Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 3:00pm
Flute Orchestra of Groton Hill
Spring Concert
Meadow Hall at Groton Hill
Ruby and Silver Anniversary Season
Eileen Yarrison | Artistic Director & Conductor
PROGRAM
Fanfare
Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens
arr. Matt Johnston
Minuet from Le Tombeau de Couperin
Maurice Ravel
arr. John E. Davis
Featuring Joel Nolan, piccolo
Madrigal
Philippe Gaubert
arr. Nicole O’Toole
David Deifik, flute soloist
Songs of the Ocean
Ryohei Hirose
arr. Ann Cameron Pearce
I. Lullaby of the Ocean
II. The Tufted Puffin
III. There Was No Ocean
Featuring Blythe Cowen, flute
INTERMISSION: 10 minutes
Procession of the Nobles
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
arr. Martin Melicharek III
Concerto for Two Flutes – Allegro
Domenico Cimarosa
arr. Nicole O’Toole and Victor Villareal
Nicole O’Toole and Jessica Gist Volk, E-flat flute soloists
The Whole World Is Here (The Cormorant’s Dream)
Chris Florio
Live World Premiere in 3 parts.
Commissioned for the ensemble, 2022.
Featuring Blythe Cowen, whistle
Innes Glas Mor
Lisa LeMay
Commissioned for the ensemble, 2005.
I. Lovely, But Rugged
II. Kylemore Abbey
III. Gogarty’s Pub
Members of the Ensemble
Eileen Yarrison, Artistic Director & Conductor
David Deifik, piccolo
Concertmaster and founding member of the Nashua Flute Choir, 1983
Blythe Cowen
Jeanne Hebert
Forrest Kerr
Casey Koulalis
Lisa Hill Mitchell
Joel Nolan
Nicole O’Toole
Stephanie Rempel
Lois Reynolds
Elaine Sinclair
Bruce Carey Taylor
Jessica Gist Volk
Dani Jo White-Yellito
Program Notes
Artistry, Versatility… and a World Premiere!
Our concert opens with an organ Fanfare by Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, recently transcribed by Matt Johnston. Organ pipes and flutes make their sound in exactly the same way, so this seems like a good fit.
Two pieces that symphony orchestra fans will recognize are Rimsky-Korsakov’s Procession of the Nobles, transcribed by Martin Melicharek III, and the Minuet from Le Tombeau de Couperin, by Ravel, arranged for flutes by John E Davis.
Songs of the Ocean by Ryohei Hirose was transcribed from choral tone paintings by Ann Cameron Pearce. The haunting beauty of the outer movements: There Was No Ocean and the Lullaby of the Ocean are set in sharp contrast to the lively nature of The Tufted Puffin.
Cimarosa’s Concerto for Two Flutes and Orchestra features members Nicole O Toole and Jessica Gist performing on one of the smaller and more unusual members of the flute family: the E-flat flute. Situated between C flute and piccolo, the sound of this instrument is sweet and agile. The Gaubert Madrigal will feature Flute Orchestra founding member and Concertmaster David Deifik in this early 20th-century love song to melody.
Original works for flute orchestra include Innes Glas Mor by Lisa LeMay. Inspired by a trip to Ireland, the three sections of this piece celebrate the scenic coastline in Lovely, But Rugged; the beauty of Kylemore Abbey and its surroundings; and the classic combination of food, drink, and music in Gogarty’s Pub.
Our world premiere commissioned for the ensemble in 2022 is Ipswich composer Chris Florio’s The World Is Here (The Cormorant’s Dream). Conceived during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the composers and members of the TOOTH orchestra in Ipswich were staying home, Chris wove a set of improvisations on “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” into a larger texture of flutes. — Notes by Dr. Eileen Yarrison
About Dr. Eileen Yarrison, conductor
Chair of Groton Hill Music School’s Woodwinds and Brass Department, Eileen has been teaching flute to students of all ages for more than forty years. She is a faculty member at Gordon College and Salem State University, and maintains a private studio at her home on the North Shore. Eileen holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Flute Performance from the University of Nebraska, a Master of Music from Pennsylvania State University, and a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of New Hampshire. She is also conductor of the Me2/Boston Flute Choir, an organization devoted to supporting mental health through classical music, and serves as coordinator of the National Flute Association’s Professional Flute Choir Competition. As a performer, Eileen is principal flute of TOOTH, a contemporary chamber orchestra based in Ipswich. Additionally, she is one-third of the contemporary woodwind trio Triage (flute, clarinet, sax) which performs around the country, and has just released its first album, Coffee Break.
History of the Nashua Flute Choir/New England Flute Orchestra/Flute Orchestra of Groton Hill
The Nashua Flute Choir was founded as a four-person ensemble in 1983. Current concertmaster and piccoloist David Deifik is a founding member of the ensemble. The group was devoted to the cultural and musical enrichment of Nashua, its surrounding communities, and many other locales in New Hampshire and Massachusetts for more than thirty years, through performances at church services, libraries, outdoor concerts, senior residences, weddings, corporate functions, and charitable events. The Nashua Flute Choir also performed at five National Flute Association Conventions: New York City (2009 and 1996), Washington, D.C. (2002), Atlanta (1999), and Boston (1993).
The Nashua Flute Choir celebrated its twentieth anniversary by making its first commission, resulting in the world premiere of Views from Falls House, by Gary Schocker. Additional works commissioned and premiered by the Nashua Flute Choir/ New England Flute Orchestra include Concertante Dragon Court by Katherine Hoover (a joint commission with Bickford Brannen), Bone, Wood, Silver, Granite, by Lisa LeMay, and Dancing Among Colored Leaves, by Brandon J. Nelson.
The ensemble has recorded three CDs: Sounds of Christmas, A Falls House Christmas, and Views from Falls House (a classical and contemporary album), and was also featured on an episode of TV’s New Hampshire Chronicle. (There are numerous performance videos currently available to view on YouTube.)
In 2014 The Nashua Flute Choir changed its name to the New England Flute Orchestra, reflecting the growth of the ensemble, the geographic range of its performing venues, and plans for the future. In 2015, the group merged with Indian Hill Music, and enjoyed performing in Blackman Hall for six years. At the time of the move to Groton, the decision was made to change the name of the group to the Flute Orchestra of Groton Hill.
Our members have come from all walks of life: professional musicians, doctors, teachers, clergy, businesspeople, and engineers from various communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. These dedicated flutists play all members of the flute family: piccolos, Eb flute, C flutes, altos, basses, and the contrabass flute.
The 2022-23 season is both the 40th anniversary of the Flute Orchestra and Eileen Yarrison’s 25th year as its conductor. We hope you will celebrate with us as we look back on favorite pieces from the past, premiere the new music of the present, and look to the future for this exceptional group of musicians.
