Friday, September 22, 2006


Paul Cummings conducts HSU Symphonic Band. Posted by Picasa
Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra

The HSU Symphonic Band, conducted by Paul Cummings, and the Jazz Orchestra, conducted by Dan Aldag, will perform on September 30 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall in the Music building on the HSU campus. $6, $2 student/senior, free to HSU students. Tickets at HSU ticket office or at the door. 826-3928. Presented by the HSU Department of Music.
Joint Performance

The HSU Department of Music presents a joint performance of the HSU Symphonic Band and the HSU Jazz Orchestra on September 30 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall, beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets are $6, $2 for seniors and students, and free to HSU students. Tickets may be purchased at the HSU ticket office or at the door.

The Symphonic Band (wind instruments and percussion) will perform an eclectic program with a European emphasis, including works by Belgian composer Jan Van der Roost (Rikudim – Four Israeli Folk Dances for Band), and British composers Gordon Jacobs (a selection from the William Byrd suite) and Ralph Vaughan Williams. “That’s a little unusual for an American wind band,” conductor Paul Cummings said, “although these selections are done a lot in Europe.”

The cosmopolitan program is symbolized by Handel in the Strand, a work by Percy Granger, who was born in Australia, lived in England and emigrated to the U.S. America is further represented by Anthony Iannaccone’s “After A Gentle Rain.”

For its part, the award-winning HSU Jazz Orchestra has a rich history, playing with or opening for such noted jazz artists as Clark Terry, Louie Bellson, Herbie Mann, Mongo Santamaria, Ingrid Jensen and others.

The September 30 concert will feature a Charlie Mingus composition (“E's Flat, Ah's Flat, Too") arranged by HSU student and trumpet player, Tommy Obeso. Other selections include a Count Basie tune, “Down for the Count” (written by Frank Foster), “Stolen Moments” by Oliver Nelson and “A Bit of Heaven” by Curtis Fuller, arranged by Don Sickler.

The HSU Jazz Orchestra is conducted by Dan Aldag, currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at HSU. He is also a performer as trombonist with classical orchestras and jazz ensembles, having played with Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams and the Manhattan Transfer, and as a soloist specializing in contemporary music for the trombone. His compositions for trombone and jazz band have been performed throughout the United States and Europe, and recorded on the Seabreeze Vista label.

The Jazz Orchestra regularly receives superior ratings at collegiate jazz festivals, and is just one part of a vital jazz program at HSU that includes another big band, three combos, a vocal jazz group, and courses in jazz improvisation and jazz history.

Paul Cummings
conducts the HSU Symphonic Band. He is Assistant Professor of Music at HSU, and holds a California life credential in music. He is also an active performer on clarinet and saxophone, appearing with the Nova Vista Symphony, the Oregon Wind Ensemble, and the Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra. He is coordinator of the HSU music education program.

Media

HSU online

Wednesday, September 06, 2006


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The Helmholtz Trio

Join the Helmholtz Trio for "Music From Behind the Iron Curtain” with works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Grazyna Bacewicz, three composers who overcame Stalin's artistic tyranny with determination, wit and defiance. Performance is Saturday night, September 9, at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall, in the Music Building on the HSU campus. A Faculty Artist Series concert. $8, $3 students/seniors, HSU ticket office or at the door. 826-3928.

Helmholtz Trio Posted by Picasa
Music From Behind the Iron Curtain

How do world-renowned composers respond to censorship by a notorious dictator? In the case of three masters of the twentieth century, “with defiance and resilience,” according to Deborah Clasquin, Professor of Music at Humboldt State University, pianist and member of the Helmholtz Trio, which will perform “Music From Behind the Iron Curtain” on Saturday, September 9 at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus.

This program of music by Serge Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich and Grazyna Bacewicz “celebrates the determination and wit each composer used to survive their world of oppression” in the Soviet Union of Joseph Stalin.

The Helmholtz Trio is Terrie Baune on violin, Carol Jacobson on violoncello and Deborah Clasquin on piano. Baune is concertmaster of the North State Symphony and Associate Concertmaster of the Oakland-East Bay Orchestra; Jacobson is conductor of the Eureka Symphony. In addition to teaching at HSU, Clasquin has appeared in Paris, Moscow and Kiev as well as other U.S. cities and throughout northern California as a recitalist and orchestral soloist.

The Trio will play “Five Melodies, for Violin and Piano” by Prokofiev, “Trio in E Minor” by Shostakovich and “Sonata no. 4 for Violin and Piano” by Bacewicz.

Tickets are $8, $3 students/seniors, and can be purchased at the Works in Eureka and Arcata, the Metro in Arcata, and at the HSU Ticket Office, or at the door. Call the Concert Line at 707 826-5436 for details. The Fulkerson Recital Hall is located in the Music Building at Humboldt State.


Helmholtz Trio Bios

Terrie Baune, violin, is concertmaster of the North State Symphony and Associate Concertmaster of the Oakland-East Bay Orchestra. She is currently a member of the Empyrean Ensemble, a new-music ensemble in residence at UC Davis. She has been on the faculty of UC Davis, CSU Stanislaus and UC Santa Cruz. Her other professional credits include four yours as a member of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C., violinist in the Gabrielli Trio, a National Ensemble in New Zealand, and the Concertmaster position with the Fresno Philharmonic, the Rohnert Park Symphony and the Santa Cruz Symphony.

Carol Jacobson, violoncello, has attended the University of the Pacific and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Her chamber studies include the Royal Danish Conservatory, as well as the Royal Conservatory—the Hague. She is current Conductor of the ArMac Orchestra and the Eureka Symphony. She has been a member of the Amicelli Cello Quartet and the North Coast Chamber Players.

Deborah Clasquin, piano, enjoys an active career as a recitalist, as well as orchestral soloist, and has appeared in concert in Paris, Moscow, Kiev, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., San Francisco and throughout Northern California. Numerous prizes and awards have marked her performing career, as well as being broadcast nationwide by National Public Radio’s Performance Today. She is a Professor of Music at Humboldt State University and was recently nominated as a Distinguished Teachers in the Arts Program by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

Media

From Eureka Times-Standard: Taking their name from German scientist and musician Hermann von Helmholtz, the lineup includes HSU music professor Deborah Clasquin on piano, Carol Jacobsen, from the ArMac Orchestra and the Eureka Symphony, playing violoncello and Terrie Baune, of the Empyrean Ensemble in residence at University of California, Davis, lending her violin to the group.

According to Clasquin, she and Baune have played in different groups for the last 10 years, and the three have played together in various ensembles. In 2003, the desire to form a piano trio was finally realized and we can share in the spoils Saturday night.

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The Program


Five Melodies, for violin and piano, Opus 35a……….Serge Prokofiev
No.1 in E flat Major, andante (1891-1953)
No.2 in a minor, lento ma non troppo
No.4 in A Major, allegretto leggero e scherzando


Sonata no. 4 for violin and piano…….……………..….Grazyna Bacewicz
Moderato—Allegro non troppo (1909-1969)
Andante ma non troppo
Scherzo: Molto vivo
Finale: Con passione

~Intermission~

Trio in e minor, Opus 67……………………………..Dmitri Shostakovich
Andante (1906-1975)
Allegro non troppo
Largo
Allegretto