On Tuesday, October 28th, the faculty of the music department will be performing in concert with three new performance faculty members. The concert opens with Muczynski’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 14. Mucyznski sought to compose a piece showcasing the flute’s versatility, creating music with a pungent character rather than the clichéd serene and sweet sound of cascading swirls of notes. The piece features flautist Dionne Jackson, Associate Professor of Flute and Coordinator of Woodwinds, in her first performance with the UConn faculty. The second selection of the evening is Poème for Violin and Piano, Op. 25 by Ernst Chausson. Poème is a staple of the violinist’s repertoire and Chausson’s best known work. It follows no formal model but is rhapsodic and moody, with rising and falling tensions that evoke Chausson’s melancholic and introspective character. Violinist Dr. Solomiya Ivakhiv, Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola and Coordinator of Strings, makes her first appearance with the performing faculty in Poème.
Next, the concert moves into operatic selections, beginning with “Il Lacerato Spirito” by Giuseppe Verdi. “Il Lacerato Spirito,” meaning “The Tortured Soul of a Sad Father,” is from Verdi’s three-act opera Simon Boccanegra. The next piece is Greedy Girl from Marc Blitzstein’s two-act opera Regina. The music is a mixture of opera and Broadway styles and makes liberal use of spirituals, Victorian parlor music, dance forms, ragtime, aria and large, symphonic score. The final operatic work is Richard Strauss’ “Wie Schön ist doch die Musik,” or “How Beautiful is the Music,” from his three-act comic opera The Silent Woman. It features Rod Nelman, Assistant Professor of Voice, in his debut with the performing faculty.
After the intermission the concert concludes with two selections composed by UConn’s own Earl MacDonald, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Jazz. The first piece is Wanton Spirit, an autobiographical work that Prof. MacDonald composed twenty years ago for a class at McGill University. The concert closes with It was Whispered. Prof. MacDonald was inspired by Ornette Coleman and the free jazz movement of the 1960s. He sought to capture the short, folksy, poetic melodies of Coleman in a fully-developed chamber ensemble piece.
The Faculty Showcase begins at 8:00pm on Tuesday the 28th. The concert is directed by Dr. Jeffrey Renshaw and will be held at the von der Mehden, located at 875 Coventry Rd on the UConn campus. Plenty of convenient, well-lit parking is available.
For more information, contact: Kirk Matson at Kirk.Matson@uconn.edu