Festive Overture, Op. 96 (1954), arr. Hunsberger – Dmitri Shostakovich

The Festive Overture was composed in 1954, in the period between Symphony No. 10 and the Violin Concerto. Its American premiere was given by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra on November 16, 1955. In 1956, the New York Philharmonic under Dmitri Mitropoulos presented the overture in Carnegie Hall.

A Russian band version of the overture was released in 1958 and utilized the standard instrumentation of the Russian military band, i.e, a complete orchestral wind, brass and percussion section plus a full family of saxhorns, ranging from the Bb soprano down through the Bb contrabass saxhorn. This new edition has been scored for the instrumentation of the American symphonic band.

The Festive Overture is an excellent curtain raiser and contains one of Shostakovich’s greatest attributes – the ability to write a long sustained melodic line combined with a pulsating rhythmic drive. In addition to the flowing melodic passages, there are also examples of staccato rhythmic sections which set off the flowing line and the variant fanfares. It is truly a “festive overture.”

-Donald Hunsberger

L.A. Rising (2025) – World Premiere – Betsy Schramm

Writing an oboe concerto for my friend and colleague Marion Kuszyk has been an exciting project because of her incomparable musicianship and delight in new music. Early on in the process of planning the work, a tragedy occurred when Marion and her family lost their home in the Los Angeles Eaton fire in January 2025. I was moved to write L.A. Rising, a work portraying the emergence of the human spirit during tragedy. I. “Maelstrom” sets the stage with clamoring brass (homage a Holst) broken off by a sharp passage in the oboe. The oboe continues to voice melodies with and in between the textural blocks of the ensemble – emerging with an upward flinging heraldic passage. II. “Dawn” – the oboe emerges with an airy poignant passage whole tender moments interrupt and then intertwine with the repeated note passage – eventually returning to the hope of the opening air. Throughout the work the oboe continues to arise and the voice that breaks through the bonds of the ensemble. III. “The Phoenix” opens with a haunting oboe solo accompanied by lightly scored repeated chords that set the tone for an extended oboe solo. When the apex of this solo is reached, new music announces a melodic interplay between the oboe and ensemble with a final culmination in the opening material of the movement. Over the arc of the entire work, the oboe can be seen to represent humanity; first struggling with the onslaught, then awakening to a changed world and then finally finding its voice and metamorphosis through the integration of growth through tragedy to create a new lens through which to view life.

I am very grateful to Marion Kuszyk for her incomparable musicianship and beautiful tone in bringing this oboe concerto to life! Many thanks to Sharon Lavery for her dedication in premiering this piece and for her work in establishing the co-commission with 6 other universities.

–Betsy Schramm

Dona Nobis Pacem (2025) – Michael Daugherty

Dona Nobis Pacem (“Grant Us Peace”) for Wind Ensemble (2025) is inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s visionary creation of the Peace Corps in 1961. The work was commissioned by and is dedicated to Glen Adsit (1964-2024), who founded the ASPIRE consortium and was Director of Bands at The Hartt School for 24 years.

Promoting peace was on the mind of presidential candidate John F. Kennedy when he arrived on the University of Michigan campus in the early morning hours of October 14, 1960. Speaking to a crowd of 10,000 students from the steps of the Michigan Union, he asked if they “would be willing to volunteer in underdeveloped countries around the world”. This impromptu speech is widely regarded as the catalyst for what would become the Peace Corps. After taking office in 1961, President Kennedy signed an executive order officially creating the organization. Still active today, the Peace Corps “promotes peace and friendship through community-based development and intercultural understanding,” sending thousands of volunteers each year on two-year assignments to share their skills and love alongside community members in developing nations worldwide.

Dona Nobis Pacem is a short prayer for peace from the Agnus Dei section of the Latin Mass. My composition for wind ensemble is a hopeful expression for peace and harmony in the world, integrating the 17th-century folksong traditionally associated with “Dona Nobis Pacem” with original music I have composed.

-Michael Daugherty

Cadillac Ranch (2025) – Michael Daugherty

Cadillac Ranch for Symphonic Winds was commissioned by Texas Tech University in celebration of its 100th anniversary. The world premiere was given by the Texas Tech Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by Sarah mcKoin, at Texas Tech University School of Music, in Lubbock, Texas, on October 12, 2005.

My composition is inspired by “Cadillac Ranch,” a public art installation created in 1974 by the modernist architects Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez, and Doug Michels, then known as Ant Farm. Located near the old Route 66 on the desolate outskirts of Amarillo, Texas, “Cadillac Ranch” consists of 10 Cadillac cars, dating from 1949 to 1964. The Cadillacs are symmetrically buried in a straight line nose-first in the first with the classic tailfins of each car pointed towards the sky at the same angle. This monument to the American road trip has attained iconic status and is visited every year by millions of travelers from around the world.

Cadillac Ranch for Symphonic Winds (2025) is structured as a theme and variations divided into an introduction with 10 variations, one for each Cadillac, performed without pause. First heard in the introduction performed by the saxophone section, the main musical motive consists of four notes upon which the entire work is based. It rhythmically echoes the four syllables of the title “Ca-dil-lac Ranch.” Like the 10 Cadillacs, musical pitches are often presented in 10-tone rows or rhythmic pulses in groupings of 10. In each of the 10 variations, I paint a unique soundscape that alludes to popular and contemporary musical idioms associated with the era of each Cadillac.

-Michael Daugherty

Michael Daugherty

Multiple Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty is one of the most commissioned, performed, and recorded composers on the international concert music scene today. His music is rich with cultural allusions and bears the stamp of classic modernism, with colliding tonalities and blocks of sound; at the same time, his melodies can be eloquent and stirring.

Hailed by The Times (London) as “a master icon maker” with a “maverick imagination, fearless structural sense, and meticulous ear,” Daugherty’s unique musical style combines elements of American popular culture, art, literature and history resulting in a diverse and captivating body of work that is performed by orchestras, wind ensembles and performers around the world.

His music, recorded by Naxos over the last two decades, has received six Grammy Awards, including “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” in 2011 for Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra and in 2017 for Tales of Hemingway for cello and orchestra. Born in 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Daugherty is the son of a dance-band drummer and the oldest of five brothers, all professional musicians. As a young man, Daugherty studied composition with many of the preeminent composers of the 20th century including Jacob Druckman, Earle Brown, Bernard Rands and Roger Reynolds at Yale (1980-82), Pierre Boulez at IRCAM in Paris and Betsy Jolas at the Paris Conservatory (1979), and György Ligeti in Hamburg (1982-84). Daugherty was also an assistant to jazz arranger Gil Evans in New York from 1980-82.

Since 1991, Daugherty has been Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, where he is a mentor to many of today’s most talented young composers. He is also a frequent guest of professional orchestras, festivals, universities, and conservatories around the world.

Upcoming performances in the Los Angeles area include Daugherty’s violin concerto Blue Electra (2022), inspired by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, which will be performed by the Pacific Symphony, conducted by Carl St.Clair with Anne Akiko Meyers, violin, March 26-28, 2026. Current commissions include a new work for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to be premiered in June 2026. For more information on Michael Daugherty, see www.michaeldaugherty.net and his publisher’s websites.

Marion Kuszyk

Marion Arthur Kuszyk joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as associate principal oboe at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1995. Originally from the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, Kuszyk received her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory and her Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music.

Prior to joining the Philharmonic, Kuszyk was a member of the Kansas City Symphony for five years (associate principal oboe and acting principal oboe) and taught oboe at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. She has made concerto appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Kansas City Camerata, and the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra. In addition, she has performed as guest principal oboe with the Boston Symphony and with the Atlanta Symphony. She has also performed with the Virginia Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Tanglewood Fellowship Orchestra, and the Summerfest Chamber Music series in Kansas City. From 1999-2007, she was a member of the Grant Teton Music Festival Orchestra, occupying the principal oboe chair beginning in 2000.

Marion Arthur Kuszyk is an active performer in the LA Phil’s Chamber Music Society series and the Green Umbrella Series. She participated in the North American premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s quintet piece Memoria.

-Courtesy of the Marion Arthur Kuszyk bio on the USC Thornton School of Music website

Betsy Schramm

Betsy Schramm’s music has been cited for its “visionary quality”, “impressive lyricism” and has been called “expansive, daring, and unpredictable” (Boston Globe, Buffalo News, Boston Herald). Schramm’s compositions have received numerous professional awards and have been played and broadcast in the U.S. and Europe, in London, New York City, and Boston. The music of Betsy Schramm has been commissioned/premiered by the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, the Corpus Christi Symphony, the University of Southern California and the University of Texas Wind Ensembles, Jane Manning and Jane’s Minstrels, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Ballet, New Millennium Ensemble, Boston Music Viva, Eastman Wind Ensemble, Lontano and others. Betsy Schramm’s music has been performed by Ricardo odriozola, Mark Ponzo, Terry Everson, Carly Johnson, Andrew Sorg, Christopher Keach, Amelia Hollander Ames, Jill Dreeben, Solar Winds, John Aley, the Craft Ensemble, Cambridge Chamber Players and others. Schramm grew up in a house filled with music. Her mother played the piano, organ, and sang. Her father had a classical record collection which he often played. Every Sunday in church choirs, and took up percussion as a teen. She was drawn to becoming a composer by the music that was always playing in her head.

University of Southern California Thornton Winds and Maestra Sharon Lavery commissioned an oboe concerto, with Marion Arthur Kuszyk, oboe, to be premiered February 13, 2026. University of Texas Wind Ensemble, Maestro Jerry Junkin, conductor, Andrew Parker, oboe, will perform this co-commission for an oboe concerto in 2026. The Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Hector Guzman, premiered Schramm’s Fanfare for the Dance on April 20, 2024. Lowell Chamber Orchestra with Maestro Orlando Cela premiered La Balena September 2024 in Lowell and Arlington. Amelia Hollander Ames, performed Sonata for Solo Viola, Casa Gemala, Merida, Mexico, November 18, 2023. Christopher Keach gave the Canadian premiere of Boston Inspires May 13, 2023 on his doctoral recital at McGill University. Dario Doronzo will premiere a new work for flugelhorn and include it on his upcoming CD. Duo Amie, Julie Reimann and Elysses Kuan, will premiere a new work for cello and piano, time and venue TBA. The 2021 Music by Women Festival included Carly Johnson performing Schramm’s Suite for Flugelhorn. Schramm’s 2015 CD, Arrays of Light, Mark Records 51732-MCD, features Mark Ponzo and Terry Everson. Arrays of Light was funded in part by a successful Kickstarter campaign. Ricardo Odriozola premiered her Fantasia and Dances for Solo Violin. Sonata for Viola was premiered by Amelia Hollander Ames. Yelena Beriyeva premiered The Persistence of Memory for solo piano on the Menotomy Concert Series. Drew Ziemba performed Arrays of Light at a Boise Symphony Gala. Betsy Schramm was a member of Luman Composers and conducted premieres of her works on the Lumen Composers Concert Series. Betsy Schramm currently manages the Menotomy Concert Series at Arlington Town Hall.

BBC Radio3, with Jane Manning and Jane’s Minstrels, produced broadcast recordings of Betsy Schramm’s two song cycles on Hear and Now: and birds are wings (Brian Israel Prize) and while east deserves of dawn. The Naumberg Award-winning New Millennium premiered and leap into the ripe air (an e.e.cummings cycle) at Miller Theatre in New York City. The Minnesota Ballet with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra premiered American Mosaic to critical acclaim: “Comparisons with Aaron Copland were inevitable” (Duluth News Tribune.) The Boston Globe hailed Besty Schramm’s Alic and the White Rabbit’s Opera as “a highly professional undertaking, and a child who owned a CD of it would benefit from such musical and literary sophistication.” Additional commissions include Sedna: Images of the Alaskan Eskimo, a Barlow Endowment commission premiered by Boston Musica Viva; G’eros, commissioned by Lontano/London Arts Board, premiered in London; Arrays of Light, Light Excelleth Darkness, Boston Inspires, Transformations, Suite for Flugelhorn, and Restless Airs for trumpeter Mark Ponzo; The Quickening of a Summer’s Morn, premiered by the Eastman Wind Ensemble; Wings of the Wind, premiered by the Music Fix.

Betsy Schramm earned the Ph.D. in Composition at the Eastman School of Music and received a Fulbright Scholarship for study at Cambridge University and at the English National Opera. Schramm studied composition with Joseph Schwantner, Samuel Adler, and Warren Benson at the Eastman School of Music and Alexander Goehr at Cambridge University. Betsy Schramm earned the Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin where she studied composition with Karl Korte, Donald Grantham, and played percussion in the New Music Ensemble. Betsy Schramm has been a visiting composer at Harvard University, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory, Boston College, Northern Illinois University, University of Connecticut and has worked with students of all ages in the local public schools.

Many of Schramm’s works address current issues that are of concern to her. Words of War/Letters of War was written in response to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and uses war poems of American poets Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Carl Sandburg, and narrations of war letters from American soldiers from the Revolutionary War to modern times. In response to 9/11, Schramm’s The Second Coming, uses prayers and chants from four major religions, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam and intertwines these with Yeat’s post WWI poem The Second Coming.

Betsy Schramm has received the Gold Medal Award by the Massachusetts Cultural Council; the Brian Israel Prize; Artist-In-Residence at Harvestworks, Inc./Studio PASS; first prize in the International Trumpet Guild Brass Quintet Solo Composition Competition; second prize in the International Trumpet Guild Brass Quintet Composition Competition. Festival performances include the Mars Hill New Music Festival, the International Society of Music Educators 20th New Band Music Symposium, British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles, June in Buffalo, International Trumpet Guild, Bowling Green Music and Art Festival, International Trombone Association, Washington State Young Artists Tour, and Summit Brass. Her music has been performed throughout the US and Europe.