molly Flynn
Josh Gilbert
Isabella Gorman
Edward Guo
Katie Purcell
Julien Rollins
Shane Simpson
Anneke Stern
Wang Shiyu
Wang Tianyou
Madeleine Wiegers
Haoyu Zheng

Closing Remarks | Joshua Gilbert '16, NEC Music-in-Education Faculty

Artist biographies

Claire Bourg has been praised for being in “total command of music and instrument with an excellent sense of style and character” (Maestro Lawrence Rapchak). She has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras in such venues as Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, and Jordan Hall in Boston. Most recently, she was a soloist with the Camerata Bern, as part of the Joachim Violin Competition. A laureate of many competitions, Ms. Bourg has appeared on NPR and Chicago’s WFMT radio programs and was awarded the second prize at the 2020 Lillian and Maurice Barbash JS Bach Competition, as well as the 2021 Luminarts Fellowship. An avid chamber musician, Bourg has attended festivals such as the Marlboro Festival, Yellow Barn, Ravinia, Taos, IMS Prussia Cove, and Gstaadt Menuhin Festival Academy where she has performed with Kim Kashkashian, Jorg Widmann and Frans Helmerson, among others. She performs regularly with Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and has been a part of Curtis on Tour several times. She currently serves as the concertmaster of Symphony in C in Philadelphia. A native of Chicago, Bourg holds an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute where she studied with Pamela Frank and Arnold Steinhardt, and as well as a Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory studying with Miriam Fried. She is currently a student of Joseph Lin at The Juilliard School where she holds a Kovner Fellowship.

Shane Simpson is a pianist and keyboardist of jazz and experimental music and a devoted music educator.  His eccentric solo EP My Digital Wife (2021) highlights his digitally processed “cyborg piano music” alongside novel acoustic piano performances.  Simpson’s piano playing can also be heard on the soundtrack to popular virtual reality game I Expect You to Die 2.  He is a founding member of acclaimed improvising ragtime trio Petite Feet (saxophone, piano and drums), which, though self-described as “just your neighborhood ragtime band,” draws inspiration from such diverse influences as EDM, glitch art, minimalism, free jazz, and memes.  Jazz pianist Ethan Iverson calls the trio’s debut record Nude Piano: Iconic Rags of Scott Joplin (2019), “an engaging surprise.”  Composer Ted Reichman describes Nude Piano as “approach[ing] some kind of an ideal where the music of the mechanical past and the techniques of the digital present can exist in harmony.”
        Simpson has served as Music Theory faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New England Conservatory in Boston.  He also taught jazz theory and directed ensembles at NEC's Jazz Lab and the Maine Jazz Camp, and he was a Teaching Artist for the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers.  He received the Tourjée Alumni Scholarship Award from NEC where he earned both his bachelor's (‘15) and master's (‘17) degrees in Jazz Piano.  He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY where he teaches piano, composition, improvisation, music theory, ear training, and sight-singing.

Jeffrey Aaron graduated from NEC with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1975; his studio bass teachers were Leslie Martin and Lawrence Wolfe, who had just recently been appointed to the faculty. While pursuing graduate studies, he worked with Lucas Drew at the University of Miami, Salvatore Macchia at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Eldon Obrecht at the University of Iowa. His doctoral dissertation received the annual "Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation" award from the Council of Research in Music Education in 1990.
        Aaron has served as Principal Bass of the Green Bay Symphony, Cedar Rapids Symphony, and the Joffrey Ballet, and, while a student at NEC, he was a section member of the Portland (ME) Symphony.  His academic teaching positions have included Ellsworth (IA) College, Brandon University (Manitoba) and the University Wisconsin - Green Bay.
        Aaron currently resides in Silver Spring, MD, with his wife, Minh-Diep Nguyen, and has 2 adult children.

Megan L. Dillon is a saxophonist and music theorist in the Boston area. After graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy, she studied at Texas Tech University where she achieved a bachelor's degree in music theory and minor in French. She then studied under Kenneth Radnofsky and Roger Graybill at the New England Conservatory, earning two master's degrees in saxophone performance and music theory. She studied counterpoint and pedagogy under Lyle Davidson, earning a concentration in music-in-education. She currently works as a Teaching Assistant for the saxophone studio, music theory, and Music-In-Education departments and is a teaching fellow for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. She is a member of the Enigma Quartet and the Saxyderms. Her works for saxophone ensemble have been published by RC Editions. She is a member of the North American Saxophone Alliance and has performed at NASA regional conferences, the World Saxophone Congress, and premiered and commissioned new works for saxophone. She continues her studies at NEC towards a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance.

Dr. Kristin Leitterman defies modern convention as a solo artist of oboe and voice, bringing exciting and unusual programs to audiences. She has commissioned a number of works for oboe/voice, with works by Michael-Thomas Foumai, Jason Coleman, Whitney George, and Lyle Davidson. Her many performances have lead her to major concert halls throughout the U. S., such as Carnegie Hall and Jordan Hall, as well as internationally to Spain, Brazil, and Canada.
        Dr. Leitterman is currently the Assistant Professor of Oboe at Arkansas State University where she teaches oboe and bassoon, Double Reed Techniques, and coaches small chamber ensembles. She is also the Director of the Lucarelli Oboe Master Class, a weeklong immersive oboe master class founded by Bert Lucarelli. As a guest artist she has presented master classes at many institutions, including Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and the Hartt School.
        As a researcher, Dr. Leitterman has interests in the life and works of Mary Chandler and Marie Grandval, as well as the musical autograph album of Gustave Vogt. She has presented her research at The Juilliard School, Music by Women Festival, International Double Reed Society conferences, and the Brazilian Double Reed Society’s conference in João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil.
        She holds degrees from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, the Hartt School, New England Conservatory, and the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. Her teachers include Humbert Lucarelli, Mark McEwen, Barbara Bishop, and Amy Burton (voice).