Source: Kristin Mortenson, 785-532-3832, kmortens@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Nellie Ryan, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Friday, Oct. 2, 2009

K-STATE'S MUSIC DEPARTMENT TO PRESENT SEVERAL PERFORMANCES IN OCTOBER

MANHATTAN -- October offers a variety of musical events from the Kansas State University department of music.

All events, except where noted, are free and open to the public. They include:

* Peter Salaff, a guest artist from the Cleveland Institute of Music, will take part in a string chamber music master class from 3-5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, in the Little Theater at the K-State Student Union. Salaff will work with several K-State student ensembles, including the Manhattan Project String Quartet. Salaff's visit to K-State is sponsored by the University Distinguished Lecturer Series.

* The K-State Marching Band's annual Central States Marching Festival will be from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The premier marching festival in Kansas, this year's event will include 33 bands. Each band will participate in pre-performance clinics and a final performance where they will receive immediate feedback from a panel of adjudicators that will include a video critique session.

* Mary Ellen Sutton, K-State professor of organ, will present a faculty recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in All Faiths Chapel. It will feature music by German composers from the 19th- to 21st-centuries. One notable set of works on the program is from a collection called "Insektarium," in which the music describes various insects.

* Members of the K-State Wind Ensemble, conducted by Frank Tracz, professor of music and director of bands, and the K-State Concert Band, conducted by Anthony Pursell, assistant professor of music, will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, in McCain Auditorium. The Wind Ensemble was selected to perform for the Friday evening premier spot at the Kansas Music Educators Association's in-service workshop in February 2010, and also will perform at the Southwest Regional College Band Directors National Association in April 2010, a first for K-State. Several selections for the 2010 performances will be featured at the Oct. 14 concert.

* The Student Recital Series will be at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in All Faiths Chapel with a General Student Recital featuring students from the department of music's keyboard, wind and percussion, and string divisions. Later that evening, at 7:30 in All Faiths Chapel, K-State music students will be featured in the "Celebrating New Music" concert.

* The K-State Wind Ensemble will perform a joint concert with world-renowned Boston Brass at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, in All Faiths Chapel. Admission is $10 for the general public and $5 for K-State students. The Boston Brass also will join the K-State Marching Band for a joint halftime performance at the K-State vs. Texas A&M football game, Saturday, Oct. 17. Selections will include music from the rock group Boston, Phil Collins and an arrangement of "Caravan."

* The K-State Orchestra will perform in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at McCain Auditorium. The concert will feature Handel's "Music from the Royal Fireworks," Corigliano's Oboe Concerto with faculty soloist Nora Lewis, and Symphony No. 9 in E Minor from "New World" by Dvorak. The orchestra is conducted by K-State's David Littrell, university distinguished professor of music.

* The K-State Jazz Bands, directed by Wayne Goins, professor of jazz, will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Forum Hall at the Union.

* K-State voice students will perform in the annual Opera Workshop at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, and Thursday, Oct. 22, in All Faiths Chapel. The students are from the private studios of K-State voice faculty Dale Ganz, Reg Pittman, Amy Rosine and Patricia Thompson. The students will sing short scenes from operas, operettas and Broadway musicals.

* Flute students of K-State's Mary Lee Cochran, associate professor of music, will perform a recital at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, in All Faiths Chapel.

* The music department's choral division will present "Choralfest" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, in All Faiths Chapel. The performance will feature the K-State Choir, Chorale, and Men's and Women's Glee Club, all directed by Joshua Oppenheim and Julie Yu, co-directors of choral activities.

* Guest trombonist Michael Davidson, assistant professor of trombone at the University of Kansas, will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in All Faiths Chapel. Davidson is principal trombonist of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, the South Arkansas Symphony, and trombonist with the Kansas Brass Quintet, the I-49 Brass Quintet and the LATEX Trombone Quartet.

* The popular "Halloween Jazz Jam," presented by the K-State Jazz Combos under the direction of Goins, will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, in Union Station.

* The K-State Singers, directed by Oppenheim and Yu, will perform their annual fall show at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, in McCain Auditorium. A small admission fee will be charged. The K-State Singers, all non-music majors, have been the singing ambassadors for the university since 1954, performing in cities across the United States and abroad.

More information about the K-State music department's October events is available by calling 785-532-5740.