Fall 2011 Blair Concert Series

 

Unless otherwise noted, all concerts are free of charge and open to all audiences. All dates are subject to change — please visit our website, http://blair.vanderbilt.edu, for updated information.

Parking: New for 2011, free self-parking is available at the newly constructed West Garage, directly across the street from the school for all evening and weekend concerts and events, with parking available after 5 p.m. Free parking is also available in the South Garage, on the other side of 24th Avenue South from the West Garage. Complimentary valet parking, provided by Phi Mu Alpha fraternity, is also available for many Concert Series events for guests arriving at least 15 minutes before concert time. Call 322-7651 for valet parking information.

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Felix Wang, cello

Guest artist Arunesh Nadgir, Assistant Professor of Piano, Middle Tennessee State University

Join us for this exciting collaboration of Middle Tennessee musicians. Program includes works by Brahms and Beethoven.

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

John Johns, guitar

Kathryn Plummer, viola

Felix Wang, cello

Serenata Italiana: an evening of music by Italian composers for guitar, viola and cello. The program includes Sonata in G Major for viola and guitar by Baroque composer Benedetto Marcello, solo guitar pieces from the 19th century by Anton Diabelli and Mauro Giuliani, and Paganini’s exciting Terzetto Concertante for viola, guitar and cello. Recognized as the most famous violin virtuoso during his lifetime, Paganini also played the guitar and viola. Written in 1833, the Terzetto Concertante contains some of the most romantic melodies ever written for this chamber music combination.

 

4:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Jim Lovensheimer, readings

Gayle Shay, mezzo soprano

Carolyn Huebl, violin

Melissa Rose, piano

Blair faculty artists present a program in remembrance of the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001, and in celebration of life in the aftermath. The featured work is the song cycle Race for the Sky, by Richard Pearson Thomas, composed from texts left at various spots around Ground Zero in the days following 9/11.

 

8:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk

8:30 p.m. 50-minute performance

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Elizabeth Eckert, piano

Jerry Kimbrough, guitar

Joseph Logsdon, sound design

An inspiring example of classical education and commercial success, accomplished pianist Elizabeth Eckert discovered songwriting when an injury took her from the concert stage. In 2010, Eckert's debut album, Bloomington, established her prominence in the commercial world. The artist's new "Broken Pianist Sessions" tour presents her latest original works using cutting-edge electronic and visual reinforcement.

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Robin Fountain, conductor

Symphony No. 9 — Antonín Dvorák

and

Thomas Verrier, conductor

1911-2011: A celebration of the 100th anniversary of John Philip Sousa's historic world tour

 

3:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Martha Rivers Ingram has been a longtime patron of the Blair School of Music, Vanderbilt University, and the arts in Nashville. This fall, Mrs. Ingram steps down as chairman of our KeyBoard, after 16 years of dedicated service and stewardship. Please join us for a special concert featuring both new and long-beloved faculty artists and ensembles as we honor Mrs. Ingram for helping Blair become what it is today and will be in the future.

Gary Schocker, Suite Française for Flute and Piano. Philip Dikeman, flute, and Melissa Rose, piano

Richard Strauss, Sonata in E-flat, Op. 18. Carolyn Huebl, violin, and Mark Wait, piano.

Claude Debussy, Première Rhapsodie. Bil Jackson, clarinet, and Amy Dorfman, piano.

Maurice Ravel, Quartet in F Major. Blair String Quartet.

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Carolyn Huebl, violin

Mark Wait, piano

Join us for this special evening featuring two of the most splendid works in the violin and piano repertoire. Huebl and Wait will open the program with Prokofiev’s neo-classical D major Sonata for Violin and Piano. Composed in 1942, this lovely work was originally for piano and flute. A year later, it was arranged for violin at the insistence of the composer’s good friend, violinist David Oistrakh, who knew the singing lyrical lines would suit the violin’s temperament beautifully. Nearly a century earlier, in 1851, Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim premiered Robert Schumann’s Sonata in D minor, Op. 121. This work shows Schumann at his most moving, melodic, and expressive; with characters and moods that range from great pathos, to gentle sweetness, to powerful heroism. Between these two masterworks, Huebl and Wait will present the charming Much Ado About Nothing, Op. 11. This delightful work is based on incidental music composed by beloved film composer Erich Korngold in 1918-19 for the Shakespeare play.

Prokofiev Sonata in D major, Op. 94a

Korngold Suite from Much Ado About Nothing, Op. 11

Schumann Sonata in D minor, Op. 121

 

3:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Join nationally celebrated dulcimer master, teacher and author Madeline MacNeil and friends for a delightful afternoon of music. This concert is sponsored by the David Schnaufer Fund, established at Blair in 2006 to honor David’s legacy and to support special dulcimer events.

 

4:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Blair Faculty Signature Series — Blair Voices

Some familiar songs, with a twist! Works by Mahler, Bernstein, Heggie, Brahms and more.

Amy Jarman, soprano

Gayle Shay, mezzo-soprano

Jonathan Retzlaff, lyric baritone

Leslie Norton, horn

Guest artist Rena Sharon, piano

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Jared Hauser, oboe, and friends

An eclectic program of works from the baroque to modern.

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Wei Tsi Chang, violin

Kirsten Cassel Greer, cello

Seanad Dunigan Chang, viola

Jennifer Q. McGuire, piano

Joaquin Turina - Piano Quartet in A Minor Op. 67

Joaquin Turina - La Oración del Torero for String Quartet (1925)

Johannes Brahms - Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major Op. 26

 

7 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Presented in partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and funded in part by the Foundation for Bluegrass Music.

This special program celebrates Bill Monroe’s centennial. The Father of Bluegrass Music would have turned 100 years old on September 13, 2011. In his honor, some of the best players in the genre, including alumni of Monroe’s band, the Blue Grass Boys, will be on hand to contribute to a program tracing Monroe’s history from his birth in Rosine, Ky., to his work with brother Charlie as the Monroe Brothers, his arrival at the Grand Ole Opry, the birth of bluegrass with the 1946 band, the evolution of his sound, and his final days. The presentation will include multimedia elements to illustrate the narrative.

Performers will include house band The Del McCoury Band, former Blue Grass Boys Roland Whiteand Mike Compton, and Nashville Bluegrass Band member Pat Enright.

 

 

4:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

The popular series returns with an introduction by VU Orchestra conductor Robin Fountain. Watch an unforgettable film recording of the great cellist Jacqueline Du Pré performing Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Ms. Du Pré’s performance is widely considered the most exquisitely executed interpretation of Elgar’s work.

 

8:00 p.m.

Choral Hall

Carl Smith, harpsichord

Harpsichord Music from 17th- and 18th-century Germany, featuring music by Froberger, Scheidemann, Weckmann, Reinken and Bach.

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

David Cassel, director

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Jim Williamson, director

“Ritmo de la Noche,” featuring Lalo Davila and Raul Malo

NJO’s annual celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month features special guest appearances from a pair of Latin jazz luminaries. Percussionist Lalo Davila, director of percussion studies at MTSU, has performed with artists ranging from Clay Walker to Sixpence None the Richer to the Nashville Symphony. Raul Malo got his start fronting early ’90s country band The Mavericks, but his musical heart is much more wide-ranging, fusing his Cuban roots with country, blues, jazz and Orbison-style “crooner rock” into a sound all his own.

 

8:00 p.m. Pre-concert talk with Helena Simonett

8:30 p.m. 50-minute performance

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Columbus Day Celebration with Amanda Virelles, piano

The program is entirely dedicated to Christopher Columbus, featuring works by Spanish and Latin-American composers.

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Robin Fountain, conductor

Verklarte Nacht by Arnold Schoenberg

AND

Thomas Verrier, conductor

Vientos Virtuosos: Masterworks for Winds

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Phillip Weaver, guitar

Ingrid von Spakovsky, piano

Consonare (from the Italian for “sounding as one”) has been delighting audiences throughout the United States and overseas with its unique sound since 1980. The duo played its New York City debut at the North River Concert Series and has played at venues ranging from Hofstra University's International Concert Series and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to the Birmingham City Stages music festival.

Their genre-spanning program in Turner Hall will include late-18th- and early-19th-century works from Luigi Boccherini and Mauro Giuliani, as well as more modern works, including contemporary Costa Rican composer Edin Solis.

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

The Blair String Quartet with special guest Bil Jackson, clarinet

Christian Teal, violin

Cornelia Heard, violin

John Kochanowski, viola

Felix Wang, cello

Bil Jackson, new Associate Professor of Clarinet at Blair and a renowned performer, joins the Quartet for a performance of The Quintet for Clarinet and Strings by Mozart, one of the great works of chamber music. The work was composed in 1789 for Anton Stadler, principal clarinetist of the court orchestra in Vienna. There is great variety and contrast in this work. The fourth movement is a theme and variations, notable for its range of moods.

The program opens with the String Quartet No.1, Op. 49 of Dmitri Shostakovich. Composed in 1938 and following his famous Fifth Symphony (1937), the work was helpful in returning Shostakovich to official favor with the Soviet government. Shostakovich called it “a springtime work,” and it exhibits a charm and wit not present in later quartet works of the composer.

The concert closes with Ravel’s only string quartet. Composed early in his career in 1902 and1903, the work is a staple of string quartet literature. It contains beautiful soaring melodies, pizzicato sounds that mimic a Javanese gamelan orchestra, impressionistic tone colors, and an exciting finale.

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Corinne Stillwell, violin, Gregory Sauer, cello, Read Gainsford, piano

Trio Solis (“Trio of the Sun”) is the exciting new ensemble-in-residence at Florida State University. Already distinguished as solo performers, Stillwell, Sauer and Gainsford joined forces in 2008 to explore the piano trio repertoire with a unique synergy of brilliant technique, probing musicianship and a wealth of experience. The group made its successful debut at Carnegie Hall in 2009, and its first CD,Diamonds in a Haystack, is slated for release in October 2011.

The program at Blair will include Trio in F-sharp minor, a riveting, seldom-performed trio by early 20th-century Armenian composer Arno Babajanian, and Beethoven's Trio Op. 1 No. 1 in E-flat Major.

www.triosolis.com

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

New Blair flute professor and Woodwind Quintet member Philip Dikeman joins Quintet membersJared Hauser (oboe), Leslie Norton (French horn), and other friends and colleagues from the Blair School’s faculty including Amy Dorfman, Melissa Rose and Laura Hauser.

Join our wind faculty for a potpourri program including music by Madeline Dring, Eric Ewazen and Georg Philipp Telemann.

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Craig Nies, piano

The prodigious pianist Craig Nies performs his penultimate recital on his Well Tempered Clavier series — and the event happens to fall on Franz Liszt’s 200th birthday. Continuing the complete Well Tempered Clavier with four Preludes and Fugues, Nies honors Claude Debussy with six of his Preludes from book 2, anticipating the 150th anniversary of his birth in 2012. The Liszt will include his greatest work for piano, the b minor Sonata, as well as his wonderful Sposalizio from the Annees de pelerinage: Italie.

 

4:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Special guest director Matthew Dirst leads Music City Baroque in a program of chamber music. Dirst, the Artistic Director of Ars Lyrica Houston, is an international prize winner in organ and harpsichord, including first prize at the American Guild of Organists Young Artist Competition (1990) and second prize at the Warsaw International Harpsichord Competition (1993).

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Join us for a delightful evening of music written by Blair faculty composers, performed by their colleagues. The program will include the world premiere of Burlesques before the Ark, a piano quartet by Michael Alec Rose. The Blakemore Trio and guest violist Kathryn Plummer will give the world premiere of Rose's piano quartet, whose title is inspired by the wild dance of King David (II Samuel, 6:14), and its even wilder rabbinical interpretation (thus the "burlesques").

 

8:00 pm.

Ingram Hall

Michael Hasel, flute; Andreas Wittman, oboe; Walter Seyfarth, clarinet; Fergus McWilliam, horn; Marion Reinhard, bassoon

After a hugely successful Blair debut last fall, the world’s most celebrated wind quintet returns by popular demand, with an exciting and wide-ranging program showcasing their range of expression, their tonal spectrum and their conceptual unity. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to enjoy these world-class artists.

Anton Reicha, Quintet in E flat major op.88, No.2

György Ligeti, Six Bagatelles

André Jolivet, Sérénade

Paul Taffanel, Quintet G minor

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Robin Fountain, conductor

American and Austrian light classics

AND

Thomas Verrier, conductor

Music in Motion

 

2:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

David Binns Williams, director

The oldest performing group on campus performs choral works of all genres.

 

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Blair’s student composers take the spotlight, with exciting new works in a variety of genres and styles performed by their fellow students. Come experience the future of musical composition!

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

William Wiggins and Michael Holland, directors

Blair presents the remarkable and engaging Night of Percussion Chamber Music. Percussion combinations of every size, color and form will share the stage in an engaging and relaxed setting. Coached and directed by Bill Wiggins and Michael Holland, this eclectic evening is sure to give you something to talk about.

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

ALIAS launches its 10th anniversary season with a concert that showcases the group's musical diversity, breadth and ambition. The program kicks off with a collaboration with new choral group the Portara Ensemble, and concludes with two pieces by acclaimed modern composer Kenji Bunch, whose works ALIAS will record this fall for its second album release on the Delos label.

John Tavener, Come and do Your will in me (1997) for string quartet and choir, featuring the Portara Vocal Ensemble

Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 12 in D Flat Major (1968)

Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli, Sonata for violin and continuo (1690)

Kenji Bunch, Drift (2006)

Kenji Bunch, Boiling Point (2002)

 

8:00 p.m.

AND

2:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Gayle Shay, director

AND

Robin Fountain, conductor

Present

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Fully staged and costumed, sung in English.

NOTE: This event is free of charge, but tickets are required.

Tickets will be available for pick up at the Blair Main Desk beginning October 1.

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Just a month before she begins her Broadway run starring in Porgy & Bess, Audra McDonald returns to the concert stage after four seasons on the hit ABC television series Private Practice. The two-time Grammy and four-time Tony winner will perform an intimate evening of favorite showtunes, classic songs from the movies and original pieces written expressly for her. McDonald is an extraordinary artist who is at the height of her expressive powers. The New York Times says, “Ravishing of voice and Olympian of stature, she’s an overwhelming presence.”

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Vanderbilt Wind Ensemble and

David Cassel and Thomas Verrier, conductors

Marianne Ploger, Sanctus

Richard Danielpour, Icarus

Randall Bass, Gloria

Daniel Kellogg, A Toast to Ben

Aaron Copland, “The Promise of Living” from Tender Land

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Bil Jackson, clarinet

Welcome Blair’s new Associate Professor of Clarinet as he makes his Vanderbilt solo debut on Turner’s stage. Jackson comes to Vanderbilt from his position as Principal Clarinet of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and has held the same position with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He has been an Artist-Faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival since 1983, and has taught at the University of Northern Colorado, the University of Texas and Duquesne University. He has presented concerts and master classes throughout the United States, as well as in Japan, Australia and Mexico. He has also given the world premiere performances of clarinet concertos by Dan Welcher and Kevin Puts. Join us to welcome him to Nashville in style at his first faculty recital.

 

2:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

David Binns Williams, director

Featuring works by Italian composers from Palestrina to Verdi.

 

and

7:30 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

A musical potpourri for a mixture of chamber ensembles, including string, woodwind and brass instruments. Blair collegiate students perform familiar masterworks as well as rare and new chamber music gems.

 

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Billy Adair, director

AND

Jim Williamson, director

Trombonanza! The trombone tactics of NJO members Barry Green and Roy Agee are on display at this joint concert with the Blair Big Band.

 

7:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

The Blair School of Music welcomes the fourth annual State of the Word to Ingram Hall, featuring the region’s top college, high school and middle school poets and spoken-word artists. Participating poets have received standing ovations in front of TEDxNashville, Leadership Nashville and the Tennessee State Senate. They have performed at CMT, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Metropolitan Council, TPAC and the Franklin Theatre. Come witness this powerful art form and support the next generation of writers, thinkers, artists, and leaders.

The event is a collaboration between Vandy Spoken Word and Youth Speaks Nashville. Vandy Spoken Word, Vanderbilt University’s spoken-word group, promotes self-expression, challenges prejudices and gives voice to diverse perspectives. Youth Speaks Nashville is a non-profit youth development organization building a culture of literacy through spoken-word residencies, workshops and shows.

The event is made possible through the generous support of the Blair School of Music, the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons at Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt’s Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center, Vanderbilt University Office of Admissions, Metro Nashville Arts Commission, Tennessee Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts and the Vanderbilt Writing Studio. Proceeds go to benefit Youth Speaks Nashville and the placement of poet mentors in Middle Tennessee’s public schools.

 

8:00 p.m.

and

1:30 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Laurence Lesser was a top prize winner in the 1966 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and has been soloist with orchestras around the world. One of the foremost cello pedagogues in the world, he has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music since 1974, where he was also the president for 13 years. He was teaching assistant to legendary cellist Gregor Piatigorsky and was a guest on the historic Heifetz-Piatigorsky concerts and recordings.

As part of his residency, he will be also be presenting master classes and lectures. Keep an eye on the School of Music’s website for the latest details.

 

8:00 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Mat Britain, director

 

and

6:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Blair’s finest pre-college students perform in a variety of solo works for piano, strings, woodwinds, piano, and voice.

 

7:30 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Hazel Somerville and Connie Ely Guerin, directors

Featuring the Blair Children’s Concert Choir, Young Men’s Chorus, Choristers, Nashville Boychoir at Blair and Young Singers of Blair.

 

8:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Marian Shaffer, director

 

5:00 p.m.

Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall

Blair Pre-College Scholarship Recitals continued

Blair’s finest pre-college students perform in a variety of solo works for piano, strings, woodwinds, piano and voice.

 

7:30 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Carol Nies, director

 

7:30 p.m.

Ingram Hall

Sally McFadden, director

AND

Youth Strings Orchestras and Reading Orchestra

Celeste Tuten, director

 

 

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BMI

The Estate of Landis Gullett

Melissa and Scot Hollmann

Hutton Hotel

Sartain Lanier Family Foundation Inc.

Marsha and Ken Mifflin

Nissan Americas

Mary Cortner Ragland Master Series Fund

Delphine and Ken Roberts

The David Schnaufer Fund

The James Stephen Turner Family Foundation

Judy and Steve Turner