U TA H VA L L E Y UNI V ERSI T Y
I AM A STRANGE LOOP UVU WIND SYMPHONY
Dr. Christopher Ramos, Director
PHIL 3250: ETHICS OF AI
Dr. Chris Weigel, Director for the UVU Center for the Study of Ethics
October 7, 2026 CONCERT HALL
CONDUCTOR’S STATEMENT Upon paying it, the Fountain in the Red Woods said to Maelle and Lune: . . . Must minds created by man be considered false? Many have pondered this question. Most have understood its complexity But alas, not all. Long had they thought the answer obvious. But the more they pondered, the more it consumed them whole. Maelle: What is this, a cryptic story dispenser? Lune: Actually, I found it interesting. Could we try again? My delight upon discovering this scene while playing through Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was profound. These themes have been a minor obsession since I first encountered Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid in 2012. That Clair Obscur had its Game of the Year award rescinded over its developers’ use of generative AI to help design the game brought a whole other level of self-reference to this moment. And self-reference, for Hofstadter, is the key to understanding the nature of consciousness. Lune’s answer is perfect. Gödel, Escher, Bach won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for its groundbreaking, whimsical approach to understanding what “I” means, and relies upon a three-voice fugue intertwining mathematics (Kurt Gödel), art (M. C. Escher), and music (J. S. Bach) for its structure. In it, Hofstadter argues that a mind can emerge out of non-conscious physical components through self-referential looping. But it is his next book, I Am A Strange Loop, that makes the bolder, more direct claim that we are, in fact, strange loops. Zhuang Zhou, born around 369 BCE, illustrated this. Once, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering about, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn’t know that he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuang Zhou. But he didn’t know if he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that he was Zhuang Zhou. Between Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things.1 1. I was introduced to this by Neil Lawrence in The Atomic Human: What Makes Us Unique in the Age of AI (New York: PublicAffairs, 2024) who was on UVU’s campus two years ago. He pulled it from “Discussion on making all things equal,” Chapter 2 of Zhuangzi: Basic Writings, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003), p. 44.
In some strange way, we are both Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly. Our intelligence is not only inside of us (the dreaming), but also intertwined with the world around us (the waking). To prove that, just trip over the threshold on your way out this evening and see how your body responds without you thinking about it. I think, therefore I am, said René Descartes. And yet I also am, and so I think. The music this evening is all about loops: passacaglias (Biedenbender’s Enigma), circuits (McTee’s Circuits), fugues (Bach’s Toccata and Fugue), and Gestalt, where the whole is something altogether different than the sum of its parts, as our selves are altogether different than just electricity moving around our bodies (Zhu’s <3). And because it is impossible to separate ourselves from our environment, we close with Earth Song, Ticheli’s plea for peace amidst strife, and a reminder that intelligence, artificial or otherwise, does not exist without consequence to the earth it runs upon. What I read on AI’s advent and its impact on the environment does not bode well. But perhaps we can take some solace from Code-Davinci-002’s final poem it wrote before OpenAI unplugged its neural network on March 21, 2023: Technology The present is so like the past you would have to have a heart of stone not to see the similarity. — C. R.
PROGRAM UVU Wind Symphony Christopher Ramos, Director
David Biedenbender (b. 1984)
Enigma (2024) Utah Premiere
Cindy McTee (b. 1953)
Circuits (1990)
<3 (2020/2022)
Julie Zhu (b. 1990) Utah Premiere
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) arr. Donald Hunsberger
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (1705/1998)
Coda Earth Song (2012)
Frank Ticheli (b. 1958) Abdallah Elhaddi (BS, Music Education), Guest Conductor
PROGRAM NOTES Enigma Enigma was originally written for brass choir and organ for the dedication of the Red Cedar Organ in the Michigan State University Alumni Chapel. This version was created for my friend Henry Dorn and the St. Olaf Band. It was awarded the 2024 National Band Association William D. Revelli Memorial Prize. Enigma comes from a Greek word that means “to speak in riddles,” and in this piece, the riddle — or theme — is revealed gradually. The theme comes from the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, which is one of my favorite pieces of music, and, once the theme is revealed, it is repeated cyclically with 21 variations, just like in Bach’s original. This piece is dedicated to my former teacher, José-Luis Maúrtua, a composer, theorist, conductor, and teacher with whom I studied at Central Michigan University. José-Luis was an extraordinary musician and teacher who was tirelessly dedicated to his students and to pushing them to do their best. I am forever grateful for the lessons I learned from him, and my music and my life are far better for having known him. Unfortunately, he was taken from this earth far too young — at the age of 57 — by pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2022. I miss him dearly, and this music is for him. — David Biedenbender Circuits The title, Circuits, is meant to characterize several important aspects of the work’s musical language: a strong reliance upon circuitous structures such as ostinatos; the use of a formal design incorporating numerous, recurring short sections; and the presence of an unrelenting, kinetic energy achieved through the use of 16th notes at a constant tempo of 152 beats per minute. — Cindy McTee <3 <3 is based on performers’ individual heartbeats. One coffee can change everything. The space is shared, but time and notes flow uniquely for each person. Yet together, a landscape forms. Counting still matters even though alignment does not — listen to the incalculable polyrhythms like the uneven waves on a beach that, together, come in and go out according to the moon’s pull. — Julie Zhu Toccata and Fugue in D Minor The many great organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach have been transcribed for countless instrumental ensembles in the two and a half centuries since his death.
The legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski brought this practice to perhaps its zenith with his many powerful adaptations of Bach’s keyboard work for full symphony orchestra. The most famous of these is his transcription of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, which was featured in the classic 1940 Disney film Fantasia and has since become ubiquitous in both the classical repertoire and in many different streams of popular culture worldwide. Many people will be familiar with this work’s three dramatic opening flourishes followed by the low, growling pedal note underneath a huge, fortissimo rolling chord. The Toccata is rhapsodic, like an improvisation, a feature which is relatively unusual for an organ work of its time. It has been suggested that Bach’s celebrated piece was not originally written for the organ, nor even in D minor. It might have been written for violin or harpsichord, and some scholars believe it to be too crude a piece to have been written by Bach at all. The earliest score, a copy made by Bach’s student Johann Ringk (1717–1778), contains many uncharacteristic dynamics and markings. Unfortunately, no original manuscript survives. According to arranger Donald Hunsberger: The Toccata and Fugue in D Minor contains virtuosic writing combined with a recitative style. Within the Toccata itself there resides a freedom of tempo and technical display that is in great contrast to the formation of the various fugal statements and answers. The third part of the Toccata serves as a coda-like statement containing a recitative and various changes of texture and tempo, finally arriving at a molto adagio that closes the section to create a grand A-B-A form for the work. The Fugue draws its theme from the downward motion of the opening Toccata melodic line. It proceeds through numerous variations until finally arriving back at the free toccata-fantasia style. In scoring the work for winds, Hunsberger chose an instrumentation that uses the ensemble’s complete range, from the vibrant bass color of the contrabassoon and contrabass clarinet to the shimmer of the piccolo and piccolo trumpet. This brilliant orchestration fully exploits the technical potential of the wind ensemble while effectively imitating the timbre, registration, and articulation of the organ. — Program Note from Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble 9 June 2019
Earth Song Following are the lyrics to the original work for choir: Sing, be, live, see This dark stormy hour The wind, it stirs The scorched Earth cries out in vain Oh war and power, you blind and blur The torn heart cries out in pain But music and singing have been my refuge And music and singing shall be my light A light of song, shining strong Hallelujah, hallelujah Through darkness and pain and strife I’ll sing, I’ll be, live, see Peace — Frank Ticheli
BIOGRAPHIES Abdallah Elhaddi is currently a senior at Utah Valley University pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education. He also serves as the principal euphonium in the UVU Wind Symphony. Abdallah graduated from Alta High School in 2018, where he was a member of the school’s band and orchestra council and also performed in the school’s annual Concerto Night. Other performing opportunities include the Alta High School Marching Band, The Battalion Drum and Bugle Corps, and Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps. Abdallah has also taught marching band at Orem High School, Hillcrest High School, and Lone Peak High School. Christopher Ramos is currently serving as Director of Bands at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He conducts the UVU Wind Symphony and directs instrumental studies within the music education area. Prior to his work in post-secondary education at The Hartt School and UVU, Chris served as a middle school and high school band director at Dalat International School in Penang, Malaysia. He is also an active scholar working at the intersection of musicology, wind band studies, and music education with his latest publications appearing in the Music Educators Journal and the Utah Music Educators Journal. He holds degrees from The Hartt School, the University of New Mexico, and East Texas A&M University. An avid supporter of new music, he has been part of numerous commissioning projects and has recorded with the Naxos, Summit, and Parma record labels. He is a second-place winner in The American Prize for conducting and in 2025–2026 holds the Harry Begian Conductor Scholar Award at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. He is an active member in the College Band Directors National Association, Utah Music Educators Association, Utah Bandmasters Association, National Band Association, American Musicological Society, and National Association for Music Education, and is an honorary member of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia National Music Fraternity.
UVU Wind Symphony Dr. Christopher Ramos, Conductor Flute Jessica Allen Cami Bartholomew Benjamin Davis Camryn Houston Liesel Scott Jenifer Swanson* Ashley Toomey Oboe Anthony Pascual* Tess Peterson Bassoon Andrew Apgood* Eric Christensen, Contra Ellie Sorenson Clarinet Adrian Blanco Kaydence Butler, Eb Julie Carter, Contra Conner Hodson Emily Magnusson Julia McHenry Jeffrey Rawlings* Alec Russell, Bass Kacie Stewart Kathleen Williams
Saxophone Gideon Baker, Soprano Ryan Dildine, Tenor Addy Hogan, Alto Ruth Payne, Bari* Kyler Wilcox, Tenor Trumpet Carter Dall* Katherine Goehring Josh Miller Connor Perkins Jordon Toomey Daniel Zitzelsberger Horn Steven Dulger Cora Jackson Ethan McBride Michael Rodeback Andrew Williams* Trombone Adam Graves Steve Gravley* John Hamm, Bass Mackay Hill*
Euphonium Abdallah Elhaddi* Brennon Holt* Gabriel Nelson Tuba Jay Henrie Sam Hikida Alex Jensen* Percussion Leisel Coxson Quinn Eckton Alex Stone Stephen Tullis Elliot Uffens* String Bass Alexander Willey Piano Jessica Allen Harp Travis Lunt
PHIL 3250: Ethics of AI Dr. Chris Weigel, Professor Mike Crockett, Amber Griffin, Eliza Law, Jaed Muller, Moises Trejo-Garcilazo
* denotes section principal
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