CHARTREUSE.

Scroll down for program note, recording, perusal score,
purchase options, and commissioner biography

PROGRAM NOTE.

When Tammy Evans Yonce first approached me about writing a sonata for flute and piano after having already performed my first sonata for the same instrumentation, Imogen, she mentioned the poems of one of her colleagues: Christine Stewart-Nuñez. Christine writes frequently about Hildegard von Bingen and her poem Veriditas struck me deeply and reminded me of things my own mother told me as a child about how the color of life and love was green, not red. "Look at the trees, the grass, aren't they full of life? Isn't it the spring season that gives us both renewed life and green all around?" And so Veriditas stuck with me and with every subsequent going-over of the poem as I began to turn it into music, I was brought closer to seeing the world through Holden's eyes; deeper into the world of seeing through Hildegard's. It was an absolute and total joy writing this piece for an artist I admire greatly and I'm so glad to have had this time to think about Hildegard, while working to bring her to life in this work. 

Chartreuse:
The first movement sees Christine Stewart-Nuñez's poem Veriditas set fairly rigidly in the flute part - if you read the poem along with the performance  you may be able to see how those syllables fit in to the song of the flute part as the piano accompanies and paints images of different moments from the poem.

Reverie:
The second movement is a snapshot of a few moment's in Hildegard's life and her world; a few moments in prayer, a few moments summoning courage for her life's unique and difficult spiritual tasks, a few moments fully connected to a powerful life force.... and perhaps even a vision. 

Colorwheel: 
This movement is a movement of celebration; Hildegard's world didn't just include chartreuse greens, so this movement was written to be an exciting, powerful ride of rhythm and color and a showcase of many of the flute's unique colors and abilities. 

commissioner biography.

Tammy Evans Yonce, an Atlanta native, is a flutist, collaborative musician, writer, and professor. She is a dedicated new music performer who is particularly interested in the commissioning and teaching of new music. Dr. Yonce has commissioned over two dozen works involving flute, many with a specific focus on creating new music for the Glissando Headjoint.

Based in South Dakota and active internationally, Dr. Yonce has recently presented and performed at the National Flute Association, British Flute Society, Canadian Flute Association, World Flutes Festival (Argentina), and New Music Gathering conventions. She spent winter break 2017 on a faculty fellowship to Israel. She has also given performances at Flute Festival Mid-South, College Music Society, Atlanta Flute Club, Flute Society of Kentucky, Austin Flute Society, Society of Composers, NACWPI, Electronic Music Midwest, MOXsonic, and South Carolina Flute Festival conventions. She has given recitals and masterclasses extensively throughout the Midwest and Southeast and was guest artist at the 2015 New Voices Festival at Wichita State University and the 2017 Montana Flute Festival. Recent solo performances with South Dakota State University ensembles include Kennan’s Night Soliloquy, the Gordeli Concerto, and Puckett’s The Shadow of Sirius. Her debut CD, Dreams Grow Like Slow Ice, was released in September 2018.

As a writer, Dr. Yonce has had articles published in The Flutist Quarterly; Flute Talk; Pan, the Journal of the British Flute Society; The Flute View; and South Dakota Musician. She frequently contributes CD reviews to The Flute View.

Dr. Yonce is Associate Professor of Music at South Dakota State University, where she teaches applied flute, woodwind pedagogy, and courses in musicology. She recently designed and taught an interdisciplinary Honors colloquium, which explored music in connection with neurology, therapy, global studies, technology, politics, and the arts. A first-prize winner of the Atlanta Flute Club Young Artist Competition, she holds degrees in flute performance from Kennesaw State University (BM), Indiana University (MM), and the University of Georgia (DMA).

Dr. Yonce has served as a judge for the Newly Published Music Competition and Collegiate Flute Choir Competition of the National Flute Association as well as of competitions of the British Flute Society, Flute Society of Kentucky, and San Diego Flute Guild. She currently serves on the New Music Advisory Committee and Archives and Oral History Committee of the National Flute Association and formerly served on the board of the Atlanta Flute Club. She recently gave a TEDx talk about collaboration, new music, and the Glissando Headjoint.

Dr. Yonce can be found on Twitter @TammyEvansYonce and at her website: www.tammyevansyonce.com. She is a Powell Flutes Artist.