Sleeper: Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble – Colgrass: Dream Dancer – Syler: Blue

Thomas Sleeper is the conductor of the University of Miami Symphony Orchestra. He composed his Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble in 1986. It was premiered in April, 1987. The three movement work, while not programmatic, attempts to capture the general essence of three characters from Goethe's Faust. The Concerto was revised in 1997 and this is the second performance of that revision. Michael Colgrass' first musical experiences were as a jazz drummer in the Chicago area (1944-49). In 1954 he graduated from the University of Illinois in music performance and composition. His teachers included Darius Milhaud and Lukas Foss. Of Dream Dancer, Mr. Colgrass writes: "The musical cultures of the world are opening up as never before. Dream Dancer is a fantasy about a musical instrument that feels attracted to various styles of music, trying to decide which one to play. I like to think of Dream Dancer as a kind of musical play with the soloist and the other instruments being actors who respond to each other dramatically." James Syler was raised in New York and Florida and educated at Northern Illinois University, the University of Miami and the University of Texas at Austin. He is primarily a self-taught composer with brief studies with Alfred Reed, Karl Korte and Michael Colgrass. He writes: "For many years I've wanted to write a large work that would combine my musical and literary interest. So much of 20th century fiction presents despairing characters who find their resolution in some form of self-destruction. In writing the text for this work I wanted to create a narrative that would resolve despair in a different way. This free verse lyrical narrative, titled Blue, is in the broadest sense about the loss of love and the process of reconnecting with love."