Austin Symphonic Band. February 1, 2020 concert at the Luis “Chico” Portillo Performing Arts Center in Austin TX. ASB performing Fortress by Frank Ticheli. Guest Artist Robert Floyd conducting. Concert title: "Classics Old & New". Audio recording by On Site Digital, Randy Bryant owner.

From the program notes written by David Cross:

Fortress (1988)
Frank Ticheli (b. 1958)

Fortress was composed as a tribute to the composer’s former band director, Robert Floyd, and the Berkner HS band program.

The first 19 bars of Fortress are taken from the composer’s piano score for a 1987 theater production of Moliere’s Don Juan. Of the dozens of short snips, each of which portrays a different character, this passage represents Don Alonso’s dual personality: on the one hand, chivalrous and honor-bound (the muted trumpet call), on the other hand, sinister and ruthless (the augmented fourth or tritone interval).

Ticheli was born in Monroe, Louisiana. He graduated from Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, and earned his bachelor’s degree in composition from Southern Methodist University. He went on to receive his master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from the University of Michigan, where he studied with William Albright, Leslie Bassett, George Wilson, and William Bolcom.

Subsequently, Ticheli was an Assistant Professor of Music at Trinity University in San Antonio. There, he served on the board of directors of the Texas Composers Forum and was a member of the advisory committee for the San Antonio Symphony’s “Music of the Americas” project. From 1991 to 1998, Ticheli was composer-in-residence with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County, California. Since 1991, he has been a Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. In 2011, he endowed the “Frank Ticheli Composition Scholarship” to be awarded each year to an incoming graduate student in composition.

Ticheli’s high school band director and today’s conductor of Fortress, Robert Floyd, offered these reflections:

“It wasn’t really until after Frank graduated from high school and SMU and began composing while at University of Michigan that I truly became aware of his talents.

In high school he was a good band student and excellent trumpet player but his passion for music-making, and certainly composition, hadn’t come to the forefront. In his dedication of Fortress to the Berkner Band Program and me, Frank stated, “Please accept this dedication as a token of gratitude for all your guidance, patience, and inspiration during my wild and confused high school years.” We have become dear friends over time, and I hope in some small way
I had a positive influence on his early years of music-making at Berkner. Frank ended the dedication by stating, “I hope you enjoy the piece, and watch out… there’s more to come.” Boy, was that an understatement!”

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