From Sarah Quiroz, Associate Conductor:
On Tuesday, July 15, 2014, CSW had its first of two Composer Nights for our summer season. Jim Territo, composer of "Sea of Fury," conducted the ensemble in a roughly 35 minute clinic on his piece. At the beginning, he explained what the piece was about, how it came to fruition and proceeded with the nitty gritty work on the music.
In a nutshell, Jim is one of the most high energy people on the podium I have ever had the pleasure of working with! If you think the Energizer bunny has a lot of energy, he's got nothing on Jim! What I found most impressive was the amount of energy and musicality the ensemble responded with during the rehearsal. Jim works fast and with acute attention to detail, musicality and metaphor. I am huge fan of using imagery in rehearsal, so personally, that resonated greatly! At one point he told our trumpet soloist Rebecca to play as if she was Zorro, and the bassoons have a counter melody and they were trying to claim that they were Zorro, too (referencing that they were the most significant part in the music and should play very strongly). It was especially fun to listen to Jim reference movie themes and characters as metaphoric reinforcement for the music and I've tucked a few into my repertoire for rehearsals of my own.
By the end of his rehearsal with us, the band had developed this ENORMOUS, full sound, especially in the brass - it was awesome! Not only did we sound more musical, but we were laughing and having a great time the whole time through. Having Jim work with us was the utmost pleasure, as his highly energetic nature was equally matched in motivation, engagement and enjoyment. I hope he'll be able to come back with us again and that his new move to New York brings him continuous exposure to the Northeast band scene!
Here's a video from the evening:
Stay tuned for another behind-the-scenes look at the band when we have about our second Composer Night with Michael Markowski!