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Demarre McGill is internationally recognized as one of today's most compelling flutists as well as celebrated for his lyrical expressiveness and technical prowess. Currently serving as the principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, McGill has also appeared as a soloist with many of the nation’s leading orchestras. This performance is presented in collaboration with SFCM alumni, faculty, and students.

Program

Alyssa Morris: Motion for Woodwind Quartet
     I. Bike Ride
     II. Stretch
     III. Tip Toe
     IV. Strut
Katie Rusalov, oboe
Liam Cameron, clarinet
Jamael Smith, bassoon
Demarre McGill, flute

John Corigliano: Three Irish Folk Song Settings for Soprano and Flute
     I. The Salley Garden
     II. The Foggy Dew
     III. She Moved Thro’ the Fair
Elizabeth Gaitan, soprano
Demarre McGill, flute

Alberto Ginastera: Impresiones de la Puna for Flute and String Quartet
     I. Quena
     II. Cancion
     III. Danza
Amaru String Quartet
Jeeihn Kim, violin
Mark Chen, violin
Erika Cho, viola
Lindsay McKenna, cello
Demarre McGill, flute

-Intermission-

Valerie Coleman: Maombi Asante for Flute, Violin, and Cello
Sofia Malvinni, violin
Dabin Baek, cello
Demarre McGill, flute

Amy Beach: Theme and Variations for Flute and String Quartet
Amaru String Quartet
Jeeihn Kim, violin
Mark Chen, violin
Erika Cho, viola
Lindsay McKenna, cello
Demarre McGill, flute

Miguel Del Aguila: Submerged for Flute, Viola, and Harp
Erika Cho, viola
Julia Gruenbaum, harp
Demarre McGill, flute

Featured Artist

Demarre McGill, flute

Featured Composer

Three-time GRAMMY-nominated American composer Miguel del Aguila (b. Montevideo, 1957) is a leading figure in contemporary classical music, celebrated for his distinctive style influenced by his Latin American roots. With over 140 compositions, his rhythm-driven, dramatic works blend modernity with elements of Latin heritage, offering a fresh perspective on classical music.

Aguila’s music has been performed by thousands of soloists, ensembles, and orchestras worldwide, with hundreds of live performances yearly. Recorded on 66 CDs, his music has been praised as “brilliant and witty” (New York Times), “sonically dazzling” (LA Times), and “expressive and dramatic” (American Record Guide). His recordings have topped the Billboard Classical Charts, including Windsync Plays Miguel del Aguila, which reached #1 in 2024. His recording of Conga-Line in Hell (Camerata de las Américas/Joel Sachs), is approaching half a million streams worldwide.
In 2010, his album Salon Buenos Aires and his Clocks received two Latin Grammy nominations. In 2015, his Concierto en Tango (Buffalo Philharmonic/JoAnn Falletta), earned him a third Grammy nomination. Aguila has received the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, New Music USA’s Music Alive and Magnum Opus Awards, and many others.

His works have been performed by over 100 orchestras worldwide, including BBC Symphony, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, Royal Concertgebouw, and Los Angeles Chamber, and by Kiev, Odessa, Royal Liverpool, Mexico City, Buffalo, Chicago, Toronto and São Paulo Philharmonic orchestras; conducted by Leonard Slatkin, Lukas Foss, Gerard Schwarz, JoAnn Falletta, Marin Alsop, Giancarlo Guerrero, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jorge Mester, Guillermo Figueroa, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya among others.

Chamber ensembles performing his works include Sphinx Virtuosi, Windsync, Imani, New Juilliard Ensemble, PNME, SOLI and the Dalí, Pacifica, and Verona quartets, featuring his music at festivals like Aspen, Breckenridge, Ravinia, Cabrillo, Vienna Festwochen and Prague Spring.
Aguila is 2025 Composer in Residence at Lynn University and France’s Du Vert A L’Infini Festival. He has held residencies with Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, ISU Festival, Ensemble Storstrøm, Orchestra of the Americas, Chautauqua, and others. He studied at the San Francisco Conservatory and Vienna’s Universität für Musik. Early Vienna premieres at Musikverein and Konzerthaus, were followed by his Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1989.
Upcoming performances include Cambridge, Springfield, Santa Fe, Toledo, Lubbock and Duluth Symphony Orchestras, Sphinx Virtuosi, Chelsea Symphony; and premieres at Canberra International Film Festival, National Flute Convention, Bielefeld and Kristiansand Orchestra Series in Germany and Norway. – www.migueldelaguila.com 
Miguel is a ‘82 SFCM alum.
 

Miguel del Águila's Program Note for Submerged (2013)

Written in 2013, Submerged was commissioned by Hat Trick and Brigham Young University. It is based on Alfonsina Storni’s romantic, surrealist poem “Yo en el fondo del mar”. On the surface, both the poem and music seem innocent and light-hearted, but one feels differently when the author’s fascination with the sea, and her later suicide by drowning in it, are taken into consideration. The piece follows the form of the poem except for the lively introduction and a coda which illustrate the poet’s childhood near her native Argentine Andes, and in Switzerland. With six harp loud chords, the piece “falls” deep underwater: this slow middle section is mysterious, intimate and magical. It recreates the poem’s isolated submerged world where fish with flowers, octopus and sirens dance while birds chirp happily far above water. The harp uses unusual extended techniques, some stemming from Paraguayan harp playing. The viola adds a rhythmic edge by playing constant multiple stop pizzicati imitating a Charango. The flute is the Quena of the ensemble and it uses often extended techniques as well. In my interpretation of Storni’s poem this underwater world is that special place of isolation where many artists withdraw to create a place and mood that can easily turn into depression. A place that ultimately Alfonsina chose to remain and which became her death. In my Submerged, I continued the events of the poem and made the listener return to the real world above water. This return is triggered by the memories of her childhood played by the harp and viola as a music box Ländler which turns into a Vidalita, both music which Alfonsina would have heard in her childhood.​
 

Concessions will be available before the performance and during intermission.