Mesa Community College Music Department Presents: Desert Echoes Flute Project Concert

May 3 at 7:30 pm  – MCC Performing Arts Center

Desert Echoes Flute Project (DEF Project) has a wonderful program filled with story-telling planned for their concert on May 3rd with four different flute ensembles performing.

DEFproject will perform Elegy and The Noon Witch. Elegy by Valerie Coleman for solo flute and flute choir was inspired by the epic poem of the same name by Maya Angelou. Jeff McKeehan will read the poem which opens “I lay down in my grave and watch my children grow”. Alan J. Tomasetti is the imaginative and outstanding soloist on this tour de force playing with soulful sensitivity and intensity through a musical journey starting with a melody evoking traditional spirituals and blues-inflected lines, evolving into a captivating high-energy dance with layers of African rhythms and then returning to the feel of the opening.

Noon Witch by Antonin Dvořák is symphonic poem written in 1896 for orchestra, also inspired by a poem, Polednice, based on the Slavic myth of a noon demon or witch who comes after children who are naughty. Linda Kirkpatrick dedicated her arrangement to Desert Echoes Flute Project and director Christina Steffen.

The DEF Community Flute Choir continues the stories with A Little Norwegian Suite comprised of two selections from Edvard Grieg’s popular Peer Gynt Suite and one from his Lyric Pieces. Morning Mood is often taken away from its original context to depict spring rather than the Moroccan desert the Danish folk hero Peer Gynt finds himself stranded. He met an Arabic princess while he was quite wealthy and through Anitra’s Dance she charms him into giving her all his riches before scaring him off with threats of her father’s guards. The suite’s final movement is March of the Trolls, perhaps a nod to Anitra’s kinship with a green-attired troll princess.

My Secret Garden is set closer to home in Portland, Oregon where composer (and flutist) Phyllis Avidan Louke resides. She wrote this for herself as an avid gardener and has always wanted to write a piece that reminded her of her garden.  The work is in two sections: a slower pretty melody that is “an unhurried stroll through a garden where one can be alone with their thoughts.  Taking time to smell the flowers, sit on a bench under a tree for a while and just think” and the second section is dance-like “as the beauty of the garden inspires happy thoughts.”

The DEF Chamber Choir opens the concert with two movements from Melange of Neumes by Stephen Lias and new work by a young composer Veronica Kao, titled Whisper Network. A whisper network is an informal channel used to warn other vulnerable people about sexual harassment, abuse, or assault, typically within a workplace or an academic setting. The composer writes that this piece “is made up of whispers, bubbling and building as they are exchanged between voices, all desperate to be able to speak, to scream, until the final cadence when the voices can finally come together and sing freely.” 

The concert closes with the DEF Low Flute Choir. This rich and lush ensemble performs two movements from The Alchemy of Earth by composer Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda.  Movement II Sacrae Silvae (Cathedral of Forest) is a gorgeous melodic tribute to the lushness of the forest with solos and rich ensemble playing. Movement IV Canticum Orbis Terrae (The Song of the Earth) opens with still chords and singing solos that move into a joyous Celtic-like dance.

Alan J. Tomasetti is a dynamic and versatile flutist, renowned for his charismatic performances across Arizona and beyond. Currently serving as Assistant Principal Flute with the Chandler Symphony Orchestra, Alan also frequently performs as piccolo with the Scottsdale Symphonic Orchestra. A dedicated member of the Desert Echoes Flute Project and Chamber Choir since 2016, Alan was featured as a soloist at the prestigious 2019 National Flute Association Convention in Salt Lake City, captivating audiences at the pre-gala concert.

As a passionate advocate for flute education and innovation, Alan co-founded and co-produced the internationally-known podcast series “PorterFlute Pod” hosted by flutist Amy Porter. He is also a frequent adjudicator for Arizona Flute Society competitions and serves as a coach for Mesa Community College’s annual Flute Regional Etude Day, inspiring the next generation of flutists.

Alan has been privileged to perform in masterclasses with legendary flutists such as Sir James Galway, Elizabeth Mann, and Amy Porter, and holds a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from Indiana University, where he studied under Thomas Robertello. Additional mentors include Kathryn Lukas, Elizabeth Rowe, Cynthia Meyers, and Viviana Cumplido Wilson. Alan performs on a custom 14K gold Haynes flute with a 10K gold n-cut headjoint w/14K riser, and a 14K crown with a sapphire.

Prices:

General Public - $10.00

Senior/Staff/Military/Alumni - $8.00

MCCCD/HS Student - $6.00