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Genkin Philharmonic opens concert season
The Sept. 8 concert by several members of the Genkin Philharmonic is being dedicated to the memory of composer Milton Babbitt.
Members of the Genkin Philharmonic, UB’s electro-acoustic chamber ensemble, will open the Department of Music’s 2011-12 concert season with a performance at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.
Other concerts being presented by the Department of Music during the month of September include those by bassoonist Jessica Wooldridge and pianist Howard Na; the Slee Sinfonietta, UB’s professional chamber orchestra; organist Roland Martin; and pianist Stephen Manes.
The Genkin’s performance is co-sponsored by The Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music. The program of contemporary art music, titled “Secret Messages,” is dedicated to the memory of composer Milton Babbitt.
Founded in 2000 by UB faculty member Jon Nelson, the Genkin Philharmonic originally was conceived as a class that would provide a uniquely challenging opportunity for UB students to study and perform contemporary music that would draw on a range of musical genres, among them rock, jazz, improvised and classical music.
The current Genkin is made up of professional musicians from the Buffalo area, with core membership comprised of UB faculty and alumni. Other members come from the Buffalo Philharmonic, Fisher-Price and the Hallwalls Arts Collective. This hybrid of top-level classical, new music and improvisational performers creates a band that offers a dizzying array of styles in concert.
Performing in the Sept. 8 concert, in addition to Nelson on trumpet, are UB faculty members Tom Kolor, percussion; Jonathan Lombardo, trombone; and Michael Wagner, piano/bass, as well as Steve Baczkowski, music director at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center.
The 2011-12 concert season will continue on Sept. 9 with a recital by bassoonist Jessica Wooldridge and pianist Howard Na. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus.
The program will feature John Bacon Jr.’s “Spinning and Weaving for Bassoon Solo,” Villa-Lobos’ “Ciranda das Sete Notas,” Roger Boutry’s “Interferencés,” and Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Bassoon Sonata.”
An adjunct professor of bassoon at UB, Wooldridge is pursuing her doctorate at the Eastman School of Music. She performs in Eastman’s new music ensembles Musica Nova and Ossia, and also is active as a freelance orchestral musician.
Na made his first public appearance as a pianist at age 11 and, only two years later performed Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto with the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra at the Diablo Valley Center. He has earned prizes in the Russian Music Competition in San Jose, Calif. (2001 and 2006) and the National Chopin Competition in Miami (2005). He also is a doctoral student at Eastman.
The Slee Sinfonietta, with James Baker conducting, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 13 in Lippes Concert Hall. Composer Andrew Rindfleisch will appear as guest conductor on his own piece, titled "What Vibes!!"
The program also includes David Felder’s “Requiescat,” Donald Erb’s “Sunlit Peaks and Dark Valleys” and Mathew Rosenblum’s “Ancient Eyes.
In addition to being the professional chamber orchestra in residence at UB, the Slee Sinfonietta is the flagship ensemble of the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music, which is co-sponsoring the concert. The Sinfonietta is known for presenting concerts that feature performances of challenging new works by contemporary composers, as well as lesser-known works from the chamber-orchestra repertoire.
Founded in 1997 by David Felder, Birge-Cary Chair in the UB Department of Music, the ensemble is comprised of a core group of musicians, including UB faculty performance artists, visiting artists, national and regional professionals, and advanced performance students. Its activities include touring and recording, as well as presenting unique concert experiences at UB.
On Sept. 16, faculty member Roland E. Martin will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. in Lippes Concert Hall.
The first half of Martin’s program will consist of music by members of the Bach family, including J.S., three of his sons and other family members. Several pieces will be composed on the family’s famous musical signature using the b-a-c-h notes. The second half of the program will consist of Martin’s “Adamic Songs” for tenor, clarinet, bassoon and piano. The song cycle is composed on six poems by Walt Whitman dealing with love in all its aspects.
Martin is on the faculties of Canisius College, Daemen College and the Buffalo Seminary, as well as UB. He also is organist and director of music at St. Joseph University Church and music director of the Freudig Singers.
He received the Buffalo and Erie County Arts Council Award for Outstanding Individual Artist in 2008.
UB faculty member emeritus Stephen Manes will return to Lippes Concert Hall in a recital entitled “Vienna and Beyond.” The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20.
A former chair of the Department of Music, Manes will perform works by Berg, Schoenberg, Schubert, Webern and Schumann.
Known his formidable technique and interpretive refinement, Manes has performed in most major U.S. cities, as well as in such European centers as London, Berlin, Amsterdam, the Hague, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Vienna. While on the UB faculty, he presented the complete cycle of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas three separate times.
He has appeared numerous times with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed with the New York Philharmonic; the Pittsburgh, National, Detroit, Baltimore and Denver symphonies; and at the Boston Esplanade under conductors including Michael Tilson Thomas, Neville Marriner, Arthur Fiedler, Brian Priestman, Sergiu Comissiona, Christopher Keene, Semyon Bychkov and Maximiano Valdes.
Tickets for the concerts by the Genkin Philharmonic, Jessica Wooldridge and Howard Na, Roland Martin and Stephen Manes are $10 for the general public and $5 for UB faculty/staff/alumni and senior citizens; UB students are free with valid ID.
Advance tickets for the Slee Sinfonietta are $12 for general admission; $9 for UB faculty/staff/alumni and senior citizens; and $5 for students. Tickets at the door are $20, $15 and $8.
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