April 19, 2011
Final notes: Music department finishes spring semester with several events in May
Kansas State University's department of music presents its final performances of the semester in May, featuring several guest artists, faculty concerts and student recitals.
All events are free and open to the public. They include:
• Piano concert by students of Slawomir Dobrzanski, assistant professor of music, 7 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 481 Zeandale Road, Manhattan.
• Music theory students composition recital, 5:45 p.m. Monday, May 2, All Faiths Chapel auditorium. The best compositions from the theory courses this semester will be performed. Students from each class will perform as soloists and in small vocal and instrumental ensembles. Instructors of the students, all music faculty, include David Littrell, university distinguished professor; Tod Kerstetter, associate professor; David Pickering, assistant professor; Jacqueline Fassler-Kerstetter, associate professor; and Craig Weston, associate professor.
• K-State Concert Band and Brass Ensemble concert, 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 2, McCain Auditorium. Directed by Don Linn, instructor of music at K-State, the Concert Band will perform works by Jim Colonna, Steve Bryant, Gustav Holst, Frank Ticheli and John Philip Sousa. The Brass Ensemble, directed by Andy Feyes, graduate student in curriculum and instruction, Manhattan, will perform works by Jack Stamp, Anton Bruckner and Robert Jager. The ensemble also will perform pieces written by K-State's Ryan Laney, graduate student in music, Manhattan. Ben Cold, alto saxophonist from Ladysmith, Wis., will be guest soloist.
• In-a-Chord, K-State's a capella vocal ensemble, will perform its spring concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 2, in Forum Hall at the K-State Student Union.
• University Band concert, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, McCain Auditorium. The concert features undergraduate students conducting works by Pierre La Plante, Gary Gilroy, Jim Curnow and Vaclav Nelhybel.
• K-State's Patricia Thompson, assistant professor of music and mezzo-soprano, will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, in All Faiths Chapel. Thompson will be joined by K-State's Robert Edwards, professor emeritus of piano; Amanda Arrington, staff accompanist; and Nora Lewis, assistant professor of oboe. They will perform works by G.F. Handel, Gustav Mahler, Dan Welcher, Abeja Blanca and Kurt Weill.
• K-State's David Pickering, assistant professor of music, will present "Organ Music for a Wednesday Morning," at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 4, in All Faiths Chapel. Pickering will perform in collaboration with his organ students, inviting people to hear standard and contemporary organ music and become familiar with the organ's repertoire.
• The K-State Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Frank Tracz, professor of music, and the Salina South Wind Ensemble, directed by Jared Rawlings, will perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, in McCain Auditorium. The ensembles will perform works by Percy Grainger, David Maslanka, Richard Wagner and Roger Boutry. The event also will feature the Joseph Wytko Saxophone Quartet, which includes K-State music faculty member Anna Marie Wytko, instructor of saxophone.
• Wytko's saxophone students will perform a studio recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in All Faiths Chapel. The eclectic mix of solo and chamber music works features music by American, Canadian, French, Russian, Czech, German and Argentine composers. The saxophone students will be joined by collaborating artists Anne Breeden, a K-State alumna, on piano, and Elliot Arpin, senior in music education, Hutchinson, on marimba.
• Ryan Bogner, graduate student in music, Leavenworth, will present his graduate conducting recital at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 6, in All Faiths Chapel. He will conduct the K-State Concert Choir.
More information about the K-State music department's May performance events is available by calling 785-532-5740.