Community Calendar

Music of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Ethel Smyth | Performed by Students of the Organ Department

On Sunday, November 1, the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with the IU Archives of African American Music and Culture, will perform a concert in recognition of our country’s 250th year. From the familiar square dance feel of Aaron Copland’s Hoedown to the soulful, bluesy tonalities of William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony, this concert explores what it means to be an American.

Program:
“Hoedown” from Rodeo – Aaron Copland
“In Memoriam Sojourner Truth” – Gary Powell Nash
All Things Majestic – Jennifer Higdon
Symphony No. 1 – Afro-American Symphony – William Grant Still

4:15 pm pre-concert talk with composer Gary Nash
5:00 pm performance

Join the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra as they perform a concert in recognition of our country’s 250th year. From the familiar square dance feel of Copland’s Hoedown, to the soulful, bluesy tonalities of Still’s Afro-American Symphony, this concert explores what it means to be an American.

4:15 pm pre-concert talk
5:00 pm performance

Program:
Aaron Copland – “Hoe-Down” from Rodeo
Gary Powell Nash – “In Memoriam Sojourner Truth”
Jennifer Higdon – All Things Majestic
William Grant Still – Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American”

“I travel the world, and I’m happy to say that America is still the great melting pot – maybe a chunky stew rather than a melting pot at this point, but you know what I mean.” – Philip Glass, 1999 NPR interview

BSO Season Passes can be purchased until October 16th. Passes include discounted tickets to all 4 season concerts, reserved seating, and other benefits. To learn more and purchase your Season Pass, visit https://www.bloomingtonsymphony.com/seasonpass57/

Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue”

Center for Electronic and Computer Music

Center for Electronic and Computer Music

About the Director

Tom Walsh is Robert J. Waller Sr. and Robert J. Waller Jr. Professor of Music (saxophone) and chair of the Jazz Studies Department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. An active performer of jazz and classical music, he has presented concerts and workshops in South Africa, China, Brazil, Japan, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, in Europe, and across the United States. He is the co-author of the fifth edition of Creative Jazz Improvisation (2022) with Scott Reeves. His beginning improvisation book Jazz Master Teaches You to Improvise was published by Shanghai Music Publishing House in 2019. Recent recordings include The Pandemic Sessions by the IU jazz faculty, Luke Gillespie’s Moving Mists, Basically Baker, Vol. 2, with the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (Patois), and Mike Hackett’s New Point of View (Summit). Premiere performances include Scott Jones’s concert band arrangement of Russell Peck’s The Upward Stream, Chris Rutkowski’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble, and David Baker’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra. His latest solo CD release is Intersections (Arizona University Recordings). Earlier solo CDs include New Life (RIAX) and Shaking the Pumpkin (RIAX). Other releases include the David Baker Concerto on Paul Freeman Introduces David Baker, Vol. XII (Albany), Basically Baker with the Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (Patois), and Sky Scrapings: Saxophone Music of Don Freund (AUR). Walsh is a Yamaha Performing Artist and a Vandoren Artist. He taught at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops from 1991 to 2019. He co-leads the IU Summer Saxophone Academy with Otis Murphy and is co-director of the College Audition Preparation Workshop. Walsh earned degrees in Saxophone Performance and Jazz Studies from Indiana University, where his principal teachers were distinguished classical saxophonist Eugene Rousseau and renowned jazz educator David Baker. His other influential teachers include Mike Tracy, Pat LaBarbera, Jerry Coker, and David Liebman.

eaturing graduate conductors Ryan Block and Augusto Girotto

Repertoire
Aaron Travers: Whitman Studies (2026, world premiere)
Shavon Lloyd: So Breaks the Sun (2017)
Dale Trumbore: The Piano Tuner (2020/24)
Texu Kim: Phos Hilaron (2020)
Ily Matthew Maniano: Padayon (2020)

About the Director

Recognized with The American Prizes in both Choral Composition (2014) and Choral Performance (2019, with NOTUS), Dominick DiOrio is an imaginative, enthusiastic, and energetic conductor and composer who has won widespread acclaim for his contributions to American music. He is professor of music and chair of the department in choral conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he joined the faculty in 2012, and where he serves as director of NOTUS, IU’s storied contemporary vocal ensemble, which has been invited to perform at regional, national, and international choral conferences, and with which he has released three commercial albums to critical acclaim. DiOrio also serves as artistic director and conductor of the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, which he regularly prepares to sing with The Philadelphia Orchestra. DiOrio’s love for contemporary music is reflected in his conducted repertoire, including works by such path-breaking composers as James MacMillan, Steve Reich, and Krzysztof Penderecki. Guest conducting appearances frequently feature his original compositions, including with the Choral Arts Society of Washington (SOLARIS), Houston Chamber Choir (I Am), Choral Arts Initiative (All Is), and the Young Naperville Singers (Young Today). As a composer, DiOrio has been hailed for a keenly intelligent, evocative style, which shows “a tour de force of inventive thinking and unique colour” (Gramophone). His over 70 published works have appeared at major venues around the world, including the Sydney Opera House, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. He composes for musicians of all ages and experiences and maintains an active writing schedule—completing over 70 commissions in the last decade. Recent commissioning partners include the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and the San Francisco Symphony, Children’s Chorus of Washington, The Choral Arts Society of Washington, and “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. DiOrio earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the Yale School of Music, as well as M.M.A. and M.M. degrees in conducting from Yale and a B.M. in composition summa cum laude from Ithaca College.