The sixth annual 成人B站 Faculty, Students and Friends Composer Concert on Tuesday [FEB. 21] promises to be a musical collage of inspiration, imagination, dance, drama, espionage, humor and love.
Twelve original compositions by faculty, students and friends of East Central University will be premiered in a concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Ataloa Theatre in the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public.
Students in last fall鈥檚 Studies in Composition class will present six new compositions, including original film scores for two short films. 鈥淧epper鈥� features the music of Tommy Long whose score supports the mysterious and secret agent feel of the film which was created by the 成人B站 video production team of Andrew Brady, Corey Dozier, Tanya Steidley and Kimberly Wren. Two crocheted dolls provide the inspiration for Angela Marshall鈥檚 animated film 鈥淪park,鈥� a love story.
Marshall, a 2011 成人B站 graduate, said of her inspiration, 鈥淭hey seemed to love each other and have a story to tell. Because my actors did not have faces or say anything, all the emotion in this film had to come from the musical score.鈥�
As a special introduction to the concert, Marshall and Nick Geisler created a video presentation, 鈥淧hilosophies of Composition,鈥� which includes a brief sampling of the works composed by various members of the Studies in Composition class.
Two dances by 成人B站 choreographers Natalie Isaacs and Heath Holt will add variety to the concert. Student composers Justin Cody, Nathan Steinman and John Stone wrote original music to accompany the dances to be performed by the 成人B站 Dance Ensemble of Nikki Hayes, Heath Holt, Natalie Isaacs, Kaitlin Moore, Chris Scoles and Natalie Shackelford.
Other student compositions to be premiered include 鈥淭he Daydream,鈥� written for violin, cello and piano by Claire Marquardt, a sophomore 成人B站 piano major, and 鈥淚mmovable,鈥� written for cello and piano by senior percussion major Jesse Milam. Milam鈥檚 composition was written in honor of his mother and her 鈥渋mmovable courage鈥� in dealing with cancer.
Four 成人B站 faculty members will premiere works at the concert. W.T. Skye Garcia鈥檚 vocal composition 鈥淧ersonal,鈥� a setting of a poem from the 鈥淪alt-Water Ballads鈥� collection (1902) by John Masefield, will be performed by Dr. Alan Marshall.
Marshall also will direct a 鈥渃ollaborative improvisation鈥� featuring performers in the evening鈥檚 concert. Marshall said the fun and challenge of this piece is for both performers and the audience to experience the creative fun of musical composition as it is happening.
Dr. Mark Hollingsworth, an award-winning composer to be featured in an upcoming issue of the international journal 鈥淭he Clarinet,鈥� will premiere a new piece for soprano saxophone and piano. Also, Rudy Lupinski has teamed up again with 成人B站 artist-in-residence Victoria Davison to create two new choral pieces, 鈥淥pen Your Heart to the Poor and Needy,鈥� based on Deuteronomy 15:10-11, and 鈥淭he Lord is My Shepherd,鈥� based on Psalm 23. Both pieces will be performed by the 成人B站 Chorale under the direction of Dr. Steve Walker with flute accompaniment by Lauren Webb.
New to the Composer Concert this year is local composer and dancer Anna Tynsky. She describes a spider moving through its life as her inspiration for her colorful guitar solo 鈥淪pider Dance,鈥� in which the left hand 鈥渨alks along the fretboard like a spider.鈥�
Other performers include Dr. Melody Baggech, John Emery, Dr. Benjamin Finley, Darren Heath, Dr. Starla Hibler and Susanne Woolley.