VOLUME 33, NUMBER 23 |
THURSDAY,
April 4, 2002 |
Flutist
Wilson to head concert lineup
Violist Garth Knox, "wunderkind" Felix
Hell among artists to perform during April
By DONNA
LONGENECKER
Reporter Assistant Editor
World-renowned
flutist Ransom Wilson will make two appearances in Slee Hall as part
of the Department of Music's April concert offerings.
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Flutist
Ransom Wilson will perform twice this month at UB. |
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Wilson
will appear as guest soloist with the Slee Sinfonietta at 8 p.m. April
16 in one of a series of WNED's 25th anniversary concerts. He also will
perform, accompanied by pianist Douglas Ashcraft, at 8 p.m. April 18.
And he will conduct a free master class at 4 p.m. on April 17 in Baird
Hall for flute students and enthusiasts alike.
The
Slee Sinfonietta, UB's resident professional chamber orchestra, performs
a series of concerts each year devoted to lesser-known repertoire, particularly
that of the pre-classical era and the most recent contemporary music.
Its April 16 program, conducted by Magnus Mårtensson, is no exception,
and will feature Luigi Nono's "Canti per 13," Carl-Axel Hall's "Elegie,"
and C.P.E. Bach's Concerto in D Minor, during which Wilson will perform
as soloist.
The
program for Wilson's April 18 recitala keen mix of the old, new
and newly discoveredwill include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Sonata
in F Major, K. 376;" Franz Schubert's "Introduction and Variations,
Op. 160;" Michael Daugherty's "The High and the Mighty, for piccolo
and piano;" Francis Poulenc's "Un jouer de flûte berce les ruines,
for flute solo;" Carlos Guastavino's "Introducción y Allegro,"
and Carl Vine's "Sonata for Flute and Piano."
A
member of the Yale music faculty, Ransom is equally esteemed as an outstanding
conductor of orchestral and operatic repertoire, a Grammy-nominated
artist and a gifted arranger. He is music director and principal conductor
of Solisti New York Orchestra, which he founded in 1981; artistic director
of Oklahoma's famed OK MOZART Festival; artistic director of the Mozart
Festival-at-Sea on the M.S. Westerdam, and music director of the Idyllwild
Arts Academy Orchestra in Idyllwild, Calif.
The
tickets for both concerts are $12 for the general public, $9 for UB
faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens, and $5 for students.
As
part of a week-long tenure in the Department of Music, exploratory violist
Garth Knox, one of the most sought-out musicians in the world, will
present a concert at 8 p.m. Monday in Baird Recital Hall. In addition
to the concert, Knox will work privately with composition faculty and
students in various settings, including lectures and demonstrations.
The
concert, which will include a performance of "The Misprision of Transparency"a
work by UB student Aaron Cassidyis free and open to the public.
Other works to be performed will include Attilio Ariosti's "Primera
Lezione" (1721); Alejandro Castanos' "Ft;" Marin Marais' "Pieces du
4ième livre;" the artist's own work, "Sympathetic string stories
no. 6," and Georg Friedrich Haas's "Solo."
After
his studies at the Royal College of Music in London, where he won several
prizes, Knox became a member of the English Chamber Orchestra, which
allowed him to work with well-known artists like Daniel Baremboim, Pincas
Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman and James Galway.
During
his seven years as a member of the Arditti String Quartet, he toured
internationally and collaborated with renowned contemporary composers
such as Ligeti, Kurtag, Berio and Stockhausen. Since 1998, Knox has
been based in Paris, enjoying a career that includes performing, teaching
and recording.
Seventeen-year-old
"wunderkind" Felix Hell will perform the fourth concert in the "Organ
Recitals on the Fisk, "Op. 95" series, at 8 p.m. tomorrow in Slee. Already
a veteran of more than 200 professional recitals, Hell has studied at
Julliard and is pursuing further studies at the Curtis Institute of
Music in Philadelphia.
Born
in 1985 in Frankenthal/Pfalz, Germany, Hell took his first piano lesson
at the age of seven. He played the "Prelude in C Major" from J.S. Bach's
"Well-Tempered Clavier" (BWV846) by heart a few days after listening
to and observing the piano player. Less than a year later, he took his
first organ lesson and was able to demonstrate his success just two
months later to Leo Kraemer, professor and principal organist of the
Roman Catholic Cathedral in Speyer Germany, playing Bach's "Prelude
and Fugue in F Major."
His
program for the UB concert will feature J.S. Bach's "Fantasy and Fugue
in G Minor, BMV 542;" "Schmuecke dich o liebe Seele (Leipzig Chorale),
BWV 654;" "Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532;" Alexandre Guilmant's
"Sonata No. 1 in D Minor;" Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's "Sonata No.
3 in A Major, Op. 65;" César Franck's "Chorale No. 1 in E Major;"
Norbert J. Schneider's "Toccata 'Schlafes Bruder,'" (1994) and Franz
Liszt's "Adagio" (Consolation) and "Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H."
Tickets
are $5.
Two
upcoming faculty recitals will double as showcases for artists-in-residence
in the Department of Music. The Amherst Saxophone Quartet will perform
its final concert as a resident ensemble at 8 p.m. Saturday in Slee.
The quartet will be joined by the UB Percussion Ensemble, directed by
Anthony Miranda, in a concert that promises to be full of interesting
sounds, including the world premiere of the jazz-inspired "Tad's Dilemma
with Bird: A Lovers Quarrel Resolved," by local composer John Bacon.
The
Baird Trio will appear on the Slee stage at 8 p.m. Tuesday with an alluring
program that contrasts the very old with the very new. The trio, featuring
Stephen Manes on piano, Jonathan Golove on cello and Movses Pogossian
on violin, will offer a world premiere performance of Golove's "Bad
Dreams (The Seventeenth Murder)" in between seminal works by Hadyn and
Schubert.
Throughout
April and the beginning of May, several student ensembles will present
concerts. All are free of charge and open to the public. The performance
schedule:
- UB
Percussion Ensemble, Anthony Miranda, director, 8 p.m., April 19,
Slee Concert Hall
- Plosion,
UB's Flute Ensemble, Cheryl Gobbett Hoffman, director, 3 p.m. April
21, Slee
- UB
Concert Band, Jon Nelson, conductor, 8 p.m. April 24, Slee
- UB
Choir and Chorus, Harold Rosenbaum, conductor, 8 p.m. April 25, Slee
- UB
Symphony Orchestra, Magnus Mårtensson, director, 8 p.m. April
26, Slee
- UB
Saxophone Ensemble, Harry Fackelman, director, 3 p.m., April 28, Slee
- UB
Contemporary Ensemble, Jonathan Golove, director, 8 p.m., May 1, Slee
- UB
Jazz Ensemble, Dave Schiavone, director, 8 p.m. May 2, Baird Recital
Hall
Tickets
for music department concerts can be purchased at the Slee box office
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the Center for the Arts
box office from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster
locations.
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