Yale Concert Band, Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director.
• “Afro-Cuban Suite” (world premiere, commissioned by the Yale Concert Band). New Haven-based composer, bassist, and educator Jeff Fuller is widely known as a jazz bassist who specializes in Latin music. This suite ranges stylistically from bembé to bolero, from rumba to mambo. Fuller describes it as “my sincere homage to the music, musicians, and culture of Cuba,” further stating, “Cuban music has forged a deep river of inspiration which has carried me through decades of my professional life. To me, Cuban music and American jazz are two branches of the same tree.”
• “AMEN!” A reflection of composer Carlos Simon’s experience growing up in the African American Pentecostal Church, known for its exuberant outward expressions of worship–dancing, spontaneous shouting, and soulful singing.
• “Shades of Red” (Ryan J. Williams). Concerto for mellophone. Kate Warren, Yale School of Music ’23, mellophone
• “Serenade in Eb major, Op. 7” (Richard Strauss). Strauss’s lyrical and soaring serenade for chamber winds.
• “Bright Shadow Fanfare” (Nicole Piunno), Kelly Watkins, Director, Eastern Connecticut State University Concert Band:
• “On This Bright Morning” (David Maslanka), Kelly Watkins, Director, Eastern Connecticut State University Concert Band:
• “Rocketship!” (Kevin Day), Catherine Zhang Yale ’24, guest conductor