Elisabeth Harrington & Friends: The Program

Elisabeth Harrington, soprano
Christopher Hatcher, baritone
Laura Snodgrass, flute
Gil Cline, trumpet
John Chernoff, piano
Robin Miller, piano
Jonathan Webster, piano

Alleluia from Exsultate, Jubilate by W. A. Mozart
(1756-1791)

Gil Cline, trumpet in B-flat
Robin Miller, piano


Les adieux de l’hôtesse arabe by Georges Bizet
(1838-1875)

from Les Pêcheurs de perles
“Me voilà seule dans la nuit…Comme autrefois”

John Chernoff, piano


Trois Chants de Noel for Soprano, Flute and Piano by Frank Martin (1890-1974):
Les Cadeaux
Image de Noël
Les Bergers

Laura Snodgrass, flute
John Chernoff, piano


Pavane Opus 50 Gabriel Fauré
(1845-1924)

Laura Snodgrass, flute
Christpher Hatcher, baritone
Jonathan Webster, piano

~intermission~

from Act I of Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti
(1797-1848)
Recitative: “Quel guardo il cavaliere” Aria: “So anch’io la virtù magica
Recitative: “E il dottor no si vede!…”
Duet: “Pronta io son”

Christopher Hatcher, baritone
Jonathan Webster, piano


By Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956):
Wild Swans
Heaven
Finding Home

John Chernoff, piano


Jeanine Tesori: "The Girl in 14G"
from Kristin Chenowith – Let Yourself Go

Robin Miller, piano

Legendary Pianist Natalya Antonova in Class and All-Chopin Concert at HSU

Natalya Antonova is the definition of a living legend, as a pianist and as a teacher. She is coming to Humboldt State University in both of these roles, culminating in an all-Chopin concert on Saturday evening, October 2. For local audiences and students “it’s an incredible opportunity,” said pianist and HSU Music professor Daniela Mineva.

As a performer, Antonova is “a superb stylist and extraordinary technician,” Mineva said. “Her gloriously artistic playing seduces with sensitivity and powerful interpretations. Many of her peers refer to her piano recitals as life-changing events.”

Natalya Antonova began studying piano at the age of four at the Leningrad Conservatory, where she would later become the youngest professor since the school’s founding in 1862. She has performed throughout the world, participating in many international festivals, and has given hundreds of master classes and lectures, from the Moscow Academy of Music and the Paris Conservatory to the New England Conservatory and Taiwan University.

"She represents the best of the famous Russian School of Piano Playing," Mineva said, referring to a set of approaches and techniques originally developed in the 19th century, which also honors individuality.

At HSU her solo concert will honor the 200th anniversary year of Frederic Chopin’s birth, providing a diverse sampling of his work beginning with his first published piece, the Rondo in C Minor. “Chopin banished the ordinary from his music, and opened the door to an emotional ambiguity that continues to intrigue listeners,” writes NPR’s Ted Libbey. “Every piece he produced was a pearl.”

Antonova will play Chopin’s Scherzo #1 in B Minor and his Fantasy in F Minor. In the concert’s second half, she performs 10 of the 24 Preludes Chopin composed in the 1830s as a series of short pieces, each in one of the 24 musical keys. She concludes with a two movement work, Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante, originally published as a work for piano and orchestra.

Currently a professor at the Eastman School of Music, Antonova is also a legendary teacher, with many successful international pianists among her former students. In addition to her performance, she will teach a Piano Master Class in Fulkerson Hall at HSU at noon on October 1, free to HSU students and the community. “As a teacher,” said Daniela Mineva, “Ms. Antonova is simply magical.”

Natalya Antonova performs an all-Chopin concert on Saturday October 2 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 Guest Artist Series concert produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Media: lead story at Humboldt State Now; Tri-City Weekly, Arcata Eye, Humboldt Beacon, North Coast Journal.

Natalya Antonova: The Program


Dedicated to the 200th year anniversary of Chopin

First part:

Rondo c-minor op 1

Scherzo #1 b-minor op 20

Fantasy f-minor op 49

Second part:

10 preludes op 28

Andante Spianato and Grand Brilliant Polonaise op 22

New Trio Plays New Trio: Vipisa’s Debut with World Premiere

It’s a new trio premiering new music. But of course, there’s a backstory.

“We played together last fall,” explained violinist and HSU Music professor Cindy Moyer, referring to her colleagues, Virginia Ryder on saxophone and clarinet, and pianist John Chernoff. “We were having so much fun that we decided to make it a permanent group.”

Hence the Vipisa Trio. But who—or where, or what—is Vipisa? An obscure but important historical figure? The hidden birthplace of a musical genius? A corporate sponsor? Their favorite toothpaste?

“We made it up,” Moyer confessed. “It’s the first letters of ‘VIolin,’ ‘PIano’ and ‘SAxophone.’”

Fittingly enough for their first official concert, the Vipisa Trio will perform a World Premiere, of the Trio of Piano, Violin, and Alto Saxophone by contemporary jazz and rock artist and composer David Morgan, of the David Morgan Trio.

In fact, the music is so fresh that the composer was sending it “hot off the presses” directly to Vipisa. Of the five movements, “the first two have been performed many times, and we performed the third last fall,” Moyer said. “But our performance on the 25th will be the World Premiere of the complete piece.”

Pianist David Morgan has written for film and television as well as for several jazz albums with his David Morgan Trio. His most recent release, “Ordinary Glory,” is a rock/pop album which he also produced. “Part of our fun was discovering his music, and working with him,” Moyers said.

The David Morgan work comprises the second half of the concert. Before intermission, the trio plays Dance Suite for Violin, Alto Saxophone and Piano by contemporary American composer and pianist Walter S. Hartley. Composing since 1949, Hartley is known for works that feature the saxophone. “Hartley’s music is very contrapuntal,” Moyer said. “Each instrument has different melodies that are passed around the group.”

Also in the first half, Vipisa performs the Trio for Violin, Clarinet and Piano by 20th century Armenian-born composer Aram Khachaturian. With Shostakovich and Prokofiev, Khachaturian was among the trio of major composers of the Soviet Union alternatingly condemned and honored by the government. He composed this work in 1932. “It’s very rhapsodic,” Moyer said, “with hints of Khachaturian’s native Armenian folk music.”

The Vipisa Trio debuts on Saturday September 25 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. This is a Faculty Artists Series concert produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye.

The Vipisa Trio: The Program

Cindy Moyer, violin
Virginia Ryder, saxophone and clarinet
John Chernoff, piano


Dance Suite for Violin, Alto Saxophone, and Piano by Walter S. Hartley
Polonaise brillante: Allegretto (Valse Lente
Polka Fantasque

Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano by Aram Khachaturian
Andante con dolore, con molto espressione
Allegro
Moderato

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Trio of Piano, Violin, and Alto Saxophone* David Morgan
Tango: Allegro (Consolation
Towers
Belo Horizonte
The Secret of the Golden Flower


*world premiere

Daniela Mineva in First HSU Solo Concert

For her first solo concert since joining the HSU Music faculty, pianist Daniela Mineva will lead the audience on a journey through different styles from different places, on September 18 at Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The first stop is an 18th century piano sonata by Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn. Haydn’s contributions to the sonata form were among many innovations by this friend of Mozart and teacher of Beethoven. Mineva plays a section of one of his earliest, the Sonata in G.

The next stop is 19th century Poland and two pieces by Frederic Chopin, the Nocturne in F minor and a piano Etude. “This is the year of Chopin,” Mineva notes—the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1810.

Then to France for pieces by 20th century composers Claude Debussy and Olivier Messiaen. “They are very similar in how they see the world in pictures,” Mineva said. She will play her own reduction for solo piano of one of Debussy’s most famous works, “Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faune,” and three Preludes by Messiaen, each depicting a feature of the landscape.

The second half of Mineva’s concert features a piece about a Persian Princess and one of the world’s most famous storytellers: Scheherazade. It’s a section from “Masques” by the 20th century Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, which is considered a “skill-testing challenge to pianists,” according to a contemporary Polish music scholar.

The journey ends back in France with “Choral and Variations” by contemporary composer Henri Dutilleux, which Mineva calls “a jazzy audience-pleaser.”

Before joining the HSU Music faculty, Daniela Mineva taught at the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded an excellence in teaching prize in 2007. Among her accomplishments as a pianist are an award from the Jean Francaix piano competition in Paris and a “Highest Artistic Level of Performance” award for a solo recital at a festival in Italy, both also in 2007. She played in several group concerts at HSU last year, notably with HSU Music violinist Cindy Moyer, and guest artists, violinist Bin Huang and pianist Caleb Harris.

Pianist Daniela Mineva performs her first HSU solo concert on Saturday September 18 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.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye.

Daniela Mineva: The Program

J. Haydn -Sonata in G major H:XVI-40
Allegretto inocente
Presto

F. Chopin- Nocturne in f minor, op.55, #1
Etude, op.25, #12

C. Debussy- "Prelude to the Afternoon of the Faune", reduction for solo piano D. Mineva

O. Messiaen- Three Preludes
The Dove
Ecstasy Song the background of sad landscape
Reflection in the wind

C. Szymanowski- "Scheherazade" from Masques, op. 34

H. Duttileux- Choral and Variations

[click photo to enlarge]
HSU Music Faculty Play Welcome Concert

Performing solo or more often in duos, trios, a quartet and a quintet, no fewer than eighteen HSU Music Department faculty and staff players take the stage to start the school year with a musical bang, in a Welcoming Concert and reception beginning at 5 pm on Saturday, September 11 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Faculty artists perform throughout the year, but according to professor and performer Elisabeth Harrington, this is an unusual opportunity to experience “the diverse talents of our music faculty in one concert. It’s a way of saying, ‘welcome back to the school year—we are your HSU Music Department and we have a lot of fabulous music to share with you!’”

That diversity is expressed not only in the range of instruments and combinations but in musical styles, from 19th century classics to contemporary composers.

Harrington will sing two selections from contemporary composer Ricky Ian Gordon, accompanied by pianist John Chernoff. Pianist Daniela Mineva plays two pieces by Chopin. Percussionist Eugene Novotney performs one of his own compositions.

The dynamic duos of Paul Cummings on clarinet and John Chernoff on piano perform pieces by 19th century German composer Paul Hindemith, followed by guitarist Nicholas Lambson and flutist Laura Snodgrass playing several Romanian Dances by Bela Bartok.

Short pieces by German Romantic composer Max Bruch will be performed by the trio of Kenneth Ayoob on clarinet, Karen Davy on viola and Robin Miller on piano. A string quartet (Cindy Moyer and Karen Davy on violin, Sherry Hanson on viola, David Davis on cello) play two sections of a piece by contemporary composer Robert Sirota that commemorates the tragic events of 9/11/2001 in New York City.

The Humboldt Bay Brass Quintet (which in this case includes bassist Shao Way Wu and pianist Daniela Mineva as well as Matthew Morgan on horn, and Gilbert Cline and Frederic Belanger on trumpets) performs a piece by contemporary composer Michael Cunningham.

The concert will be followed by a reception, open to all concertgoers.

“We love what we do, teaching and creating music,” Elisabeth Harrington said. “And we want to share it. So come and enjoy a great concert, and meet the artists afterwards.”

The Welcome Concert begins at 5 pm on Saturday September 11 in Fulkerson Recital Hall, with the reception immediately afterwards. Tickets are $8/$3 students and seniors from HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. An HSU Department of Music production.

Media: HSU Now, Arcata Eye.

Welcome Concert: The Program

Sonate by Paul Hindemith
I Massig bewegt (1895-1963)
IV Kleines Rondo, gemachlich
P. Cummings, clarinet
J. Chernoff, piano

Romanian Folk Dances (1915) (6 mins.) Bela Bartok

1. Jocul cu bâta (or Joc cu bâtă) – Dance With Stick - Stick Game
2. Brâul – Waistband Dance- Peasant Costume
3. Pe Loc – Stamping Dance - Standing Still
4. Buciumeana - Horn Dance
5. Poarga Românească – Romanian Polka
6. Mărunţel – Quick Dance

Nicholas Lambson, guitar
Laura Snodgrass, flute

Nocturne in f minor, op.50 by Frederic Chopin
Etude, op.25, # 12-
Daniela Mineva, piano


Wild Swans, Finding Home by Ricky Ian Gordon
Elisabeth Harrington, soprano
John Chernoff, piano


Selections from 8 Pieces op 83 by Max Bruch
I. Andante
V. Rumanian Melody
IV Allegro Agitato

Ken Ayoob, clarinet
Karen Davy, viola
Robin Miller, piano

--Intermssion--

Cross (1977) by Eugene Novotney

Eugene Novotney, percussion


Triptych by Robert Sirota
II. Lamentation
III. Prayer

Cindy Moyer, violin
Karen Davy, violin
Sherry Hanson, viola
David Davis, cello


Epitaph (1964) by Michael Cunningham

Humboldt Bay Brass Quintet
Gilbert Cline & Frédéric Bélanger, trumpets
Matthew Morgan, horn
Toshi Noguchi, trombone
Wu Shao Way, bass
Daniela Minieva, piano

Welcome to 2010-11!

HSU Department of Music faculty will be officially welcoming members of the campus community, new and returning, with--what else?--music!

A concert on Saturday, September 11 at 5pm features HSU Music faculty players and a reception immediately afterwards.

Photo and details will be posted here soon. As usual, HSU Music is your source for information on upcoming HSU Music Department performances.

Alyssa Bowlby

Soprano Alyssa Bowlby sings and talks about heroines in music from Verdi and Mozart to Lerner & Loewe in a Guest Artist Series recital on Thursday May 13 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. An HSU Department of Music production.

Songs of Heroines by Guest Artist Alyssa Bowlby

In a program that highlights musical “Heroines,” soprano Alyssa Bowlby will describe as well as sing each of her selections from Mozart, Verdi, Beethoven and others, in an HSU Guest Artist recital at Fulkerson Hall on Thursday, May 13.

Her examples come from three operas by Verdi (including La Traviata) and two by Mozart (The Magic Flute and Abduction from the Seraglio.) She finds more heroines in Puccini’s La Boheme, Beethoven’s Fidelio, the Doll’s Song from Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman, as well in works by Schubert and Massenet.

Not all the examples are from grand opera. Bowlby also performs a song from Candide, the operetta by Leonard Bernstein first performed in 1956, and “ I Could Have Danced All Night” from the Lerner and Loewe musical, My Fair Lady. She will talk for a few minutes about each selection and how it relates to her theme.

Alyssa Bowlby is based in New York City, where she appears frequently with the Mimesis Ensemble. She has sung with Project Opera of Manhattan, Brooklyn Repertory Opera, the Garden State Opera, and Empire Opera of New York.

After being hailed by a Houston newspaper as “delightfully charming and touching” in her role of Musetta in the Houston Opera in the Heights production of La Boheme, she was invited to perform in five more operas there in the next three years. Later this year she will play Abigail Williams in the English language opera of Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, with the Empire Opera.

Alyssa Bowlby earned her BA and Phil Beta Kappa key at Haverford College, and her Masters from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. The Baltimore Sun called her singing “fearless” and “intense.” In 2007 she sang and was interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

For her Humboldt State recital, she will be accompanied by HSU pianist John Chernoff.

Soprano Alyssa Bowlby appears in a Guest Artist Series recital on Thursday May 13 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. An HSU Department of Music production.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye

University Singers & Humboldt Chorale

HSU University Singers and Humboldt Chorale concert features music inspired by poetry of Robert Frost, James Agee and Ogden Nash, on Sunday night, May 9 at 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. University Singers directed by Harley Muilenburg, Humboldt Chorale directed by Carol Ryder. Produced by HSU Music Department.

2010 University Singers. Click photo to enlarge.

Something Like A Star: Poems That Inspire Song

Poems by Robert Frost, Ogden Nash and others are the inspiration for vocal works sung by the HSU University Singers and the community-based Humboldt Chorale in their joint concert on Sunday night, May 9 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

American choral composer Randall Thompson set seven poems by Robert Frost to music for the bicentennial of Amherst, Massachusetts, where Frost had lived. The University Singers will perform the seventh of these, “Choose Something Like A Star,” with its final lines: “So when at times the mob is swayed/To carry praise or blame too far,/We may choose something like a star/To stay our minds on and be staid.”

After a choral arrangement of “Tatkovina,” a traditional Macedonian folk song (with violin accompaniment by Amanda Lake), and the finale from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Gondoliers,” the University Singers perform a longer work, “Carmina Burana” by German composer Carl Orff. A 20th century piece, it is a scenic oratorio derived from a large group of medieval poems discovered in the early 19th century.

In its half of the concert, the Humboldt Chorale performs two pieces directly based on 20th century American poems. As part of his 2005 “Nocturnes,” choral composer Morten Lauridsen wrote music for a poem by 20th century American writer James Agee that begins: “Sure on this shining night/Of star made shadows round,/Kindness must watch for me/This side the ground.” Lauridsen received the Medal of Freedom in 2007.

The most famous 20th century American writer of light verse, Ogden Nash wrote a number of witty--and silly—poems about animals. Contemporary American composer Eric Whitacre set some of them to music. The result is “Animal Crackers,” also performed by the Humboldt Chorale.

The Chorale’s featured work is “Fancies” by English choral composer John Ritter, a set of songs meant to suggest the fleeting fancies that might occur to a poet on an idyllic summer night.

HSU students comprise the University Singers, directed by HSU Music professor Harley Muilenburg, while the Humboldt Chorale is a community-based group, directed by Carol McWhorter Ryder. John Chernoff provides piano accompaniment for the Singers, and Larry Pitts for the Chorale.

The HSU University Singers and Humboldt Chorale perform on Sunday night, May 9 at 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. Produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye

Humboldt Symphony

The Humboldt Symphony celebrates Cinco de Mayo with Latin and Latin-influenced music plus a virtuoso trumpet concerto on Friday night May 7 at 8 pm and Sunday afternoon May 9 at 3 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. Conducted by Paul Cummings, produced by HSU Music Department.

Humboldt Symphony soloist Branden Lewis

A Symphonic Cinco de Mayo at HSU

The Humboldt Symphony celebrates Cinco de Mayo with a popular piece by a contemporary Mexican composer and other Latin and Latin influenced orchestral works, on Friday night May 7 and Sunday afternoon May 9 at Fulkerson Recital Hall. This annual spring concert also features trumpeter Branden Lewis, the student winner of this year’s Concerto Aria competition.

“Danzón No. 2 by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez is the highlight of our program,” said Humboldt Symphony conductor Paul Cummings. “It has the Mexican culture written all over it, in terms of themes, rhythms, instrumentation and the overall style of the music.”

This piece became famous recently when conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela played it in its concerts around the world, including in the U.S. “It became wildly popular,” Cummings said, “and one of Dudamel’s signature pieces.” Dudamel is now music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Three other works on the Symphony program are notable not only for their Latin connection, but as orchestral works that began as compositions for piano.

French composer Emmanuel Chabrier wrote Habanera, his homage to the Spain he knew from his travels, originally for piano in 1885, and transcribed it for orchestra three years later. The Russian-born, American modernist master Igor Stravinsky (who knew and admired Chabrier’s work) composed Tango for piano in 1941, and adapted it for orchestra in 1953. Audiences at this concert can judge the differences for themselves, because pianist Emily Loeffler will play the piano version before the Symphony plays the orchestral version.

The third such piece is Souvenir de Porto Rico by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, adapted for orchestra by Thor Johnson. “Gottschalk was a 19th century American composer, and we don’t have many of those,” Cummings said, “at least whose music is still being performed.” Born in New Orleans and steeped in the music of that city, Gottschalk incorporated rhythms and styles that later came to be associated with jazz and ragtime. “He wrote very syncopated melodies—he was very much a pioneer of styles that are uniquely American.”

Gottschalk lived for a time in Puerto Rico and traveled widely in the Caribbean. “This piece is his reminiscence,” Cummings said, “and these syncopated rhythms and wide use of percussion have a definite Latin flavor.”

Not part of the Cinco de Mayo theme but definitely part of the spring concert event, the winner of this year’s HSU Concerto Aria competition, trumpeter Branden Lewis, plays the first movement of the Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra by 20th century French composer Henri Tomasi. “Though there’s a fairly equal dialogue between the soloist and the ensemble,” Cummings said, “this is certainly a virtuoso piece for the trumpet.”

In the Concerto Aria competition, held in November, students select and play a piece with piano accompaniment that they propose to perform with orchestra or band. A panel of judges consisting of Music Department faculty and local professionals chose Branden Lewis for this year’s award.

The Humboldt Symphony spring concert is performed twice: on Friday night, May 7 at 8 pm, and on the following Sunday afternoon, May 9, at 3 pm. Both take place 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. Conducted by Paul Cummings, produced by HSU Music Department.

Media: TriCity Weekly, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon, Arcata Eye

AM Jazz Band/ HSU Jazz Orchestra

HSU’s AM Jazz Band plays Coltrane, Ellington and more on Thursday May 6 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall. HSU Jazz Orchestra celebrates the 100th birthday of jazz immortal Mary Lou Williams with the first public performance of one of her compositions, and plays a tune by Arcata native son Nathan Smith on Saturday May 8 at 8 p.m. in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Ticket prices for each concert are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by HSU Music Department.

Jazz Orchestra in Birthday Tribute to a Jazz Immortal

On her 100th birthday—Saturday May 8-- HSU Jazz Orchestra celebrates jazz immortal Mary Lou Williams, with the first public performance of her arrangement of one of her songs. The concert also features a song by a North Coast favorite son.

Together with jazz classics from the AM Jazz Band on Thursday, this is the final HSU jazz concert of the school year. Both concerts are in Fulkerson Recital Hall, beginning at 8.

Born on May 8, 1910, Mary Lou Williams played jazz piano in Pittsburgh beginning as a child, and went on the road to perform, write and arrange in the twenties and thirties. Her stellar career continued until her death in 1981. “Mary Lou Williams is perpetually contemporary,” wrote Duke Ellington in his autobiography. “Her writing and performing have always been a little ahead throughout her career. Her music retains, and maintains, a standard of quality that is timeless. She is like soul on soul."

A highlight of the Jazz Orchestra birthday concert is the world premiere public performance of the arrangement she wrote for the Duke Ellington band of her song "Ogeechee River Lullaby." It features local jazz vocalist Bill Allison.

The Jazz Orchestra will also play Williams’ first known composition, "Mess-a-Stomp," recorded in 1929, as well as several of her tunes from the 1930s (“Mary’s Idea,” “Big Jim Blues,” “Walkin’ and Swingin’”).

From her 1940s output, the Jazz Orchestra selects some seldom heard pieces, like "In The Land Of Oo-Bla-Dee" (which also features singer Bill Allison), as well as a section of her signature Zodiac Suite: “Scorpio.”

After withdrawing from performance in the 1950s to concentrate on charity work, Mary Lou Williams made a triumphant return in the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, and never looked back. The Jazz Orchestra will play several of her late 1960s compositions, including “Aries Mood” and “New Musical Express.” “With their sometimes startling dissonances,” said orchestra director and HSU Music professor Dan Aldag, “these works show that Williams had kept up with the many changes in jazz.”

The Jazz Orchestra will play other works in addition to Mary Lou Williams' music, including “Recollection,” by Arcata favorite son, Nathan Smith. Smith graduated from Arcata High, earned music degrees in Florida and at the Eastman School of Music, and has won several awards for his compositions. In addition to leading a 10-piece band in New York, he transcribes older jazz compositions from recordings, and recreates scores for new performances. “In a nice piece of symmetry,” Dan Aldag notes, “his most recent transcribing work has been of some of Mary Lou Williams’ music.”

A few nights before the Jazz Orchestra concert, the AM Jazz Band performs other jazz classics, including tunes by John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard and Tito Puente. Philip Sagastume is featured on tenor sax on "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" by Duke Ellington.

The AM Jazz Band performs on Thursday, May 6, and the Jazz Orchestra on Saturday, May 9. Both concerts are in the Fulkerson Recital Hall at 8 pm, and prices are the same for each: $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Free to HSU students with ID. Both ensembles are directed by Dan Aldag, and the concerts are produced by HSU Music Department.

Mary Lou Williams in the 1930s

Media for concert: TriCity Weekly, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon, North Coast Journal, Arcata Eye

Madrigal and Mad River Transit Singers

Love songs and three kinds of blues are the themes for the annual Madrigal Singers and Mad River Transit spring concert on Sunday May 2 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. Directed by Harley Muilenburg, produced by HSU Music Department.

2010 Madrigal Singers

A Madrigal Comedy and Three Kinds of Blues

A classic evening of Renaissance love songs leads naturally into a modern set of three kinds of blues, in the annual spring concert of the HSU Madrigal Singers and the Mad River Transit jazz group, on Sunday May 2 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

In the golden age of the English madrigal it was called a Madrigal Comedy: a concert of songs about love. The HSU Madrigal Singers performs songs of love’s season of spring, courtship, and love’s complications, before songs celebrating the culminating event that defines Shakespearian comedy: the wedding.

The songwriters include the traditional John Dowland, Thomas Morley and Robert Jones, and Henry Purcell’s “In These Delightful Pleasant Groves,” but also a movement from “Five Hebrew Love Songs” by contemporary composer Eric Whitacre.

The Mad River Transit jazz singers update these themes with blues tunes by John Coltrane, “Toots” Thielemans, Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen. Soloists include Claire Bent, Sara Scibetta, Calista Labolle and Brandy Rose.

MRT singers are backed by the rhythm section of Darius Brotman on piano, Sam Reynolds on bass and Jonathan Kipp on drums.

The HSU Madrigal Singers and MRT perform on Sunday May 2 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. Directed by Harley Muilenburg, produced by HSU Music Department.

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

2010 Mad River Transit

Calypso Band & Percussion Ensemble

HSU Calypso Band’s high-energy Caribbean dance music and a Percussion Ensemble tribute to Led Zeppelin, plus drums of Africa, Hawaii and Mexico on Saturday May 1 at 8 pm in the Van Duzer Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door.

Homage to Bonzo and Queen of the Bands

The HSU Percussion Ensemble pays tribute to a Hawaiian war god and a god of rock drumming, and two smaller percussion groups play ragtime, Mexican, West African and Brazilian tunes. Then the HSU Calypso Band takes over with its high-energy Caribbean and African dance music. This often-anticipated annual spring concert takes the Van Duzer Theatre stage on Saturday night, May 1.

An ode to rock drumming, especially of Led Zeppelin’s John “Bonzo” Bonham, highlights the HSU Percussion Ensemble set. “The core theme is taken from two Led Zeppelin tunes,” said Percussion Ensemble director Howard Kaufman, “but there are also references to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Bo Diddley.”

“Bonham” is by Christopher Rouse, who also composed the Ensemble’s second featured work, “Ku-Ka-llimoku.” Kaufman describes it as “a savage, propulsive war dance,” in honor of the Hawaiian god Ku.

The Ensemble also plays “Head Talk” by Mark Ford and “Alone and Together,” a piece by HSU Music professor Eugene Novotney, inspired by tap dancing and East Indian music.

Then the HSU Marimba Band performs two ragtime pieces, as well as folkloric music of Mexico. The HSU World Percussion Group ends the concert’s first half with traditional Mandeng Drumming of West Africa, and a Brazilian samba, which features 45 drummers, singers and dancers.

The famed Humboldt State Calypso Band takes over for the second half of the evening, featuring the classic composition by Ray Holman, “Queen of the Bands,” and other dance tunes with rhythms from the Caribbean and Africa. This event is a now traditional pre-finals fling for HSU students, and the Calypso band’s only Van Duzer appearance until winter.

The annual spring performance by the Humboldt Calypso Band and HSU percussion groups happens on Saturday May 1 at 8 pm in the Van Duzer Theatre Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $7 general, $3 students/seniors, from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. First 50 HSU students free with ID.

Media: Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon

Caleb Harris

Guest pianist Caleb Harris performs Beethoven and Chopin before accompanying soprano Elisabeth Harrington and playing piano duos with Daniela Mineva at the special time of 5 pm on Saturday May 1 in 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. An HSU Department of Music production.

Beethoven in the Afternoon--and Puccini, Chopin, etc.

A rare late afternoon performance features guest pianist Caleb Harris, who plays two solo works before combining with HSU Music faculty Elisabeth Harrington and Daniela Mineva, on Saturday May 1 at 5 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Currently teaching at University of Northern Colorado and conducting the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, Caleb Harris has a varied career as a piano soloist, conductor and vocal coach. For this HSU concert, Harris performs Beethoven’s Piano Sonata #17, known as the Tempest Sonata, because it was reputedly inspired by the Shakespeare play of that title. It was composed in 1802, generally designated as the end of Beethoven’s early period.

Also in the solo half of the program, Harris performs several works by Chopin, including Scherzo #1, a piano Etude and the Fantasy Impromptu.

Then Harris accompanies soprano and HSU Music professor Elisabeth Harrington who performs an aria from Puccini’s La Boheme and songs by Richard Strauss. Pianist and HSU Music professor Daniela Mineva joins Harris to play two pieces for two pianos: Scaramouche by 20th century French composer Darius Milhaud, and Paganini Variations by 20th century Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski.

In addition to his concert, Caleb Harris will conduct a piano Master Class for pianists and voice students on Friday April 30 at 12 pm in Fulkerson Recital Hall. This class is free and open to all.

Guest pianist Caleb Harris performs with Elisabeth Harrington and Daniela Mineva at a special time of 5 pm on Saturday May 1 in 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. An HSU Department of Music production.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon

Symphonic Band & North Coast Wind Ensemble

Godzilla destroys Vegas and The Lord of the Rings is evoked in the first combined concert by the HSU Symphonic Band and North Coast Wind Ensemble, both conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, on Friday April 30 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. Produced by HSU Department of Music.

Godzilla Vs. Lord of the Rings!

Musical evocations of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings and Godzilla on the loose in Las Vegas highlight the first combined concert of the HSU Symphonic Band and the independent North Coast Wind Ensemble, both conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, on Friday, April 30 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The Symphonic Band plays Godzilla Eats Las Vegas, the score for a yet-to-exist movie by Los Angeles composer and conductor Eric Whitacre. The music follows Godzilla as he smashes the Vegas strip, laying waste to—among other icons—Wayne Newton. The city is saved by an army of marching Elvi (or “Elvises”), though the king of the monsters escapes to rampage another day.

Other selections on the Band’s program are Bali, an exotic percussion and wind instrument piece by contemporary Canadian composer Michael Colgrass, and Angels in the Architecture, a new piece by Frank Ticheli, another Los Angeles composer. “It portrays elements of light and darkness, good and evil,” said conductor Kenneth Ayoob. “It blends elements of pre-existing and new music into a powerful and thoughtful work of art.”

The Symphonic Band completes its part of the evening with the finale from Symphony #5 by 20th century Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, one of his most popular compositions.

The North Coast Wind Ensemble plays marches by Paul Hindemith and Charles Ives before combining with the Symphonic Band for two pieces: the Chant Funeraire by Gabriel Faure (composed to honor the 100th anniversary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte) and a section from Symphony #1 by 20th century Dutch composer Johan De Meij, known as the Lord of the Rings Symphony. Each of the five parts of this symphony corresponds to a character or event in the classic J.R.R. Tolkien novel. The combined Band and Ensemble will play the first section, “Gandalf,” which uses percussion and wind instruments to evoke the wizard who becomes the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring.

The HSU Symphonic Band and North Coast Wind Ensemble perform together on Friday April 30 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. Produced by HSU Department of Music.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon

Opera Workshop

HSU Opera Workshop applies musical wit to contemporary relationships, soap operas and video dating on Friday April 23 and Saturday April 24 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. Elisabeth Harrington, artistic director; produced by HSU Department of Music.

Who gets the guy? James Murphy surrounded by video daters Cassandra Lindop, Chelsea Snyder, Jamie Banister and Brandy Rose, in the HSU Opera Workshop production of Test Tube by Milton Granger.

Love is Strange with the HSU Opera Workshop

It’s not your grandfather’s opera. No exaggerated emotions in foreign languages by heavily costumed figures standing around until the fat lady sings. On Friday and Saturday, April 23 and 24, the HSU Opera Workshop explores contemporary relationships with selected musical scenes and two short comic operas, including the story of a young man searching for true love at a video dating service.

Test Tube by Milton Granger is a fast-paced comedy about a man and four women of roughly college age. In the guise of “who gets the guy?” they confront real relationship issues, in clever cadences of dialogue as well as song. Kevin (played by James Murphy) sees his fantasies as well as reality acted out by Cassandra Lindop, Chelsea Snyder and Brandy Rose, under the increasingly interested eye of the young woman who runs the video dating service (Jamie Banister.) The comedy is acted as well as sung, with characters on stage at times singing with video images on the screen.

“I think audience members will be pleasantly surprised at what opera can be,” said Opera Workshop artistic director and HSU Music professor Elisabeth Harrington.

Another short opera takes a comic look at where some dubious images of relationships come from: the aptly named soap operas. The melodrama of a love triangle in a hospital operating room is interspersed with manically cheerful singing-and-dancing commercials, in Gallantry: A Soap Opera by Douglass Moore.

This year’s Opera Workshop includes seventeen singers, and most of them combine for “The Little Things You Do Together” from Steven Sonheim’s Company. This song introduces a series of duets from various musicals, all portraying relationships: lovers, friends, business partners, and the unique relationship of Siamese twins.

Some of the musicals sampled are: The Boyfriend, Mame, Hairspray, 110 in the Shade, Sideshow and The Fantasticks.

John Chernoff provides piano accompaniment, and is musical co-directed with Elisabeth Harrington. Cynthia McCloud and Danielle van de Wetering contribute choreography, with costumes by Kevin Sharkey and lighting by Emily Ruebl.

The HSU Opera Workshop performs for two nights: Friday April 23 and Saturday April 24 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. Elisabeth Harrington, artistic director; produced by HSU Department of Music.

Media: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye.

2010 Opera Workshop

Some of the Opera Workshop duets: (top to bottom) Sadie Brennan and Anthony DePage, Elliot Pennington and Chelsea Traynor; and Anthony DePage, Sadie Brennan and Katie

Jazz Combos

Six HSU student combos over two nights play blues, funk and original jazz, on Saturday April 17 and Sunday, April 18 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. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Two of the combos playing on Jazz Combos Weekend: (top) Freshly Picked Cake and Old Spice.

Quick Trip, Long Jaunt: Double the Jazz with HSU Jazz Combos Weekend

It’s double the music in two evenings of HSU Jazz Combos: instead of the usual three groups playing for a single night, this time there are six student combos playing completely different shows over two nights.

A quartet, a trio and a New Orleans-style band perform on Saturday, April 17, and on Sunday night a quintet, another quartet and trio, all in Fulkerson Recital Hall. "We had too much talent for just three combos this year," said director Dan Aldag. "So we've got six."

The largest ensemble is featured Saturday night: Slippery Society plays traditional tunes (with vocals) in old school New Orleans style, including Bessie Smith’s “Me and My Gin,” “Tin Roof Blues,” “Buddy Bolden’s Blues” and “Just A Closer Walk With Thee.” They break the pattern a little with a tune by the 70s funk band War, paying tribute to the legendary comic book and 1950s TV hero, the Cisco Kid.

Slippery Society consists of Ari Davie on trumpet, Stephanie Douglas on clarinet, Talon Nansel on trombone, Amanda Lake on banjo and vocals, Elizabeth Cruz on tuba and Brett Huska on drums and vocals.

Freshly Picked Cake, a quartet of piano (Aber Miller), tenor sax (Isaac Williams), bass (Sam Roberts) and drums (Jonathan Kipp), performs Saturday. Their set includes a Joe Henderson tune and two originals by Miller, “Meth Bed” and “Asparagus in Rain.”

Also playing Saturday, a trio comprised of Joel Bettencourt on piano, Danny Gaon on bass and Yanaki Lopez on drums, performs “Dusty McNugget” by contemporary pianist and composer Brad Mehldau, as well as other tunes including an original by pianist Bettencourt, called “Quick Trip, Long Jaunt.”

Sunday night, the Old Spice quartet plays “Gdansk” by multiple Grammy winner Paquito D’Rivera, the Cuban-born reed player and composer, as well as the ever-popular “(It Don’t Mean A Thing) If It Ain’t Got That Swing” by Duke Ellington. Old Spice is Clayton Bennett on guitar, Bryce Pierce on bass, Dylan Williams on drums and Avetis Chalaganyan on percussion.

Also Sunday, a trio comprised of Colin Gaddie on guitar, Byron Richards on bass and Sam Kaplan-Good on drums plays a set that includes two funky tunes: “Boozer” by jazz guitarist and composer John Scofield, and “Tune 88” by pianist and composer Jeff Lorber.

A quintet of tenor sax (Leo Echazábal), guitar (Charlie Sleep), piano (Rachel Hrdina), bass (Tyler Machado) and drums (Gabriel Ben-Shalom) performs an original group composition called “Exiguous.” Their set also includes “Road Song” by the classic jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery.

HSU Jazz Combos perform on Saturday April 17 and Sunday, April 18 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. Directed by Dan Aldag, produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Hey Cisco! Media for Jazz Combos Weekend: Humboldt State Now, Arcata Eye.

Humboldt Bay Brass Band

The Humboldt Bay Brass Band, featuring the new HB Brass Quintet, performs a Renaissance-to-contemporary program on Saturday, April 10 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. Conducted by Gil Cline; produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Humboldt Bay Brass Band: Renaissance Fanfare to Contemporary Promenade With the New Band Within the Band


The Humboldt Bay Brass Band has established itself as Humboldt County’s only all-brass ensemble in the traditional configuration of 27 brass and three percussion players. But the concert on Saturday, April 10 in Fulkerson Recital Hall marks the premiere of the new band within the band: the Humboldt Bay Brass Quintet.

Comprising the Quintet are Gil Cline and Frederic Belanger (trumpets and cornets), Matthew Morgan on horn, Toshi Noquchi on trombone and Kearney VanderSal on bass trombone.

The Quintet starts out displaying its range, from Renaissance to contemporary. Beginning with several rousing Renaissance fanfares, the Quintet plays a madrigal by English composer Thomas Weelkes and a canzona by Giovanni Gabrieli (both Weelkes and Gabrieli were organists as well as composers.)

The Quintet continues with several selections from the following Baroque era, beginning with a dance suite by Johann Hermann Schein, a German composer who was the first to absorb elements of the Italian Baroque in his music.

Moving to the modern, the Quintet plays “Morning Music” by 20th century German composer Paul Hindemith. The Quintet concludes with a very contemporary piece—“Rhododendron Promenade,” composed by leader Gilbert Cline, which was first performed at the 2008 Rhododendron Festival Concert at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts.

The full Humboldt Bay Brass Band concludes the concert with three works selected from among audience favorites from the past several years.

The Humboldt Bay Brass Band, featuring the new HB Brass Quintet performs on Saturday, April 10 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. Conducted by Gil Cline; produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Media: TriCity Weekly, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal.

North Coast Wind Ensemble

North Coast Wind Ensemble plays Elgar, Hindemith, Giannini and Ives on Saturday April 3 at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $5/ $2 students and seniors from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Enigma Variations, Marching Metamorphosis and A Lot of Bands at Once

The North Coast Wind Ensemble welcomes spring with a symphony, a song, a couple of marches and some famous variations, in its Fulkerson Recital Hall concert on Saturday, April 3.

The Enigma Variations by English composer Edward Elgar may be “a staple of the orchestral literature,” according to Ensemble conductor Kenneth Ayoob, but this version of the landmark work has been re-scored for wind instruments in a “wonderful arrangement” by Earl Slocum. Each variation is a tribute to one of Elgar’s friends, and the “enigma” of the title refers to a hidden theme. Music historians still debate what that theme is—some guess it is as simple as Auld Lang Syne.

Symphony #3 for Band by 20th century American composer Vittorio Giannini may not be so enigmatic, but it does have variety: a heroic theme, a lyrical second movement, “shifting rhythmic playfulness” in the third movement, and a final movement of “pure excitement.”

The two marches on the April 3 program “could not be more different,” said Ayoob, “as they contrast the composers’ unique styles.” Twentieth century German composer Paul Hindemith wrote his Symphonic Metamorphosis after emigrating to the U.S. during World War II. The Ensemble plays the March section of this larger work, as arranged by Yale University band director Keith Wilson at Hindemith’s request.

Contrasting with this serious work is the Country Band March by 20th century U.S. composer Charles Ives who “draws from his own experience with amateur bands,” Ayoob said. “It’s a parody of what those bands might sound like if several of them played at once. It includes quotations from no fewer than twelve well-known tunes.”

Colonial Song by composer Percy Grainger is a “lyric work written for and about the people of his native Australia.” Grainger was the subject of “Passion,” the 1999 movie by Australian director Peter Duncan.

The North Coast Wind Ensemble performs on Saturday April 3 at 8 pm in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $5/ $2 students and seniors from the HSU Ticket Office (826-3928) or at the door. Conducted by Kenneth Ayoob, produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now, Humboldt Beacon

Director's Notes

Two sets of works contrasting American and European traditions make up the bulk of the upcoming North Coast Wind Ensemble concert.

Elgar’s Enigma Variations are a staple of the orchestral literature and the work has been re-scored for winds in a wonderful arrangement by Earl Slocum. This long form work is contrasted with a classic of the wind literature, Symphony #3 by Vittorio Giannini. The symphony, in four movements begins with a heroic theme that is based on the interval of a fourth and is transformed into a fugue, with a contrasting lyric middle section. The second movement takes advantage of the lyric sounds of the woodwinds, while the third is marked by a shifting rhythmic playfulness. The final movement is pure excitement.

The second set of contrasts include the March from Symphonic Metamorphosis of Hindemith and the Country Band March of Ives. They could not be more different as each work showcases its composers unique style. The Symphonic Metamorphosis was composed by Hindemith while he was at Yale and he asked Yale’s band director, Keith Wilson to make a wind arrangement. The march is based on a theme by Carl Maria von Weber which is stated in a two bar fragment at the beginning and later transformed and developed throughout the work. The Country Band March of Ives draws from his own experiences with amateur bands and is a parody of what those bands might sound like if several of them played at once. It includes quotations from no fewer than 12 well known tunes.

The wind ensemble will also perform Colonial Song by Percy Grainger. This lyric work was written for and about the people his native Australia and expressed his wish to “voice a certain kind of emotion that seems to me not untypical of native-born colonials in general.

Composers Concert

Latest new work composed by HSU students and performed by students, faculty and staff on Friday, April 2 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. J. Brian Post, director; produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Composers Face the Music at HSU

Students pursuing a degree in Composition at HSU face the music of a live audience on Friday, April 2 in Fulkerson Recital Hall.

The audience in turn gets to hear music no one has heard before. “These works contain influences from American folk music, jazz, rock & roll, film scores and European art music from Vivaldi’s time to the present,” said composition teacher, composer and HSU Music professor Brian Post.

The compositions include experimental approaches as well as new takes on older musical styles. Among the student composers are Mark Jensen, Davina Warner, John Garritano and Adolpho Acuna. Performers include HSU faculty and staff as well as students.

The spring Composers Concert is performed on Friday, April 2 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. Produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now.

Rika Uchida

Visiting virtuoso pianist Rika Uchida presents a Debussy concert and commentary on Saturday March 27 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. Produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Twilight, Moonlight: Pianist Rika Uchida Plays Debussy

Pianist Rika Uchida plays Debussy’s famous “Claire de Lune” and selections from his Preludes and Images, to illustrate the transition from Romantic to modern in classical music, in a concert and commentary on Saturday, March 27 at the Fulkerson Recital Hall.

Born in Japan, Uchida came to the U.S. to study psychology, but was convinced by pianist Dean Kramer (one of the last students of the renowned Vladimir Horowitz) to follow her childhood interest in music. She received the University of Oregon Outstanding Keyboardist Award for her performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto.

Now teaching piano and music theory at Drake University, Uchida specializes in the music of the turn of the century-- particularly in Debussy’s solo piano music.

Claude Debussy’s compositions bridged the late nineteenth century Romantic period (when he was a young man, influenced by Wagner) and early twentieth century modernist music (when he was in Paris, and friends with composer Eric Satie.)

To illustrate the musical features of this transition, Uchida will play selections from Debussy’s Preludes (with such evocative titles as “Interrupted Serenade,” “Gardens in the Rain,” “What the West Wind Has Seen” and “Fireworks”) and the second book of his Images (including “Bells Through the Leaves” and “The Moon Descends on the Ruined Temple.”)

Uchida also plays the most familiar Debussy composition, and probably one of the most familiar melodies in all of music: “Claire de Lune.” Though it was originally the third movement of a suite, “Claire de Lune” (French for “moonlight”) has had a prominent life of its own. Familiar to a new generation from the movie Twilight (2008), it has been heard in many films around the world, from Giant (1956) and Casino Royale (1967) to Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and Atonement (2007.)

Best known as a piano piece, “Claire de Lune” has also been recorded on guitar, cello, Wulitzer theatre organ and the Theramin, an electronic instrument most often heard on 1950s suspense and science fiction movie soundtracks.

Here at Humboldt State as part of a national tour, Rika Uchida is expected to stay with the piano version.

Virtuoso pianist Rika Uchida presents a Debussy concert and commentary on Saturday March 27 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.

Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now.

Humboldt Symphony

Power to the People: Humboldt Symphony plays symphonic works based on folk and jazz tunes featuring saxophone soloist Virginia Ryder on Saturday, March 6 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. Conducted by Paul Cummings; produced by the HSU Department of Music.

Paris Jazz, Danny Boy, Crazy Uncle and the Mighty Handful: Humboldt Symphony Plays Music of the People

The Humboldt Symphony presents an airy early-spring program filled with folk melodies and jazz, but in compositions displaying the rich and varied sounds of the symphonic orchestra.

The evening’s centerpiece is Concertino da Camera by 20th century French composer Jacques Ibert, highlighting the American jazz and ragtime rhythms that took 1920s Paris by storm. Virginia Ryder is the featured soloist, in what Symphony conductor Paul Cummings calls “one of the greatest works for alto saxophone in the orchestra repertoire.”

Composer Ibert is known for his playfulness, and the Concertino takes the orchestra on a ride of fascinating rhythms, shifting harmonies and abrupt key changes. “It’s an enjoyable piece to play and to listen to,” Cummings said.

Other pieces on the program go deeper into music of the people, to traditional folk melodies. Percy Grainger’s contribution is self-explanatory: Irish Tune From County Derry. “This is one of Grainger’s primary works,” Cummings said. “This version is unique, though, because it includes strings. It’s a beautiful arrangement, based on the tune we know as ‘Danny Boy.’”

Anatol Liadov’s Eight Russian Folk Songs comprise his best known piece for orchestra. Member of the group of 19th century Russian composers known as “The Mighty Handful,” Liadov’s great talent was for orchestration. “He created a beautiful orchestral setting for these folk songs,” Cummings observed. “He chose really charming songs—very simple, lyrical tunes. But he orchestrates them with very challenging combinations of instruments—for example, the cello section plays a four-part harmony—very unusual. There’s also a lot of contrast from one melody to the next.” Humorous, somber, a lullaby, a dance and a bit of birdsong—a mighty handful indeed.

Intermezzo from Hary Janos Suite by 20th century Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly is from the instrumental music of an opera about a Hungarian folk hero, a “crazy uncle” who tells outlandish lies that express the hopes and dreams of the Hungarian people. “This is a colorful piece, also with inventive orchestration.”

The sore thumb of the program is British composer William Walton’s Crown Imperial March, played at the coronation of King George VI in 1937, and substantially revised in 1963. But if Walton didn’t borrow from the people for this acclaimed piece, he at least reputedly borrowed from a friend—Edward Elgar. Listeners detected some echoes of one of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance marches. “This is one of Walton’s best known pieces,” Cummings said. “It’s usually played by bands, but it actually sounds better played by the orchestra.”

The Humboldt Symphony under the direction of Paul Cummings and featuring saxophone soloist Virginia Ryder, performs on Saturday, March 6 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. Produced by the HSU Department of Music.
Media: Arcata Eye, Humboldt State Now

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.

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

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.