Sophomore trombone student Melissa Hildebrandt received Honorable Mention at the Regional MTNA Young Artist Competition on January 8, 2011 at Ball State University. Melissa was the brass winner at the MTNA state competition in October 2010.
(Submitted by Bill Mathis)
Penny Thompson Kruse, Associate Professor of Violin, will be performing with the Counterpoint Ensemble String Quartet Concerts in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, April 3-5, 2011.
Dr. Kruse will also be presenting two sessions at the American String Teachers Association National Conference in Kansas City, March 17-19, 2011. One session will be a lecture/recital with Dr. Laura Kobayashi and is titled Exploring World Music through Sight-reading Duets in Violin Lessons. The second session is also a lecture demonstration with Dr. Steven Kruse and Alicia Tremmel and members of the Liberty Public School Orchestra Program. This session is called Life beyond the 2nd Method Book: Taking Responsibility for the Technical Development of Your Orchestra. More information can be found at www.astaweb.com.
Penny Thompson Kruse, violin, and Steven Kruse, viola will be performing a recital as the Kruse Duo on Sunday, February 13, 2011, at 3 p.m. in Findlay, Ohio. The recital is a part of the First Presbyterian Church Concert Series. A free will offering will be taken. Repertoire includes works by Mozart, Handel, Gliere, Kalliwoda, Maslanka, and Ryden.
(Submitted by Penny Thompson Kruse)
Down Beat magazine gave a four star review of BGSU jazz faculty member David Bixler’s new CD, saying “(Auction Project) is an ambitious project, filled with heady arrangements. The Auction Project features jazz with Latin overtones. Heather Martin Bixler’s violin on Auction Project helps create a contrasting sonic weave across a swath of traditional, folksy material arranged by David, eg., “Heather’s Waltz Part 1” and “Part 2,” (Down Beat, January, 2010) the sextet dishing up a great mix of Afro-Celtic “sympathies” more urban grooves.”
Click here to download a digital version of the magazine and read the entire review (page 81).
(Submitted by David Bixler)
Trumpter Mike Williams from the Count Basie Band will be the guest artist with the Jazz Lab Band on Tuesday, January 25th.
Photos and bios are available at http://www.MikeWilliamsTrumpet.com
(Submitted by David Bixler)
The 53rd annual Band Music Reading and Directors Clinic at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts Jan. 20-22 will feature the talents of several BGSU graduates. All performances will be held in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center.
BGSU’s Dr. Bruce Moss will direct the BGSU Wind Symphony in concert at 8 p.m. Jan. 21. Assisting Moss will be James Curnow, a world-renowned composer of band music, in the performance of his “Symphonic Variants for Euphonium.” According to Moss, the work is considered the “showcase” piece for the euphonium around the world. Dr. Benjamin Pierce, a BGSU alumnus and member of the music faculty at the University of Arkansas, is the soloist.
On Jan. 22, Dr. Carol Hayward will conduct the BGSU Concert Band in a 1:30 p.m. performance.
Also that day, BGSU alumna Dr. Linda Hartley, program director for undergraduate and graduate music education at the University of Dayton, will direct the Middle School Honor Band in a 2:30 p.m. concert. The clinic concludes with a 3:30 p.m. concert by the High School Honor Bands, directed by Curnow and Jeff Shelhammer, a BGSU graduate with 35 years of experience in directing high school bands in Ohio.
Tickets are $7 for students and senior citizens and $10 for other adults in advance, and $10 and $13, respectively, the day of the performance.
Each January, hundreds of middle- and high school band members, their teachers and directors converge at BGSU for the event.
To learn more about the event, visit:
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/music/events/bandclinic/
For tickets, call the Moore Center box office at 419-372-8171 or 1-800-589-2224.
Congratulations to Cory Kasprzyk whose piece “07.13.10a” for harp, bari sax and electronics will premiere at the North American Saxophone Alliance Region 8 conference in March. The Mana Duo commissioned the piece and will play it at the West Point, NY event.
(Submitted by Elainie Lillios)
