Under the direction of Gordon James, a small
ensemble performance of Brass quintets will
be held Sunday, November 8, 7:30 p.m. in
Patten Chapel. This event is open to the public,
admission is free and no ticket is required.
Under the direction of Assistant Professor Ronald Ulen, Slow Dusk, A Hand of Bridge, A Game of Chance, three American operas will be presented in one show by UTC Opera on Friday, November 6, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 8, 3 p.m. Both performances will be held in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall, UTC Fine Arts Center at the corner of Vine and Palmetto Streets.
Tickets are $7 general admission and $5 for seniors. UTC faculty and staff receive two complimentary tickets and UTC students receive one complimentary ticket with UTC ID. Tickets are available from the UTC Box Office (423-425-4269) Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
The evening will open with Carlisle Floyd’s first opera, Slow Dusk. The performance unfolds a Romeo and Juliet-like tragedy of a May afternoon, which alters the course of a young girl’s life. In Slow Dusk, like all of his works, Floyd is able to bring his abilities as a librettist and a dramatist to the elegant composition of opera.
Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge is an evening at home with friends. Often deemed one of the many “minute operas,” this work is short, but does not lack pizzazz. Its four ariettas delineate the inner thoughts of the four card players, and what was once a light story now becomes much deeper. It is a joke with murderous overtones.
Finally, the evening will conclude with A Game of Chance, by Seymour Barab. It is a comedy where three bored knitting ladies find out what would happen if their dreams came true.
The UTC Opera Theater is an auditioned group of talented students who perform a variety of scenes from multiple operas, sets of arias and ensembles, multiple one-act operas, and full-length masterworks. Recent productions have included Mozart: Marriage of Figaro in 2007, Jonathan Bailey Holland’s Naomi in the Living Room and the zarzuela La Verbena de la Paloma in fall 2008, and Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus in spring 2009.
For more information, please contact the UTC Music Dept. at (423) 425-4601.
UTC Orchestra with guest artist Mirian Conti, piano
Under the direction of Maestro Jooyong Ahn, the UTC Orchestra will perform Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto featuring guest artist, Mirian Conti, Argentinean pianist followed by Sibelius’s 2nd Symphony on Tuesday, November 10, 7:30 p.m. in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.
Beethoven’s fifth concerto was finalized in 1809. The powerful themes and heroic tone of the composition, led to the name “Emperor” for this concerto. The first movement of the concerto, the Allegro, starts with a cadence on the piano suggesting man’s heroism. The second movement, Adagio un poco mosso, starts with a presentation by the string instruments of an expressive theme of great openness, and it is followed by the piano with an extraordinarily melodic segment. Finally the third movement, Rondo-Allegro, starts with arpeggios played on the piano which engender the theme of the rondo.
The second symphony is the most popular and most frequently recorded of Sibelius’ symphonies. It is more skillfully orchestrated than the first symphony. The ideas are more established, and Sibelius replaces violence with a more classical touch. The first and final movements are very optimistic, which was comforting to the Finnish public at the time the symphony was released during Russian oppression. After the first public performance of the symphony, Sibelius was proclaimed a national hero, and shortly after that, the symphony became acclaimed worldwide.
The UTC Orchestra is proud to have guest pianist, Mirian Conti for this performance. Conti is considered a leading exemplar of Spanish, Latin American, and Contemporary American music. Recently, The Julliard School established a scholarship in Conti’s honor. She was also selected one of the “100 Outstanding Alumni” in 2005 to celebrate the school’s Centennial.
The UTC Symphony Orchestra is the most advanced orchestral ensemble at UTC. Its educational purpose is to provide a pre-professional experience for applied music and music education majors and for musically talented students majoring in other fields. The orchestra is directed by Associate Professor Jooyong Ahn.
For more information, please contact the UTC Music Dept. at (423) 425-4601 or visit http://utc.edu/music/.
“Bach’s Contemporary Legacy” with Guest Artist Laura Barger, Piano
The UTC Music Department presents pianist Laura Barger in recital on Thursday, November 12, 7:30 p.m., Roland Hayes Concert Hall of the UTC Fine Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public.
New York-based pianist Barger is increasingly sought after for her dedication to contemporary music and for her energetic and committed performances. She has performed internationally both as a soloist and chamber musician at many prominent Contemporary music festivals. Active in New York’s new music scene, she can be heard performing everywhere from John Zorn’s downtown experimental mecca “The Stone” to the Kaufmann Center’s Merkin Hall.
Barger is a founding member of Yarn/Wire, a piano and percussion quartet committed to exploring and expanding the body of works for that instrumentation since Bartok. The ensemble has presented numerous US Premieres by internationally renowned composers and in 2009-10 will present “Composing New York,” a series featuring world premieres by young composers from the US and abroad based in NYC. In addition to her work with Yarn/Wire, Laura has performed with contemporary music groups such as the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Talujon Percussion, Lost Dog New Music, and the Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players.
She has premiered numerous works by composers from around the world, including being the featured soloist in György Ligeti’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra as part of the Emerson Quartet’s International Chamber Music Festival at Stony Brook University in 2007. Barger is also currently part of an experimental music theatre project by American composer Ellen Lindquist and Companion Star Productions.
Barger holds degrees from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (BM, summa cum laude) where she studied with David Northington, and Stony Brook University (MM, DMA) where studied primarily with Christina Dahl and additionally with Gilbert Kalish and Arthur Haas (early keyboards). She is currently on faculty at the 92nd Street Y School of Music in Manhattan.
Her program for the evening is entitled “Bach’s Contemporary Legacy.” In keeping with that theme, she will perform Bach’s “French Suite” in E-flat Major, Preludes and Fugues in F-sharp and C-sharp minor, and D Major toccata, contrasting these with works by Boulez, Ligeti, Webern and Sofia Gubaidulina, all of which draw on Bach as inspiration in their compositions for contemporary piano.
For more information, please contact the UTC Music Dept. at (423) 425-4601.
