{"id":878,"date":"2019-07-17T18:18:57","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/spring2015concerts\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:18:57","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:57","slug":"spring2015concerts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/spring2015concerts\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 WCSU presents diverse concert and recital offerings this spring"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 The Western Connecticut State University<\/a> Department of Music<\/a> will present a rich diversity of concert and recital offerings featuring jazz, piano, percussion, choral and symphonic band performances by WCSU faculty, students and guest artists during March, April and May, 2015.<\/p>\n

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All performances will be in the Veronica Hagman Concert Hall<\/a> of the Visual and Performing Arts Center<\/a> on the university\u2019s Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury. Reservations and admission fees will be required for the Friday and Saturday concerts during the WCSU Jazz Fest in April. Admission to all other concerts will be free and the public is invited; donations to support the Department of Music will be accepted.<\/p>\n

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Concert offerings that will be presented this spring include:<\/p>\n

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\u2022 Thursday, March 26,<\/strong> at 8 p.m.: Student musicians will take center stage as the WCSU Jazz Combos perform in concert.<\/p>\n

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\u2022\tWednesday, April 1,<\/strong> at 8 p.m.: Western music students will present a piano studio recital.<\/p>\n

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\u2022\tWednesday, April 8,<\/strong> at 12:30 p.m.: The Transcontinental Piano Duo<\/a> will perform as guest artists in concert. Since forming the duo in 1992, Elaine Greenfield and Jan Meyer Thompson have collaborated to present workshops, master classes and performances across the United States, earning praise for their musicianship and versatility and for their teaching of piano for four hands and two pianos. Recent performances include an appearance at the Steinway Chamber Music Festival in Arizona and a CD recording of French piano four-hands pieces.<\/p>\n

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\u2022\tMonday, April 13,<\/strong> at 8 p.m.: The WCSU Percussion Ensemble will perform in concert under the direction of Professor of Music David Smith<\/a>. A past Connecticut Higher Education Music Educator of the Year and WCSU faculty member since 1970, Smith is the principal percussionist with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Paul Whiteman Band in tours across the United States. He has made several recordings with the New England Contemporary Ensemble.<\/p>\n

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\u2022\tWednesday, April 15, <\/strong>at 12:30 p.m.: Violist Hannah Levinson<\/a>, soprano Patty Goble<\/a> and baritone Richard Weidlich<\/a> will join WCSU Professor of Music Dr. Russell Hirshfield<\/a>, on piano, and Dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts Dr. Dan Goble<\/a>, on saxophone, in a recital performance of music composed by Rhian Samuel<\/a>. Samuel is a prize-winning composer of more than 100 choral, chamber and orchestral works performed worldwide and a veteran music educator who has taught at Oxford University and City University London in England. Levinson has performed the works of leading contemporary composers at many New York and Boston concert venues and with pioneering ensembles including Moto Perpetuo, Mimesis and TACTUS. Hirshfield has performed in recitals across the United States as well as Brazil, Costa Rica and South Africa. Dan Goble\u2019s artistic career spanning more than 30 years has earned international recognition for performance of jazz, classical and contemporary music for saxophone with world-class organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, the New York Saxophone Quartet and the Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet, as well as at numerous club venues in New York. Patty Goble\u2019s Broadway credits include \u201cBye Bye Birdie,\u201d \u201cCurtains,\u201d \u201cThe Woman in White,\u201d \u201cLa Cage aux Folles,\u201d \u201cKiss Me Kate,\u201d \u201cRagtime\u201d and \u201cThe Phantom of the Opera.\u201d Weidlich is an adjunct instructor of music at WCSU who has appeared in opera, orchestra, chamber ensemble and musical theatre productions across the United States.<\/p>\n

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\u2022\tTuesday, April 21,<\/strong> at 8 pm.: The WCSU Chamber Singers, conducted by Professor of Music Dr. Kevin Jay Isaacs<\/a>, and the WCSU Concert Choir, conducted by Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Cory Ganschow<\/a>, will perform in concert. The Chamber Singers\u2019 program will feature Roger Petrich\u2019s variations on \u201cAh, Holy Jesus,\u201d the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn\u2019s Psalm 42, as well as works by Stephen Paulus, Ludwig Lenel and Dolly Parton. The Concert Choir will perform Paul Mealor\u2019s \u201cUbi Caritas,\u201d Handel\u2019s \u201cO Praise the Mighty Lord,\u201d Jacob Narverud\u2019s \u201cStone,\u201d and Morten Lauridsen\u2019s \u201cSure on This Shining Night.\u201d WCSU choral ensembles have performed with the New Haven Symphony, Ridgefield Symphony and other orchestras across the region.<\/p>\n

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\u2022\tApril 23 through 25:<\/strong> WCSU will continue two decades of bringing great jazz performers to Danbury with the university\u2019s 20th Annual Jazz Fest, featuring concerts at 7 p.m. on April 23, 24 and 25. The opening concert on Thursday, April 23, will feature Western music faculty and select student performers in ensemble sets of jazz classics and original works. Legendary jazz pianist Kenny Barron<\/a> will be the guest performer with the WCSU Jazz Orchestra in concert on Friday, April 24. The climactic Jazz Fest concert on Saturday, April 25, will feature the Jimmy Heath Big Band, led by the acclaimed jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, bandleader and music educator Jimmy Heath<\/a>. Admission will be free for the Thursday concert; reservation and ticket information for the Friday and Saturday concerts is available at (203) 837-TIXX and www.wcsu.edu\/tickets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u2022\tSunday, April 26,<\/strong> at 3 p.m.: The WCSU Chamber Percussion Ensemble, conducted by Professor of Music David Smith, and the New Music Ensemble, conducted by Associate Professor of Music Dr. Fernando Jimenez<\/a>, will feature sets by experienced student performers in the Department of Music. <\/p>\n

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\u2022\tTuesday, April 29,<\/strong> at 8 p.m.: The WCSU Symphonic Band, conducted by Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Timothy Wiggins<\/a>, will perform selections from Kurt Weill\u2019s \u201cThreepenny Opera\u201d and works by Mendelssohn and Franz Biebl. Fernando Jimenez will join the band to perform a commissioned work, \u201cConcerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble,\u201d by Dana Wilson, an internationally acclaimed composer whose works have been performed widely in the Americas, Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n

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\u2022\tSunday, May 3,<\/strong> at 2 p.m.: The WCSU Saxophone Orchestra and Saxophone Quartet will present Saxofestivus, performing works by J.S. Bach, Giovanni Gabriel, Leonard Bernstein and Alfred Desencios.<\/p>\n

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For more information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486. For a complete schedule of other SVPA events, visit www.wcsu.edu\/svpa\/events.asp<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\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.
\n Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics
\n of New England\u2019s best small private universities.<\/em><\/p>\n

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