Program

    Jean Sibelius – Finlandia, Op. 26

 Ungar/Custer – “Ashokan Farewell” from The Civil War

    Phil Johnson, violin soloist

    Alice Gomez – “Primitive Echoes” Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra

    Sherry Rubins, timpani soloist

    Gustav Holst – “Mars, The Bringer of War” from The Planets

    Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 2 “Ukrainian”

Sherry Rubins is a Professor of Practice and coordinator of the percussion program at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Mrs. Rubins directs the percussion and steel drum ensembles and teaches undergraduate and graduate percussion majors. Sherry is Principal Timpanist with the Mid-Texas Symphony, the Mozart Festival Texas, and the Victoria Bach Festival (TX).  In the past, she held the position of Acting Principal Timpanist and Acting Assistant Principal Timpanist/Percussionist with the San Antonio Symphony. Sherry frequently performs as a substitute musician with the San Antonio Symphony. She has also presented clinics and performances throughout the south Texas area as well as the Texas Music Educators Association and the Texas Bandmasters Association Conventions.

Mrs. Rubins has been a member of the Board of Advisors for the Percussive Arts Society and she participates on the Health and Wellness committee. Sherry co-presented the Keyboard Fundamentals session at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) 2012 in Austin and in Indianapolis in November  2017. The UTSA Percussion Ensemble performed during PASIC 2015.

Sherry is an artist/educational clinician for Zildjian Cymbals, Remo Percussion, the Yamaha Corporation, and the Vic Firth Company. She has been featured on the Zildjian and Vic Firth websites.

From the conductor:

Humans around the globe are either in a war, recovering from war, or preparing for war. Given our history, it seems to be a necessary component of having peace, though not always with that outcome. Leo Tolstoy said in his epic novel War and Peace, “It’s not given to people to judge what’s right or wrong. People have eternally been mistaken and will be mistaken, and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong.” We elect leaders who we entrust with the capacity to make war and keep the peace. Many composers have written music to recognize the power, futility, emotion, and accomplishment of war. And, peace is a constant dream that inspires many to compose that vision into consciousness. We open the concert with Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia, a rousing work composed to celebrate the struggle and independence of the Finnish people. A famous hymn has been taken from this work, a song of peace, while even arranged by Sibelius himself, has taken on a life of its own. Ken Burns “Civil War” series on PBS contains a highly poignant war melody in the plaintive voice of a solo fiddle. Of course, some of the most famous images and sounds of war were composed by Gustav Holst in his work, “The Planets,” which features a representation of Mars. San Antonio composer Alice Gomez was a composer in residence with the San Antonio Symphony in the 90’s. She brings native and Latin American sounds to life in her concerto for timpani and orchestra entitled “Primitive Echoes.” In light of current world events and in the spirit of our concert theme “Primitive Echoes—the mystery of war and peace,” we will perform Symphony No. 2 written by Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky while visiting Kyiv and using folk songs from Ukraine. We hope performing this beautiful work will be a statement of artistic beauty and humanistic connection to our neighbors around the world.

We hope to see you at our final concert of this wonderful symphony season!

Gene Dowdy, conductor & artistic director