PROGRAM

Sonatine for B-flat Clarinet and Piano Valerie Coleman (b. 1970)

Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet Igor Stravinsky (1882–1972)

I. Sempre piano e molto tranquillo
II. = 168
III. = 160
PRESENTS

Sonata for Clarinet and Piano Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)

“Classical Coffeehouse” I. Grazioso
II. Andantino - Vivace e leggiero (~:7:00)
Ashley Hsu, Clarinet
with Pocketsize Sonata No. 1 Alec Templeton (1910–
1963)
Alexei Ulitin, Piano I. Improvisation
II. Modal Blues
III. In Rhythm

Intermission

Cape Cod Files Paquito D’Rivera (b.

1948)
I. Benny @ 100
II. Bandoneón
Sunday, May 1, 2022 III. Lecuonerías
5:00 PM IV. Chiquita
V.
Ulrich Recital Hall
&
This recital is offered in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
Livestream (ter.ps/AHSrecital) the degree of Bachelor of Clarinet Performance and Music
Education.
Ashley Hsu is a student of Professor Robert DiLutis.
 Program Notes Sonatine for Clarinet and Piano (2005)
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Valerie Coleman (b. 1970) grew up
Unlike my undying loyalty to the clarinet, my brother switched listening to classical music on the radio, singing three-part
around on several different instruments until he finally settled on harmonies with her sisters and fooling around with the electronic
playing jazz clarinet. With nothing to do during the summer break piano that was in the living room. Her interest in music eventually
before I started UMD, I got dragged into the jazz world through a grew over the years, as Coleman founded and became the flutist
summer jazz program that my brother’s jazz teacher ran. My of Imani Winds, one of the most famous and award-winning
perceptions of jazz in the lens of a classical music player did not American chamber wind groups. She continues to perform
work in the face of real jazz. globally, lead clinics, and compose repertoire for chamber groups,
Classical Coffeehouse is a recital that includes a small orchestras, and wind bands. As one of the most prolific living
representation of classical music’s take on jazz in some form. women composers today, she is often commissioned by colleges
Whether the jazz influence is through the rhythmic style, chordal and other music groups to compose new works. Her most famous
changes, or even the composers themselves, it merely reminds us composition is the wind quintet Umoja, and her flute
that jazz in the lens of a classical music player—like my perception compositions are working their way up to become part of the
when I started out on jazz—is a botched vision of what jazz music standard solo flute performance repertoire.
truly is. Because seriously, when have you ever seen an actual Sonatine was inspired by Coleman’s travels in Europe when
improvisational section in a so-called jazz classical piece of music? touring with jazz saxophonist Steve Coleman. The music is
Classical jazz in comparison to the actual jazz genre is like making supposed to be reminiscent of what one would hear in a
coffee with a coffee machine, but somehow you end up with one nightclub—energetic music of rhythmic intensity which bounces
of those super-sweet Starbucks coffee-free frappuccinos. between the clarinet and piano. Challenging for both the clarinet
and piano performer, the music figuratively pulls and pushes the
listener, surprising the listener with the unpredictability of the
musical direction.

Three pieces for Solo Clarinet (1919)

Igor Stravinsky's (1882–1971) compositional style can be split up
into three stages—Russian, Neoclassical, and Serial—as
influenced by the composers and musicians around him, as well
as what was happening on the world stage throughout his
For an uninterrupted music performance, please check that you are in a location lifetime. The onset of World War I and the Russian Revolution
with a strong Wi-Fi connection. psst! Don’t exit out of the live stream after the caused Stravinsky to go into voluntary exile, moving first to
last piece! Wait for a short and fun encore performance!
Switzerland, then to France, and finally settling in America in
1939. Throughout his lifetime, Stravinsky composed countless initiated and led the Young People’s Concerts, a television show in
instrumental, vocal, opera, ballet, and other classical works, and which Bernstein conducted and presented classical pieces with
also performed as a pianist and conducted orchestras around the young musicians as the members of the orchestra. As a composer,
world. Bernstein composed for a variety of genres ranging from
Broadway musicals, symphonies for orchestra, opera, and many
The political situation in Russia and his move to Switzerland
other classical and jazz compositions. Despite his success in the
caused Stravinsky to turn to a new patron to support his works.
American music culture (such as the musical West Side Story), his
Consequently, Stravinsky dedicated the Three Pieces (1919) to his
personal life was wrought with political turmoil such as
new benefactor Werner Reinhart, who was an amateur clarinetist.
McCarthyism paranoia in the 50s which led to a travel ban and
The unaccompanied clarinet work is one of the first
government scrutiny on Bernstein.
unaccompanied clarinet solos ever composed, and unique that
asks the performer to play on both A and Bb clarinet. The first Bernstein’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1942) roughly took six
movement starts somber, not going beyond the clarinet “break.” months to compose, as Bernstein had written the piece in the
The second movement jumps around the entire clarinet range, time when he was still a struggling freelance musician. The sonata
depicting some birds and a stalking cat, the animals represented also has traces of Bernstein’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, which
by a “ribbon” of notes at the beginning, and the middle section, he composed two years before. Composed of two movements,
respectively. The third movement is the opposite of the somber the piece is dedicated to clarinetist David Oppenheim, who
first movement: energetic and staying above the clarinet “break,” Bernstein met at Tanglewood, though the premiere performance
playing around in the high range of the clarinet. Along with strict was performed by David Glazer. While the first movement is
instructions to follow his markings, the movement itself is a depicted as elegant but restrained, the second movement is more
mimicry of ragtime jazz style and Stravinsky’s previous energetic, and more in tune with Bernstein’s energetic
composition, the “Ragtime” movement of L'Histoire du soldat compositional style. The second movement also includes traces of
(1918). West Side Story motifs through the 5/8 time signature and the
influence of Cuban rhythms Bernstein had heard during his Key
West vacation he took while he composed the piece.
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1942)
Rocketing to fame as a last-minute replacement conductor for the
New York Philharmonic in late 1943, Leonard Bernstein (1918– Pocketsize Sonata No. 1 - Alec Templeton (1949)
1990) quickly became a household name in America as a versatile
Despite being born blind, Alec Templeton (1910–1963) was
musician and celebrity—a performer, educator, composer, and
blessed with perfect pitch. The Welsh pianist, composer, and
humanitarian. As a conductor, he conducted for the New York
radio personality earned a place at the Royal Academy of Music
Philharmonic for nearly two decades and was often requested to
and the Royal College of Music in London in his early music
guest conduct for various orchestras around the world. As an
career. Under the baton of bandleader Jack Hylton, Templeton
educator, he taught at Tanglewood and Brandeis University, and
moved to America in the mid-1930s and became a successful
performer and American personality, performing for and in scene, a brief ban of jazz music (considered ‘too imperialist’ in
various venues, also becoming a lifetime member of the New Communist beliefs) which then turned into 1984-esque
Orleans Jazz Club. He was the most active in the radio scene, even monitoring of music performed. Frustrated with the restrictions
becoming a host of his show called It’s Alec Templeton Time. placed on his music performances, Paquito D’Rivera defected to
Listeners of the blind pianist were wowed by Templeton’s unique the US in 1980, becoming a renowned Latin and Cuban jazz
performing style of simplistic yet aesthetically musical phrasing of musician as well as a successful classical clarinet soloist. D’Rivera
performing jazz twists on various classical pieces and composer is still an active performer and composer both in the jazz and
styles. Templeton also composed pieces for both jazz and classical classical world and hosts a show called “Paq-Man’s Korner” on his
genres such as Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Piano (his first Youtube Channel.
composition at the age of 18), though his most famous
Cape Cod Files (2009) was initially commissioned for the Cape Cod
composition is the jazz tune Bach Goes to Town, which has
Music Festival’s 30th Anniversary to bring new clarinet duo works
consequently been arranged for a variety of instrument
to the clarinet repertoire. Later on, David Gould commissioned
combinations.
D’Rivera to expand the piece into a double concerto for solo
Edging the line between the jazz and classical styles, Pocketsize clarinet, piano, and orchestra. Both arrangements were
Sonata No. 1 combines elements of both the sonata and jazz premiered by clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu
standard forms to create an ABA-like thematic pattern for (and the San Jose Orchestra). The piece consists of four different
listeners to follow. Split into three movements, the sonata starts movements, each representing one of D'Rivera's heroes. The first
with a British folk/countryside-like feel, only to change gears to movement is a homage to the jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman,
get progressively get more ‘jazzy’ with each movement: the and the theme is based on Benny Goodman’s intro to the song
stepwise intervals and chords of blues in the piano in the 2nd “Memories of You.” The second movement is an Argentine
movement, and the New Orleans jazz style of the 3rd movement. milonga inspired by the Bandoneón expressive sound, such as
It is one of three clarinet works written by Templeton. Pizzolla, Jaurena, Del Curto, and other Bandoneón performers.
The third movement is an unaccompanied clarinet solo inspired
by jazz pianist Ernesto Lecuona. The fourth movement, “Chiquita
Paquito D'Rivera - Cape Cod Files (2009) Blues,” which translates to “little blues,” is a piece inspired by an
early 20th-century Cuban Lilliputian singer/actress who had
Born in Cuba in 1948, jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer
dwarfism, and musically is in a form of a 12-bar blues, combined
Paquito D’Rivera (b. 1948) grew up in a musically enriching
with elements of the Cuban traditional dance style and atonality.
environment with the help of his classical saxophonist father Tito
D’Rivera (who taught himself clarinet so he could teach Paquito
clarinet). While his early music career was full of jazz and classical
music, Cuban politics were full of turmoil as well. The Communist
party took over the Cuban government in 1959, resulting in
D'Rivera becoming drafted into the army, and for the Cuban music
Performer Biographies Competition (first prize), 2014 Wonderlic Piano Competition, 2013
Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition, 2010 International
Ashley Hsu is a senior music education and clarinet performance
Young Artist Piano Competition in Washington, D.C. (first prize),
double major studying under Robert DiLutis. Along with her and 2010 Music Teachers National Association competition
extensive pre-college music experiences, she was recently part of (Eastern Division Winner). He earned a Bachelor of Music from
the 2022 CBNDA Intercollegiate Band (she also participated in the Rowan University, Master of Music from the National Music
band in 2020), and won 2nd place in the Sidney Forrest Clarinet Academy of Ukraine (Kiev), and Doctor of Musical Arts from the
Competition, participated in the Honors Performance Series University of Maryland.
Virtual Music Summit.

In the past, she has won 1st place in the Gaithersburg’s Young
Artist Award Competition’s Woodwinds Division and participated SPECIAL THANKS TO –
in National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute. She
My family – for their support for my future full of music and listening and
has also expanded her musical horizons to jazz, as she has ignoring my practice sessions of honking away at my clarinet
recently interned at the Jazz Academy of Music’s JAM Camp, and
is currently playing clarinet in the Capital Focus Jazz Band. Aside Professor DiLutis – helping me develop my clarinet playing skills over the
course of my college career, and help me prepare my recital music through
from her performing and educating pursuits, Ashley enjoys countless lessons
photography, biking, and origami.
Alexei U., Henry Sheppard – for being wonderful music partners-in-crime
Alexei Ulitin
My current music professors – for patiently dealing with me and my
A native of Kiev, Ukraine, Alexei Ulitin enjoys a vibrant career as a shenanigans as I attempted to balance recital preparation and schoolwork
collaborative artist, solo pianist and teacher. Ulitin currently this semester
serves as a piano faculty at Rowan University (New Jersey). He is
My past and present music teachers, conductors, and etc. – for being part of
also a staff pianist and accompanying coordinator at the my musical journey towards greatness
University of Maryland, College Park. From 2016 to 2018, he
served as a visiting assistant professor of collaborative piano at
the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Ulitin has worked
as a member of the musical staff at several music festivals,
including Aspen, Meadowmount, Siena, and the Northern Lights. Please note: As a courtesy to the performers and your fellow guests, feel
free to watch this recital with other people in your vicinity, and to type
He has been a recipient of the New Horizons Fellowship at Aspen
anything into the livestream chat. Please remember that food, drink, smoking,
Music Festival for three years. photography, recording (audio and video), and animals (other than service
His recital partners have included Stephen Wyrczynski, Emilio animals) are allowed over the internet, and not in-person – we the performers
cannot see what you are doing. But we the performers would also appreciate
Colón, Daniel Perantoni, Demondrae Thurman, Anton Belov, your efforts if you watched and listened to the performance without any
Marian Stieber, and Jon Garrison. Ulitin has won prizes in distractions. Note that we make every effort to start on time. Latecomers are
still welcome to watch and listen, or just listen to the performance.
numerous competitions, including the 2014 Baltimore Music Club
Read the program notes? Try correctly connecting the circles together :)