ATLANTA YOUTH WIND SYMPHONY
SUNDAY, October 5, 2025 4:00 pm
Lassiter Concert Hall

This season marks a milestone for the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony—37 years of extraordinary music-making, artistic growth, and youth leadership through the power of wind band music. Founded in 1988 as the premier youth wind ensemble for the Atlanta metro area, AYWS continues to serve as a beacon for the next generation of musical talent.

We embrace the symbolism of this 37th season by drawing inspiration from the numerology of its digits—3 and 7, both of which have deep cultural, spiritual, and musical significance. The number 3 suggests harmony, wholeness, and balance—common in musical form (such as ternary form or three-note chords), as well as in human understanding of the world (past, present, future; beginning, middle, end). The number 7 often carries mystical and sacred connotations—seven notes in the diatonic scale, seven days in the week, and seven stages of enlightenment in some spiritual traditions.  Oscar Navarro’s Downey Overture, written to commemorate a musical milestone, offers its own numerological nods—structured in three broad sections and originally composed for a 10th (3+7) anniversary celebration. Its rhythmic energy and cinematic flair speak to the spirit of bold celebration that defines this 37th season.

Our repertoire reflects these resonances. We feature Vittorio Giannini’s Symphony No. 3, a foundational work for wind ensemble literature, composed in four movements but deeply rooted in the balance and symmetry suggested by the number three. We honor George Gershwin, who died in 1937, with music that bridges classical and popular traditions, echoing the energy and innovation that defined his legacy. Leonard Bernstein’s jubilant Slava!, set in a propulsive 7/8meter, celebrates boldness and rhythmic ingenuity. David Maslanka’s The Seeker invites us into contemplative realms inspired by Buddhist philosophy, where the numbers 3 and 7 symbolize key steps in the search for spiritual insight and awakening.

As we reflect on 37 seasons of excellence, exploration, and ensemble spirit, we thank you—our audience, families, and supporters—for helping this community thrive. We invite you to listen deeply, connect meaningfully, and celebrate this season shaped by the power of numbers and the timeless force of music.

Downey Overture

Downey Overture is dedicated with all my affection to the Downey Symphony Orchestra, for its hard work and dedication, and, of course, to its conductor, Sharon Lavery, for her professionalism and great passion for music. Downey Overture is a Latin-American fusion with which I have wanted to link my birth country, Spain, and California, the land that, as a result of the two years I lived there, has left a permanent imprint on my heart. An amalgam of rhythm and musical color wrapped in an atmosphere of dance are the essence of this piece. It is joyful, energetic and written with all my enthusiasm and dedication.

- Oscar Navarro

Second Prelude

Gershwin’s Three Preludes are short piano pieces, first performed by the composer at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York in 1926. Gershwin originally planned to compose twenty-four preludes, but this number was reduced to five in public performance and further decreased to three when they were first published. In the second prelude, Gershwin invokes his Jewish heritage as an almost Yiddish melody floats over gentle, undulating accompaniment -- a twelve-bar blues form -- whose delicacy recalls the piano music of Chopin. The melody is repeated in a second chorus of the blues form, followed by a bridge in a brighter, major key. The initial theme returns, dissipating as though entering a quiet sleep. Gershwin referred to the piece as “a sort of blues lullaby.” This wind arrangement -- published in 1965 -- was arranged by John Krance, who embarked to capture the mood and beauty of the original piano score.

First Suite in E-flat

The First Suite in E-flat by Gustav Holst is considered one of the masterworks and cornerstones of the band literature. Although completed in 1909, the suite did not receive its official premiere until eleven years later on June 23rd, 1920, by an ensemble of 165 musicians at the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall. However, the work was originally conceived to be performed by ensembles significantly smaller than the one at Kneller Hall. During this time period there was no standardized instrumentation among the hundreds of British military bands of the day, and as a result no significant literature had been previously written for the band medium; most British bands up to then performed arrangements of popular orchestral pieces. In order to ensure the suite would be accessible to as many bands as possible, Holst ingeniously scored the work so that it could be played by a minimum of 19 musicians, with 16 additional parts that could be added or removed without compromising the integrity of the work.

There are three movements in the suite: Chaconne, Intermezzo, and March. Holst writes, “As each movement is founded on the same phrase, it is requested that the suite be played right through without a break.” Indeed, the first three notes of the Chaconne are Eb, F and C, and the first three notes of the melody when it first appears in the Intermezzo are Eb, F, and C. In the third movement, March,Holst inverts the motive: The first note heard in the brilliant opening brass medley is an Eb, but instead of rising, it descends to a D, and then a G; the exact opposite of the first two movements. 

The Chaconne begins with a ground bass reminiscent of those written by Henry Purcell or William Byrd. It is performed by tuba, euphonium and string bass and is repeated throughout the ensemble sixteen full times as varying instrumental textures and variations of the theme are layered within it. Following a delicately scored chamber setting of the theme, the music steadily builds to a brilliant Eb Major chord that concludes the movement. 

The Intermezzo is light and brisk and features soloistic passages for the cornet, oboe and clarinet. Holst prominently displays the agility and sensitivity of the wind band through transparent textures and passages where the melody and accompaniment are woven into a variety of instrumental settings. 

The March begins suddenly. It consists of two themes, the first of which, performed by brass choir and percussion, is a march light in character. The second theme is dominated by the woodwinds and is composed of a long, lyrical line reminiscent of the original Chaconne melody. The movement concludes with both themes intertwining as the band crescendos to a climax.

 -- Esmail Khalili

The Seeker

In Buddhist tradition, the bodhisattvas are the seekers after enlightenment. It can be said that we are all seekers on this path, the path of self-understanding, of the heart of compassion, of caring for the world.

The bodhisattvas are put forward as models for our own seeking:

Avalokiteshvara: the way of listening in order to relieve the suffering in the world.
Manjushri: the way of being still and looking deeply into the heart of things and people.
Samantabhadra: the way of acting with the eyes and heart of compassion.
Ksitigarbha: the way of being present where there is darkness, suffering, oppression, and despair.
Sadāparibhūta: the way of never disparaging or underestimating any living being.

The Seeker is subtitled “a symphonic movement.” It opens with a slow melody that feels like an Appalachian folk song. It transitions suddenly and sharply into the main body of the work, an energetic and exuberant romp at a very speedy tempo. The opening melody returns in the context of a chorale, my recomposition of Christe, der du bist der Tag und Licht (Christ, you who are day and light) from the 371 four-part chorales of Bach. The movement concludes with a partial recap of the fast music, and a very brief coda.

 -- David Maslanka (January 2017)

Symphony No. 3

The Symphony No. 3 was composed on a commission by the Duke University Band and its conductor, Paul Bryan, during the summer of 1958, in Rome Italy, where I was spending my vacation. It is my second work for band; the first, Praeludium and Allegro, was commissioned by Richard Franko Goldman.

I can give no other reason for choosing to write a symphony to fulfill this commission than that I “felt like it,” and the thought of doing it interested me a great deal.

I will not go into the technical details of the work. Basically, the listener is not concerned with them beyond what they can hear for themselves. I follow no ‘isms’ when I compose; I try to project and communicate a feeling, a thought that is in me at the time, using whatever technique is suggested by my mood to achieve this communication.

The form of the movements is this: first movement – sonata allegro; second movement – A B A; third movement – A B A B; fourth movement – sonata allegro. There is no program – only what I heard and felt at the time. I hope it makes music.

- Vittorio Giannini

Slava!
When Mstislav Rostropovich (“Slava” to his friends) invited Leonard Bernstein to help him launch his inaugural concert as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra, he also asked him to write a rousing new opening piece for the festivities. This overture is the result, and the world premiere took place on October 11, 1977, with Rostropovich conducting his orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.  Clare Grundman transcribed the version for wind band/ensemble.

The first theme of Slava! is a vaudevillian razz-ma-tazz tune filled with side-slipping modulations and sliding trombones. Theme two, which prominently features the [ soprano saxophone ], is a canonic tune in 7/8 time. A very brief kind of development section follows, after which the two themes recur in reverse order. Near the end they are combined with a quotation (proclaimed by the ubiquitous trombones) from the “Coronation Scene” of Mussorgsky’s Boris Goudonov, where the chorus sings the Russian word “Slava!”, meaning “glory!” In this way, of course, the composer is paying an extra four-bar homage to his friend Slava Rostropovich, to whom this overture is fondly dedicated. 

-  Jack Gottlieb