presents the Composition Studio Recital
Students of Clifton Callender, Eren Gümrükçüoğlu, and Liliya Ugay Sunday, November 16, 2025 7:30 p.m. Lindsay Recital Hall
PROGRAM
Permutation Preludes (2025)
Brian Junttila I. Pastorale (b. 1997)
Jake S. Jordan, piano
Immersed in Color (2025)
Five Preludes for Piano (2025)
Hayden John, piano
Fernando Garcia, piano
Piano Etude No. 1 “Dokkaebi: Dance of the Goblins” (2025)
Seunghye Park, piano
Gatitas (2025)
Hayden John (b. 2002)
Gabriel Nair (b. 2007)
Seunghye Park (b. 1999)
Raúl Parra (b. 2004)
Raúl Parra, Llanera harp
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
The House of Dust: Part 01: 08 (2025)
The White Fog Over the City (2025)
House of Dust, I.VIII (2025)
March Jeongmin Seok (b. 2001)
Sergio Ramirez Guerrero (b. 2002)
Charles Nelson (b. 2003)
Charles Nelson, bass
Sergio Ramirez Guerrero, flute March Jeongmin Seok, piano
Saxophone Quartet “Shimmer Chaser” (2025)
Lee Anderson Scherzo (b. 2004)
Jack Blumer, soprano saxophone; Steven Waterston, alto saxophone
Kaiden Klingler, tenor saxophone; Ash Stewart, baritone saxophone
The Permutation Preludes are intended to be short compositional studies for myself. In all of them, an element of the music is specifically curated using calculated permutations. The first prelude, “Pastorale,” is constructed using three different pitch cycles, the main one involving the bass which starts on C and ascends in major thirds. Eventually, the bass returns to C, which ends the permutation after only three iterations. The two other cycles both involve perfect 5ths beginning in the alto register (a G-D dyad and A-E dyad). The lower dyad ascends in half steps where the upper dyad ascends in major seconds. With this triple cycle construction, a melody interacts in counterpoint to a harmonically static bass. This melody begins nebulously, then slowly grows in energy until the climactic point where it quickly fades in energy to end the prelude.
– Brian Junttila
Immersed in Color is my homage to Bill Evans, the great jazz pianist. It explores the movement of block chords and development of simple motifs in a swirly, atmospheric texture. The chords continue to build and build until the texture leads into the fast paced second movement.
– Hayden John
Five Preludes for Piano was written to explore different styles and piano techniques without the limitations a longer work imposes on form. The relatively short movements were written to connect between each other while still feeling like distinct pieces of music, allowing me creative liberty to develop contrasting ideas. My initial inspiration came from Ginastera’s 12 American Preludes, building off of the short, varied form of its movements.
– Gabriel Nair
This piano etude marks the first in a new series of studies. Its title, “Dokkaebi” refers to the mischievous Korean goblin from traditional folklore; playful, humorous, and a little wicked, yet far from sinister. As both composer and pianist, I was inspired by the great tradition of piano etudes, focusing on techniques such as thirds, octaves, repeated notes, and wide leaps. Despite its technical challenges, the piece remains light-hearted and entertaining. An energetic dance between mischief and mastery.
– Seunghye Park
Gatitas (Little Cats) is a small tune for Llanera Harp, it falls under the genre of Joropo. Joropo is a musical genre from Los Llanos which is an area located between Venezuela and Colombia, the style traditionally consists of short tunes based around harmonic loops and catchy melodies that are performed by the llanera harp alongside the cuatro guitar and the maracas. This song is dedicated to my childhood cats.
– Raúl Parra
The House of Dust: Part 01: 08 text by Conrad
Aiken
The white fog creeps from the cold sea over the city, Over the pale grey tumbled towers–And settles among the roofs, the pale grey walls. Along damp sinuous streets it crawls, Curls like a dream among the motionless trees And seems to freeze.
The fog slips ghostlike into a thousand rooms, Whirls over sleeping faces, Spins in an atomy dance round misty street lamps; And blows in cloudy waves over open spaces . . .
And one from his high window, looking down, Peers at the cloud-white town, And thinks its island towers are like a dream . . . It seems an enormous sleeper, within whose brain Laborious shadows revolve and break and gleam.
This trio was written in collaboration with two fellow composer friends, each of us creating a piece inspired by the same poem, to be performed by ourselves. The piece is centered around the pitch B, depicting the image of fog creeping in and enveloping the city. The first two stanzas evoke a bleak and chilly atmosphere, while the third shifts to a distant, dreamlike perspective – it feels both detached and quietly resigned, as if we are brought back in reality yet remain suspended between worlds. I am grateful to my friends for sharing this creative journey and bringing this performance to life together.
– March Jeongmin Seok
As someone who greatly admires city infrastructure, this poem immediately caught my attention as our group was reading through texts. Striking, haunting, and at the same time beautiful as it describes a fog encompassing a large city horizon. Coming from close proximity of New York City, I can only imagine what the sight must be from a high up the window “looking down.”
– Sergio Ramirez Guerrero
The name for this piece (Shimmer Chaser) originates from its chaotic nature and its treatment of its simple main motif, a sequence of four notes. This motif is developed by widening its intervals and employing stretto, distorting the theme as if it were viewed through a light-bending medium, such as a body of water or a magnifying glass.
– Lee Anderson