Monthly Archives: April 2012

Professor Rosenkranz in residence at University of Maryland at Baltimore County

Assistant Professor of Piano, Thomas Rosenkranz was recently in residence with Musicians from SoundScape at UMBC from April 8th-12. The residency included masterclasses, a composer reading and a performance including contemporary works by Albinger, Aperghis, Berio, Scelsi, Foss, as well as a premiere by the New York based composer, Richard Carrick.

The ensemble consists of Thomas Rosenkranz piano, Aiyun Huang, percussion, Lisa Cella, flute and Tony Arnold, voice. This ensemble was formed in 2010 in order to highlight aspects of the SoundScape Festival in Italy which celebrates contemporary music through collaborations between composers and performers.

For more information about the SoundSCAPE Festival please visit: http://soundscapefestival.org/

BGSU doctoral candidates conduct in New York City

Katherine Kilburn and Octoavio Mas-Aroas both conducted recently on Interlochen Arts Academy 50th Anniversary Tour which included a stop in Alice Tully Hall in New York City.  The New York performance included Interlochen Alumni guest artists David Shifrin, clarinet and Ida Kavafian,violin in a concert celebrating 50 years of excellence in arts education.  Katherine was appointed conductor of the Interlochen Arts Academy Band in 2011 and Octavio was appointed conductor of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra in 2008. Both Kilburn and Mas-Aroas are part of the doctoral studies program in conducting with BGSU’s Emily Freeman Brown.

BGSU alum Scott Price honored by SEC

Scott Price, who holds a B.M. in piano performance from BGSU, as well as an M.M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a D.M.A. from the University of Oklahoma, currently serves as Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy, Head of the Piano Area, and Coordinator of Group Piano in the University of South Carolina School of Music. Dr. Price has just been chosen as one of just 12 professors from the universities of the Southeast Conference to receive an SEC achievement award. http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/NEWS/tabid/473/Article/233718/2012-sec-faculty-achievement-award-recipients.aspx

Dr. Solungga Liu records a piano concerto with the University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble

Dr. Liu just completed an intensive three-day recording session of Gregory Mertl’s Piano Concerto with the University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble, conducted by Craig Kirchhoff. Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment and expressly written for her, the concerto is a 40-minute tour de force for soloist and ensemble. The concerto will be the main work in a CD of Mertl’s music recorded by the University of Minnesota. It will be released by Innova Records in 2013.

Bixler to play at Lincoln Center

Director of Jazz Activities, David Bixler will be performing at Jazz@Lincoln Center in New York City this Friday and Saturday, April 13th and 14th with the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra. Led by pianist and composer Toshiko Akiyoshi who came to prominence in the 1970s when the big band was an anomaly. Influenced by the sounds of her native Japan and big band leaders before her (namely Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Bud Powell), Akiyoshi embraced the big band style and rose to success by pumping power into the reed section. Anchored by her long-time partner, saxophonist Lew Tabackin, and Japanese taiko drummer Eitetsu Hayashi, the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra will perform Akiyoshi’s award-winning compositions.

Hansen Musical Arts Series features conductor Marin Alsop

The Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts will host “An Evening with Marin Alsop,” groundbreaking music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, at 7 p.m. April 23 in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center.

Open to the public, the free event is part of the annual Hansen Musical Arts Series created by Dorothy E. and DuWayne Hansen. Alumni and friends of the College of Musical Arts and BGSU, the Hansens are supporting Alsop’s appearance and residency.

In addition to her presentation that evening, Alsop will conduct the Bowling Green Philharmonia in rehearsal at Kobacker Hall at 1:30 p.m. April 23 and will meet with conducting students and faculty during her visit. She will also be presented an honorary doctorate.

Alsop made history with her appointment as the music director of the Baltimore Symphony, becoming the first woman to head a major American orchestra. Called a “born communicator and effective proselytizer for music” by The New York Times and a “lively entertainer as well as a powerhouse musician” by the San Francisco Chronicle, she began playing piano at 2 and violin at 5, entered Julliard pre-college at 7, decided to become a conductor at 9, and at 16 entered Yale University. In 1991 she made her professional conducting debuts at the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where she continues as a regular guest conductor, along with the New York Philharmonic and the London Symphony.

She became chief conductor of the São Paolo Symphony Orchestra, Brazil’s premiere orchestra, at the start of the 2012 season. Winner of Gramophone’s “Artist of the Year” award, Alsop was the first conductor to be named a MacArthur Fellow. In 2006 she was the only classical musician invited to attend the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. A protégée of Leonard Bernstein, Alsop became the artistic director of London’s Southbank Centre’s season-long The Bernstein Project in 2009. She can be heard regularly as a commentator on NPR’s Weekend Edition program, “Marin on Music,” BBC’s Radio 3 and XM Satellite Radio.

In Baltimore, Alsop has been credited with reinvigorating the orchestra and leading a major community outreach effort. In 2008, she and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra unveiled ORCHkids, a major education initiative. The program provides music education, instruments and mentorship to Baltimore’s youth. For adults, Alsop conducts BSO Fantasy Camp, a weeklong immersion program for amateur musicians from across the country, as well as the biannual “Rusty Musicians” program which allows amateur players to have the opportunity to spend an evening playing music with the BSO.

Established in 1996, the Dorothy E. and DuWayne Hansen Musical Arts Series Fund brings significant representatives of the musical arts and creative arts to Bowling Green to share their talent and knowledge with students and community residents. Dorothy Hansen is an alumna of the College of Musical Arts and DuWayne Hansen is a former chair of the college’s music education department.

Previous series guests have included Branford Marsalis, Nancy Giles, Terence Blanchard, Benjamin Zander, Craig Schulman and Bob McGrath.

For more information about “An Evening with Marin Alsop,” contact the college’s office of public events at 419-372-8654.