{"id":670,"date":"2019-07-17T18:18:38","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/musictobethankfulfor\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:18:38","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:38","slug":"musictobethankfulfor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/musictobethankfulfor\/","title":{"rendered":"Music to be thankful for at WestConn this month"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n


\n <\/p>\n

DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 Take a break from holiday planning to relax and enjoy music to be thankful for as Western Connecticut State University music students stage three concerts in November. The performances listed below will each begin at 8 p.m. in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall on the university\u2019s Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury. Performances will be free and the public is invited; donations to support the music department will be accepted.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first of three upcoming concerts will be on Wednesday, Nov. 18<\/strong>, featuring the WCSU Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band conducted by Fernando Jimenez. The Symphonic Band will begin the program with Respighi\u2019s \u201cAirs of the Court,\u201d followed by \u201cThe Immovable Do\u201d by Percy Aldridge Grainger. \u201cPassages,\u201d by Michael Sweeney, will complete the first half of the concert. Following intermission, the Wind Ensemble will perform Sean O\u2019Loughlin\u2019s \u201cBurst,\u201d a spirited piece for wind band full of exciting rhythms and memorable melodies. Also included in the Wind Ensemble\u2019s set will be \u201cChorus Angelorum\u201d by Samuel Hazo and \u201cMansions of Glory\u201d by David Gillingham. The concert will close with \u201cVientos Y Tangos\u201d by Michael Gandolfi.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The WCSU Orchestra will perform on Thursday, Nov. 19<\/strong>. The first half of the concert will be devoted to student soloists in performances of Vivaldi, Mozart and Mendelssohn. Bassoon soloist Dan Lovallo will open the program with one of Antonio Vivaldi’s energetic concerti for bassoon and string orchestra. Mozart\u2019s popular Concerto No. 21 in C major (K. 46) for Piano and Orchestra will follow, with student pianist Justin Vendette as the soloist. The orchestra will then offer two works by German composer Felix Mendelssohn. The first of these works will be the Concertpiece No. 1 for Two Clarinets and Orchestra played by WCSU student clarinetists Kari Frederickson and Aaron Marshall. It will be followed by the last movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor. This standard of the violin repertory will be performed by WCSU junior violinist Hafez Taghavi, who is the WCSU Orchestra concertmaster, a regular soloist with the WCSU Orchestra and first violinist of the WCSU String Quartet I since his freshman year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n After the intermission, the WCSU Orchestra will expand to its full strength for a performance of the two last movements of Rimsky-Korsakov’s \u201cSymphonic Suite Scheherazade.\u201d These movements of the suite highlight soloists from the percussion, wind and cello sections with a violin soloist (Taghavi) in the role of the Sultana Scheherazade trying to save her life over One Thousand and One Nights by spinning wondrous tales for her insane husband the Sultan Sharyar. Professor of Music Eric Lewis, coordinator of String and Orchestral Studies, will conduct.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Nov. 24<\/strong>, the WCSU Chamber Singers and Concert Choir will take the stage. The Chamber Singers will concentrate on music composed and arranged by Americans, beginning with two early American hymns arranged by Alice Parker. Williametta Spencer\u2019s \u201cAt the Round Earth\u2019s Imagined Corners\u201d will precede two movements of Cecil Effinger\u2019s \u201cFour Pastorales for Oboe and Chorus\u201d with WCSU faculty artist Dr. Mark Snyder accompanying the group. The men will take over with the barbershop standard, \u201cVive L\u2019Amour,\u201d with the women singing \u201cO Fondens Virga for women\u2019s chorus, piano, and violin\u201d composed by the conductor, Dr. Kevin Jay Isaacs. WCSU Adjunct Professor Patricia Lutnes, accompanist for the group, and Isaacs will lead the ensemble through \u201cThe Waking,\u201d a Theodore Roethke poem composed by Giselle Wyers. The Chamber Singers will perform Robert Muczynski\u2019s \u201cI Never Saw a Moor,\u201d before singing the madrigal \u201cThe Cricket\u2019s Widow\u201d by Robert Baska. Closing the program will be \u201cShenendoah\u201d by jazz arranger Doug Andrews. In addition to the Chamber Singers, the Concert Choir will perform a variety of selections from Praetorius to Grotenhuis and three popular African American Spirituals. The concert will conclude with \u201cO Sifuni Mungu,\u201d an African rendering in the Swahili language of \u201cAll Creatures of our God and King,\u201d accompanied by an instrumental combo and featuring two students who, through American Sign Language, will augment the text visually for the audience, adding another layer of interest to this foot-stomping piece. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For more information, call the music department at (203) 837-8350.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England\u2019s best small private universities.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\n <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DANBURY, CONN. \u2014 Take a break from holiday planning to relax and enjoy music to be thankful for as Western Connecticut State University music students stage three concerts in November. The performances listed below will each …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-670","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}