The University of Hawai‘i–West O‘ahu music program has a lot to celebrate this semester, including a new name for the band, a concerto world premiere for one of its music lecturers, the return of the UH West O‘ahu University Chorus, and a band performance at a prestigious Chicago gathering of band and orchestra educators from around the world.
“This fall semester, our campus is offering some exciting opportunities to gather and make music together with our ensembles, including the University Chorus and our band, which has a new name, ‘The Nāulu Winds of UH West O‘ahu’,” said Dr. Jon Magnussen, Professor of Music at UH West O‘ahu. “Adding to the excitement is our band’s preparation for its first tour, in December, to play at the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Festival in Chicago.”
Magnussen continued, “These opportunities and events reflect the quality and reach of our UH West O‘ahu music program, and the vibrancy of our students and community who are coming together to make the arts happen for our community.”
Among the activities and events happening this year:
Oct. 4: Music lecturer Dr. Michael-Thomas Foumai (MUS and CM 314 Music, Sound, and Media) is the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra (HSO) Composer in Residence and will have a world premiere of his “Concerto for Orchestra” at the HSO concert, Ray Chen Plays Barber. The concert, with violinist Ray Chen and music director Dane Lam, kicks off the 2024-2025 Halekulani Masterworks season with American soundscapes, featuring Barber’s “Violin Concerto,” Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story,” and Foumai’s “Concerto for Orchestra.”
The concert will be from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, at the Hawai‘i Theatre. More info here.
Oct. 9-12: Magnussen’s music for José Limòn’s “The Winged” with staging by Roxane D’Orléans Juste will be featured at October Dance 2024: Rewind/Remix, a performance event at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The performance will be livestreamed at 7:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, Oct. 9, from the Tryon Festival Theatre at the Krannert Center. More info here.
Oct. 13: Music lecturer Dr. Katy Luo (MUS 121C Beginning Piano) will play all 53 of composer Joseph Haydn’s sonatas for piano — potentially the first time that anybody will play all of the sonatas in a single day — at Chozen-ji temple in upper Kalihi Valley, a place where Luo has been doing Zen training. Luo expects to take approximately 12 hours to play all the sonatas.
The special piano and Zen training event will be on Sunday, Oct. 13, at Chozen-ji. Read an interview with Luo here. More event info here.
Oct. 17 and 20: “The Struggle Never Ends” documentary film about one of Hawaiʻi’s most influential leaders who gave a voice to the local working class, premieres on PBS Hawai‘i at 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 17 on PBS Hawaiʻi Presents. The film was produced by Chris Conybeare (CLEAR) and Joy Chong-Stannard (producer, director, editor), with original music composed by Jon Magnussen.
“Recording the narration and music for this project was truly a campus-wide collaboration,” Magnussen said. “We recorded narrator Jackie Pualani Johnson in the Humanities/Music Recording Lab, and the Galliard String Quartet in the Academy for Creative Media West O‘ahu (ACMWO) sound stage, thanks to help from ACMWO director Sharla Hanaoka and Jeffrey Galicinao. Recent ACMWO and MELE graduate, Lauren Mueller, who took my MUS 343 Audio Production: Intro to Mixing class, engineered both sessions. IT’s Jarrett Lucero and Byung Ju Lim ensured a problem-free technology transition as this was the first time ever that recorded audio was sent via Dante (audio over computer network protocol) from the ACM sound stage to the control room on the other side of the ACM building.”
Magnussen continued, “The film is a really wonderful story about an important part of Hawai‘i’s history, and the story of the film production on our campus is a great example of different parts of our campus working together.”
The documentary premieres at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17, on PBS Hawai‘i. The documentary will be repeated at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 20, and streamed live at pbshawaii.org. More info here.
Oct. 21: UH West O‘ahu’s University Chorus hosts a community open house. Director Aaron Scholtz and the choir invite all to bring a friend to and enjoy an evening of fun singing. The ensemble performs beautiful choral music from all over the world, and choral literature from the Renaissance to the present, including Hawaiian mele. No experience necessary!
The event will be at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 21, in C-225 on campus. For more info: scholtz@hawaii.edu or jonmagnu@hawaii.edu
Oct. 30: Enjoy music by the Nāulu Winds of UH West O‘ahu and directors Chadwick Kamei and Michael D. Nakasone as they share the program for the band’s first-ever tour happening in December in Chicago. (See details below.)
The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at the Michael D. Nakasone Performing Arts Center, Pearl City High School. More info: jonmagnu@hawaii.edu
Nov. 4: “From Kōke‘e to the Concert Stage: A World Class Kōke‘e-born Kauila Oboe Returns Home” — Jon Magnussen’s music will be presented in a free concert for the Kaua‘i community, celebrating the return to Kaua‘i of the Hawaiian Oboe Legacy Project, a special legacy oboe made from a 300-year-old kauila tree (alphitonia ponderosa) native to Kōke‘e, Kaua‘i. The concert, performed by emeritus Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra principal oboist J. Scott Janusch and musicians from Chamber Music Hawai‘i, featuring Magnussen’s Suite from “Nā Kau ‘Elua | The Two Seasons,” is presented by Kaua‘i Community College in collaboration with Live Music Awareness, the UH West O‘ahu Music Fund, Chamber Music Hawai‘i, and the UH Mānoa Music Department instrument collection.
The concert will be at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 4, at the Kaua‘i Community College Performing Arts Center. More info: jonmagnu@hawaii.edu
Dec. 19: The Nāulu Winds of UH West O‘ahu will go on its first-ever tour and perform in the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Festival on Dec. 19 in Chicago, led by co-directors, Bandmasters Chadwick Kamei and Michael D. Nakasone. “It is a great honor for our band and our state, since the Midwest Clinic is the most well-known and prestigious gathering of band and orchestra educators in the world,” Magnussen said. “Our band members have been busy fundraising, and we are grateful to our supporters for their generosity.”
Donations to support the tour are still being accepted by the UH Foundation “UHWO Midwest Band Tour” at https://www.uhfoundation.org/. More info: jonmagnu@hawaii.edu