UC Davis Concert Band
Pete Nowlen, director

Campus Band
Garrett Rigsby, director

“The Song of Creation” (pictured) is a painting by San Francisco-based artist Tino Rodriguez, and serves as the main inspiration for the concerto featured on this program by Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina, titled “Eyes to Look Otherwise.” The concerto is dedicated to the featured soloist, saxophonist Michael Hernandez. Hernandez commissioned the work as part of his “Latinx Storytellers” project.

Program

Campus Band

Mattea Williams: One Magnificent Light

Quincy Hilliard: Out of Darkness

Alex Shapiro: Lights Out

Joe Hisaishi / arr. Kazuhiro Morita: Selections from Princess Mononoke

UC Davis Concert Band

Kevin Charoensri: Rising Light

Jennifer Jolley: Lightway

Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina: Eyes to Look Otherwise
with Michael Hernandez, soprano saxophone
   Inspired by three paintings of Tino Rodriguez
   Commissioned by the Latinx Storytellers Project

Dennis Llinás: Un Cafecito

$12 Students and Children, $24 Adults (Open Seating)

About Saxophonist Michael Hernandez

Michael Hernandez has been described as one of the finest soprano saxophone artists of the present generation. He has been heard in concert halls throughout Germany, Switzerland, Poland, France, Holland, Austria, Italy, the UK, Canada, and the United States. Recently He has been featured on WPRB’s Classical Discoveries–Viva 21st Century, WCNY Classic FM’s Fresh Ink, and has been broadcasted multiple times nationwide on NPR’s Performance Today. Recently Hernandez has appeared with the Brooklyn Symphony, Redwood Symphony, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Echo Chamber Orchestra, Espressivo Chamber Orchestra, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, The Phoenix Symphony Guild, The San Jose Wind Symphony, New Century Chamber Orchestra, The Santa Cruz Symphony, The National Music Festival Orchestra, The Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra, North Valley Symphony, Musica Nova Orchestra, The San Jose State University Wind Ensemble, The San Jose University Orchestra, The Monterey Symphony, and the West Valley Symphony. More about Michael is available on his website.

About the “Latinx Storytellers” Project

Hernandez has called upon some of today’s most captivating Latinx composers in order to curate a truly unique multi-sensory experience full of new music for soprano saxophone, film, electronics and spoken word. “Latinx Storytellers” feature the voices of Latinx artists, their art and the stories of the artists who inspire them. 

The works touch on a number of topics, including the US-Mexico border relations, sex trafficking, LGBTQ rights, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, xenophobia, climate change, as well as the concept of artistic inspiration and what it means in today’s society.

About Artist Tino Rodriguez

“Rodriquez is a prolific artist, straddling the realms of post-war and contemporary art. His creative output draws from the rich tapestry of his Mexican heritage and his formative years steeped in the traditions of the Catholic Church…[his] artistic vision can be described as a complex mosaic woven from various threads including the enigmatic allure of shamanic rituals, the enchanting narratives of Mayan and Aztec folklore and the intricate world of arts and crafts….  

Rodriguez’s art boldly appropriates iconography traditionally associated with femininity, repurposing it to stake a claim for himself and as a collective declaration for others who resonate with this vision…Rodriguez’s art becomes a bridge between cultures, a challenge to societal conventions, and an assertion of fluidity of identity, all within the intricate realm of his creative expressions.”