"Phantasy in Red" by Carlos Taboada // Francisco Fernandez Morales, conductor // UPO
University Philharmonia Orchestra
A
n Evening of World Premieres
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Hill Auditorium
Phantasy in Red
Carlos Taboada
Francisco Fernandez Morales, conductor
(0:00) Introduction
(0:56) Performance
"In the summer of 2021, I spent most of my time with my family at home in Richardson, TX. During this time, I was enrolled in online summer school, and I also had three musical projects that were yet to be completed. One of them was a piece for orchestra, which is being premiered in this concert.
I spent the month of July composing the piece and then the next four months adapting the music for orchestra. The form of this piece is similar to a fantasia. The word “phantasy” is a mix of the German and English spelling of the term fantasia.
The opening phrase in the piece is a tone-row, a series of twelve notes from the chromatic scale. This tone-row is incorporated in different ways throughout the piece. I also incorporated rhythms from Bossa-nova, harmonies and voicings from jazz, and orchestral textures from Ro- manticism throughout the piece.
I used a wide variety of styles in this piece because I wanted the music to resonate with as wide of an audience as possible. As a result, the process of creating Phantasy in Red was one of the toughest experiences in my musical career, but also the most rewarding."
-Carlos Taboada
CARLOS DANIEL TABOADA is a composer, performer, and improviser from Dallas, Texas. He has composed works for the International Contemporary Ensemble, Worcester Chamber Music Society, and award-winning singer Harrison Craig. Carlos has studied composition under Michael Daugherty, Erik Santos, Roshanne Etezady, and Kristin Kuster. He has also studied jazz under Ghost Note saxophonist Jonathan Mones, Andrew Bishop, Ellen Rowe, Andy Milne, and Dennis Wilson. Carlos is currently a senior undergraduate at the University of Michigan studying composition and jazz.
Mexican conductor, FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ, is currently pursuing a master’s degree in orchestral conducting at University of Michigan. Being a pianist, Francisco incorporated con- ducting from the piano from a young age and this is how his passion for conducting began. His career as a conductor began in 2015 while being the music director at Central Congregational
Church in Chelmsford, MA. As music director, he presented numerous concerts conducting major works for orchestra and choir. These concerts became extremely popular in the com- munity in a very short period of time. Currently, he is the music director at First Presbyterian Church of Tecumseh, MI where he has also conducted performances with orchestra and choir to a full house in 2019 and 2021. In the summers of 2019 and 2020 Francisco attended the prestigious Conductors Retreat at Medomak, working closely with Kenneth Kiesler, his cur- rent conducting mentor.
