Faculty percussionist Lee Hinkle joins School of Music colleagues to premiere a new work for marimba and strings, which he commissioned with Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield as winners of the Global Première Consortium Commissioning Project.
School of Music string faculty collaborate in unusual chamber music combinations on this ”quartetless” concert featuring Brahms' String Quintet, No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111.
Someone can’t get a signal. Friends debate the existence of God. A man has a secret. A scientist dissects a brain. A person is in love and that love can’t be reciprocated. Experiencing this kaleidoscope of vignettes is like watching a stranger’s Snapchats – the characters may be unfamiliar and unrelated to each other, but the emotions are instantly recognizable. In this relentlessly paced serio-comedy, celebrated British playwright Caryl Churchill asks how our infinite access to inspiring, mundane, crucial, insignificant information affects how we connect to each other – and ourselves.
Rivals and fellow Russian expatriates, Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev both sought – and found – fame and fortune writing music for the theater. They were also known for accepting short-term commissions from touring ballet troupes when in desperate need of cash. Such is the early history of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat (1918) and Prokofiev’s Trapeze (1924), better known as the Quintet in G-minor.
The complex interlocking rhythms of Balinese music on percussive instruments, the myriad expressions and the delicate motions of Balinese dance unite in the UMD Gamelan Saraswati. The quiet beauty, simplicity and harmonizing effect of Japanese nature are revealed in the music of the UMD Koto Ensemble.
In this profoundly meditative and immersive musical experience, Austrian vibraphonist Berndt Thurner performs Stuart Saunders Smith’s solo vibraphone work, The Deep. Expressing the expansiveness of the ocean and subtle variety of waves, the composer has said, “On the surface, The Deep sounds like it’s dealing with repetition, but the larger repetition is that none of the repetitions are the same.”
Trumpet professor Chris Gekker performs works from his September album release, "Ghost Dialogues". He is joined by piano professor Rita Sloan to premiere works by Harvard University resident composer Carson Cooman and UMD composition professor Robert Gibson. Voice professor Delores Ziegler then joins the duo for Cooman's song cycle, "Chasing Down the Moon". Gekker rounds out the program performing contemporary jazz compositions with faculty Chris Vadala and Robert Gibson, and distinguished alumna Lianna Gekker.
Internationally renowned since becoming a prizewinner at the 1993 Naumburg Violin Competition, Yehonatan Berick enjoys a busy concert schedule as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and pedagogue, throughout North America, Europe and Israel. Berick's many ambitious recital programs feature one-day performances of such cycles as Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas, Paganini’s 24 Caprices, Ysaÿe's Six Sonatas for solo violin, as well as complete sonata cycles by Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann and Grieg. He is joined by piano professor Rita Sloan for an all-Brahms sonatas program.
Berg called his Chamber Concerto “a virtuosic tour de force—not just for the soloists, but for the ensemble and conductor as well.” An homage to the great Arnold Schoenberg, the Chamber Concerto features violin professor James Stern and pianist Audrey Andrist. Van Otterloo’s Serenade for Brass and Lindberg’s Concerto for Winds and Percussion are works that showcase the virtuosity of the ensemble
The UMD Chamber Singers treat audiences to vibrant Italian madrigals by Monteverdi, searing motets by Poulenc, monumental German Baroque works, and groundbreaking American music of women composers.
