Thomas C. Duffy, Music Director 

Wine-Dark Sea is John Mackey’s dramatic setting of Odysseus’ journey home following the Trojan War. This piece details the trials of humanity as experienced by Odysseus, beginning with a triumphal march as he begins his voyage home, his ship overflowing with the spoils of war. Odysseus then falls in love with Kalypso, only to abandon her as he continues his journey, venturing to the gates of the underworld. Mackey’s virtuosic work provides a full spectrum of the human experience as seen through the eyes of Odysseus.

Thomas C. Duffy’s Three Places in New Haven features Jisu Jung (Yale School of Music, ’19MM) on marimba, in a work that addresses three places frequented by renowned composer and Connecticut native Charles Ives, Yale class of 1898, during his time at Yale. The piece begins with the character Rollo studying in Yale’s library before moving to sail at the Long Wharf, and finally ending with a march through the city, in a style reminiscent of Ives’ Country Band March.

Outdoor Overture confirms the milestone in Aaron Copland’s career, where his work changed from bold tonal pieces to diatonic melodic writing. This version was created in the 20^th century, exclusively for bands by Copland himself, based off the original orchestral work created for the High School of Music and Art in New York City.

Percy Grainger’s Colonial Song is about his native Australia, expressing “a certain kind of emotion that seems not untypical of native-born colonials in general.” In the early 20^th century, Grainger wrote on colonials, saying “Perhaps it is not unnatural that people living more or less alone in vast virgin countries and struggling against natural and climactic hardships … should lean largely [to] patiently yearning, inactively sentimental wistfulness.”