Past Music News
Guest Artist Atzinger to Perform Piano Recital
Event Date/Time: Sunday, Apr. 21, 2013 2:30 pm
Location: HFA Recital Hall
The Music Discipline is pleased to welcome guest artist Christopher Atzinger, associate professor of music at St. Olaf College, for a piano recital on Sunday, April 21, at 2:30 p.m. in the Humanities Fine Arts Recital Hall. His program will feature music of Beethoven, Brahms, Richard Danielpour, Pierre Jalbert, and Justin Merritt. All are welcome to attend.
Praised in Gramophone for his “abundant energy, powerful fingers, big sound and natural musicality,” and in the San Francisco Chronicle for his “fervency and panache,” Atzinger has performed in Austria, Germany, England, Italy, France, Spain, Malta, and Canada in addition to performances throughout the United States. He has also lectured at the Juilliard School and Berklee College of Music and has given masterclasses across the country.
As a medalist of the New Orleans, San Antonio, Cincinnati, Shreveport, and Seattle International Piano Competitions, Atzinger has been praised by critics for his “personal interpretive vision” and “virtuoso aplomb.” He is a winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Artist Competition, the Simone Belsky Piano Competition, and the Premio Città di Ispica prize at the IBLA Grand Prize Competition in Ragusa-Ibla, Italy in addition to receiving honors from the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition, the National Society of Arts and Letters, and the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). Additionally, he has received grants and fellowships from the McKnight Foundation, the Theodore Presser Foundation, the American Composers Forum, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Foundation La Gesse, and the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation.
With interests in American music, Atzinger has given premieres of works by Stephen Rush, Gregory Fritze, Robert Pound, and Kevin McCarter. His debut recording on the MSR Classics label featuring Samuel Barber’s Piano Sonata, Op. 26 also received high marks, including special mention at the 8th annual International Web Concert Hall Auditions. Most recently, Atzinger received honors at the 10th San Antonio International Piano Competition for his performance of the commissioned piece, Ivory and Ebony, by Joan Tower. He has also recorded music of Judith Lang Zaimont and Amy Beach for Naxos and Centaur Records.
In addition to degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, Atzinger earned a doctor of musical arts degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Prior to his faculty appointment at St. Olaf College in Northfield, he taught at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.
Atzinger is represented by Parker Artists, New York.
DuHamel To Receive MTNA-PTG Scholarship
CINCINNATI—Ann DuHamel will be awarded the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA)-Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) Continuing Education and/or Performance Study scholarship at the Awards Brunch of the 2013 MTNA National Conference in Anaheim, California, on March 13. She will receive a $1,000 grant, which provides piano-related advanced study opportunities to Nationally Certified Teachers of Music (NCTM).
DuHamel, NCTM, is the head of keyboard studies at Morris, where she coordinates and teaches solo, collaborative and group piano as well as piano pedagogy. She will complete a DMA degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa in 2013. DuHamel previously served as assistant director of the Central Minnesota Music School (now Wirth Center for the Performing Arts). She also served on faculty at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University in Collegeville, the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City and the Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania.
DuHamel has performed in Bulgaria and Italy as well as across the United States, including appearances at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York and the San Francisco Festival of Contemporary Music. She is founding pianist of the ensemble Périphérie, which recently received an invitation to join the artist roster of Distinguished Concerts International New York. She is currently at work on her dissertation on the Nocturnes of American composer Lowell Liebermann, for which she received a fellowship from the University of Iowa. DuHamel has also been awarded a University of Minnesota Imagine Fund grant to record these pieces in 2013.
The five-day MTNA National Conference is an annual event, which takes place this year at the Disneyland® Hotel in Anaheim, California, March 9–13.
MTNA is a nonprofit organization of nearly 24,000 independent and collegiate music teachers committed to furthering the art of music through teaching, performance, composition and scholarly research. Founded in 1876, MTNA is the oldest professional music teachers’ association in the United States.
For more information about MTNA or the MTNA National Conference, contact MTNA national headquarters at 513-421-1420, 888-512-5278, or mtnanet@mtna.org.
35th Annual Morris Jazz Festival Held April 5 and 6
Event Date/Time: Friday, Apr. 5, 2013 7:30 pm
End Date/Time: Saturday, Apr. 6, 2013 7:30 pm
Location: Edson Auditorium
The 35th annual University of Minnesota, Morris Jazz Festival will be held Friday, April 5, through Saturday, April 6. Featuring guest artists Bill Pierce, tenor saxophone, and Steven Davis, trombone, the 2013 festival promises to be a unique and soulful experience. Performances will be held nightly in the Student Center's Edson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. As is tradition, the West Central All Stars will open the Friday evening performance, while the UMM Alumni Jazzers will play on Saturday night. All are welcome to attend.
Founded in 1978 by Professor Emeritus of Jazz Jim “Doc” Carlson, Jazz Fest is in its 35th year. The festival brings together high school, community, and college jazz ensembles for two days of clinics and master classes with world-renowned jazz musicians. Each night the festival concludes with a performance by guest artists and the Morris jazz ensembles.
"I am honored to be directing the jazz ensembles for this year's Morris Jazz Fest," says Jason Squinobal, head of jazz studies and jazz ensembles director. "I am extremely excited to have Steven Davis and Bill Pierce as my guests. There has been a very long and distinguished tradition of excellence at the Morris Jazz Fest and throughout the Morris jazz program. It is my intention to rebuild the program and to carry on that tradition."
Saxophonist and internationally recognized educator William Pierce studied at Tennessee State University and Berklee College of Music. In 1980 he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers as musical director. Pierce later returned to Berklee, where he became an associate professor and, later, was appointed chairman of the woodwind department. Since the mid 1980s he has divided his time between academia, performing, and recording under his own name for the Sunnyside label.
Steven Davis graduated from The Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute (University of Hartford, Connecticut). He is widely regarded as one of today's leading improvisers on the trombone. His hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition during the 1990s when he worked with the bands of jazz legends Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea, and the cooperative sextet One For All. In recent years “StevieD” has worked regularly with a broad range of jazz icons.
Tickets for the evening concerts—$18 for adults, $12 for senior citizens and youths under 18, and $5 for UMM students—will be available online or by phone at 320-589-6077 beginning Friday, March 8. Ticket order forms are also available at Higbies and the Office of Student Activities. Advance orders will be processed on Friday, March 8, and remaining seats will go on sale Monday, March 11.
Both the Friday and Saturday evening performances will be streamed online at kumm.org beginning at 7:15 p.m.
Symphonic Winds Begin Winnipeg Tour 2013
Event Date/Time: Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013 3:00 pm
Location: HFA Recital Hall
The Symphonic Winds, under music director Simon Tillier, will begin its 2013 Winnipeg Tour with a concert on Sunday, February 3, at 3 p.m. in the University of Minnesota, Morris Humanities Fine Arts Recital Hall. The ensemble will then make a stop at Kiehle Auditorium in Crookston on Thursday, February 7, at 12:30 p.m. The tour will culminate with two performances in Winnipeg—a joint concert with the University of Manitoba Wind Ensemble at Jubilee Place, Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, on Friday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m. and a performance at Westwood Collegiate on Saturday, February 9, at 12 p.m.
The tour program will include selections from Frank Bridge’s The Pageant of London Suite, Luis Serrano Alarcon’s Tramonto, Romance for Cello and Winds—featuring Joel Salvo, faculty string instructor, cello—Christopher Stark’s Augenblick, Fergal Carroll’s Winter Dances, and Tielman Susato’s Danserye, arranged by Patrick Dunnigan.
“It is sometime since the ensemble has toured, and we are delighted to be travelling to Crookston and Winnipeg to perform some outstanding repertoire that not only shows the ensemble at its best, but will also, I am sure, delight and engage our audiences,” writes Tillier, director of wind ensembles and professor of instrumental conducting.
The Symphonic Winds represents the premier large instrumental ensemble at Morris. The ensemble is dedicated to presenting an exciting variety of challenging works from all musical periods, cultures, and styles, featuring both core and contemporary repertoire as well as new pieces by emerging composers. The group has toured nationally and internationally to such destinations as Europe, South America, Hawaii, and the Bahamas. Additional information about the Symphonic Winds can be found online.
Winnipeg Tour Schedule:
University of Minnesota, Morris
Humanities Fine Arts Recital Hall
Sunday, February 3, 3 p.m.
PreConcert Chat, 2:30 p.m.
University of Minnesota, Crookston
Kiehle Auditorium
Thursday, February 7, 12:30 p.m.
Jubilee Place, Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute
Talbot Avenue, Winnipeg (Joint concert with University of Manitoba Wind Ensembles)
Friday, February 8, 7:30 p.m.
Westwood Collegiate, Winnipeg
Rouge Road, Winnipeg
Saturday, February 9, 12 p.m.
Duncan/DuHamel Duo to Perform Masterpieces for Saxophone and Piano
Event Date/Time: Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 7:30 pm
Location: HFA Recital Hall
The University of Minnesota, Morris is pleased to host Preston Duncan, teaching specialist, and Ann DuHamel, head of keyboard studies, in a recital this Thursday, January 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the Humanities Fine Arts Recital Hall. The varied program consists of twentieth-century masterpieces for saxophone and piano, including works by Ida Gotkovsky, William Albright, Astor Piazzolla, and Piet Swerts. The performance is free and open to the public.
Preston Duncan is a saxophone performer and teacher in the Twin Cities. He regularly performs as an orchestral member with the Minnesota Orchestra. In 1996, Duncan was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for study in France with Jean-Yves Fourmeau. He has appeared as a soloist in two Indianapolis Pops concerts with composer Marvin Hamlisch and has performed as an instrumental soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony for the Ameritech Yuletide Celebration. First-prize winner in the 1998 Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Woodwind Competition and a prizewinner in both the 1998 North American Saxophone Alliance Saxophone Competition and the Heida Hermanns National Young Artists Competition, Duncan has premiered works by Bernard Rands, Ernesto Pellegrini, and Stephen Greico. He was an artist in residence at Ball State University in 1999 and has presented master classes at the National University of Taiwan and the National Conservatory of Costa Rica. Duncan is currently pursuing a doctor of musical arts from the University of Minnesota.
Praised for her “profound and mystical” playing as well as her enthusiastic teaching, pianist Ann DuHamel coordinates and teaches solo, collaborative, and group piano as well as piano pedagogy. A champion of new music, DuHamel is founding pianist of ensemble: Périphérie, which recently received an invitation to join the artist roster of Distinguished Concerts International New York. She is currently at work on her dissertation on the Nocturnes of American composer Lowell Liebermann, for which she received a fellowship from the University of Iowa. DuHamel’s upcoming engagements include tours across the upper Midwest with Duncan and ensemble: Périphérie as well as presentations and performances in Halifax, Buenos Aires, and Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, New York. Past performances include venues in Bulgaria, Italy, and across the United States, including appearances at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York and the San Francisco Festival of Contemporary Music.
Eugenio Zapata to Present "Fantasies & Illusions" in Morris
Event Date/Time: Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 7:30 pm
Location: HFA Recital Hall
Guest artist Eugenio Zapata will present "Fantasies & Illusions" on Tuesday, November 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Humanities Fine Arts Recital Hall. Featuring works by Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Amy Beach, William Bolcom, and Clarence "Pine Top" Smith, the performance promises both a piano recital and multimedia presentation. This event is free and open to the public.
Eugenio Zapata, the featured guest artist, is a native of Colombia, South America. He completed undergraduate piano studies at the Andes University in Bogota under the guidance of Karol Bermudez. After performing and teaching for several years, Dr. Zapata began graduate studies at Pennsylvania State University under the guidance of French pianist Marylene Dosse. He later traveled to Texas and obtained a PhD in fine arts at Texas Tech University under the tutelage of American pianist William Westney, a winner of the Geneva International Piano Competition.
Dr. Zapata's publications include three articles on piano pedagogy in the Australian magazine Music Teacher. He has also completed three recordings of solo piano music. For the past decade Dr. Zapata has been exploring interdisciplinarity of the arts in teaching and performance, on which he has presented throughout the United States.
"Fantasies & Illusions” has been postponed from its original performance date. Although the original program was also to include dance by Steffani Jiroux, she is unable to perform.
For more information about “Fantasies & Illusions,” please contact Ann DuHamel, instructor of keyboard studies, at aduhamel@umn.edu or 320-589-6233.
'Twas the Night Before Christmas: A Farewell Carol Concert
Event Date/Time: Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 7:30 pm
End Date/Time: Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 2:00 pm
Location: Assumption Church
Tickets are now available for the University of Minnesota, Morris’s 2012 Carol Concert, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. The concert will be held on Friday, November 30, Saturday, December 1, and Sunday, December 2, at Assumption Church (209 East 3rd Street, Morris). This will be the thirty-fourth and final Carol Concert directed by Ken Hodgson, associate professor of music. All are invited to attend.
The concerts promise festive holiday music and entertainment inspired by a bygone era. Performance times for ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas are as follows: Friday, November 30, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, December 1, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, December 2, at 2 p.m. A meal will be prepared by Bello Cucina and served in the lower level of Assumption Church 90 minutes prior to each performance.
Informal receptions will follow each of the concert performances. Following the Saturday evening performance, a gathering will be held at the Best Northland Prairie Inn (200 East State Highway 28, Morris) in honor of Hodgson’s retirement. For more information, please contact Julia Schmitt '08.
Tickets for the concert—$7 for general admission, $5 for students, children, and seniors—may be purchased by going online or by calling 320-589-6077. Tickets for both the dinner and concert—$19 for adults, $17 for seniors and students, and $11 for children 12 and under—are also available. Seating is limited, so advanced purchase is recommended.
Loehrke-Bochonko Duo Brings Romantic Music to Morris
Event Date/Time: Sunday, Sep. 30, 2012 2:30 pm
Location: HFA Recital Hall
The University of Minnesota, Morris is pleased to announce that the Loehrke-Bochonko duo will perform in a recital on Sunday, September 30, at 2:30 p.m. in the Humanities Fine Arts Recital Hall. The program, which features Coca Bochonko, viola, and Shannon Loehrke, piano, includes works by Paul Hindemith, Robert Schumann, and Rebecca Clarke. All are invited to attend the recital, which is free and open to the public.
The three pieces featured in this program represent some of the most important chamber music works for viola and piano and are connected by their nods to Romanticism. Hindemith’s Sonata, Op. 11, No. 4, is heavily influenced by the music and ideas of the Romantic era. Schumann's Märchenbilder (Fairy Tales) is a classic example of the Romantic miniature: a smaller piece meant to musically depict ideas, emotions, people, or places. Clarke's sonata is both dramatic and rhapsodic, whimsical and full of longing—all of which are characteristic of the Romantic tradition.
Bochonko has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Vocal Essence, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. She is a member of the Music St. Croix chamber music ensemble, principal violist of the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, and cofounder of the Loehrke-Bochonko duo. An avid collaborator and soloist, Bochonko has performed numerous solo and chamber music recitals throughout the Midwest and Canada. She has also made solo appearances with the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, Long Prairie Chamber Orchestra, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, and Heartland Symphony Orchestra.
Loehrke earned bachelor of music and master of music degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Iowa as well as a doctor of musical arts degree in piano performance at the University of Minnesota. A versatile pianist, teacher, and pedagogue, Loehrke currently teaches piano at Century College in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Her prior teaching appointments include the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, St. Cloud State University in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the St. Joseph's School of Music in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Loehrke is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society and a performing artist member of Thursday Musical, a Twin Cities-based performing arts and educational organization. A frequent recitalist, soloist, and collaborative pianist, she has presented programs throughout the United States and Canada.
Piano Solos Will Accompany Sculpture Installations in The Enchanted Garden Preludes
Event Date/Time: Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012 3:00 pm
Location: HFA Recital Hall
The University of Minnesota, Morris will host a collaborative performance and installation event featuring pianist Beth Winterfeldt and sculptor Nicole Roberts Hoiland on Sunday, October 7, at 3 p.m. in the Humanities Fine Arts Recital Hall. Winterfeldt will perform Richard Danielpour’s The Enchanted Garden Preludes for solo piano alongside Hoiland’s sculptural work, which is inspired by the music. All are welcome to attend this multidisciplinary exhibition.
With the awareness that music often inspires visual imagery, Winterfeldt and Hoiland collaborate to present live performances of Danielpour’s Preludes and installations of new sculpture, making connections between sound and color. Danielpour, a preeminent living composer, embraces a wide range of influences in his musical style that range from rock and ragtime to structure and sounds characteristic of Western European composition. Within these works, Danielpour seeks to express both the gardens of the mind and the dreamlike qualities of memories in real life.
Winterfeldt enjoys a varied musical career as a performer and teacher, finding both roles equally satisfying. A proponent of new music, she seeks opportunities to present recent compositions to untapped audiences. Winterfeldt received a bachelors degree in piano performance from Concordia College, Moorhead and a masters degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Winterfeldt has an independent teaching studio and serves as a professional accompanist at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota.
Hoiland lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she currently works at Nova Classical Academy. Hoiland received a bachelor of arts degree from Concordia College, Moorhead as well as a master of fine arts in ceramics and a master of arts in drawing from Stephen F. Austin State University. She has also been on the faculties of the American School in Paris and Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota. Her recent exhibitions include University of Minnesota’s Larson Gallery, Archie Bray Center for the Ceramics Arts in Helena, Montana, and a solo show at the ArtExchange Gallery in Seattle, Washington.
34th Annual Morris Jazz Festival April 12-14, 2012
Event Date/Time: Thursday, Apr. 12, 2012 7:30 pm
End Date/Time: Saturday, Apr. 14, 2012 7:30 pm
Location: Edson Auditorium, Student Center
The 34th annual Morris Jazz Festival will kick off Thursday April 12, 2012, and run through Saturday, April 14th, 2012 at the University of Minnesota, Morris. The Thursday night performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Edson Auditorium, with the West Central All-Stars, a festival favorite, opening the show.
The Morris Jazz Fest offers young musicians the chance to work with and experience some of the most talented jazz performers in the country. For fans, it offers a unique opportunity to enjoy concerts performed by the Morris jazz ensembles and diverse guest artists each evening throughout the event. The 2012 festival promises to be a rich and soulful experience, with a diverse mixture of talent to satisfy everyone. Drummer Dennis Mackrel and saxophonist Gary Smulyan will be playing alongside Morris’ Jazz Ensembles at the nightly performances, and conducting Jazz Clinics during the day with invited high school and college students. Vocal jazz group Northern Colorado Voices will add a fresh new sound to the musical palette this year.
Drummer, composer, and arranger Dennis Mackrel was a child prodigy who began playing the drums at two years of age. While attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), Mackrel joined the celebrated UNLV Jazz Ensemble, where his drumming and arranging skills caught the attention of famous jazz vocalist Joe Williams. In 1983, Mackrel joined the Count Basie Orchestra on the personal recommendation of Williams. He would become the youngest member of the orchestra and the last drummer to be hired by Basie personally. Mackrel travelled with the Basie Orchestra until 1987, when he left for New York to become the drummer of choice for a number of large ensembles including The American Jazz Orchestra, The Carla Bley Big Band, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band, and his own band, The Manhattan Symphony Jazz Orchestra.
Baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan is a gifted multi-instrumentalist who started his music career by first learning alto saxophone during his teenage years on Long Island. Today, he is critically acclaimed across-the-board and recognized as a major voice on the baritone saxophone. His playing is marked by an aggressive rhythmic sense, an intelligent and creative harmonic approach and, perhaps most importantly, a strong and incisive wit. Smulyan has shared both the stage and the recording studio with a stunning potpourri of luminaries, including trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie saxophonist Stan Getz pianist Chick Corea timbales king Tito Puente and R&B/Blues and soul icons Ray Charles, B.B. King, and Diana Ross.
Northern Colorado Voices is the University of Northern Colorado’s (UNC) premier vocal jazz group, performing exciting new arrangements of jazz, rock, and pop favorites as well as original songs. They have opened for the New York Voices, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Patti Austin, Sixth Wave, and will open for the Real Group at the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival in 2012. The group includes 2010 DownBeat Student Music Award-winner Kate Skinner, Angela Parrish, Ashlee Varner, Dan Barton, Andy Jaramillo, and Evan Bell. Kate Skinner directs the group
Cost for tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and youths under 18, and $5 for Morris students. Tickets may be purchased at the Student Center Information Desk or in the Office of Student Activities, or by calling (320) 589-6080 for more information.
University of Minnesota, Morris Concert Choir Touring East Coast and Canada in March
Event Date/Time: Sunday, Mar. 25, 2012 3:00 pm
Location: HFA Recital Hall
The University of Minnesota, Morris Concert Choir is touring the East Coast and Canada for the next two weeks. The 67 person choir, Directed by Associate Professor of Music Ken Hodgson, will perform a series of seven concerts between March 10 and March 25, 2012. The tour will begin with stops in Delaware and Maryland, then move north up the Eastern Seaboard to Massachusetts, Maine, and on into Canada. The tour will culminate back home in Morris, where the choir will give their final performance on March 25th, at 3 p.m. at the HFA Recital Hall on the Morris campus.
“Touring is a vital part of a choir’s existence,” said Hodgson, who founded the Concert Choir in 1978. “We want to share what we produce with others.”
Since 1978, the Concert Choir has gained a national and international reputation for its performing excellence. Under Hodgson's direction, the choir has toured the East and West Coasts numerous times and has traveled throughout the Midwest. Two concert tours have been made through central Canada, and the choir made a concert tour to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany in 1983 and 1987. The choir toured the United Kingdom in 2003 and the Scandinavian countries again in 2007.
According to Hodgson, touring is a tradition that Morris has upheld for more than 30 years. It gives students the opportunity to visit diverse places while performing pieces by such artists as Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Throughout the 2012 tour, Hodgson expects to perform before a total audience of 1,500 to 1,800.
East Coast Tour Schedule:
Saturday, March 10, 2012 (Wilmington, DE)
Concert: 7:30 p.m.
Brandywine Valley Baptist Church
7 Mt. Lebanon Rd.
Sunday, March 11, 2012 (Ocean City, MD)
Concert: 4 p.m.
St. Peters Lutheran Church
10301 Coastal Hwy
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 (Auburn, MA)
Concert: 7:30 p.m.
Bethel Lutheran Church
90 Bryn Mawr Ave
Thursday, March 15, 2012 (Bangor, Maine)
Concert: 7:30 p.m.
Redeemer Lutheran Church
540 Essex Street
Saturday, March 17, 2012 (Moncton, NB, Canada)
Concert: 7:30 p.m.
St. John's United Church
75 Alma St
Monday, March 19, 2012 (Quebec City, Quebec, Canada)
Concert: 9:30 a.m.
Quebec High School
Sunday, March 25, 2012 (Morris, MN)
Concert: 3 p.m.
Humanities Fine Arts building, Recital Hall
Two Upcoming Symphonic Winds Concerts
The University of Minnesota, Morris Symphonic Winds is pleased to announce two upcoming spring concerts. The first, Music from Distant Shores, will take place on Sunday, March 4 at 3 p.m. Joaquin Rodrígo’s Adagio para orquesta de instrumentos de viento precedes two works featuring soloists - Gustav Mahler’s powerful Um Mitternacht for soprano and winds, and Spanish composer Luis Serrano Alarcon’s Concertango for alto saxophone, jazz trio and symphonic band. The program concludes with the Armenian inspired Three Journeys to a Holy Mountain by Alan Hovhaness.
The second concert, The Maestro Factor, on Wednesday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m., will feature Bernard Gilmore’s entertaining Five Folksongs for mezzo-soprano and winds in addition to a number of shorter well-known works by Malcolm Arnold, Ron Nelson, Fergal Carroll and Howard Hanson.
In addition, the Sunday concert will be preceded by one of our increasingly popular preconcert chats at 2:30 p.m. between the conductor, Simon Tillier and Julia Dabbs, associate professor in Art History.
Tickets will be sold at the door and in advance at the Information Desk in the Student Center. Adults $5, Seniors/Children $3, and Students with ID $1.
Hanson '11, Torgerson '11, and Weber '11 honored with MENC awards
Donovan Hanson ’11 from Ada, Matthew Torgerson ’11 from Clinton, and Alexandra Weber ’11 from Milbank, South Dakota, all University of Minnesota Morris music majors, were honored by the Music Educators’ National Organization (MENC) with its prestigious Professional Achievement Award. All three students have been strongly involved in the leadership of the Morris chapter of this important professional organization, as its president, vice president, and secretary.
MENC distinguished these three outstanding members for exemplary chapter activities and member achievements, serving as role models for other collegiate chapters, and recognizing their contributions to the music education profession. The award recipients achievements include, among many others, the organization and leadership of field trips to the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and to the Minnesota Music Educators’ Association’s Midwinter Clinic in Minneapolis, as well as the inauguration of a new presentation series on the Morris campus.
Weber, the current president of Morris’s chapter of MENC, is honored to receive the award. "Donovan, Matt, and I were trying our hardest to make MENC a more noticeable organization on campus, and we took giant steps towards that goal. This year MENC is trying to continue that forward motion by hosting speakers, going to the MMEA conference in the spring, and other activities. Receiving this award helps with the motivation to keep up the hard work and to make MENC even better here on campus."
Martin Seggelke, assistant professor of music and adviser of Morris’s chapter of MENC, added, “They have exhibited exceptional leadership skills, along with excellent organizational talents. They have invested a lot of time and committed work, and they certainly are most deserving of this recognition.”
The purpose of the MENC Professional Achievement recognition is to distinguish individual collegiate members for their commitment and dedication to MENC and music education. This recognition is given to collegiate members who have served their chapters in an exemplary manner. In addition, current and prior enrollment in an active MENC collegiate chapter for at least two years and an overall minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale are among the required criteria.
MENC, among the world’s largest arts education organizations, marked its centennial in 2007 as the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. Through membership of more than 75,000 music teachers, and with 60,000 honor students and supporters, MENC serves millions of students nationwide through activities at all teaching levels, from preschool to graduate school. Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. MENC’s activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education.
Photo above: Alexandra Weber
Photo below from left: Matt Torgerson and Donovan Hanson
3 UMM Music Students receive Professional Achievement Award of the Music Educators' National Association
This summer, Donovan Hanson from Ada, MN, Matthew Torgerson from Clinton, MN, and Alexandra Weber from Milbank, SD, all UMM music students, were honored by the Music Educators’ National Organization (MENC) with their prestigious Professional Achievement Award. All three students have been strongly involved in the leadership of the UMM chapter of this important professional organization, as its President, Vice President and Secretary. Their achievements include (among many others) the organization and leadership of field trips to the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and to the Minnesota Music Educators’ Association’s Midwinter Clinic in Minneapolis, as well as the inauguration of a new presentation series on the UMM campus. MENC would like to distinguish these three outstanding members for exemplary chapter activities and member achievements, serving as role models for other Collegiate chapters, and recognizing their contributions to the music education profession.
MENC, among the world's largest arts education organizations, marked its centennial in 2007 as the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. Through membership of more than 75,000 music teachers, and with 60,000 honor students and supporters, MENC serves millions of students nationwide through activities at all teaching levels, from preschool to graduate school. Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. MENC's activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National Standards for Arts Education
The purpose of the MENC Professional Achievement recognition is to distinguish individual Collegiate members for their commitment and dedication to MENC and music education. This recognition is given to Collegiate members who have served their chapters in an exemplary manner. In addition, current and prior enrollment in an active MENC Collegiate chapter for at least two years and an overall minimum grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) are among the required criteria. The President, and Collegiate chairperson of the Minnesota Music Educators’ Association (MMEA) have been informed of our recipients for possible statewide recognition.
Congratulations!
Joseph Carucci composes theme music for new Pioneer Public TV program
Joseph Carucci, University of Minnesota, Morris assistant professor of music and jazz ensembles and combos director, was featured on “Postcards,” a new weekly Pioneer Public Television program. He composed the theme music and was featured in the program’s first episode: “Postcards: The Making of Postcards.” It may be seen on the Pioneer Web site at pioneer.org/Postcards_Episodes.
“Postcards” explores the art, history, and cultural heritage of western Minnesota and beyond. It airs on Sundays at 7 p.m. with rebroadcasts on Thursdays at 7 p.m.
Familiar with his “creative and curious attitude toward music,” Athena Kildegaard, poet, UMM English instructor, and “Postcards” contributor, recommended Carucci to Eric Olson, Pioneer executive producer and the show’s host. Their collaboration began as a “conversation”—not about how the theme should sound but what words provoked musical images in the composer’s mind. Carucci’s charge was to bring the words alive, connecting the theme music with the show’s format of “travel and talk.”
“When Joe and I first met,” says Olson, “I had not yet produced a single episode of “Postcards.” So Joe had nothing visual to use as a guide. All we had for Joe were vague words to describe what we hoped our show would be.” But Carucci was unfazed. This was just another variation on the literary references and images of the natural world that are the usual sources of his compositions. Of the many possibilities offered—words like “art,” “outdoors,” “history,” and “heritage”—Carucci chose “wandering” as most representative of the show’s spirit.
Carucci accomplished the job by mingling tradition with technology, using instruments, piano and woodwinds, to compose and a computer to document and manipulate the composition. He then orchestrated it and finalized the work with an ensemble of local musicians, tweaking as he went along, keeping in mind the words and their visual associations. Composing several variations of the theme to use throughout the program completed the cycle.
The synthesis of spoken word and music became, in Olson’s words, “a grand theme song that had a distinct local flavor to it.” Kildegaard was equally pleased. Observing that “Joe doesn’t stop with the expected,” she praised his music for giving “Postcards” “a vibrant and surprising depth.”
For Carucci’s part, he considered it an honor to collaborate with Eric Olson and compose the theme music for “Postcards.” “The documentary does a wonderful job presenting the beautiful landscape and the inspiring culture and history of western Minnesota,” he said.
Pioneer is preparing for a new “Postcards” season and looking for more stories of the people of western Minnesota to tell. Having lived in the area for only one year, Joe Carucci has already become one of them.
“Postcards” is funded by a Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund grant.
Pioneer Public Television is a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) affiliate serving more than 375,000 households across Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa.
Odello investigates the drum corps phenomenon: music, sport, and morality
Denise Odello, assistant professor of music, received an Imagine Fund Award to support her drum corps research, an investigation titled Music, Sport, and Morality: Competition and the Drum Corps.
A musicologist, Odello studies how people use music. Her project focuses on wind bands, technically drum and bugle corps, specifically Drum Corps International (DCI), headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Boasting the participation of tens of thousands of high school and college students annually and nearly one half a million fans attending its summer tours, DCI bills itself as “a powerful, nonprofit, global youth activity with far-reaching artistic, educational and organizational influence.” Odello wants to get behind the entertainment value and educational aspects and mine the deeper meaning of this phenomenon. Given the intensity of participants and followers alike, she wants to understand the appeal, the need it fulfills, and the statement involvement makes about our culture.
Competition means everything in DCI. Each year, more than 8,000 students from the United States and around the world compete for fewer than 3,500 available places in top-tier DCI member corps. Distinct from concert and field bands, drum corps are considered a musical subculture with a more varied repertoire. In competition, however, each corps may be judged on its handling of the same piece of music. Fans do not consider this a detractor the competitions are so popular that they are sometimes even broadcast to theaters for viewing by larger audiences.
At the heart of Odello’s investigation is the unique relationship between art and sport in this context. Many drum corps originate in veterans organizations youth auxiliaries. Odello will analyze their military origins and consider the role of spectacle and pageantry. The drum corps’ loyal fan base, akin to that of a sports team or rock group, provides another layer of insight into the human mind and heart.
Odello will use her Imagine Fund award to travel and attend drum corps competitions. This summer, she will present a paper on the topic at an international society of musicologists conference in Austria. Next summer, she will be embedded with the Blue Devils of California, the reigning DCI champions, gaining an insider’s view of the drum corps world.
Odello is one of seventeen Morris professors who received all-University 2010 Imagine Fund Awards. The program is supported in part by the McKnight Arts and Humanities Endowment. The endowment’s mission is to support, sustain, and enliven arts and humanities research and activities on the four University campuses.
Dr. Jean Richards presented on Ravel
Location: Madison, WI
Associate Professor of Music Dr. Jean Richards, UMM's professor for Music Theory, presented a paper comparing harmonic structures in two compositions by Maurice Ravel entitled “Ravel: Nearly as Many Circle Progressions in a Fugue as in a Forlane” at The Musician’s Workshop, the annual, national meeting of the Macro Analysis Creative Research Organizaition (MACRO), in Madison, Wisconsin, June 2009.
Martin Seggelke presented at International WASBE Conference
The World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) is the most important international organization in the field of wind music. Their biannual conference was hosted in Cincinnati, OH in July 2009. At the conference, UMM's Director of Wind Ensembles and Assistant Professor of Music, Dr. Martin Seggelke, gave a well-received presentation of his latest research on Historic and Current Developments in German Wind Music. The presentation was supported by the University of Minnesota Imagine Funds grant.
Ann DuHamel at New Paltz Piano Summer Festival
This past summer, UMM's new Head of Keyboard Studies, Ann DuHamel, participated in the New Paltz Piano Summer Festival, where she studied with renowned pianists Vladimir Feltsman, Robert Hamilton, Philip Kawin, Alexander Korsantia, Yong Hi Moon, Paul Ostrovsky, Robert Roux, and Susan Starr.
She also was invited to perform on the "Rising Stars" concert, as part of the Old Capitol Piano Sundays concert series in Iowa City, Iowa. The recital was taped by the University of Iowa to be broadcast in future televised programs.
Ann DuHamel on Tour
Head of Keyboard Studies Ann DuHamel is currently on tour with soprano Catherine Verrilli, assistant professor of voice and vocal pedagogy at St Cloud State University. Their recital program, "American Mystics, American Treasures," has been performed in Minnesota, Iowa, and MIssouri, with upcoming engagements on the East Coast and at UMM on September 27, 2009 at 7:30PM in the HFA Recital Hall on campus. Free admission!
Congratulations, Dr. Carucci!
Event Date/Time: Wednesday, Sep. 16, 2009 11:00 am
Joe Carucci received his DMA in Saxophone Performance in the Summer 2009 at the University of Kentucky with the completion of his doctoral document titled The Contribution of Gerry Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band to the Jazz Tradition. Big Band transcriptions by Joe Carucci of four of the Concert Jazz Band’s original compositions and arrangements are presented in the document and were featured in a lecture recital in March 2009 at the Singletary Recital Hall in Lexington, Kentucky.