World-renowned Composer Frank Ticheli Joins Baylor Bands for Thursday Concert

For their first concert of the year on Thursday, September 19, the Baylor Symphonic Band and Baylor Wind Ensemble are proud to welcome prolific guest composer and conductor Frank Ticheli, D.M.A., as a special guest.

“I can’t wait to make music with those exceptional students again, and I always love spending time with my longtime friend, Eric Wilson and all of his wonderful colleagues,” says Ticheli, professor emeritus of composition at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. “Many things make the Baylor School of Music special: their care for one another, like family; their commitment to musical excellence, and the talent that the students display in every concert I’ve heard them perform.”

Ticheli is renowned throughout the world and is an accomplished conductor as well. During his time on campus, he will interact with members of the Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble and meet with composition and conducting students.

“With each visit to the Baylor campus, Dr. Ticheli’s wholehearted and impassioned interactions have enriched the academic and artistic lives of students and faculty alike,” says Director of Bands Eric Wilson, D.M.A.

The award-winning conductor has a strong history of collaboration with the Baylor School of Music. Ticheli’s first interaction was in the late 1980s, when former Director of Bands Michael Haithcock conducted hisConcertino for Trombone, with former trombone professor David Gier as soloist. He has spent time on campus with students and faculty numerous on numerous occasions since.

Wilson says a particularly special collaboration with Ticheli was commissioning him to compose Lux Perpetua in 2020, honoring the lives of two former Baylor Music students who died in 2014. The work was premiered at the annual state convention of the Texas Music Educators Association “to a standing-room-only crowd who were moved and mesmerized by such a poignant and powerful composition,” says Wilson.

“This performance left the audience and performers speechless (and in tears) while time seemed to stand silently still at its conclusion,” he says. “This was among the last meaningful musical sounds produced that year as the pandemic emerged only a few weeks later. Since that time, Lux Perpetua, which was breathed to life first on our campus by Baylor students, has been played by ensembles across the globe. It is a memory I will never forget!”

Thursday evening’s program opens with Steven Bryant’s Ecstatic Fanfare, performed by the Symphonic Band and conducted by Assistant Director of Bands Stuart Ivey, D.A., then both ensembles will perform works by Ticheli: Sanctuary (2005), Angels in the Architecture (2008), Postcard (1993), Serenade for Kristin(2018), and Fantastic Dreams (2023). Ticheli will conduct Angels in the Architecture and Fantastic Dreams, while the remaining Ticheli works will be conducted by Associate Director of Bands Isaiah Odajima, D.M.A. and Wilson with their respective ensembles. Additionally, Serenade for Kristin will feature Assistant Professor of Oboe Euridice Alvarez as soloist with the Wind Ensemble.

“It’s a pretty diverse set of pieces performed,” says Ticheli. “A brand-new piece, Fantastic Dreams, makes use of a wide range of colors and textures to evoke four dream scenarios in four short movements. Angels in the Architecture unfolds as a dramatic conflict between forces of darkness and light, featuring a singer, whirly tubes, crystal wine glasses and other evocative sounds. There’s a chamber piece, Serenade for Kristin, that features solo oboe. Again, the stylistic range is quite diverse.”

Wilson says, “In performances of his music, audiences connect deeply with Dr. Ticheli’s thoughtful compositional voice and authentic personality, and this concert will be one not to miss.”

The Baylor Symphonic Band and Baylor Wind Ensemble perform on Thursday, September 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Concert Hall. The concert is free and open the public. Watch the livestream >