“Black was originally composed for two amplified Bass Clarinets, and was written for the virtuoso duo, ‘Sqwonk.’ The two musicians weave tightly woven patterns together, creating a fabric of music that has complete integration. In this ‘integrated’ world, the musicians are equals and complete each other’s every move. As the musical patterns develop, they also move and change, allowing fractions to spin off and push the momentum forward.  

“Originally, Connie Frigo noticed a video of it on YouTube, and had a student at the time who was interested in playing it on bari sax. So I made a bari sax version for her student. She ended up playing it too, and also added a YouTube video of it. Through the exposure on YouTube, the piece started getting a lot of attention, and people starting writing to me from everywhere asking for different versions (2 bassoons, 2 violins, etc.). Eventually, Prism asked for a sax quartet version, which is why you have this version today. It has become my most played piece with over 1,000 performances to date.
 
“In creating a version of Black for Saxophone Quartet (for Prism), I wanted to expand the sonic capabilities of the work, make it almost three-dimensional. I choose to not always follow the music literally, but to change some of the parts and even add notes to make it more idiomatic for Saxophone Quartet. In the end, I hoped to create five minutes of rapid firing notes combining and merging into one, black (w)hole.” -Marc Mellits


Marc Mellits is an American composer from Baltimore, MD. Mellits has degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the Yale School of Music, and Cornell University. His compositions are influenced by minimalism, electronic music, rock, funk, and other popular styles. Mellits is on the music faculty of the University of Illinois-Chicago where he teaches Composition and Theory.

Black by Marc Mellits

These are 3 of the 4 pieces we performed on February 21st, 2015, at Messiah United Methodist Church in Springfield, VA.

Celtic Suite, Mvt 3. Ceilidh by Gavin Whitlock

Celtic Suite, Mvt 2. Love Song by Gavin Whitlock

Celtic Suite, Mvt 1. Midnight in Kinsale by Gavin Whitlock

Andante et Scherzo, Mvt 2. Scherzo by Eugene Bozza

Andante et Scherzo, Mvt 1. Andante by Eugene Bozza

Sevilla by Isaac Albeniz

The Doahnamics! Saxophone Quartet is the new, dynamic saxophone quartet of the Shenandoah Valley. All members attend Shenandoah Conservatory. The group consists of Doctor of Musical Arts candidate Nessyah Gallagher, junior Jonathan Mills, sophomore Joey Speranzo, and freshman Drake Stoughton. Each member of the quartet brings unique specialties and tastes, and thus Doahnamics performs a diverse repertoire, ranging from baroque and classical, to ragtime and jazz, to rock, popular, and contemporary genres. Stoughton has appeared as a guest soloist with the Alexandria Community Band and received third prize at the 2014 Glenn Miller Birth Society Scholarship Competition in Clarinda, Iowa. Speranzo frequently arranges works for the quartet, including his most recently completed arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Album for the Young, Op. 39 which the quartet will premiere in 2015. Music Education major Mills is an active member of both Phi Mu Alpha and Kappa Kappa Psi fraternities and was a finalist in Shenandoah Conservatory’s concerto competition in 2014. Gallagher was the 2012 University of Miami recipient for the Presser Music Award, which funded her research in Melbourne, Australia, where she studied contemporary Australian saxophone music.

Doahnamics!

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