A dynamic clarinet-flute ensemble known for its energetic and powerful performances will soon perform its initial University of Tennessee at Chattanooga recital.
Duo Esplanade, comprised of Dr. Ayça Çetin on flute and Dr. Katsuya Yuasa on clarinet, will perform at the Cadek Recital Hall on the UTC campus on Friday, Nov. 10. The free concert, open to the public, will take place at 7:30 p.m.—and seating is limited.
Free parking is available in the adjacent Lupton Hall parking garage. Both the parking garage and Cadek Hall are handicap accessible.
Dr. Ayça Çetin
Çetin is a visiting lecturer of music theory, teaching musicianship and aural skills at UTC. Yuasa is a UTC adjunct instructor of applied clarinet.
“The audience will be treated to a smorgasbord of sounds, techniques and styles, making for an exciting evening,” said Dr. Jonathan McNair, the Ruth S. Holmberg Professor of American Music at UTC. “The program offers several short recent musical works by living composers, including current UTC student Katherine Fair.”
Fair is a senior composition major from Maryville, Tennessee. Earlier this year, her composition, “Microduo,” won second prize in the Southeastern Composers League’s Arnold Salop Memorial Competition for Undergraduate Students.
Another recital highlight will be the world premiere performance of McNair’s “Prisms,” a three-movement work written for Duo Esplanade “in appreciation for their musicianship and friendship.”
“It uses beat-boxing in the flute in the last portion of the music, plus other interesting techniques—as well as the usual melodic writing,” McNair said. “It covers a wide range of expressive territory, concluding with a set of brief, energetic dances with influences from R&B, rock-style beat-boxing and Eastern European folk music.”
Other works on the program include compositions from Chelsea Komschlies, Nicole Chamberlain, Daniel Dorff and Robert Muczynski—along with works for solo flute and solo clarinet.
Dr. Katsuya Yuasa
Çetin and Yuasa are accomplished musicians who have performed around the world.
Çetin has won awards from the Boston Woodwind Society and the National Flute Association (NFA) and is a coordinator for the NFA Newly Published Music Competition. She currently performs with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and the Panama City Symphony in Florida. She previously performed with the New Manhattan Sinfonietta, Ocala Symphony, Tallahassee Symphony, Northwest Florida Symphony and Albany Symphony Orchestras.
A Miyazawa Flutes Emerging Artist, Çetin received degrees from Florida State University, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Central Michigan University and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul, Turkey.
Yuasa is described as an inventive artist who explores a vast repertoire of classical, jazz, ethnic, pop, rock and contemporary music. He has toured in the U.S., Europe, South America and Asia as a concert soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and orchestra player.
A Piatigorsky Foundation Artist, Yuasa currently performs with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra and the Panama City Symphony. He received degrees from San Jose State University in California, Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Florida State University.
Duo Esplanade is comprised of Dr. Katsuya Yuasa and Dr. Ayça Çetin
