Friday, February 26, 2010

Symphonic Band & Jazz Orchestra

The HSU Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra perform a joint concert of American music on Friday, February 26 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. The Symphonic Band is conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, the Jazz Orchestra is directed by Dan Aldag. An HSU Department of Music production. Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye, Humboldt Beacon.
HSU Jazz Orchestra in rehearsal
Gunslingers and Exotic Dancers: HSU Symphonic Band and Jazz Orchestra Play American Tunes

The HSU Symphonic Band goes tandem with the Jazz Orchestra on a program of American tunes. The Band plays “Variations on America” by the “American original” Charles Ives, and the “Americans We” March by Ohioan Henry Fillmore, who toured the U.S. with his band and his wife, the exotic dancer Mabel May Jones.

Also featured in the Band portion of the program are Bugs” by the Iowan Roger Cichy, “October” by Nevadan Eric Whitacre, and “Incantation and Dance” by the Texas composer with the very Texan name of John Barnes Chance.

The Jazz Orchestra picks up the western theme with “Gunslinging Bird” by Charles Mingus, subtitled "If Charlie Parker Were A Gunslinger, There'd Be A Lot Of Dead Copycats.”

The Orchestra also plays the jazz standard “Caravan” inspired by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band version, and “Blues for C.M” by Dave Holland, a tribute to Charles Mingus. "Cottontail" by Duke Ellington is a groundbreaking piece from 1940 that presaged the bebop revolution and introduced the saxophone solo to big band arranging.

As a preview of its solo concert in May, the Jazz Orchestra will play “Big Jim Blues” by American jazz pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams, to begin a tribute marking the 100th anniversary of her birth.

The HSU Symphonic Band directed by Kenneth Ayoob, and the Jazz Orchestra directed by Dan Aldag will perform a joint concert on Friday, February 26 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. An HSU Department of Music production.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

W. Broadway Company

Six stars of North Coast musical theatre join forces to benefit the HSU Music scholarship fund—The W. Broadway Company performs show tunes from “Mame” to Spamalot” on Saturday February 20 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets: $8/$3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Faculty Artist Series Concert, produced by the HSU Department of Music.
(back from left:) Carolyn Ayres, Brad Curtis, Betty Diehl. (Front:) Sharon Welton, Bill Ryder, Carol Ryder
Give Your Regards to W. Broadway at HSU

It was after the Humboldt Light Opera Company production of “The Music Man” that several cast members decided to stick together awhile longer—and sing together, to raise money for HLOC as well as have some fun.

That was 1991, but the West Broadway Company they formed is still singing. They’ll get together again for a performance at Humboldt State University on Saturday, February 20, this time to benefit the HSU Music Department scholarship fund.

“These days all of us are busy working in theatre, teaching, conducting and generally involved in the art of making music,” said Carol McWhorter Ryder. “But about once a year we treat ourselves to working together. Part of the fun of this group is rehearsing and watching each other perform.”

Besides Carol Ryder, the group consists of her husband, Bill Ryder, Betty Diehl, Brad Curtis, Carolyn Ayres and Sharon Welton.

“We called ourselves W. Broadway because we’re on the West Coast,” Carol Ryder explained. “We chose the literature of Broadway because it offers so many wonderful songs that can make up an entertaining evening.”

But the program of solos, duets and ensembles the group will perform at Fulkerson Recital Hall reflects the Broadway of today as well as before. There are selections from “Mame,” “On the Town,” “Oklahoma!” and “The Fantasticks” but also from “Spamalot,” “Young Frankenstein,”“Avenue Q,” and “The Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”

While many selections are from famous shows (including “Follies,” “The Most Happy Fella” and “Hello, Dolly!”), others are standards or neglected jewels from forgotten musicals (like “Juno” from 1938 or “The Happy Time” from 1968.)

“All of us have been performing since we were in our twenties,” Carol Ryder said. “Most of us are former students of the HSU Music Department, so we are happy to perform a program to benefit the scholarship fund for current HSU Music majors.”

The six members of W. Broadway Co. are well-known on local stages, and in their communities.

Just over the past few years, Brad Curtis has performed leading roles in musical and non-musical plays at HLOC, North Coast Rep and Ferndale Rep.

Apart from performing, Carol Ryder has directed more than 30 productions on the North Coast, and Bill Ryder has sung in more than 25 HLOC shows. Most recently they performed together in “The Light on the Piazza.” Carol Ryder teaches voice and choir at HSU and College of the Redwoods, and is Artistic Director of the Humboldt Light Opera Company.

Besides singing with the Six Rivers Choral Artists, the California Redwoods Choir and the Rhododendron Festival Choir as well as in HLOC shows, Betty Diehl has been the director of the Ferndale Community Choir for 40 years.

An actress, singer, dancer and director over the years, Carolyn Ayres taught in public schools. Sharon Welton has been the pianist for HLOC productions, and is the accompanist for Carol Ryder’s vocal program at CR.

These six stars of North Coast musical theatre perform new songs and old favorites from Broadway on Saturday February 20 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets: $8/$3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Faculty Artists Series concert produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye.
W. Broadway Co. Concert: The Program

"Light the Candle" (Mame) Ensemble
"Love is Always Lovely in the End" (Drowsy Chaperone) Betty and Bill
"Without a Song" (Great Day) Brad
"I Wish It So" (Juno) Carol
"So Long, Dearie" (Hello, Dolly) Carolyn
"I Can See It!" (The Fantasticks) Brad and Bill
"Cry Me a River" (Pete Kelly's Blues) Betty
"I Don’t Remember You/Sometimes a Day Goes By" (The Happpy Time) Carol and Brad

"Lucky To Be Me" (On the Town) Bill
"Flair" (Starting Here, Starting Now) Brad
"I Want Them…Bald" (Heisler and Goldrich) Betty, Carolyn and Carol
"Coffee in a Cardboard Cup" (70, Girls, 70) Ensemble

"I Wish I Could Go Back to College" (Avenue Q) Ensemble
"We Live on Borrowed Time" (Listen to My Heart)) Betty
"Being Alive" (Company) Carolyn
"Nothing is Too Wonderful To Be True" (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) Carol and Bill

"The Grass is Always Greener" (Woman of the Year) Betty and Carolyn
"Buddy’s Blues" (Follies) Bill
"Puttin’ on the Ritz" (Young Frankenstein) Ensemble
"Let’s Do It!" (Paris) Bill and Carol
"The Song That Goes Like This" (Spamalot) Brad and Carolyn
"Big D" (The Most Happy Fella) Carolyn and Bill
"The Farmer and the Cowman" (Oklahoma!) Ensemble

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Cindy Moyer & Daniela Mineva

It's violin plus piano plus bull, as violinist Cindy Moyer and pianist Daniela Mineva play a sunny Beethoven, a lyrical Grieg and a children’s fantasy, "Ferdinand the Bull," on Saturday, February 13 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets: $8/$3 children, students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Faculty Artists Series concert, produced by the HSU Department of Music.
Daniela Mineva and Cindy Moyer
How Cute Is Your Scherzo? Or, Can You Take the Bull By the Violin?

If you like favorites of the violin sonata repertoire, you couldn’t do better than two selections to be performed by violinist Cindy Moyer and pianist Daniela Mineva, in concert at HSU on Saturday, February 13.

But if you particularly like the more modern and offbeat, there are also two selections for you—and your children. (Though that involves a lot of bull.)

And if you enjoy both approaches, the evening is complete.

Beethoven’s Sonata in F Major—known as the “Spring Sonata”—is probably his best-known violin and piano sonata, according to Cindy Moyer. “It’s a sunny, cheerful piece that includes what is arguably the cutest Scherzo movement ever written.”

(For the uninitiated, a scherzo is lively, playful movement, performed quickly in triple meter time.)

The other classic—the Sonata in C Minor by Edvard Grieg—has “dramatic and impassioned moments, contrasting with lyrical sections,” Moyer said. “It’s easy to understand, and enjoyable to listen to.”

Between Beethoven and Grieg on the program are two more modern pieces. Four Nocturnes by contemporary American composer George Crumb, who “uses a variety of unusual instrumental techniques to portray the sounds and feelings of nighttime.” While Moyer will occasionally be tapping on the violin as well as playing it, pianist Daniela Mineva will be busy “reaching inside the piano to pluck the strings, or brush the strings with a percussionist’s brush. The effects are very different, and interesting to experience.”

Mineva will take a break, and narrator Kevin Sharkey will join Moyer for a musical version of a children’s tale, Ferdinand. This story of a gentle bull by Munro Leaf was the basis of a Disney animated short that won the Academy Award in 1938. It was set to music for solo violin and narrator by 20th century British composer Alan Ridout. “You hear the mooing of his mother, the playful antics of his fellow young bulls, the procession of the matadors, and more,” Moyer promises. It’s a treat for children, as well as the child within.

Cindy Moyer is Associate Professor of Music at HSU. She has performed on violin with such ensembles as the Rochester (NY) Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony and Mendocino Music Festival orchestra, as well as locally with the Eureka and Humboldt symphonies and the Symphony of the Redwoods.

Daniela Mineva is in her first year as Assistant Professor of Music at HSU. As a pianist she has won numerous international competitions, and played major venues in the U.S. and Europe. Both Mineva and Moyer studied for a time at the Eastman School of Music.

Narrator Kevin Shockey has taught voice at HSU and has acted in local theatre productions, including Humboldt Light Opera’s “Titanic” and “Little Women.”

Violinist Cindy Moyer, pianist Daniela Mineva and narrator Kevin Shockey perform in a Faculty Artists Series concert on Saturday, February 13 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets: $8/$3 students, seniors and children from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt Beacon, Humboldt State Now.