Monthly Archives: April 2015

Professor Papanikolaou to lecture at Beethoven symposium at Yale University

faculty news, musicology-ethnomusicology, theory-musicology-ethnomusicology

Eftychia Papanikolaou, Associate Professor of Musicology, is one of five scholars invited to participate at an afternoon symposium titled “Beethoven’s Sacred Music in Context,” organized by Professor Markus Rathey of the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University.

http://ism.yale.edu/event/symposium-beethovens-sacred-music-context

The symposium is presented in conjunction with the Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard School of Music’s performances of Beethoven’s Mass in C in New Haven (April 30) and New York (May 2).

http://ism.yale.edu/event/yale-schola-cantorum-beethoven-and-more

Professor Papanikolaou to present pre-performance lectures at Toledo Opera’s April production of Lucia di Lammermoor

opera, theory-musicology-ethnomusicology, voice

Toledo Opera

Eftychia Papanikolaou, Associate Professor of Musicology, has been invited to give the pre-performance lectures at Toledo Opera’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, April 24 and 26. The lectures will begin one hour before curtain at the Valentine Theatre’s lobby. For more information about the production visit ToledoOpera.org.

 

Interdisciplinary collaboration with the BG Philharmonia: New look for ‘Pictures’

Uncategorized

bg-phil_February-07-2015-4web

The Sentinel Tribune writes,

“The classical music staple “Pictures at an Exhibition” is getting a new look when it is paired with moving pictures created by university film students.

When the Bowling Green Philharmonia, directed by Emily Freeman Brown, performs Sunday at 3 p.m. films created by the Visual Imagery in Music class taught by Lucas Ostrowski will be projected above the orchestra.

The concert, which will also feature Richard Strauss’ “Four Last Songs” with solo soprano Sujin lee, and Claude Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faun,” will be presented in Kobacker Hall on the Bowling Green State University campus.

The project came after Jeffrey Showell, the dean of the College of Musical Arts, suggested a collaboration between student musicians and student filmmakers.

For his part Ostrowski had been wanting to offer a class looking at the intersection of music and film. His interest while a student at Ohio University was the music in horror films and rockumentaries.

“This gave me a reason to do this class,” he said.

So he taught Visual Imagery in Music. The 17 students in the class listened to the music, and researched some about composer Modest Mussorsky.

Mostly though they reacted to the music. Usually when they work with music, Ostrowski said, it is contemporary. “Pictures at an Exhibition” offered the challenge of dealing with a late 19th century piece.

It’s just one of the ways in which the project “takes students out of their comfort zone,” Ostrowski said.

The project also requires them to work backward, creating images for music, rather than fitting the music to film.

The films are being “created for a client” and work with parameters provided to them.

“Having their films played alongside a live orchestra is probably an experience they’ll never have again,” Ostrowski said.

“Pictures at an Exhibition” was originally written for piano, and later orchestrated a number of times.

It depicts a stroll through an exhibition of works by Mussorsky’s friend Victor Hartmann. The movements, linked by several promenade sections, depict various Hartmann’s paintings.

But the students weren’t tied to the imagery of the titles. Instead they were given free rein to come up with their own cinematic interpretations.

Those varied from abstract images using lights, milk and plexiglass, or short narratives.

One involves a guardian angel-like figure. Another evokes the Frankenstein story.

Brown said: “They are very creative, sometimes personal, sometimes they are in a narrative form and sometimes abstract.”

Seeing all these ideas juxtaposed “is fun,” Ostrowski said.

He plans to record the performance, and have it played at Arts X next December.

He’s also hoping to repeat the experiment next year.”

For tickets visit: bgsu.edu/musicevents

Nathan Williams ’07 named Junior High Director of Bands at Odem-Edroy ISD

education, music-education-alumni, student news

Nathan Williams, BGSU alumni ’07, became the Junior High Director of Bands at Odem-Edroy ISD (Odem, TX) in fall 2014.  He earned sweepstakes, which is a I in Concert and a I in sightreading in his first year with his Junior High Symphonic Winds as well as the High School Symphonic Band.  His Sweepstakes with the High School Symphonic Band combined with the High School Wind Ensemble Sweepstakes made Odem one of only two AAA schools in Texas to have multiple bands earn sweepstakes.

Ten40 in tune with joys of singing

choral, student news, voice

Ten40

David Dupont of the Sentinel Tribune writes:

“Ten40 Acappella is a Bowling Green State University tradition in the making.

The 17-voice ensemble has been around five years, and traces it roots back four more years to the HeeBeeBGs, an ensemble that sprang from the men’ choir.

As the spring semester nears its end, and almost half the singers will be graduating, Ten40 is confident the ensemble will continue to strike a chord with campus and community audiences.

Ten40 will perform Saturday during Literacy in the Park in the Stroh Center. The event runs 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

At the event they will debut a brand new Disney medley. The number, which lasts more than seven minutes, took Will Baughman, one of the group’s two arrangers, all summer to arrange.

It’s the kind of challenge that Baughman and the group’s other arranger Michael Barlos, also current director, like to take on. And the current batch of singers are more than up for it.

“We know we can arrange the crazy stuff we hear in our heads because we have guys to do it,” Baughman, an Otsego High graduate, said during a recent interview.

“I don’t mind pushing the boundaries,” said Elias Dander, of Gibsonburg, who sings bass. “I like the challenge and the other guys do as well.”

They’re not afraid to employ all 12 voice parts.

The success of the group relies on more than vocal skill.

“The most important component  to having a successful student organization is having a connection that’s deeper than just I’m in a club with this guy,” Baughman said.

“The stronger the bonds are off stage, the stronger the music sounds on stage,” Barlos said.

That was evident with the current edition from the start.

During auditions, “we look at the way they come in and interact with us, how they carry themselves,” Baughman said. “It’s about 60 percent of what we look for.”

That’s fostered by regular meet ups outside of rehearsal time, and dinners after rehearsals.

Dandar said regular socializing pays off when Ten40 gets down to work. “It allows us to have more focused rehearsal time because we know we can go out afterward.”

Ten40 also benefits from another special ingredient, its advisor Pat Pauken.

Pauken got involved with Ten40 after he heard the group perform for BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey.

Baughman relishes giving Pauken’s full name – “Dr. Patrick David Pauken,” then adds “teacher, mentor, coach, friend.”

“He was that extra push we needed,” Barlos said.

Ten40 traces its roots to the HeeBeeBGs, an a cappella ensemble that started as part of the BGSU Men’s Chorus.

As the ensemble’s popularity grew, the members wanted to do more and more independent gigs, Barlos said. So it was suggested the ensemble split off and become its own student-run organization.

This spring Ten40 won the quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella held in Bowling Green. Then the group placed third in the semifinals in Ann Arbor, Michigan. That gave them a sliver of a chance to win a wild card spot in the finals held in New York City.

Their repertoire is broad ranging from Simon and Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair” to current  rock hits by Switchfoot, Foo Fighters  and Mutemath.

“We have to keep up with what’s popular,” Baughman said. “We pride ourselves on being well rounded.”

That will come to the fore when Ten40 hits the road May 18, for a six-day tour that will take them into the Cleveland area and southern Michigan. They will sing in a variety of venues – churches, arts centers, classrooms, school auditoriums and on May 22 the Toledo Mud Hens game.

The ensemble, Barlos said, sees itself as promoting BGSU and the College of Musical Arts, though not all the members are music majors.

The tour also helps the ensemble make contact with potential members. Baughman said he first heard Ten40 at his high school.

Being involved in singing provides joy that extends well beyond the college years.

All three men said they expect to continue singing all their lives.

Dandar said, he’ll keep at it “as long as someone wants to sing with me.”