World Premiere Concert with Nate Sparks Set for April 23 at University of Scranton
Composer/conductor Nate Sparks will premiere two works with The University of Scranton Concert Band and Concert Choir at the 33rd annual World Premiere Composition Series Concert on Saturday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Houlihan McLean Center.
New York City based composer, arranger, pianist and trumpeter Nate Sparks will be featured as the composer for The University of Scranton’s 33rd annual World Premiere Composition Series Concert on Saturday, April 23. The concert will be held in the Houlihan McLean Center at 7:30 p.m. and will feature two works he composed specifically for the University’s Concert Choir and Concert Band. The concert is free of charge and open to the public.
Sparks, who has written and arranged music for The New York Trumpet Ensemble, The Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and Juilliard Jazz Ensemble, Kyle Athayde Dance Party and The Joseph Boga Octet, will conduct the world premiere of “Kisha” for concert band, and “Spring Love Song” for the soprano, alto, tenor, bass (SATB) chorus with baritone soloist.
“Kisha,” for concert band, gets its title from the Japanese word for “steam train” and was inspired by the story of the “Iron Duke,” the first steam train in Japan. The composition features changing meters and complex polyrhythms combined with lovely minimalist melodies with lush harmonic support. The musical ideas in “Spring Love Song” emerged from Sparks love for the music of Cole Porter, and the work is a “Great American Songbook” style musical setting of an original lyric.
The World Premiere Composition Series at The University of Scranton was established in 1984 and has made significant contributions to the wind and choral repertoires. The series has also hosted acclaimed composers such as Vaclav Nelhybel, Robert Starer, Wycliffe Gordon, Joshua Rosenblum, Victor Goines, Lawrence Wolfe and even provided the now internationally renowned composer Robert Kapilow with his very first commission.
Hailed by legendary trumpeter Mark Gould as a “terrific young talent in the field of composition and arranging,” Sparks has composed or arranged music for Gould and has written numerous works for big band, large and small jazz ensembles, brass ensembles, piano and voice, and solo piano.
Sparks performs regularly with Kyle Athayde Dance Party, The Joseph Boga Octet, The Juilliard Jazz Ensemble and The Juilliard Jazz Orchestra. As a member of the Juilliard Jazz Ensemble and Juilliard Jazz Orchestra he performed with, and learned from, a number of musical masters, among them: Wynton Marsalis; Jimmy Heath; Vince Giordano; Igor Butman; Bill Dobbins and many others.
Currently a student in the Juilliard Jazz Studies Program, Sparks is a native of rural Iowa, and an alumnus of the GRAMMY Band, Jazz Band of America, IAMEA All-State Jazz Band, and The Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony. He is a trumpet student of Chris Jaudes and a piano student of Jason Danielson.
For more information, contact Cheryl Y. Boga, director of Performance Music at The University of Scranton by calling 570-941-7624, emailing music@scranton.edu, or visiting www.scranton.edu/music.
