BENJAMIN STAYNER

June 30th, 2019 Monteux School & Music Festival Hancock, ME Benjamin Stayner, conductor Monteux Festival Orchestra "George Butterworth, who studied at Trinity College, Oxford and the Royal College of Music, London, was "a brilliant musician in time of peace, and an equally brilliant soldier in times of stress", as quoted from his Brigadier General Page Croft. During his time in study, he became close friends with Cecil Sharp, Vaughan Williams, and Adrian Boult, to name a few. At the outbreak of World War I, Butterworth enlisted in the British army. He destroyed many of his works before departing, lest he should not return and have the chance to revise them. Unfortunately, two years into the war, after earning a Medal of Courage for his efforts, Butterworth was killed by a sniper in the Battle of the Somme at the early age of 31. Of his handful of works and arguably his most famous work is a collection of eleven songs, written as settings of poems from A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad. Other composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arthur Sommerville, Samuel Barber, and Ned Rorem have set poems from Housman's work as well. From this collection of sixty-three poems, two of them are set and expanded upon in Butterworth's orchestral rhapsody of the same title: "Loveliest of trees" (II) and "With rue my heart is laden" (LIV). The conclusionary reference to "With rue my heart is laden, for golden friends I had" alludes to the unlikeliness of his return from war, embodying his own elegy. This beautiful transcendent rhapsody reflects an era and a way of life that no longer existed after the beginning of the Great War." Program notes by the conductor.

June 30th, 2019 Monteux School & Music Festival Hancock, ME Benjamin Stayner, conductor Monteux Festival Orchestra

Foot in the Door Ensemble Wednesday, March 14, 2018 Lincoln Theater, University of Hartford Jean Carlo Ureña Gonzalez, percussion Benjamin M. Stayner, composer and conductor Cadenza improvised by performer Wake Up! for solo percussionist and chamber ensemble takes the audience through a morning of persistence, surprise, relaxation, and, of course, annoying traffic. It begins with the ever-obnoxious alarm clock which begrudgingly gets you out of bed. You are then surprised to see that it is much later than you thought and rush to get ready. False alarm! Now you enjoy your morning coffee while watching the dew evaporate of the grass. You get into the car and off you go to the highway, full of cars flying past you. You try to distract yourself by shuffling your 'Music's Greatest Hits' playlist ... but you can't quite find the right tone for your morning commute. You arrive at work with tons of energy but cannot resist the urge to think about sleeping again. As you walk into work, the piece concludes. Audio: Jarod Warsoff