SLOVAK NATIONAL SYMPHONY CONCERT BAND

FEATURE ARTICLE IN THE ORGAN - SPRING 2015 [ISSUE NO. 371] American composer, organist and choral conductor HAMPSON SISLER has more than 100 works to his credit, including pieces for organ, chorus, concert band, chamber and symphony orchestra. Sisler, who at the age of seventeen, became the youngest person ever to pass the very comprehensive American Guild of Organists examination for Fellowship status, has had performances of his works by Arkady Leytush, Music Director of the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey; Samuel Wong, of the Honolulu and Hong Kong Symphony orchestras; Marlon Daniel of New York’s Ensemble du Monde and Prague Symphonietta; and Volodymyr Sirenko, Principal Conductor of the National Symphony of the Ukraine. His works have been performed in cities on every continent, including Buenos Aires, Porto, St. Petersburg, Moskow, Kiev, Odessa, Prague, Honolulu, Yalta, and at New York City’s Lincoln Center (Alice Tully and Merkin Halls). His latest works include a trio cantata, “Humankind”, and a song cycle on five of Shakespeare’s, Sonnets. As an organ recitalist, Sisler has given performances in and around New York City, including at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Beginning in 1945, Sisler has been serving as Music Director at more than a dozen churches in the greater New York area, including the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn and Metropolitan-Duane United Methodist Church in Manhattan, where he held the post for more than sixteen years. He is currently Music Director at First United Methodist Church, Westfield, New Jersey, official organist of the Doctors’ Orchestral Society of New York and former Music Director of Central Presbyterian Church, New York, a position once held by Charles Ives.

Kirk Trevor is a regular guest conductor in the world’s concert halls. Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony from 1985 until 2003, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra since 1988, and the Missouri Symphony since 2000, he has forged a strong musical partnership with three of America’s leading regional orchestras. From 1995 to 1999, he also served as Chief Conductor of the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic. As a guest conductor, Trevor has appeared on the podiums of more than forty orchestras worldwide, including the London Symphony, and orchestras in Hong Kong, Canada, Israel, Spain, in South America and throughout the United States. In 2000, Kirk Trevor forged a relationship with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra and began an extensive series of recordings that currently exceeds seventy in number. In 2003, he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra and took them on a three-week tour of Japan and numerous other European cities. Born and educated in England, Trevor trained at London’s Guildhall School where he graduated Cum Laude in cello performance and conducting. He was a conducting student of the late Sir Adrian Boult, pursued cello studies in France with Paul Tortelier under a British Council Scholarship and came to the United States on a Fulbright Exchange Grant. It was in the US that his conducting skills led him in 1982 to the Exxon Arts Endowment Conductor position with the Dallas Symphony. In 1990 he was recognized as one of America’s outstanding young conductors, winning the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Leonard Bernstein Conducting Competition that led to performances with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. HAMPSON SISLER (b.1932)
AMERICAN NATIONAL HOLIDAYS SUITE
Each piece has historical significance by quoting, alluding to, or otherwise suggesting popular, well-known tunes from American patriotic history.

BOOK I
New Year (January 1st)
Reflections of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jan 15th)
Abe Lincoln Turns to Prayer (Presidents’ Day, Mid-February)
George Washington at St. Paul’s (Presidents’ Day, Mid-February)

BOOK II
Battle Reflections (Memorial Day, May 30th)
Liberty’s Fulfillment (Independence Day, July 4th)
Labor Day (Early September)
Columbus Sails from Spain (October 12th)

BOOK III
Veterans’ Day (November 11th)
Thanksgiving (Late November)
The Divine Mystery (Christmas, December 25th)


CIVIC EVENTS SUITE
Citizenship Day (September 17th)
Election Day (Early November)
Arbor Day (Spring Season)
Earth Day (April 22nd)
Flag Day (June 14th)



MSR Classics