From the Maslanka Archive features media and stories of David’s life and work. Did you work with David? Please consider contributing material.
It’s time for another edition of From the Maslanka Archive. We are actively building the Archive, but it won’t be ready for public viewing for a while. In the meantime, we wanted to show off some great items we’ve already collected.
We also wanted to inspire YOU to help grow the collection. We would love to feature you in an upcoming edition! Simply provide us with photos, video, audio, or stories of your time together and you may find them on the front page.
This week, we are excited to feature Julian Velasco’s interview of Gary Green from the Wharton Center in East Lansing, MI from October 24, 2017. In this interview, Gary discusses the deaths of David and Alison, David and philosophy, John Painter, The University of Miami, The University of Connecticut, and many of David’s works including The Seeker, Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 3, Symphony No. 8, A Child’s Garden of Dreams, Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble, Song Book for Flute and Wind Ensemble, O Earth, O Stars, Songs for the Coming Day, and Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Wind Ensemble.
“I feel a tremendous responsibility to him right now. There’s not a rehearsal I go in that I don’t feel him right there talking to me. I don’t want to hurt him. I want this to be what it is. Desperately. And that’s kind of frightening actually. I’m human, I’m not David Maslanka. I’m just a guy.” – Gary Green
Listen below to Julian Velasco’s interview with Gary Green.
From Music For All’s Official Website:
Gary Green was Director of Bands of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, Florida. In addition to supervising all band activities at UM, Gary was Professor and Chair of the Department of Instrumental Performance and served as the conductor of the Wind Ensemble. Gary holds a B.M. degree from Boise State University and an M.M. degree from the University of Idaho.
Prior to joining the faculty at UM, Gary served for ten years as Director of Bands at the University of Connecticut and was influential in commissioning and recording new works for winds and percussion including Symphony No. 3 by David Maslanka and A Cornfield in July and The River by William Penn. Urban Requiem by Michael Colgrass was commissioned by the Philip Frost Commission Fund and has become a standard in the repertoire for wind ensemble. Among other new compositions to be written for winds and percussion is the commission for the University of Miami Frost Wind Ensemble of Christopher Rouse’s Wolf Rounds premiering in Carnegie Hall this month.
Throughout his career, Green has received numerous honors and awards. His recent conducting activities include events in Florida, Texas, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Georgia, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and others. In addition, he has conducted all state, regional, national, and international honor bands.
Mr. Green is an active conductor and clinician and has appeared with International, National and Regional Bands and intercollegiate bands across the country. He has frequently conducted the Texas All State Band and premiered Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre with that ensemble.
Mr. Green is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, the College Band Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the Florida Bandmasters Association and the Florida Music Educators Association. In 2002, he received The Phillip Frost Award for Scholarship and Teaching in the Frost School of Music.
From Julian Velasco’s Official Website:
Hailing from Los Angeles, Julian Velasco is a Chicago-based saxophonist who’s passion for music has lead him to collaborations with musicians from a wide variety backgrounds. His studies have taken him across the country to places such as: Carnegie Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. He has also performed at various music festivals and conferences such as: Music For All, the Detroit Jazz Festival, the College Band Directors National Association National Conference, the Midwest Clinic, the North American Saxophone Alliance Regional and National Conferences, the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival, Music Teachers National Association National Conference, and the Hispanic Festival of Grand Rapids.
An active orchestral musician, Julian has performed with orchestras such as Elgin Symphony, Lansing Symphony, South Coast Symphony, Orange County School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra, Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and the Waukegan Symphony. Julian has also been an invited artist to join the Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra on multiple occasions.
Julian had the rare opportunity to work closely with composer David Maslanka, and studied some of his largest saxophone works directly with him in Missoula, Montana in the summer of 2016. David remarked him as “one of the finest young saxophonists I know”. An active supporter of new music, Julian has premiered music from composers across genre lines such as: Billy Childs, David Biedenbender, Zhou Tian, and Matti Kovler.
A very special thanks to Julian Velasco and Gary Green for sharing this special interview with the David Maslanka Foundation.
Would you like to be featured in an upcoming edition of From the Maslanka Archive? It’s easy! Please send us anything you have (picture, audio, video, concert poster, concert program, correspondence with David, etc.) and we will feature you!
