Terrie Baune and Deborah Clasquin. Click photo
to enlarge. 
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Baune and Clasquin Back in the USSR
Renewing a performing partnership that goes back more than a decade, violinist Terrie Baune and pianist Deborah Clasquin headline a program of works by Dmitri Shostakovich and other Eastern European composers of the Soviet era.
The recital they are calling “Behind the Iron Curtain” begins at 8 PM on Saturday, September 13 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.
Baune and Clasquin are reuniting, Clasquin said, “to perform an early love: chamber music.” That’s especially fitting since that’s how they met. “We've been a duo since 1997,” Clasquin recalls. “We met at a Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop for talented kids, held every summer at HSU.”
Joining Baune and Clasquin on a rarely heard piece by Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya will be Paul Cummings on clarinet. The program concludes with the Piano Quintet by Shostakovich, also featuring Karen Davy (violin), Nicholas Marlowe (viola), and Carol Jacobson (violoncello.)
In addition to music from the Soviet Union itself, Baune and Clasquin will play a work by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski.
When they first performed in 1999 in San Francisco, reviewer Stuart Canin wrote of their debut, “Baune and Clasquin made a fine team, presenting the music in a straightforward manner and letting the music itself make its own points.”
These days, Terrie Baune is Concertmaster of the North State Symphony based in Chico and Redding, and Co-Concertmaster of the Oakland East Bay Symphony. She is the Associate Director of the Humboldt Chamber Music Workshop and a faculty member of the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop, both summer programs at Humboldt State University. Baune is also a member of two professional “new music” chamber ensembles: the San Francisco-based Earplay Ensemble and the Empyrean Ensemble, which is in residence at UC Davis.
Deborah Clasquin has become one of the North Coast’s most popular performers, as well as a prominent teacher and arts education advocate. She is professor of Music at HSU, and has been nominated as a Distinguished Teachers in the Arts by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. She enjoys an active career as a recitalist, having appeared in Moscow, Paris, Kiev, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Washington D.C.
Tickets for the September 13 recital in Fulkerson Hall are $8 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Faculty Artist Series concert sponsored by the HSU Music Department.
Renewing a performing partnership that goes back more than a decade, violinist Terrie Baune and pianist Deborah Clasquin headline a program of works by Dmitri Shostakovich and other Eastern European composers of the Soviet era.
The recital they are calling “Behind the Iron Curtain” begins at 8 PM on Saturday, September 13 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.
Baune and Clasquin are reuniting, Clasquin said, “to perform an early love: chamber music.” That’s especially fitting since that’s how they met. “We've been a duo since 1997,” Clasquin recalls. “We met at a Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop for talented kids, held every summer at HSU.”
Joining Baune and Clasquin on a rarely heard piece by Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya will be Paul Cummings on clarinet. The program concludes with the Piano Quintet by Shostakovich, also featuring Karen Davy (violin), Nicholas Marlowe (viola), and Carol Jacobson (violoncello.)
In addition to music from the Soviet Union itself, Baune and Clasquin will play a work by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski.
When they first performed in 1999 in San Francisco, reviewer Stuart Canin wrote of their debut, “Baune and Clasquin made a fine team, presenting the music in a straightforward manner and letting the music itself make its own points.”
These days, Terrie Baune is Concertmaster of the North State Symphony based in Chico and Redding, and Co-Concertmaster of the Oakland East Bay Symphony. She is the Associate Director of the Humboldt Chamber Music Workshop and a faculty member of the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop, both summer programs at Humboldt State University. Baune is also a member of two professional “new music” chamber ensembles: the San Francisco-based Earplay Ensemble and the Empyrean Ensemble, which is in residence at UC Davis.
Deborah Clasquin has become one of the North Coast’s most popular performers, as well as a prominent teacher and arts education advocate. She is professor of Music at HSU, and has been nominated as a Distinguished Teachers in the Arts by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. She enjoys an active career as a recitalist, having appeared in Moscow, Paris, Kiev, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Washington D.C.
Tickets for the September 13 recital in Fulkerson Hall are $8 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. A Faculty Artist Series concert sponsored by the HSU Music Department.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Return of the Soprano
As students begin fall classes, Soprano Kamala Stroup Rocher, HSU Class of ’91, returns to campus for a voice recital featuring the works of Debussy, Strauss, Mozart and Verdi.
For this recital on Monday evening, August 25, she will be accompanied on piano by Nancy Correll, her friend and accompanist from college days.
Rocher now lives in France, and performs there frequently. She has sung in Paris, London and the San Francisco Bay area. In addition to solo performances, she has sung various opera roles with San Francisco Lyric Opera, Golden Gate Opera, Oakland Lyric Opera and other ensembles.
Locally, she has been a guest performer for the HSU Alumni Benefit Recital Series, as well as solo appearances on behalf of the Redwood AIDS Information Network and the North Coast AIDS Project.
Her program at HSU will include songs by Austrian composer Ricard Strauss, and French composers Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn and Henri Duparc. She will sing some of her favorite arias from operas by Mozart, Gluck and Verdi.
Kamala Stroup Rocher performs on Monday, August 25 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.
As students begin fall classes, Soprano Kamala Stroup Rocher, HSU Class of ’91, returns to campus for a voice recital featuring the works of Debussy, Strauss, Mozart and Verdi.
For this recital on Monday evening, August 25, she will be accompanied on piano by Nancy Correll, her friend and accompanist from college days.
Rocher now lives in France, and performs there frequently. She has sung in Paris, London and the San Francisco Bay area. In addition to solo performances, she has sung various opera roles with San Francisco Lyric Opera, Golden Gate Opera, Oakland Lyric Opera and other ensembles.
Locally, she has been a guest performer for the HSU Alumni Benefit Recital Series, as well as solo appearances on behalf of the Redwood AIDS Information Network and the North Coast AIDS Project.
Her program at HSU will include songs by Austrian composer Ricard Strauss, and French composers Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn and Henri Duparc. She will sing some of her favorite arias from operas by Mozart, Gluck and Verdi.
Kamala Stroup Rocher performs on Monday, August 25 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Benefit Concert for Deborah Clasquin
A benefit concert for Deborah Clasquin and a celebration of her contribution to North Coast music as pianist and teacher at HSU, as she continues treatment for cancer. Performers will include her former student, pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, and HSU Music Department colleagues. The concert begins at 7 PM on Saturday June 21 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata, followed by a reception with Deborah, her family and friends. Tickets for the concert to help defray medical costs are $20 from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.
A benefit concert for Deborah Clasquin and a celebration of her contribution to North Coast music as pianist and teacher at HSU, as she continues treatment for cancer. Performers will include her former student, pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough, and HSU Music Department colleagues. The concert begins at 7 PM on Saturday June 21 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata, followed by a reception with Deborah, her family and friends. Tickets for the concert to help defray medical costs are $20 from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.
In Celebration: Benefit Concert and Reception for HSU Professor Deborah Clasquin
As a concert pianist, she is a well-known performer on North Coast stages as well as in prestigious venues around the world, and on television, radio and recordings. As a teacher at Humboldt State, she has trained prize-winning keyboard artists. She has been an activist and advocate for music education. Now some of her North Coast friends have organized a celebration of Deborah Clasquin’s achievements and a benefit concert to help her defray medical costs as she continues treatments for cancer.
The concert will feature some of her former students and her colleagues in the HSU Music Department, including perhaps her most celebrated student, Ryan MacEvoy McCullough of Eureka. The concert on Saturday June 21 at 7 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata will be followed by a reception with Deborah.
“The main theme of this event will be to rally around Deborah, to make sure she knows how important she is to so many people in our community and the music world, and to give everyone a chance to celebrate herrole in our lives,” said Linda Anderson, one of the organizers of the event. “The other priority will be to try and raise money for her expensive treatments which are not being reimbursed by her insurance.”
Among the tributes to be offered at the reception will be the presentation of a plaque and a “Treasure Book” of photos, letters and thank-you notes assembled by Anderson and co-organizer, Bonnie MacEvoy.
Performers for the concert include pianists Ryan MacEvoy McCullough and Emily Loeffler, clarinetist Armand Ambrosini, and violinists Terrie Baune and Signe Nicklas, who is Deborah Clasquin’s daughter. Also featured are the Babes Women’s Chorus directed by Carol Ryder, a quintet of Sequoia faculty members, Nancy Correll and Annette Gurnee Hull, and playing a movement from the Claude Bolling Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano are Barbara Davenport, Jill Petricca and Shao Way Wu. Several more of Deborah's present and past piano students will perform.
Tickets for the benefit concert beginning at 7 PM are $20, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. The reception with Deborah Clasquin, family and friends will be held in the lobby outside Fulkerson Hall at approximately 8 PM, and is a free event. Refreshments will be served.
Those who cannot attend or wish to make an additional contribution can send checks to the HSU Music Department, payable to Deborah Clasquin.
Media: Humboldt State Now, Eureka Reporter (6/13), KHSU Ben Tankersley (6/13). KHSU "ArtWaves" with Wendy Butler (6/ 17), Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal (6/19), Northern Lights (6/19.)
As a concert pianist, she is a well-known performer on North Coast stages as well as in prestigious venues around the world, and on television, radio and recordings. As a teacher at Humboldt State, she has trained prize-winning keyboard artists. She has been an activist and advocate for music education. Now some of her North Coast friends have organized a celebration of Deborah Clasquin’s achievements and a benefit concert to help her defray medical costs as she continues treatments for cancer.
The concert will feature some of her former students and her colleagues in the HSU Music Department, including perhaps her most celebrated student, Ryan MacEvoy McCullough of Eureka. The concert on Saturday June 21 at 7 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata will be followed by a reception with Deborah.
“The main theme of this event will be to rally around Deborah, to make sure she knows how important she is to so many people in our community and the music world, and to give everyone a chance to celebrate herrole in our lives,” said Linda Anderson, one of the organizers of the event. “The other priority will be to try and raise money for her expensive treatments which are not being reimbursed by her insurance.”
Among the tributes to be offered at the reception will be the presentation of a plaque and a “Treasure Book” of photos, letters and thank-you notes assembled by Anderson and co-organizer, Bonnie MacEvoy.
Performers for the concert include pianists Ryan MacEvoy McCullough and Emily Loeffler, clarinetist Armand Ambrosini, and violinists Terrie Baune and Signe Nicklas, who is Deborah Clasquin’s daughter. Also featured are the Babes Women’s Chorus directed by Carol Ryder, a quintet of Sequoia faculty members, Nancy Correll and Annette Gurnee Hull, and playing a movement from the Claude Bolling Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano are Barbara Davenport, Jill Petricca and Shao Way Wu. Several more of Deborah's present and past piano students will perform.
Tickets for the benefit concert beginning at 7 PM are $20, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. The reception with Deborah Clasquin, family and friends will be held in the lobby outside Fulkerson Hall at approximately 8 PM, and is a free event. Refreshments will be served.
Those who cannot attend or wish to make an additional contribution can send checks to the HSU Music Department, payable to Deborah Clasquin.
Media: Humboldt State Now, Eureka Reporter (6/13), KHSU Ben Tankersley (6/13). KHSU "ArtWaves" with Wendy Butler (6/ 17), Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal (6/19), Northern Lights (6/19.)
Friday, June 06, 2008
Community Chamber Music
TriMusica trio, Meadowood Quartet and Northcoast Brass Ensemble quintet perform in the latest Community Chamber Music concert on Friday, June 6 at the earlier-than-usual time of 7:30PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. An HSU Music Department production.
TriMusica trio, Meadowood Quartet and Northcoast Brass Ensemble quintet perform in the latest Community Chamber Music concert on Friday, June 6 at the earlier-than-usual time of 7:30PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. An HSU Music Department production.
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Music by a King Highlights Community Chamber Concert
Music fit for a king might describe many classical pieces, especially those commissioned by monarchs and other high officials. But music actually composed by a king is rarely heard. On Friday June 6 at HSU, it will be, as performed by one of three chamber music groups of North Coast commoners to play that evening.
A trio, a string quartet and a brass quintet take the Fulkerson Recital Hall stage on the HSU campus in Arcata, for the third in a series of concerts featuring community chamber music groups.
These groups are composed of North Coast citizens, most of them with jobs and careers unrelated to music, who rehearse and perform for the love of music.
For example, the members of TriMusica are a retired English/French teacher, a physician who is the principal oboist for the Eureka Symphony, and a truck driver and former principal cellist for the Eureka Symphony.
And while the idea of community chamber music groups may suggest programs dominated by safe and familiar music, this concert highlights seldom-performed works and composers.
The TriMuisica trio is oboist (and physician) Ellen Weiss, pianist (and retired teacher) Betty Creaghe, and cellist (and truck driver) Mark Creaghe. They will perform a sonata composed by the “soldier-king” of 18th century Prussia, known as Frederick the Great. Novelist and composer Rupert Hughes called him a “flute player and composer of remarkable skill—for a king.” He wrote some 100 sonatas, though they are rarely heard today.
TriMusica will also perform a sonata by Frederick the Great’s court composer when he was still a crown prince, Johann Gottlieb Graun. Graun was also a violinist (he taught J.S. Bach’s son) and became Konzertmeister of the Berlin Opera.
In addition, TriMusica plays a rare work by contemporary English composer John Rutter. Mostly a choral composer, Rutter’s “Suite Antique” is one of his few instrumental pieces. The trio’s program concludes with “Tango” by late 19th/early 20th century Spanish composer Issac Albeniz, and an Etude by Frederic Chopin.
The Meadowood Quartet makes its second appearance in the community chamber music series: they played in the first one last spring. Members of the string quartet are Betty Bliss (violin) from Redway; Marilyn Page (violin) from Arcata; Stefan Vaughan (viola) from Eureka, and Eric Jones (cello) from McKinleyville. They will perform one of Beethoven’s celebrated early Quartets (Opus 18, Number 4 in C minor), in four movements.
[story continues after photo]
Music fit for a king might describe many classical pieces, especially those commissioned by monarchs and other high officials. But music actually composed by a king is rarely heard. On Friday June 6 at HSU, it will be, as performed by one of three chamber music groups of North Coast commoners to play that evening.
A trio, a string quartet and a brass quintet take the Fulkerson Recital Hall stage on the HSU campus in Arcata, for the third in a series of concerts featuring community chamber music groups.
These groups are composed of North Coast citizens, most of them with jobs and careers unrelated to music, who rehearse and perform for the love of music.
For example, the members of TriMusica are a retired English/French teacher, a physician who is the principal oboist for the Eureka Symphony, and a truck driver and former principal cellist for the Eureka Symphony.
And while the idea of community chamber music groups may suggest programs dominated by safe and familiar music, this concert highlights seldom-performed works and composers.
The TriMuisica trio is oboist (and physician) Ellen Weiss, pianist (and retired teacher) Betty Creaghe, and cellist (and truck driver) Mark Creaghe. They will perform a sonata composed by the “soldier-king” of 18th century Prussia, known as Frederick the Great. Novelist and composer Rupert Hughes called him a “flute player and composer of remarkable skill—for a king.” He wrote some 100 sonatas, though they are rarely heard today.
TriMusica will also perform a sonata by Frederick the Great’s court composer when he was still a crown prince, Johann Gottlieb Graun. Graun was also a violinist (he taught J.S. Bach’s son) and became Konzertmeister of the Berlin Opera.
In addition, TriMusica plays a rare work by contemporary English composer John Rutter. Mostly a choral composer, Rutter’s “Suite Antique” is one of his few instrumental pieces. The trio’s program concludes with “Tango” by late 19th/early 20th century Spanish composer Issac Albeniz, and an Etude by Frederic Chopin.
The Meadowood Quartet makes its second appearance in the community chamber music series: they played in the first one last spring. Members of the string quartet are Betty Bliss (violin) from Redway; Marilyn Page (violin) from Arcata; Stefan Vaughan (viola) from Eureka, and Eric Jones (cello) from McKinleyville. They will perform one of Beethoven’s celebrated early Quartets (Opus 18, Number 4 in C minor), in four movements.
[story continues after photo]
The third group in this concert, the Northcoast Brass Ensemble, is a little different in that all its members are music teachers. Chris Cox (trumpet) teaches at Eureka High; Burt Codispoti (trumpet) at Triple Junction High School in Petrolia; Ronite Gluck (French horn) for the Freshwater School District; while Dan Aldag (trombone) and Fred Tempas (tuba) teach at HSU.
Four of the works the Ensemble will play are contemporary compositions or arrangements with a regional connection. These include “Fanfare for Open Spaces,” a 1988 composition by HSU alumna Katherine Ann Murdock, who teaches music theory and composition at Wichita State University.
“Italian Postcards” by Ray Burkhart was commissioned by the Humboldt Brass Chamber Music Workshop. “Dance” is by Wilke Renwick, a French horn player who retired to Oregon from the Colorado Symphony.
“Mamanita” by pioneer jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton, is arranged for brass quintet by Northcoast Brass Ensemble trombonist and HSU Music professor Dan Aldag.
Concluding the concert will be Quintet # 3 by 20th century Russian composer Viktor Ewald, which is one of the few chamber works for brass instruments from the Romantic period.
This Community Chamber Music concert on Friday, June 6 will begin at 7:30 PM, which is a half hour earlier than concerts in Fulkerson Recital Hall usually start. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. An HSU Music Department production.
Four of the works the Ensemble will play are contemporary compositions or arrangements with a regional connection. These include “Fanfare for Open Spaces,” a 1988 composition by HSU alumna Katherine Ann Murdock, who teaches music theory and composition at Wichita State University.
“Italian Postcards” by Ray Burkhart was commissioned by the Humboldt Brass Chamber Music Workshop. “Dance” is by Wilke Renwick, a French horn player who retired to Oregon from the Colorado Symphony.
“Mamanita” by pioneer jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton, is arranged for brass quintet by Northcoast Brass Ensemble trombonist and HSU Music professor Dan Aldag.
Concluding the concert will be Quintet # 3 by 20th century Russian composer Viktor Ewald, which is one of the few chamber works for brass instruments from the Romantic period.
This Community Chamber Music concert on Friday, June 6 will begin at 7:30 PM, which is a half hour earlier than concerts in Fulkerson Recital Hall usually start. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. An HSU Music Department production.
Friday, May 09, 2008
University Singers & Humboldt Chorale
The HSU University Singers present sacred music by Mozart and Stravinsky, and the Humboldt Chorale sends the audience out singing show tunes in their combined concert on Friday May 9 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Harley Muilenburg conducts the University Singers; Carol Ryder conducts the Humboldt Chorale, in an HSU Department of Music Production.
The HSU University Singers present sacred music by Mozart and Stravinsky, and the Humboldt Chorale sends the audience out singing show tunes in their combined concert on Friday May 9 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Harley Muilenburg conducts the University Singers; Carol Ryder conducts the Humboldt Chorale, in an HSU Department of Music Production.
A Concert in Contrasts
The HSU University Singers and the Humboldt Chorale present a contrasting program for their combined spring concert on Friday, May 9 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall.
The University Singers perform sections of two classic works in the category of sacred music. The Requiem Mass in D Minor (1791) was the last work composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Singers present six movements from the Requiem, including the “Tuba mirum,” which contains solos for all four vocal parts. These will be performed by Kaia Renouf (soprano), Veronica Stahl (alto), David Powell (tenor) and Kevin Nakatani (bass.)
The second work is from a very different era: “Symphony of Psalms,” written by Igor Stravinsky in 1930. The University Singers perform the final movement of this three movement piece. Each movement centers on a particular psalm. The third movement expresses Psalm 150, with its theme of praise.
Both of these works were written for orchestra and chorus. In this concert, HSU Music Department staff pianist will play the piano reductions of the orchestral score. “Chernoff’s amazing technical and musical abilities at the keyboard will be featured in both selections,” said Harley Muilenburg, conductor of the University Singers.
In the second half of the concert, the Humboldt Chorale changes the mood with a selection of show tunes, from as far back as Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” (1879) and the first true American musical, Jerome Kern’s “Show Boat” (1927), to songs by Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Leonard Bernstein.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein songs are “June Is Busting Out All Over” from the 1945 musical “Carousel,” and the title song of the 1943 musical “Oklahoma.” Leonard Bernstein is represented by “Somewhere” from “West Side Story” (written with Stephen Sondheim), which premiered on Broadway in 1957, and “Make Our Garden Grow” from “Candide” (1956.) The Cole Porter tune is “Anything Goes” from the 1934 musical of the same name.
The Humboldt Chorale, under the direction of Carol Ryder, consists of 70 singers. As it has since its founding a half century ago, the Chorale consists of HSU students and members of local communities. Larry Pitts is the keyboard accompanist.
This combined concert on May 9 begins at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. The concert is produced by the HSU Department of Music.
The HSU University Singers and the Humboldt Chorale present a contrasting program for their combined spring concert on Friday, May 9 in the Fulkerson Recital Hall.
The University Singers perform sections of two classic works in the category of sacred music. The Requiem Mass in D Minor (1791) was the last work composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Singers present six movements from the Requiem, including the “Tuba mirum,” which contains solos for all four vocal parts. These will be performed by Kaia Renouf (soprano), Veronica Stahl (alto), David Powell (tenor) and Kevin Nakatani (bass.)
The second work is from a very different era: “Symphony of Psalms,” written by Igor Stravinsky in 1930. The University Singers perform the final movement of this three movement piece. Each movement centers on a particular psalm. The third movement expresses Psalm 150, with its theme of praise.
Both of these works were written for orchestra and chorus. In this concert, HSU Music Department staff pianist will play the piano reductions of the orchestral score. “Chernoff’s amazing technical and musical abilities at the keyboard will be featured in both selections,” said Harley Muilenburg, conductor of the University Singers.
In the second half of the concert, the Humboldt Chorale changes the mood with a selection of show tunes, from as far back as Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” (1879) and the first true American musical, Jerome Kern’s “Show Boat” (1927), to songs by Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Leonard Bernstein.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein songs are “June Is Busting Out All Over” from the 1945 musical “Carousel,” and the title song of the 1943 musical “Oklahoma.” Leonard Bernstein is represented by “Somewhere” from “West Side Story” (written with Stephen Sondheim), which premiered on Broadway in 1957, and “Make Our Garden Grow” from “Candide” (1956.) The Cole Porter tune is “Anything Goes” from the 1934 musical of the same name.
The Humboldt Chorale, under the direction of Carol Ryder, consists of 70 singers. As it has since its founding a half century ago, the Chorale consists of HSU students and members of local communities. Larry Pitts is the keyboard accompanist.
This combined concert on May 9 begins at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. The concert is produced by the HSU Department of Music.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Chamber Music for Strings
Four distinguished local string musicians play Bach, Mozart, Dvorak and more on Monday, May 5 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Produced by HSU Department of Music.
Four distinguished local string musicians play Bach, Mozart, Dvorak and more on Monday, May 5 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Produced by HSU Department of Music.
Adding It Up: Four Players, Four Eras in Four Presentations
Four distinguished local string musicians present a solo, a duet, a trio and finally a quartet in a concert that begins with the Baroque and ends with a 21st century work by one of the participants, on Monday, May 5 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.
The players are Cindy Moyer, HSU Professor of Violin, Viola and Music Theory (violin); Karen Davy, who teaches strings at HSU and North Coast Preparatory Academy of the Arts (viola); Halim Beere, concertmaster of the Eureka Symphony (violin); and David Davis, principal cellist of the Eureka Symphony (cello.)
Cindy Moyer begins with the Partita #2 in D Minor, a composition for solo violin by the Baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach. Moyer is joined by Karen Davy on viola for Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola by 20th century composer Bohuslav Martinu. Born in Czechoslovakia, Martinu was exiled to the U.S. during World War II, where he wrote this piece in 1947.
Then violinist Halim Beere joins Moyer and Davy for a work by Antonin Dvorak: Terzetto in C Major for Two Violins and Viola. Another Czech composer who came to America but in the late 19th century, Dvorak is known as an exemplar of the Romantic era. This terzetto (a trio for stringed instruments) was also written in the U.S., in 1887.
Cellist David Davis completes the quartet for two selections. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quartet #23 in F Major exemplifies the classical era, while a new work brings the concert into the 21st century: Octogon by violinst Halim Beere. Beere is a recent HSU graduate in composition and violin performance. He will begin graduate studies in composition at the University of Illinois in the fall.
Tickets for the May 5 concert are $8 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.
Media: Eureka Reporter E Magazine May 2-8.
Four distinguished local string musicians present a solo, a duet, a trio and finally a quartet in a concert that begins with the Baroque and ends with a 21st century work by one of the participants, on Monday, May 5 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.
The players are Cindy Moyer, HSU Professor of Violin, Viola and Music Theory (violin); Karen Davy, who teaches strings at HSU and North Coast Preparatory Academy of the Arts (viola); Halim Beere, concertmaster of the Eureka Symphony (violin); and David Davis, principal cellist of the Eureka Symphony (cello.)
Cindy Moyer begins with the Partita #2 in D Minor, a composition for solo violin by the Baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach. Moyer is joined by Karen Davy on viola for Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola by 20th century composer Bohuslav Martinu. Born in Czechoslovakia, Martinu was exiled to the U.S. during World War II, where he wrote this piece in 1947.
Then violinist Halim Beere joins Moyer and Davy for a work by Antonin Dvorak: Terzetto in C Major for Two Violins and Viola. Another Czech composer who came to America but in the late 19th century, Dvorak is known as an exemplar of the Romantic era. This terzetto (a trio for stringed instruments) was also written in the U.S., in 1887.
Cellist David Davis completes the quartet for two selections. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Quartet #23 in F Major exemplifies the classical era, while a new work brings the concert into the 21st century: Octogon by violinst Halim Beere. Beere is a recent HSU graduate in composition and violin performance. He will begin graduate studies in composition at the University of Illinois in the fall.
Tickets for the May 5 concert are $8 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.
Media: Eureka Reporter E Magazine May 2-8.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Madrigal Singers & MRT
HSU Madrigal Singers go polyphonic a cappella, and Mad River Transit sings the blues in their combined spring concert on Sunday, May 4 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Harley Muilenburg directing.
HSU Madrigal Singers go polyphonic a cappella, and Mad River Transit sings the blues in their combined spring concert on Sunday, May 4 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Harley Muilenburg directing.
Madrigal Singers and MRT Vocalize in Spring Concert
The HSU Madrigal Singers perform madrigals and folk songs from several cultures and eras in their spring concert with Mad River Transit, on Sunday May 4 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Both ensembles are directed by HSU professor Harley Muilenburg.
Students Jaclyn Catino and Katherine Kinley sing an a cappella duet, “Beatus Vir” by Renaissance composer, Orlande de Lassus. One of the most famous European composers of the 16th century, Lassus excelled in the Flemish-French polyphonic style.
Kenna Oliphant, Jacqueline Hernandez, Erin Donaldson, and Tiffany Guenter will sing a quartet with text by Shakespeare and music from the time of Queen Elizabeth I.
The ensemble of singers will perform works by composers ranging from English Renaissance era Thomas Morley to 19th century American Randall Thompson, and 20th century Anglo-Welsh Peter Warlock.
Then the Mad River Transit singers take over, performing in a variety of jazz, blues and popular styles. Vocalists are accompanied by Darius Brotman on piano, Robert Amirkhan on bass and Mike Munroe on drums.
Jessica Malone, Berol Steinberg, Kyle Blase and Claire Bent join Brotman and Amirkhan on “Blues for Jezebel” by Spokane Jazz Orchestra conductor Dan Keberle.
Melissa Modifer sings “Moon and Sand,” a 1950 ballad by versatile American composer Alex Wilder, whose work was recorded by artists as various as Billie Holiday, Keith Jarrett, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Dorsey, Mabel Mercer, Tony Bennett and the New York Woodwind Quintet. This song was first recorded by the Mitch Miller Orchestra and Chorus, with Alan Dale.
Other solo performers are Rosalie Venza (“Home” by Kerry Marsch), and Joshua Boronkay (“You’re My Thrill” by classic pop composer Sidney Clare with Jay Gorney.)
Among other selections are “Words” by contemporary Swedish composer and singer Anders Edenroth, “Full Moon” by contemporary American composer, arranger and singer Sharon Broadley; “Boblicity” by jazz legend Miles Davis, and “Cookin’ at the Continental,” arranged by Marc Mazur.
Tickets for the combined Madrigal Singers and MRT concert are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Harley Muilenburg directing.
The HSU Madrigal Singers perform madrigals and folk songs from several cultures and eras in their spring concert with Mad River Transit, on Sunday May 4 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Both ensembles are directed by HSU professor Harley Muilenburg.
Students Jaclyn Catino and Katherine Kinley sing an a cappella duet, “Beatus Vir” by Renaissance composer, Orlande de Lassus. One of the most famous European composers of the 16th century, Lassus excelled in the Flemish-French polyphonic style.
Kenna Oliphant, Jacqueline Hernandez, Erin Donaldson, and Tiffany Guenter will sing a quartet with text by Shakespeare and music from the time of Queen Elizabeth I.
The ensemble of singers will perform works by composers ranging from English Renaissance era Thomas Morley to 19th century American Randall Thompson, and 20th century Anglo-Welsh Peter Warlock.
Then the Mad River Transit singers take over, performing in a variety of jazz, blues and popular styles. Vocalists are accompanied by Darius Brotman on piano, Robert Amirkhan on bass and Mike Munroe on drums.
Jessica Malone, Berol Steinberg, Kyle Blase and Claire Bent join Brotman and Amirkhan on “Blues for Jezebel” by Spokane Jazz Orchestra conductor Dan Keberle.
Melissa Modifer sings “Moon and Sand,” a 1950 ballad by versatile American composer Alex Wilder, whose work was recorded by artists as various as Billie Holiday, Keith Jarrett, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Dorsey, Mabel Mercer, Tony Bennett and the New York Woodwind Quintet. This song was first recorded by the Mitch Miller Orchestra and Chorus, with Alan Dale.
Other solo performers are Rosalie Venza (“Home” by Kerry Marsch), and Joshua Boronkay (“You’re My Thrill” by classic pop composer Sidney Clare with Jay Gorney.)
Among other selections are “Words” by contemporary Swedish composer and singer Anders Edenroth, “Full Moon” by contemporary American composer, arranger and singer Sharon Broadley; “Boblicity” by jazz legend Miles Davis, and “Cookin’ at the Continental,” arranged by Marc Mazur.
Tickets for the combined Madrigal Singers and MRT concert are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Harley Muilenburg directing.
The Madrigal Singers are: Elaina Caner, Jaclyn Catino, Jacqueline Hernandez, Katherine Kinley, Jemimah Lodes, Kenna Oliphant (Soprano I); Erin Donaldson, Corine Brown, Jessica Bittner, Tiffany Guenter (Soprano II); Jessical Breault, Claire Smith, Amy Kieffer, Dustie Winegar, Michele Sternberg (alto).
The MRT singers are: Laura Bogart, Jessica Malone, Rosalie Venza (soprano); Traci Alvarez, Calista LaBolle (middle); Claire Bent, Melissa Modifer (alto); Jamie Obeso, Bernie Steinberg, Jonathan Walton (tenor); Bryan Osper, Kyle Blase (baritone); Joshua Boronkay, Joseph Morf, Alex Saslow, Nick Tringale (bass.)
The MRT singers are: Laura Bogart, Jessica Malone, Rosalie Venza (soprano); Traci Alvarez, Calista LaBolle (middle); Claire Bent, Melissa Modifer (alto); Jamie Obeso, Bernie Steinberg, Jonathan Walton (tenor); Bryan Osper, Kyle Blase (baritone); Joshua Boronkay, Joseph Morf, Alex Saslow, Nick Tringale (bass.)
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Gamelan Sekar Jaya
Gamelan Sekar Jaya performs its first-ever Arcata concert of traditional Balinese gamelan and cutting-edge compositions, on Saturday, May 3 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. $10 general, $5 students from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Guest Music Director: Dewa Ketut Alit Adnyana. An HSU Dept. of Music production.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya performs its first-ever Arcata concert of traditional Balinese gamelan and cutting-edge compositions, on Saturday, May 3 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. $10 general, $5 students from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Guest Music Director: Dewa Ketut Alit Adnyana. An HSU Dept. of Music production.
Bay Area’s Gamelan Sekar Jaya in First Arcata Concert
Gamelan Sekar Jaya performs its first concert ever in Arcata, with pieces ranging from traditional dances to new hybrid forms of the Balinese music called gamelan.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya is the only group outside Bali to receive the Dharma Kusuma, Bali's highest award for artistic achievement. The company is renowned for its exploration of traditional and modern forms through long-term residencies with Bali's finest musicians and dancers. Formed in 1979 in the Bay Area, the orchestra has performed in venues ranging from remote village squares in Bali to LA's Hollywood Bowl.
The twenty musicians play on several sets of Balinese instruments, consisting of various combinations of bronze-keyed metallophones or bamboo marimbas, gongs, drums, flutes, and other instruments.
The Arcata concert will feature the lush bronze sonorities of two Balinese gamelan ensembles -- angklung, and gender wayang -- and the expressive movements of Balinese dance.
The group will be led by one of Bali's most esteemed musicians, I Dewa Ketut Alit Adnayna. He is a founding member of Bali's renowned ensemble Cudamani, which recently completed its third US tour.
The concert will include a refined devotional dance, Puja Santi, with original music by I Dewa Putu Berata; the masked dance Jauk, performed by I Made Moja, the delicate music of gender wayang, and traditional angklung music heard in Balinese temple festivals.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya performs its first Arcata concert on Saturday, May 3 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. $10 general, $5 students from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Guest Music Director: Dewa Ketut Alit Adnyana. An HSU Dept. of Music production.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya performs its first concert ever in Arcata, with pieces ranging from traditional dances to new hybrid forms of the Balinese music called gamelan.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya is the only group outside Bali to receive the Dharma Kusuma, Bali's highest award for artistic achievement. The company is renowned for its exploration of traditional and modern forms through long-term residencies with Bali's finest musicians and dancers. Formed in 1979 in the Bay Area, the orchestra has performed in venues ranging from remote village squares in Bali to LA's Hollywood Bowl.
The twenty musicians play on several sets of Balinese instruments, consisting of various combinations of bronze-keyed metallophones or bamboo marimbas, gongs, drums, flutes, and other instruments.
The Arcata concert will feature the lush bronze sonorities of two Balinese gamelan ensembles -- angklung, and gender wayang -- and the expressive movements of Balinese dance.
The group will be led by one of Bali's most esteemed musicians, I Dewa Ketut Alit Adnayna. He is a founding member of Bali's renowned ensemble Cudamani, which recently completed its third US tour.
The concert will include a refined devotional dance, Puja Santi, with original music by I Dewa Putu Berata; the masked dance Jauk, performed by I Made Moja, the delicate music of gender wayang, and traditional angklung music heard in Balinese temple festivals.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya performs its first Arcata concert on Saturday, May 3 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus. $10 general, $5 students from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Guest Music Director: Dewa Ketut Alit Adnyana. An HSU Dept. of Music production.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Humboldt Symphony
The Humboldt Symphony spring concert features works by Gershwin, Telemann and Stravinsky’s “The Firebird Suite” on FRIDAY MAY 2 at 8 PM and SUNDAY MAY 4 at 2 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Paul Cummings conducting.
The Humboldt Symphony spring concert features works by Gershwin, Telemann and Stravinsky’s “The Firebird Suite” on FRIDAY MAY 2 at 8 PM and SUNDAY MAY 4 at 2 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Paul Cummings conducting.
Two Soloists Headline Humboldt Symphony Spring Concert
HSU faculty member Dr. Gil Cline on trumpet and student Emily Loeffler on piano are the soloists for the Humboldt Symphony spring concert on Friday evening, May 2, and Sunday afternoon, May 4, in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.
Conducted by Paul Cummings, the Humboldt Symphony features works by two 20th century composers known for combining elements of classical and popular music—George Gershwin and Igor Stravinsky.
But first up is the Don Quixote Suite for string orchestra by Georg Philipp Telemann, a Baroque era contemporary of Bach who was among the most prolific composers of all time. This suite musically illustrating the classic Cervantes story was written late in Telemann’s long career.
Then the third movement of George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F features student pianist Emily Loeffler. Written between his best known pieces (“Raphsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris”), this Gershwin concerto has been praised as one of the high points of the modern era’s blending of European classical music with the rhythms and spirit of jazz and American musical theatre.
Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, who admired Gershwin and the Piano Concerto in particular, was another proponent of such blending. The Humboldt Symphony plays two sections of his famous Firebird Suite. As a young man, Stravinsky composed a ballet score for the Firebird which he later adapted for orchestra in several versions. It became his breakthrough work and remains one of his most familiar and influential compositions.
Between Gershwin and Stravinsky, the Humboldt Symphony performs the Trumpet Concerto by contemporary American composer Robert J. Bradshaw. HSU professor Dr. Gil Cline is the soloist for this work honoring the citizens of Sarajevo, who rebuilt their city that had been destroyed by civil war shortly after they hosted the 1984 winter Olympics.
The Humboldt Symphony spring concert begins at 8 PM on Friday, May 1, and at 2 PM on Sunday, May 3. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Paul Cummings conducting.
HSU faculty member Dr. Gil Cline on trumpet and student Emily Loeffler on piano are the soloists for the Humboldt Symphony spring concert on Friday evening, May 2, and Sunday afternoon, May 4, in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.
Conducted by Paul Cummings, the Humboldt Symphony features works by two 20th century composers known for combining elements of classical and popular music—George Gershwin and Igor Stravinsky.
But first up is the Don Quixote Suite for string orchestra by Georg Philipp Telemann, a Baroque era contemporary of Bach who was among the most prolific composers of all time. This suite musically illustrating the classic Cervantes story was written late in Telemann’s long career.
Then the third movement of George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F features student pianist Emily Loeffler. Written between his best known pieces (“Raphsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris”), this Gershwin concerto has been praised as one of the high points of the modern era’s blending of European classical music with the rhythms and spirit of jazz and American musical theatre.
Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, who admired Gershwin and the Piano Concerto in particular, was another proponent of such blending. The Humboldt Symphony plays two sections of his famous Firebird Suite. As a young man, Stravinsky composed a ballet score for the Firebird which he later adapted for orchestra in several versions. It became his breakthrough work and remains one of his most familiar and influential compositions.
Between Gershwin and Stravinsky, the Humboldt Symphony performs the Trumpet Concerto by contemporary American composer Robert J. Bradshaw. HSU professor Dr. Gil Cline is the soloist for this work honoring the citizens of Sarajevo, who rebuilt their city that had been destroyed by civil war shortly after they hosted the 1984 winter Olympics.
The Humboldt Symphony spring concert begins at 8 PM on Friday, May 1, and at 2 PM on Sunday, May 3. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Paul Cummings conducting.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
AM Jazz Band
The AM Jazz Band plays Ellington, Mingus, Freddie Hubbard and Tito Puente on Thursday, May 1 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Dan Aldag directing.
The AM Jazz Band plays Ellington, Mingus, Freddie Hubbard and Tito Puente on Thursday, May 1 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Dan Aldag directing.
From the 30s to Now with the AM Jazz Band
The AM Jazz Band plays jazz classics from a broad span of jazz history in their concert on Thursday, May 1 in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.
“The oldest tune will be performed with the newest arrangement,” said Dan Aldag, HSU Assistant Professor and director of the student ensemble. It’s Duke Ellington’s early 1930s composition, “In A Sentimental Mood,” as arranged by contemporary composer and jazz musician, Mark Taylor.
“Two of the tunes were written by great bass players,” Aldag noted. They are “Blues in the Closet” by Oscar Pettiford and “Jelly Roll” by Charles Mingus. A compatriot of Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Pettiford played in bands led by Duke Ellington and Woody Herman before leading his own bands and becoming a pioneer of bebop in the 1950s. As a player, bandleader and composer, Mingus was a noted innovator, especially in the 1960s. He often wrote for mid-sized jazz ensembles like the AM Jazz Band, earning the reputation as the heir to Duke Ellington. His tune is a tribute to a jazz pioneer of an earlier age, Jelly Roll Morton.
“Red Clay” was written by trumpet player Freddie Hubbard in the 1970s, and is one of the standards of the jazz fusion era. Though many know the song “Oye Como Va” from the 1970s Santana recording, the Cuban timbalero and band leader, Tito Puente wrote and recorded it in 1963. “The arrangement that the AM Jazz Band plays hews closely to the Latin jazz style of Puente's original recording,” Aldag said.
The program is rounded out by "Bone Talk,"which features the entire trombone section.
Tickets for the AM Jazz Band concert on Thursday, May 1 are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the Fulkerson Recital Hall door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Dan Aldag directing.
The AM Jazz Band plays jazz classics from a broad span of jazz history in their concert on Thursday, May 1 in Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata.
“The oldest tune will be performed with the newest arrangement,” said Dan Aldag, HSU Assistant Professor and director of the student ensemble. It’s Duke Ellington’s early 1930s composition, “In A Sentimental Mood,” as arranged by contemporary composer and jazz musician, Mark Taylor.
“Two of the tunes were written by great bass players,” Aldag noted. They are “Blues in the Closet” by Oscar Pettiford and “Jelly Roll” by Charles Mingus. A compatriot of Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Pettiford played in bands led by Duke Ellington and Woody Herman before leading his own bands and becoming a pioneer of bebop in the 1950s. As a player, bandleader and composer, Mingus was a noted innovator, especially in the 1960s. He often wrote for mid-sized jazz ensembles like the AM Jazz Band, earning the reputation as the heir to Duke Ellington. His tune is a tribute to a jazz pioneer of an earlier age, Jelly Roll Morton.
“Red Clay” was written by trumpet player Freddie Hubbard in the 1970s, and is one of the standards of the jazz fusion era. Though many know the song “Oye Como Va” from the 1970s Santana recording, the Cuban timbalero and band leader, Tito Puente wrote and recorded it in 1963. “The arrangement that the AM Jazz Band plays hews closely to the Latin jazz style of Puente's original recording,” Aldag said.
The program is rounded out by "Bone Talk,"which features the entire trombone section.
Tickets for the AM Jazz Band concert on Thursday, May 1 are $7 general, $3 students and seniors, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the Fulkerson Recital Hall door. HSU students free with ID. Produced by HSU Department of Music, Dan Aldag directing.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Percussion Ensemble & Calypso Band
HSU Percussion Ensemble presents contemporary andexperimental compositions plus music based on traditional styles of Brazil, Africa & the Caribbean, and the Calypso Band features its festive dance rhythms on Saturday, April 26 at 8 PM in the Van Duzer Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Admission $7 general, $3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928), the Works in Eureka and Arcata, and The Metro in Arcata, or at the door. First 50 HSU students free with ID. Directed by Howard Kaufman and Dr. Eugene Novotney; HSU Music Department production.
HSU Percussion Ensemble presents contemporary andexperimental compositions plus music based on traditional styles of Brazil, Africa & the Caribbean, and the Calypso Band features its festive dance rhythms on Saturday, April 26 at 8 PM in the Van Duzer Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Admission $7 general, $3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928), the Works in Eureka and Arcata, and The Metro in Arcata, or at the door. First 50 HSU students free with ID. Directed by Howard Kaufman and Dr. Eugene Novotney; HSU Music Department production.
Spring Rhythms with the HSU Percussion Ensemble and Calypso Band
It wouldn’t be an HSU Percussion Ensemble concert without an array of exotic instruments playing complex rhythms from around the world—and this spring is no exception.
The featured work on Saturday evening, April 26 will be “Ketjak” by renowned Japanese composer, Akira Nishimura. Scored for six percussionists playing multiple instruments, this piece is based on the famous Balinese "Monkey Chant," in which 100 men sit in a concentric circle and chant in complex interlocking rhythm.
“This piece captures the deep emotion of the ‘Monkey Chant’ in a dramatic percussive orchestration,” said Dr. Eugene Novotney, director of the Percussion Orchestra. “It pushes the six players to the limits of their technique and musicality.”
The concert includes two of Novotney’s compositions. Both works showcase unusual instruments. “Scratch” is composed for a quartet of Guiros (scrapers), and “SEAR/CHING” for a quartet of hand-made tube-o-phones, producing unusual sounds due in part to their tuning (19-tone rather than 12-tone equal temperment), unfamiliar to western ears.
A suite of traditional Mandeng (West African) drumming, and a Brazilian Samba arranged for authentic indigenous instruments will conclude the Percussion Ensemble’s half of the show.
Then the ever-popular Humboldt State Calypso Band takes over, with the emphasis this year on Panorama compositions: the high-energy dance music of the Caribbean Carnival in Trinidad and Tabago.
“The Band prides itself in maintaining an accurate and authentic connection to the roots of the steel band movement and the innovative musicians of Trinidad, where this music was born,” Dr. Novotney said.
In addition to its regular performances at Humboldt State and throughout Northern California, the band has undertaken tours to San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities in northern and southern California, as well as Eugene, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.
The HSU Percussion Ensemble and the Humboldt State Calypso Band perform on Saturday, April 26 at 8 PM in the Van Duzer Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Admission $7 general, $3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928), the Works in Eureka and Arcata, and The Metro in Arcata, or at the door. First 50 HSU students free with ID. Directed by Howard Kaufman and Dr. Eugene Novotney; HSU Music Department production.
It wouldn’t be an HSU Percussion Ensemble concert without an array of exotic instruments playing complex rhythms from around the world—and this spring is no exception.
The featured work on Saturday evening, April 26 will be “Ketjak” by renowned Japanese composer, Akira Nishimura. Scored for six percussionists playing multiple instruments, this piece is based on the famous Balinese "Monkey Chant," in which 100 men sit in a concentric circle and chant in complex interlocking rhythm.
“This piece captures the deep emotion of the ‘Monkey Chant’ in a dramatic percussive orchestration,” said Dr. Eugene Novotney, director of the Percussion Orchestra. “It pushes the six players to the limits of their technique and musicality.”
The concert includes two of Novotney’s compositions. Both works showcase unusual instruments. “Scratch” is composed for a quartet of Guiros (scrapers), and “SEAR/CHING” for a quartet of hand-made tube-o-phones, producing unusual sounds due in part to their tuning (19-tone rather than 12-tone equal temperment), unfamiliar to western ears.
A suite of traditional Mandeng (West African) drumming, and a Brazilian Samba arranged for authentic indigenous instruments will conclude the Percussion Ensemble’s half of the show.
Then the ever-popular Humboldt State Calypso Band takes over, with the emphasis this year on Panorama compositions: the high-energy dance music of the Caribbean Carnival in Trinidad and Tabago.
“The Band prides itself in maintaining an accurate and authentic connection to the roots of the steel band movement and the innovative musicians of Trinidad, where this music was born,” Dr. Novotney said.
In addition to its regular performances at Humboldt State and throughout Northern California, the band has undertaken tours to San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities in northern and southern California, as well as Eugene, Oregon and Seattle, Washington.
The HSU Percussion Ensemble and the Humboldt State Calypso Band perform on Saturday, April 26 at 8 PM in the Van Duzer Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Admission $7 general, $3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928), the Works in Eureka and Arcata, and The Metro in Arcata, or at the door. First 50 HSU students free with ID. Directed by Howard Kaufman and Dr. Eugene Novotney; HSU Music Department production.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Symphonic Band
HSU Symphonic Band plays music from “West Side Story” among other selections in its spring concert on April 25 AT 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Paul Cummings, conductor; produced by HSU Music Department.
HSU Symphonic Band plays music from “West Side Story” among other selections in its spring concert on April 25 AT 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Paul Cummings, conductor; produced by HSU Music Department.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Symphonic Band Spring Concert Dances to “West Side Story”
The HSU Symphonic Band, conduced by Paul Cummings, returns from a performance tour for its spring concert on April 25.
The concert gets off to a rousing start with the “Florentiner March” by Julius Fucik, a Czech composer and military band conductor, known in the early 20th century as the “Bohemian Sousa.” His music is still a staple on patriotic occasions in the Czech Republic. (One of his tunes, “Entrance of the Gladiators,” is often heard at the entrance of circus clowns.) “Florentiner March” is considered a showcase for wind ensembles.
The “Suite Francaise” was written by French composer Darius Milhaud towards the end of World War II, especially for American audiences. It has five sections, each named after one of the French provinces-- ” the very ones,” the composer has written, “ in which the American and Allied armies fought together with the French underground for the liberation of my country.”
“I used some folk tunes of these provinces,” Milhaud commented. “I wanted the young American to hear the popular melodies of those parts of France where their fathers and brothers fought to defeat the German invaders.”
“Antithigram” by contemporary American composer and wind ensemble conductor Jack Stamp, will be conducted by student Kearney Vander Sal.
The concert concludes with “Four Dances from ‘West Side Story’” by Leonard Bernstein. Music from the popular Broadway show and Academy Award-winning film is adapted in four sections, including a Mambo, a cha-cha, and a fugue called “Cool.”
The HSU Symphonic Band performs its spring concert on April 25 AT 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Paul Cummings, conductor; produced by HSU Music Department.
The HSU Symphonic Band, conduced by Paul Cummings, returns from a performance tour for its spring concert on April 25.
The concert gets off to a rousing start with the “Florentiner March” by Julius Fucik, a Czech composer and military band conductor, known in the early 20th century as the “Bohemian Sousa.” His music is still a staple on patriotic occasions in the Czech Republic. (One of his tunes, “Entrance of the Gladiators,” is often heard at the entrance of circus clowns.) “Florentiner March” is considered a showcase for wind ensembles.
The “Suite Francaise” was written by French composer Darius Milhaud towards the end of World War II, especially for American audiences. It has five sections, each named after one of the French provinces-- ” the very ones,” the composer has written, “ in which the American and Allied armies fought together with the French underground for the liberation of my country.”
“I used some folk tunes of these provinces,” Milhaud commented. “I wanted the young American to hear the popular melodies of those parts of France where their fathers and brothers fought to defeat the German invaders.”
“Antithigram” by contemporary American composer and wind ensemble conductor Jack Stamp, will be conducted by student Kearney Vander Sal.
The concert concludes with “Four Dances from ‘West Side Story’” by Leonard Bernstein. Music from the popular Broadway show and Academy Award-winning film is adapted in four sections, including a Mambo, a cha-cha, and a fugue called “Cool.”
The HSU Symphonic Band performs its spring concert on April 25 AT 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. HSU students free with ID. Paul Cummings, conductor; produced by HSU Music Department.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Jazz Weekend: Jazz Combos and Jazz Orchestra
Two jazz quartets and one trio feature an array of styles to begin HSU’s annual jazz weekend, on Friday, April 18. Jazz weekend continues with the HSU Jazz Orchestra in a program with a south-of-the-border flavor, on Saturday, April 19. Both concerts begin at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets for each performance 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 Music Department production; Dan Aldag, director.
Two jazz quartets and one trio feature an array of styles to begin HSU’s annual jazz weekend, on Friday, April 18. Jazz weekend continues with the HSU Jazz Orchestra in a program with a south-of-the-border flavor, on Saturday, April 19. Both concerts begin at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets for each performance 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 Music Department production; Dan Aldag, director.
Jazz Weekend at HSU
Three Jazz Combos kick off the spring jazz weekend at the Fulkerson Recital Hall on Friday, April 18.
The fusion-oriented Wednesday Quartet performs “4 Ton Mantis" by Amon Tobin, a Montreal-based DJ and producer, and "3 Deuces" by the electric bassist and producer Marcus Miller.
Brian Jones on alto sax and guitar, Leo Echazábal on tenor sax, Rachel Hrdina on piano, Cullen Miller on bass and Gabriel Ben-Shalom on drums follow these new compositions with contemporary arrangements of two older jazz tunes: John Coltrane's "Lonnie's Lament" and Joe Zawinul's "Scotch and Water".
The Friday Trio has a unique drummerless instrumentation, with Clay Carey on tenor sax, Ali Chaudhary on guitar and Maia Wiitala on bass. They will perform Miles Davis's "So What", "Beatrice" by Sam Rivers and an original composition by Maia Wiitala.The Friday Quartet consists of Sky Miller on tenor sax, Joel Bettencourt on piano, Bobby Amirkhan on bass and Mike Munroe on drums. They will play Wayne Shorter's classic "Footprints, "Question and Answer" by Pat Metheny, and two originals: Amirkhan’s "Goodbye's Not Forever" and Bettencourt’s "Quick Trip, Long Jaunt."
On Saturday, April 19, the Jazz Orchestra takes the Fulkerson Recital Hall stage, in a concert that includes two renowned compositions from Latin America.
The first is “Libertango,” which Assistant Professor of Music and director of the Jazz Orchestra Dan Aldag describes as “probably the most famous piece by the great Argentinian composer and bandoneon playerAstor Piazzolla.” The bandoneon is an instrument related to the concertina and accordion, often associated with Argentine tangos. “Since there's no one in Humboldt County with a bandoneon,” Aldag said,”we're being joined by HSU alum Issa Stemler on accordion, the next best thing.”
Also on the program is the three-movement "Panama Suite" by the Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Perez. “It combines the rhythms of traditional Panamanian music with the harmonies of contemporary jazz,” Aldag said. “This piece requires two extra percussionists (on bongos and conga) andthree vocalists.”
Jazz of a more conventional nature is represented by anew arrangement of a piece from the Miles Davis "Birth Of The Cool" album called "Israel" by John Carisi, and by "Alright, OK, You Win," a number recorded by the great singer, Joe Williams, with the Count Basie Orchestra. HSU Jazz Orchestra saxophonist Brian Jones will perform the vocal.
Performing Toshiko Akiyoshi's "I Ain't Gonna AskNo More," graduating senior Kearney Vander Sal will play the rarely featured bass trombone. Rounding out the evening will be a classic 1930 Duke Ellingtoncomposition, "Old Man Blues" and an improvised arrangement of "Freddie Freeloader" by Miles Davis.
Both the Jazz Combos performance on Friday and the Jazz Orchestra on Saturday will begin at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets for each concert are $7 general, $3 students/seniors from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Both are free to HSU students with ID.
Three Jazz Combos kick off the spring jazz weekend at the Fulkerson Recital Hall on Friday, April 18.
The fusion-oriented Wednesday Quartet performs “4 Ton Mantis" by Amon Tobin, a Montreal-based DJ and producer, and "3 Deuces" by the electric bassist and producer Marcus Miller.
Brian Jones on alto sax and guitar, Leo Echazábal on tenor sax, Rachel Hrdina on piano, Cullen Miller on bass and Gabriel Ben-Shalom on drums follow these new compositions with contemporary arrangements of two older jazz tunes: John Coltrane's "Lonnie's Lament" and Joe Zawinul's "Scotch and Water".
The Friday Trio has a unique drummerless instrumentation, with Clay Carey on tenor sax, Ali Chaudhary on guitar and Maia Wiitala on bass. They will perform Miles Davis's "So What", "Beatrice" by Sam Rivers and an original composition by Maia Wiitala.The Friday Quartet consists of Sky Miller on tenor sax, Joel Bettencourt on piano, Bobby Amirkhan on bass and Mike Munroe on drums. They will play Wayne Shorter's classic "Footprints, "Question and Answer" by Pat Metheny, and two originals: Amirkhan’s "Goodbye's Not Forever" and Bettencourt’s "Quick Trip, Long Jaunt."
On Saturday, April 19, the Jazz Orchestra takes the Fulkerson Recital Hall stage, in a concert that includes two renowned compositions from Latin America.
The first is “Libertango,” which Assistant Professor of Music and director of the Jazz Orchestra Dan Aldag describes as “probably the most famous piece by the great Argentinian composer and bandoneon playerAstor Piazzolla.” The bandoneon is an instrument related to the concertina and accordion, often associated with Argentine tangos. “Since there's no one in Humboldt County with a bandoneon,” Aldag said,”we're being joined by HSU alum Issa Stemler on accordion, the next best thing.”
Also on the program is the three-movement "Panama Suite" by the Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Perez. “It combines the rhythms of traditional Panamanian music with the harmonies of contemporary jazz,” Aldag said. “This piece requires two extra percussionists (on bongos and conga) andthree vocalists.”
Jazz of a more conventional nature is represented by anew arrangement of a piece from the Miles Davis "Birth Of The Cool" album called "Israel" by John Carisi, and by "Alright, OK, You Win," a number recorded by the great singer, Joe Williams, with the Count Basie Orchestra. HSU Jazz Orchestra saxophonist Brian Jones will perform the vocal.
Performing Toshiko Akiyoshi's "I Ain't Gonna AskNo More," graduating senior Kearney Vander Sal will play the rarely featured bass trombone. Rounding out the evening will be a classic 1930 Duke Ellingtoncomposition, "Old Man Blues" and an improvised arrangement of "Freddie Freeloader" by Miles Davis.
Both the Jazz Combos performance on Friday and the Jazz Orchestra on Saturday will begin at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets for each concert are $7 general, $3 students/seniors from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Both are free to HSU students with ID.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Ching-Ming Cheng
Pianist Ching-Ming Cheng will play works by Bach, Schumann, Ravel and Scriabin in her first solo recital as an HSU faculty member on Sunday April 13 at 4 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. This Faculty Artists Series concert is produced by the HSU Music department.
Pianist Ching-Ming Cheng will play works by Bach, Schumann, Ravel and Scriabin in her first solo recital as an HSU faculty member on Sunday April 13 at 4 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. This Faculty Artists Series concert is produced by the HSU Music department.
Different, Difficult and Fun to Play: Ching-Ming Cheng’s First Solo Piano Recital at HSU
Ching-Ming Cheng didn’t have a particular theme in mind in choosing music for her first solo piano recital as an HSU Music Department faculty member. But the pieces she chose for her concert on Sunday afternoon, April 13, turn out to have several elements in common: variety, difficulty, and music she loves to play.
She might have begun with a more obvious selection from Johann Sebastian Bach, but she chose the Toccata in E minor. “Because of the variety,” she said. “It starts slow, then goes to a moderate fugue, then an improvisation section, and then a very fast section, which is another fugue. The Toccata has a little of everything.”
Her next selection is “Kreisleriana” by 19th century German composer Robert Schumann, which has a very specific kind of variety. “It contains two opposite characters in one piece, just as some believe he had two different personalities—an impulsive side and a tender side. This is probably one of Schumann’s finest piano compositions.”
She begins the second half of her recital with Sonata No. 2 by the Russian composer, Alexander Scriabin, which he wrote at the end of the 19th century.
“This is also called the “Sonata-Fantasy” because the first movement is a kind of fantasy—it has an improvisational feel to it,” she said. “It’s a very beautiful movement. It’s very hard to memorize, actually—it has four different voices going on the whole time. Every time I play it, it’s more and more fun. But the second movement is very straightforward and very fast-- totally opposite to what we hear in the first movement.” Contrast and variety.
The final piece on the program is “Alborada del Gracioso,” a section from a larger work by 20th century Basque-French composer, Maurice Ravel. “This is probably one of the most difficult pieces in the piano repertoire,” she admits. “It doesn’t sound very difficult, but it’s very hard to play. But it’s got a lot of variety, and once you have it down, it’s a pleasure to play.”
Ching-Ming Cheng performed with violinist Cindy Moyer in a concert at HSU this past November, but April 13 will be her first solo performance as an HSU faculty member. She teaches piano, ear-training, accompanying and piano literature.
Originally from Taiwan, she studied piano and earned her masters and her doctorate at the University of Miami. After teaching there and at Barry University in Florida, she came to HSU in 2007.
Ching-Ming Cheng plays works by Bach, Schumann, Ravel and Scriabin on Sunday April 13 at 4 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. This Faculty Artists Series concert is produced by the HSU Music department.
Additional Notes:
“Kreisleriana” by Robert Schumann is an eight movement piece composed for solo piano in 1838, dedicated to Frederic Chopin. The title may refer to the fictional character, Johannes Kreisler, a manic-depressive poet in three books by E.T.A. Hoffmann.
Alexander Scriabin wrote ten piano sonatas over a period of 11 years. But Sonata No. 2 alone took him five years to complete.
“Alborada del Gracioso” by Maurice Ravel is one of five sections of the solo piano work, “Miroirs” (or Reflections, meaning the reflections in a mirror.) Each section is dedicated to a specific individual. This section, which translates roughly as the jester’s song, was dedicated to music critic and writer Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi, who wrote the text to Ravel’s composition, “Cinq mélodies populaires grecques.” Ravel later scored this section of “Miroirs” for orchestra.
media: photo and story at Humboldt State Now.
Ching-Ming Cheng didn’t have a particular theme in mind in choosing music for her first solo piano recital as an HSU Music Department faculty member. But the pieces she chose for her concert on Sunday afternoon, April 13, turn out to have several elements in common: variety, difficulty, and music she loves to play.
She might have begun with a more obvious selection from Johann Sebastian Bach, but she chose the Toccata in E minor. “Because of the variety,” she said. “It starts slow, then goes to a moderate fugue, then an improvisation section, and then a very fast section, which is another fugue. The Toccata has a little of everything.”
Her next selection is “Kreisleriana” by 19th century German composer Robert Schumann, which has a very specific kind of variety. “It contains two opposite characters in one piece, just as some believe he had two different personalities—an impulsive side and a tender side. This is probably one of Schumann’s finest piano compositions.”
She begins the second half of her recital with Sonata No. 2 by the Russian composer, Alexander Scriabin, which he wrote at the end of the 19th century.
“This is also called the “Sonata-Fantasy” because the first movement is a kind of fantasy—it has an improvisational feel to it,” she said. “It’s a very beautiful movement. It’s very hard to memorize, actually—it has four different voices going on the whole time. Every time I play it, it’s more and more fun. But the second movement is very straightforward and very fast-- totally opposite to what we hear in the first movement.” Contrast and variety.
The final piece on the program is “Alborada del Gracioso,” a section from a larger work by 20th century Basque-French composer, Maurice Ravel. “This is probably one of the most difficult pieces in the piano repertoire,” she admits. “It doesn’t sound very difficult, but it’s very hard to play. But it’s got a lot of variety, and once you have it down, it’s a pleasure to play.”
Ching-Ming Cheng performed with violinist Cindy Moyer in a concert at HSU this past November, but April 13 will be her first solo performance as an HSU faculty member. She teaches piano, ear-training, accompanying and piano literature.
Originally from Taiwan, she studied piano and earned her masters and her doctorate at the University of Miami. After teaching there and at Barry University in Florida, she came to HSU in 2007.
Ching-Ming Cheng plays works by Bach, Schumann, Ravel and Scriabin on Sunday April 13 at 4 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. This Faculty Artists Series concert is produced by the HSU Music department.
Additional Notes:
“Kreisleriana” by Robert Schumann is an eight movement piece composed for solo piano in 1838, dedicated to Frederic Chopin. The title may refer to the fictional character, Johannes Kreisler, a manic-depressive poet in three books by E.T.A. Hoffmann.
Alexander Scriabin wrote ten piano sonatas over a period of 11 years. But Sonata No. 2 alone took him five years to complete.
“Alborada del Gracioso” by Maurice Ravel is one of five sections of the solo piano work, “Miroirs” (or Reflections, meaning the reflections in a mirror.) Each section is dedicated to a specific individual. This section, which translates roughly as the jester’s song, was dedicated to music critic and writer Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi, who wrote the text to Ravel’s composition, “Cinq mélodies populaires grecques.” Ravel later scored this section of “Miroirs” for orchestra.
media: photo and story at Humboldt State Now.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Opera Workshop
The HSU Opera Workshop performs scenes from opera and musical theatre in its annual concert on Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12 at 8 PM 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 Music Department production; Elisabeth Harrington, artistic director.
The HSU Opera Workshop performs scenes from opera and musical theatre in its annual concert on Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12 at 8 PM 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 Music Department production; Elisabeth Harrington, artistic director.
Interpretations and Improvisations by the HSU Opera Workshop
The annual spring concert of the HSU Opera Workshop on April 11th and 12th features scenes from both opera and musical theatre.
For example, from the operatic repertoire, students will perform Act I of “La Serva Padrona” by the 18th century Italian composer, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and a scene from “Dialogues of the Carmelites” by 20th century French composer Francis Poulenc.
From musical theatre, they will perform two selections by Stephen Sondheim. Also featured will be three fables from “Fables: Five Very Short Operas” by contemporary American composer Ned Rorem.
But in addition to these interpretations of standard works, there will be some one-of-a-kind moments.
“In true workshop fashion, the students have created three original, semi-improvised ‘opera’ scenes,” said Elisabeth Harrington, HSU Assistant Professor of Voice and the Workshop’s Artistic Director. “Our spontaneous and very intuitive staff accompanist John Chernoff will provide interactive background music for them.”
One of these improvisations as well as the Rorem fables are directed by senior vocal performance major Kirsten Randrup.
The Opera Workshop has 23 students this semester,” Dr. Harrington said. “Mostly voice majors, but a few theatre majors as well as two science majors.” Opera Workshop performances are acted as well as sung.
The HSU Opera Workshop will perform on Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12 at 8 PM 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 Music Department production; Elisabeth Harrington, artistic director.
media: photo with calendar in North Coast Journal and Times-Standard Northern Lights.
The annual spring concert of the HSU Opera Workshop on April 11th and 12th features scenes from both opera and musical theatre.
For example, from the operatic repertoire, students will perform Act I of “La Serva Padrona” by the 18th century Italian composer, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and a scene from “Dialogues of the Carmelites” by 20th century French composer Francis Poulenc.
From musical theatre, they will perform two selections by Stephen Sondheim. Also featured will be three fables from “Fables: Five Very Short Operas” by contemporary American composer Ned Rorem.
But in addition to these interpretations of standard works, there will be some one-of-a-kind moments.
“In true workshop fashion, the students have created three original, semi-improvised ‘opera’ scenes,” said Elisabeth Harrington, HSU Assistant Professor of Voice and the Workshop’s Artistic Director. “Our spontaneous and very intuitive staff accompanist John Chernoff will provide interactive background music for them.”
One of these improvisations as well as the Rorem fables are directed by senior vocal performance major Kirsten Randrup.
The Opera Workshop has 23 students this semester,” Dr. Harrington said. “Mostly voice majors, but a few theatre majors as well as two science majors.” Opera Workshop performances are acted as well as sung.
The HSU Opera Workshop will perform on Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12 at 8 PM 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 Music Department production; Elisabeth Harrington, artistic director.
media: photo with calendar in North Coast Journal and Times-Standard Northern Lights.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Pipe Organ and Brass Concert
HSU’s newly restored baroque-style pipe organ goes into action for a concert also featuring several brass ensembles, on Saturday, April 5 at 8 PM in Armstrong Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 seniors/students, HSU students free with ID, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.
HSU’s newly restored baroque-style pipe organ goes into action for a concert also featuring several brass ensembles, on Saturday, April 5 at 8 PM in Armstrong Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 seniors/students, HSU students free with ID, from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.
Live Surround Sound as Pipe Organ Meets Brass at HSU
With music played “in the grand Venetian style of San Marco,” HSU professor Gil Cline promises a “sort of ‘surround sound experience’ as a high point of the concert on Saturday, April 5, featuring the newly restored baroque-style pipe organ and several brass ensembles playing a variety of period instruments.
The concert last fall celebrating the dedication of the newly restored Bosch organ at HSU naturally emphasized what the organ itself could do. But the upcoming concert will include “more ensemble playing, a strong suit of the Bosch organ,” Cline said.
In addition to a return by organists Douglas Moorehead and Merry Schellinger (both local members of the American Guild of Organists), student Rebecka Ross will play the organ along with three small brass ensembles organized specifically for this concert. HSU students along with Professor Cline will perform on natural trumpets and other period instruments which Cline simply calls, “a variety of old trombones.” They will also play a rare baroque timpani on loan from the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra of Ashland, Oregon.
The concert begins with “Fanfare du Roi” by Josquin, a Flemish-French Renaissance composer. Published in 1500, it is one of the earliest pieces in print. Other works include 17th century sonatas for the trombone family of alto, tenor, and great bass trombone.
The piece providing the “surround sound experience” will be the “antiphonal, divided choir music” by 16th century Venetian organist and composer Giuseppe Guami, and Giovanni Gabrieli, a composer and organist of the Venetian School during the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period.
Concluding the concert is the “Three Dot Fanfare” written for the 2002 San Francisco Herb Caen Days and premiered at Grace Cathedral. “Concert-goers will hear tones and instruments seldom heard in Humboldt County,” Cline promises, “or anywhere else, for that matter.”
Brass players in the ensembles include Frederick Belanger, Tristan Kadish, Perry Crook, Ari Davie, Kyle Kaufman, and Eric Oiler, trumpets; Bodie Pfost, Talon Nansel, Leah Jmaeff, and Toshi Noguchi, trombones and sackbuts. The large ensemble also includes bassist Bobby Amirkhan and percussionist Brett Huska.
The concert begins at 8 PM on Saturday, April 5 on the HSU campus in Arcata. Unlike most concerts at HSU, which are held in the Fulkerson Recital Hall or the Van Duzer Theatre, the pipe organ and brass concert will be performed in Armstrong Hall (Room 131 of the music building)—because that’s where the Bosch pipe organ lives. Seating is limited, so purchasing tickets early through the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) is recommended.
With music played “in the grand Venetian style of San Marco,” HSU professor Gil Cline promises a “sort of ‘surround sound experience’ as a high point of the concert on Saturday, April 5, featuring the newly restored baroque-style pipe organ and several brass ensembles playing a variety of period instruments.
The concert last fall celebrating the dedication of the newly restored Bosch organ at HSU naturally emphasized what the organ itself could do. But the upcoming concert will include “more ensemble playing, a strong suit of the Bosch organ,” Cline said.
In addition to a return by organists Douglas Moorehead and Merry Schellinger (both local members of the American Guild of Organists), student Rebecka Ross will play the organ along with three small brass ensembles organized specifically for this concert. HSU students along with Professor Cline will perform on natural trumpets and other period instruments which Cline simply calls, “a variety of old trombones.” They will also play a rare baroque timpani on loan from the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra of Ashland, Oregon.
The concert begins with “Fanfare du Roi” by Josquin, a Flemish-French Renaissance composer. Published in 1500, it is one of the earliest pieces in print. Other works include 17th century sonatas for the trombone family of alto, tenor, and great bass trombone.
The piece providing the “surround sound experience” will be the “antiphonal, divided choir music” by 16th century Venetian organist and composer Giuseppe Guami, and Giovanni Gabrieli, a composer and organist of the Venetian School during the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque period.
Concluding the concert is the “Three Dot Fanfare” written for the 2002 San Francisco Herb Caen Days and premiered at Grace Cathedral. “Concert-goers will hear tones and instruments seldom heard in Humboldt County,” Cline promises, “or anywhere else, for that matter.”
Brass players in the ensembles include Frederick Belanger, Tristan Kadish, Perry Crook, Ari Davie, Kyle Kaufman, and Eric Oiler, trumpets; Bodie Pfost, Talon Nansel, Leah Jmaeff, and Toshi Noguchi, trombones and sackbuts. The large ensemble also includes bassist Bobby Amirkhan and percussionist Brett Huska.
The concert begins at 8 PM on Saturday, April 5 on the HSU campus in Arcata. Unlike most concerts at HSU, which are held in the Fulkerson Recital Hall or the Van Duzer Theatre, the pipe organ and brass concert will be performed in Armstrong Hall (Room 131 of the music building)—because that’s where the Bosch pipe organ lives. Seating is limited, so purchasing tickets early through the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) is recommended.
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