Source: Kristin Mortenson, 785-532-5740, kmortens@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Rosie Hoefling, 785-532-2535, media@k-state.edu

Monday, March 21, 2011

SOUNDS OF SPRING: APRIL SHOWERS MUSIC ACROSS CAMPUS

MANHATTAN -- Guest artists, faculty, students and more put April in tune at Kansas State University with a month of solos, recitals, concerts and more.

The K-State department of music sponsors the performances. All events, except where noted, are free and open to the public. They include:

* "Sticks and Things," 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, All Faiths Chapel. The annual percussion chamber music concert features K-State students performing works by various composers, including Aurel Hollo, Mayuzumi, Slater, Debussy and Ford. K-State's Kurt Gartner, professor of percussion, is the director.

* Percussion studio student recital, 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, All Faiths Chapel Auditorium. Students will play solo and small ensemble works for multiple percussion instruments.

* Students of Jacqueline Fassler-Kerstetter, associate professor of French horn, will present a recital at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 10, in All Faiths Chapel.

* Recital by guest organist Karen Black, 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, All Faiths Chapel. Black conducts the Chapel Choir at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. She also teaches organ, church music and music theory, and serves as organist for weekday chapel and Sunday worship services.

* Tubaists Kevin Sanders and Dennis Nulty will present a guest artist recital at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, in All Faiths Chapel. A Juilliard graduate, Sanders is a faculty member at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis. Nulty, a graduate of the New England Conservatory and Eastman School of Music, is the principal tubaist with the Detroit Symphony.

* Bassoon students of Susan Maxwell, instructor of bassoon, will perform a recital at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, in All Faiths Chapel.

* K-State Faculty Brass Quintet recital, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, All Faiths Chapel. Music faculty members in the group include Craig Parker, associate professor, trumpet; Katherine Klinefelter, graduate assistant and master's student in music, Whitehall, Mich., trumpet; Jacqueline Fassler-Kerstetter, associate professor, French horn; Paul Hunt, professor, trombone; and Steven Maxwell, assistant professor, tuba.

* Flute Studio recital, 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 17, All Faiths Chapel. The group is instructed and directed by K-State's Mary Lee Cochran, associate professor of flute.

* Collegium Musicum, 3 p.m. Sunday, April 17, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Sixth Street and Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan. K-State's early music ensemble, Collegium Musicum, is directed by Thomas Bell, graduate services librarian at Hale Library.

* K-State's Reginald Pittman, tenor and associate professor of voice, will present a solo recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in All Faiths Chapel.

* Guest artist Ruben Alvarez, Chicago-based Latin percussionist, drum set artist and composer, will be in residence at K-State from April 17-19. The K-State Percussion Ensemble will perform a collaborative concert with Alvarez at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in McCain Auditorium. In addition to the ensemble and Alvarez, the concert will include Victor Alexander Ramirez, a guest choreographer; the K-State Dance Studio; and the K-State Latin Jazz Ensemble. For more information, contact Kurt Gartner at 785-532-3808.

* The K-State Orchestra's final performance of the season is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, in McCain Auditorium. The event features Concerto Contest winners John Allred, senior in applied music, Manhattan, performing Gordon Jacob's "Horn Concerto," and Jana Krajciova, master's student in music, Slovakia, performing Schumann's "Piano Concerto." Blair Williams, graduate assistant and master's student in music, Peabody, will conduct the performance. The orchestra will conclude the program with "Symphony No. 1" by Shostakovich, written when he was an 18-year-old student as his graduation piece for the Leningrad Conservatory. The orchestra is directed by K-State's David Littrell, university distinguished professor of music.

* General Student Recital, 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 21, All Faiths Chapel. The recital will feature student solos from string, wind, percussion, voice and piano divisions.

* The K-State Singers' Spring Show, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21, McCain Auditorium. A small admission fee will be charged.

* Men's and Women's Glee Clubs performance, 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, All Faiths Chapel. The glee clubs are co-directed by Joshua Oppenheim and Julie Yu-Oppenheim, both assistant professors of music at K-State. The groups are assisted by graduate assistants in music: Janie Brokenicky and Joshua Taylor, both from Manhattan, and Ryan Bogner, Leavenworth.

* Collegiate Chorale and University Choir concert, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, All Faiths Chapel. The choirs are co-directed by Oppenheim and Yu-Oppenheim.

* K-State Jazz Band concert, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, Forum Hall, K-State Student Union. The band is directed by K-State's Wayne Goins, professor of music, and assisted by Gordon Lewis, instructor of music.

* Recital by guest violinist Jennie Lee Vaughn, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, All Faiths Chapel. A graduate of Florida State University and the Eastman School of Music, Vaughn is the daughter of K-State's Alfred Cochran, professor of music, and Mary Lee Cochran, associate professor of music.

* K-State Jazz Combos performance, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28, Union Station, K-State Student Union. The group is directed by K-State's Goins and assisted by Lewis.

In addition to the faculty, student and guest performances listed above, several student solo recitals are taking place in April. More information about them and any of the other department of music performance events is available by calling 785-532-5740 or by checking the calendar outside the music office at 109 McCain.