The UTC Music Department presents the faculty recital “Songs and Dances,” which will feature Doctors Jonathan McNair, Mario Abril, and Kenyon Wilson on Sunday, October 7, at 4 p.m. in the UTC Fine Arts Center, Roland Hayes Concert Hall, 752 Vine Street. This event is free and open to the public.
“The variety of music on this program will offer a range of experience from the lyrical to the profound to the light-hearted, ending with a short classical take on a rock-n-roll jam session,” McNair, Music Theory Coordinator, said.
McNair’s “Like a Breath in a Bubble, Spinning: Songs of Love and Loss” is the title of a set of songs for tenor voice and mixed percussion. The six songs feature texts by poets Emily Dickinson, Amy Lowell, William Butler Yeats, and D. H. Lawrence. This new work was commissioned by tenor Harv Wileman with the support of a grant from CreateHere.
Wileman, a UTC alumnus, sings regularly in the region as a soloist. He will perform in this world premiere along with percussionist Dr. Monte Coulter, who is well known as a member of the Chattanooga Symphony as well as a creative music faculty member at UTC.
Abril, Professor of Music for Classical Guitar, will perform “Two Songs” for soprano and piano, settings of poetry by Mary Louise Sottong of Chattanooga and Cuban poet José Martí. Mezzo-soprano Sara Snider Schone, who is in demand as a vocalist as well as an accomplished bassoonist will be accompanied by Tim Hinck, pianist, composer, and sound-artist.
“Preantepenultimate Tango,” by Wilson, Associate Professor of Music for Low Brass, features a variety of dance styles including milonga, jazz, modern, and tango. Written in response to the 2012 “Rapido” competition, this light-hearted work will be performed by a quartet including oboist Carey Shinbaum, principal oboe of the Huntsville Symphony and English horn soloist for the Chattanooga Symphony; violinist Marcy Wilson, who is Principal Second Violin of the Tupelo Symphony in Mississippi; cellist Jenny R. Wilkes, a UTC music faculty member and one of the founding members of the New Dischord Ensemble; and pianist Hinck.
The concert will close with “Dance!” composed in 2012 by McNair. This brief composition, featuring the abovementioned quartet, includes a Bulgarian-influenced dance, a slow waltz, and a rock-n-roll-inspired “jam.”
