Wind Symphony to Premiere Alum's Composition

The first concert of the school year by the Illinois State University Wind Symphony will feature compositions by, among others, Percy Grainger, Paul Hindemith and the premiere performance of "Elegy" by Illinois State May 2009 graduate Jonathan Favero.

The concert will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, in the Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall.  Admission is $6 for the general public, $5 for ISU faculty and staff and $4 for students and senior citizens.  Tickets are available at the CPA box office from noon to 5 p.m. weekdays and will be available prior to the concert.

Conducted by Steve Steele, director of Bands at Illinois State, the Wind Symphony will perform Grainger's "Molly on the Shore," Hindemith's Symphony in B flat, Fisher Tull's "Sketches on a Tudor Psalm" and Andrew Rindfleisch's "The Light Fantastic."  The last piece will feature senior music education major Hannah Edlen playing bass clarinet.

Springfield native Favero is a composer, performer and writer who studied acoustic music composition at Illinois State with David Feirzeig, Martha Horst and David Maslanka.  He studied electronic music composition with Matthew Smith, music improvisation with William Koehler and classical guitar with Angelo Favis.

Favero said that "Elegy" is contemplation on human nature's assorted attempts at coping with loss - particularly loss through death - facing one's own mortality, and/or a loss of faith.  The consequences of these losses and their coping mechanisms may be very dangerous, he said, and often lead to deep depression, addiction and possibly suicide.

"The true inspiration of 'Elegy'," he said, "is founded in the deaths of my three friends, Jesse Moats, Conner 'Bubba' Castleman and Edward Helm, along with the attempts of their friends and families to cope with their losses."

In addition to performing with several musical groups as an undergraduate, Favero was active as a composer.  His first String Quartet received the Harlan Peithman Award for Music Theory and Composition.  A piece titled "Sketches" for 10 guitars, written at Favis' request, premiered at the 2008 Mid-America Guitar Ensemble Festival.  He wrote "Music for Sikc Ward" for the short film "Sikc Ward" by ISU classmate Benjamin Chaykin, and "Commemoration," a synthesis-based piece, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Favero, who now lives near Springfield, is working on "Redemption," a musical narrative for unaccompanied alto saxophone, commissioned by Illinois State music majors Matthew Muneses and Alex Teater, and a student at Baylor University; a neo-classic Sonata for guitar and marimba; and a full-length electronic album of sacred music titled "Meditation."  In addition, Favero is workong on a collection of humorous and morbid poems, a novel, and continues to participate as an instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and lyricist in an eclectic, (as of yet) unnamed alternative rock/country band based in Springfield.