Pianist Joel A. Martin and Enloe Students Premiere Music
January 19, 2007 - In collaboration with Enloe High School, internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Joel A. Martin will premiere five commissioned works in a program entitled Jazzical®: Enloe on at 3 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 11, at Meymandi Concert Hall. Martin, a Raleigh native, will be accompanied by members of the Enloe Concert Wind Ensemble, String Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, and Chorus.Each ensemble will perform original compositions by Joel A. Martin in the Jazzical®, classical, and jazz styles. Jazzical® utilizes motifs from Martin’s classical piano repertoire as subjects for jazz interpretations for solo piano, chamber ensemble, jazz combo, and orchestra and bridges the gap between classical and jazz music while remaining true to both art forms. The program will include: Song of Love, a classical tone poem (concert band); Raleigh Alley, a jazz/choral piece (4-part chorus and piano); the Slavic-inspired Triple Concerto in E Flat Minor for Two Violins and Viola (string orchestra); and a series of original Jazzical® pieces for piano and jazz ensemble, with accompaniment by the graduating seniors who appeared with Mr. Martin at the Artsplosure Festival in April 2006. The string orchestra will also perform a musical setting of an original work entitled Gypsy, lyrics and melody by Enloe sophomore and soprano soloist Mara Howard Williams. The first half of the program will be conducted by Enloe faculty Ann Huff, Robert C. Hunter, Beth McCollum, and Martin.
The culminating event will be the finale in which all ensembles will appear together on stage to debut Martin’s mammoth composition, Requiem for Peace in Eight Movements for Concert Wind Ensemble, String Orchestra, Mixed Chorus and Piano. Inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem, the “Caged Bird,” the Requiem will be conducted by Robert C. Hunter, Director of the Enloe Band Program.
In the spirit of the Enloe Visual and Performing Arts program’s goal to enrich student’s learning by providing them with opportunities to work with guest artists in master classes and performance, this unique collaboration began in April 2006 when Martin was invited to conduct a week long arts-in-education residency at the magnet school, and appeared in performance with the Enloe Jazz Ensemble at the Artsplosure Festival. That experience received such an overwhelmingly positive response from both faculty and students that he was invited to return in September 2006 to conduct a six-month arts-in-education residency, and was also commissioned to write several original compositions for performance by the students.
“In a very real sense, performance at Meymandi Concert Hall is a celebration of the unique nature of this collaboration, and the original music that it inspired, including the Requiem for Peace,” says Robert Hunter. “We felt that the students deserved to perform this unique body of work in a more professional setting, and to share the fruits of their six-month labor of love with the public at large.”
The Requiem for Peace
Although the traditional requiem was a funeral composition, performed during liturgical service, and often accompanied by Gregorian Chant, by the 20th century, secular requiems were performed regularly in public. Inspired by the poem, the “Caged Bird,” written by poet, educator, and historian Maya Angelou, the Requiem for Peace is a secular work with spiritual overtones and is meant to be felt and pondered, both musically and lyrically. The nature of war as well as the prospects for a long-lasting peace is discussed, with meditations and original Gregorian-style chants to inspire further reflection. The “Caged Bird” forms the text for the 5th movement of the Requiem.
According to Martin, “The Requiem for Peace honors man’s continued struggle for peace. Each movement represents something very different in the process toward achieving peace, and the listener will make his/her own determination as to its relevance in his/her life. My ultimate goal is to create a new world community, where artists, musicians, and concertgoers – souls who are open to new ideas and experiences – can talk with one another, communicate, and share in the human experience through music. Music really is the universal language, and serves as a bridge across racial, ethnic, and economic diversity, to unite us all. And, it is my sincere belief that, through this unique collaboration with the students of Enloe, we can serve as an example to begin this process, and become the model for others to follow throughout this country and the world. You really can change the world. The world has changed me for the better. I am just giving back now.”
Joel A. Martin
Joel A. Martin is an award-winning pianist and has traveled throughout the world performing both classical and jazz. His classical career spans 33 years and includes solo performances with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Delaware Symphony, and the Springfield Symphony (MA). Martin was the youngest competitor in the 1985 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and has received numerous national awards.
Martin is an accomplished jazz pianist. For two years, he served as the assistant director/pianist for the Boys Choir of Harlem, and for the past nine years served as musical director/pianist for the Cab Calloway Orchestra.
In 1997 these worlds came together when Martin invented and trademarked the concept Jazzical®, a marriage of classical and jazz. This innovative genre is designed to bridge the gap between classical and jazz and its audiences while remaining true to both forms. Martin has released four CDs in the Jazzical® series to critical acclaim.
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