ITEA Journal Volume 49 Number 2 (Winter 2022)
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Falcone Festival:
By Randy Westmoreland
The 36th Annual Leonard Falcone International Euphonium & Tuba Festival
The 36th annual Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival was held August 7-8, 2021. For the second year, the Festival was held virtually, instead of at the traditional location of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, in Twin Lake, Michigan. Covid concerns at both Blue Lake and possible alternate sites, as well as international travel difficulties were the reasons for the decision to hold the Festival virtually. After the success of last year's virtual Festival, the Falcone board of directors was confident that we could make a second virtual Falcone Festival happen smoothly while fulfilling the Festival's objectives, including the promotion of artistry on euphonium and tuba, enhancement of the repertoire, and education through lectures and professional euphonium and tuba performances.
Preliminary rounds for both student and artist levels consisted of an audio recording submitted anonymously to preliminary round judges. Semi-finalists and alternates then submitted video recordings of all required music for both the semi-final and final rounds. All video recordings were performed without any piano accompaniment. After over a year of Covid restrictions, musicians had really "upped their game" with regards to home audio and video recording. The competition submissions were of a very high quality both musically and technologically.
Preliminary round judges were: Lance LaDuke, Dr. Gail Robertson, Dr. Mitsuru Saito, David Werden, SFC Chris Buckley, James Jackson III, Dr. Albert Miller, Dr. Danielle VanTuinen, John DiCesare, Dr. Joanna Ross Hersey, Dr. Richard Antoine White, Dr. Jerry Young, SSG Victor Collins, Clayton Maddox, Dr. Jesse Orth, and Dr. Stephanie Ycaza.
The Falcone Festival was headquartered on the campus of Michigan State University. The long-awaited renovation/addition of the Billman Music Pavilion added 37,000 square feet to the existing music building. It was a true treat to operate in this beautiful and technologically state of the art music facility. The Falcone Festival commenced with opening remarks by festival president, Phil Sinder. This was followed by a board member and adjudicator ensemble with a video recorded performance of "From Canterbury Lane," a song associated with Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, as arranged by Gail Robertson.
Philip Sinder, President and Board Member, Leonard Falcone Festival and Competition
2021 Falcone Festival Headquarters, Michigan State University
At two points during the festival, solo video recordings submitted by Festival adjudicators were broadcast. These included performances by: Matthew Van Emmerick, Justin Benavidez, Bente Illevold, Jason Casanova, Stacy Baker and Derek Easterling, Tom McCaslin, Matt Tropman, Paul Carlson, Deanna Swoboda, and Gail Robertson.
The first of two historical presentations was next: "Leonard Falcone: Artist, Conductor, Pedagogue" was presented by Dr. Geoff Durbin, euphonium, U.S. Navy Fleet Band.
A special dedication was made in the memory of long time Falcone Festival associate and former student of Leonard Falcone, Earle Louder. The "Earl of Louder" will be sorely missed. Several amazing interviews were next on the schedule. Elizabeth Raum (Composer-Tuba Student Finals) was interviewed by Festival board member Martin Erickson. Our invaluable board member Jane Goodrich was interviewed by board member Seanne Danielak. Jane provided some remarkable insights into what goes on "behind the scenes" of the Festival. Later in the day, Jane was awarded an honorary Falcone Festival Gold Medallion in recognition of her invaluable contributions to the Falcone Festival. Shawn Okpebholo (Composer-Tuba Artist Finals) was then interviewed by board member Dr. Chris Combest. Finally, Dr. Brian Bowman, Regent's Professor of Music, University of North Texas College of Music (retired), was interviewed by board member Dr. Jerry Young. Each of these fascinating interviews can be found in their entirety on the Falcone Festival's YouTube Channel:
Falcone Festival YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5pDH0FWy-6PUqQalgx5_qg
After the second installment of the Festival Adjudicator Showcase, a slide show of all semi-finalists and alternates was presented, followed by a congratulatory video from Martin Erickson. The first day of the Festival concluded with a live announcement of the 12 finalists.
The 2021 Semi-final and final round adjudicators included: Dr. Stacy Baker, Dr. Justin Benavidez, Dr. Paul Carlson, Jason Casanova, Bente Illevold, Tom McCaslin, Dr. Matthew Mireles, Dr. Gail Robertson, Dr. Deanna Swoboda, Ryoichi Tamaki, Dr. Matthew Tropman, and Dr. Matthew Van Emmerik.
Day two of the 2021 Falcone Festival started with the broadcast of the Euphonium Student Finalists, followed by the Tuba Student Finalists. Next on the agenda was the second historical presentation, Leonard Falcone: Into the Archives, presented by Travis Scott, Assistant Professor, Xavier University of Louisiana. The Tuba Artist Finalists and Euphonium Artist Finalists broadcasts rounded out the competition. After a slideshow presentation on "Old and New Memories," came the live announcement of the prize awards and medallions!
2021 Falcone Festival Medallions
Euphonium Student Division : Dylan Barnum, Hunter Bellows, Joseph Bickel, Emma Havel, Harini Lenin, Sydney Salas, Samuel Wascoe, Cayden Miller, Natalie Colegrove
Hunter Bellows, Euphonium Student Division Gold Medalist
Joseph Bickel, Euphonium Student Division Silver Medalist
Harini Lenin, Euphonium Student Division Bronze Medalist
Tuba Student Division : Jake Alford, Lou Boone, Mason Clark, Ally Hansen, Matthew Morejon, Paul Ryerson, Jackson Fries, Zavier Vega-Yu, Raegan Dishman, Nicholas Scruggs
Ally Hansen, Tuba Student Division Gold Medalist
Jake Alford, Tuba Student Division Silver Medalist
Lou Boone, Tuba Student Division Bronze Medalist
Euphonium Artist Division : Natsuhiro Aoyama, Michael Chou, Max Dobson, Simon Alexander Elizondo, Kevin Fenske, Caleb Harris, Kanta Hasegawa, John Ingram, Kanna Ono, Toshiaki Yamaguchi, Kunal Tiwari, Souta Ueyanagi, Andrew J Ribo
Natsuhiro Aoyama, Euphonium Artist Division Gold Medalist
Max Dobson, Euphonium Artist Division Silver Medalist
Caleb Harris, Euphonium Artist Division Bronze Medalist
Tuba Artist Division : Bridget Conley, James Hunter Farley, Justin Gruber, John P. Mangonon, Xianquan Mu, Armando Peña, Keisuke Shima, Mason Soria, Jacob Taitel, Nozomi Watanabe, Arturo Galvan, Diego Antonio Stine, Charley Pollard
Bridget Conley, Tuba Artist Division Gold Medalist
Jacob Taitel, Tuba Artist Division Silver Medalist
Justin Gruber, Tuba Artist Division Bronze Medalist
Congratulations to the medalists who were awarded a share of $16,700 in prize money! All the competitors were amazing musicians! A special thanks to our sponsors, underwriters, and advertisers who made this possible. We have tremendous gratitude to everyone who made the 2021 Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival run so smoothly, especially John McDaniel, Jason Smith, and Jane Goodrich. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in person in 2022!
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