Category Archives: events

International Choral Bulletin spotlights BGSU composition student

all, choral, composition, composition-alumni, events, music-education-alumni, student news, theory-alumni, voice, voice-alumni

O'Dell

Adam D. O’Dell’s article discussing The Influence of Gregorian Chant on Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium was recently featured in IFCM’s International Choral Bulletin. A fragment of his article is quoted below.

“Morten Lauridsen is one of the most frequently performed living composers. His works span a number of disciplines and influences, including trumpet concertos, orchestral works, and chamber works. His most influential works, however, are undoubtedly his choral pieces. His choral works are based on sacred and secular texts alike, and each of them carries influence from the era in which the texts are written. His most purchased and most performed work is his setting of the O Magnum Mysterium  text.

He wrote the O Magnum Mysterium  setting as a commission from the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1994. The now deceased director of the chorale at the time, Paul Salamunovich, according to Lauridsen, was “one of the great practitioners of Gregorian chant”, 4 and consequently, Lauridsen decided to “use the conjunct melodic ideas of chant as a base” in his setting. These influences included the use of Greek voice leading rules, the use of a “keynote,” and nods to melismatic text setting.”

The International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM) is an international association founded in 1982 to facilitate communication and exchange between choral musicians throughout the world. IFCM has around 900 members from all continents. The members are individuals, choirs, organizations, or companies. Through the organizations and choirs IFCM plays a role in choral music and choral events in the world.

O’Dell (b.1992) is currently pursuing his MM in Composition at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, studying with Dr. Chris Dietz, and working as a theory teaching assistant. He recently graduated with a BA in Music from Clarke University in Dubuque, IA, where he studied composition with Dr. Amy Dunker, and piano with Nancy Lease and Dr. Sharon Jensen. His research interests include Biomusicology and the study of older styles on modern composition, including Sacred Harp. He has won awards from the Kennedy Center and Make Music Inc. His works have been performed across the United States, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. He is a member of ASCAP and SCI, and is a licensed PARMA artist.

CMA mourns the loss of Gunther Schuller

composition, conducting, events, MACCM, Uncategorized

The College of Musical Arts mourns the death of Gunther Schuller, composer, conductor, performer, author and teacher. He died on Sunday, June 21, 2015 at the age of 89. He was a frequent guest on the BGSU campus having received an Honorary Doctorate and serving as the special guest of the annual New Music Festival.

http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2015/06/21/197700746/gunther-schuller-who-bridged-and-classical-music-and-jazz-dies-at-89Gunther

New Music from Bowling Green performs in Detroit at Trinsophes

alumni, brass-percussion, composition, composition-alumni, dma, events, faculty news, keyboard, MACCM, New Music, student news, theory-alumni

 

BOWLING GREEN, O. – Faculty and graduate students from Bowling Green State University’s renowned contemporary music program will be performing at Trinosophes in Detroit (1464 Gratiot) with a program of new music by Georges Aperghis, John Drumheller, Jonathan Harvey, BGSU faculty composer Mikel Kuehn, Bright Sheng, Toru Takemitsu and Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang. The concert will take place on Saturday, April 18th at 8 p.m.

Home to the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, the renowned Bowling Green New Music Festival (now entering its 36th year), a robust composition program and a vibrant new music-focused Doctor of Musical Arts curriculum, the BGSU College of Musical Arts has been an active contributor to the national and international new music scene for almost four decades.

Participating faculty from the College of Musical Arts include flutist Conor Nelson, pianists Solungga Fang-Tzu Liu and Jeannette Fang, trumpeter Charles Saenz, cellist Alan Smith, and saxophonist John Sampen, along with clarinetist Gunnar Owen Hirthe, pianist Zachary Nyce, violist Kalindi Bellach and saxophonist Matthew Younglove, all of whom are students in the DMA program.

Tickets for the concert are $5, and can be reserved through Trinosophes at 313-737-6606. More information about the venue can be found at http://www.trinosophes.com.

For more information contact the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music at 419-372-2685, email kdoles@bgsu.edu, or visit us on the web at http://www.bgsu.edu/musical-arts/maccm/NMBG.html

Scott Lavender to perform with Johnny Mathis and the LA Philharmonic

events, faculty news, jazz, keyboard

SCOTTLAVENDER

BGSU adjunct music professor Scott Lavender, will be performing with Johnny Mathis and the LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall on April 4, 2015.  Lavender will be conducting the orchestra and playing piano.

As Music Director for Glenn Yarbrough, Toni Tennille, and, for the last twenty-four years, Johnny Mathis, Scott Lavender has performed with and conducted orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, and Great Britain including the National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Scott holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance degree from Bowling Green State University (Ohio), pursued graduate studies in jazz at North Texas State, and earned a Masters Degree in Instrumental Conducting from California State University, Northridge. A published composer of works for symphony and school orchestra as well as college jazz band, his big band CD, Prime Time, features many of LA’s most accomplished studio musicians. With New York City-based cellist Roger Shell, his most recent recording is the CD, ‘Round Midnight, featuring songs from jazz and the American songbook. Scott is in his third year as an adjunct asst. professor at BGSU and lives in Findlay.

For information on the event, visit http://www.laphil.com/tickets/johnny-mathis/2015-04-04

 

BGSU Opera Theatre presents “Dialogues of the Carmelites”

brass-percussion, choral, conducting, dma, education, events, opera, string-news, student news, voice, woodwinds

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BOWLING GREEN, O. – Francis Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites” will be presented at 8 p.m. March 27 and 3 p.m. March 29 in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre in the Wolfe Center for the Arts on the BGSU campus.

Poulenc’s powerful 1957 opera, about an order of Carmelite nuns who refuse to renounce their beliefs in the wake of the French Revolution, is presented in collaboration with BGSU’s Department of Theatre and Film. The opera is directed by Nicholas Wuehrmann and features the orchestra conducted by Dr. Emily Freeman Brown. In accordance with Poulenc’s wishes that the opera be performed in the language of its audience, BGSU’s production will be sung in the composer’s approved English translation by Joseph Machlis.

With social unrest rippling through Paris, a timid young woman leaves her aristocratic family to seek refuge at a convent in northern France. She strives to align with her fellow sisters, who soon discover they must either abandon their monastery or face certain execution. Their act of defiance in the face of fear becomes a gripping, emotional story of loyalty, redemption, and sacrifice.

“Poulenc’s soaring score is served beautifully by The BGSU Opera Theater, and the universal themes of war, persecution, fear, faith and love are given a unique treatment by our production which transcends time,” noted Nicholas Wuehrmann, visiting director for the opera. Wuehrmann is an actor/singer/director living in New York City. He performs in musical theater, film and television, Shakespeare, comedy and drama, opera and operetta, and with symphonies.

Tickets for “Dialogues of the Carmelites” are $15 for adults and $5 for students or children when purchased in advance. On the day of the performance, all tickets are $20. To purchase tickets, visit bgsu.edu/Arts or call the Arts Box Office at 419.372.8171.