Source: Kristin Mortenson, 785-532-5740, kmortens@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Nellie Ryan, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Friday, Feb. 26, 2010

MARCH IS MUSICAL MONTH AT K-STATE WITH A VARIETY OF PERFORMANCES

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's department of music has several performances planned for the month of March.

Unless otherwise noted, all performances are free and open to the public:

• Mary Lee Cochran's flute studio will present the first Alumni Guest Artist Recital at 5:45 p.m. Monday, March 1, in All Faiths Chapel. The artists include Jennifer Piper, Laura Kanost, and Stacy Marshall, and the program consists of music for flute and piano, flute and guitar, and a flute trio.

• The K-State Orchestra, directed by William Wingfield, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, at McCain Auditorium. The concert will feature concerto winners Adam Lundine, senior in music education, on soprano saxophone, and Matt Wilson, senior in biology and premedicine, on horn, both from Overland Park. Lundine's selection will be the second and third movements of Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Fantasia," which is scored for soprano saxophone, strings and three horns. Wilson will perform the first movement of the Reinhold Gliere "Horn Concerto." Also in the program is Beethoven's famous "Symphony No. 5" and Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait," with Nathan Littrell as narrator.

• Described as, "a comic tale of love, guns and mistaken identity deep in the heart of 1940s Texas," the K-State Opera Theater will present "The Hotel Casablanca" from March 3-7 at Nichols Hall. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m., with the exception of the March 7 matinee, which begins at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for the general public, $13 for seniors and military, and $10 for students. They can be purchased at the McCain Auditorium box office from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays or by calling McCain at 785-532-6428 during box office hours. Tickets also may be purchased at the Little Theater box office in the K-State Student Union from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays.

• Faculty artist David Littrell, university distinguished professor of music, will perform a cello concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 7, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 601 Poyntz Ave. The program, which will be repeated at seven locations in England during Littrell's sabbatical leave in April, features music by J.S. Bach, David Popper, Jean Pierre Duport and Laurel Littrell.

• The K-State Concert Band, directed by Anthony Pursell, and the Rock Creek High School Band, directed by Scott Bradley, will perform a joint concert program at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 8, at McCain Auditorium.

• The K-State University Band, directed by Frank Tracz, and the K-State University Choir, co-directed by Joshua Oppenheim and Julie Yu-Oppenheim, will share a concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, in All Faiths Chapel.

• The Graduate Conducting Recital will be 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, at McCain Auditorium.

• Students from wind, brass, percussion, string and keyboard divisions will perform in the General Student Recital at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, March 11, in All Faiths Chapel.

• The K-State Jazz Bands, directed by Wayne Goins, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 11, in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union. The event is in preparation for the group's performance at the Wichita Jazz Festival April 16.

• The K-State Jazz Combos, also directed by Goins, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 23 in Union Station of the K-State Student Union.

• The K-State Concert Choir and Collegiate Chorale will team up with the Hays High School Concert Choir for a joint performance at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 23, at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 2900 Kimball Ave., Manhattan.

* Susan Maxwell's bassoon students will present a Bassoon Studio Recital at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 29, in 204 McCain. They will be performing solo works for bassoon.

* Jacqueline Fassler-Kerstetter, professor of horn; Tod Kerstetter, professor of clarinet; and William Wingfield, pianist, will present a recital of trios for clarinet, horn and piano at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 29 in All Faiths Chapel. Included on the program will be the premiere performance of "Jump Up" by composer Michael Kallstrom of Western Kentucky University and the "Trio in E-Flat" by German composer Gustav Jenner.

* German pianist Christoph Ewers will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, in All Faiths Chapel. Ewers is a family physician who recently decided to limit his medical practice to concentrate on his musical career. He is a graduate of the music conservatory in Stuttgart, Germany. Recently, he has performed recitals in Italy, Spain, Belgium, Poland, Germany and the U.S. His K-State performance will feature piano works by Fryderyk Chopin, Claude Debussy, Ferenc Liszt and Ludwig van Beethoven.

For more information about the music department's March events, contact the music office at 785-532-5740.