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)

NPR Music “The Best New York Alt-Classical Concerts of 2010” includes Alarm Will Sound’s 2/23/10 concert at New York’s le poisson rouge.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2010/12/31/132409680/the-best-new-york-alt-classical-concerts-of-2010?ps=cprs

The New York Times article, “Time to Turn the Cultural Page” (12/30/10) lists two Alarm Will Sound events as ones New York Times critics are “eager to see” in 2011:  The ensemble’s January 30, 2011 2pm Concert at Merkin Hall in New York City (part of the Ecstatic Music Festival), and March 10, 2011 at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall “1969″ a multi-media production Alarm Will Sound has been developing for three years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/arts/31forward.html?pagewanted=2&sq=time%20to%20turn%20the%20cultural%20page&st=cse&scp=1

Watch a video of Alarm Will Sound’s acoustic performance of the Beatles’ “Revolution 9” at www.alarmwillsound.com <http://www.alarmwillsound.com>

A recent live performance of Aphex Twin’s “4” (arranged by Alarm Will Sound members) can be viewed on Youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_w_Mvh9tU

Mark Munson was guest conductor of OMEA District V’s Chamber Choir Festival held in Cortland on November 16.

Mark Munson conducted the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the University Choral Society, the Toledo Choral Society, and soloists in a performance of Handel’s Messiah in the Peristyle of Toledo’s Museum of Art on December 4.

Mark Munson conducted the 12-member vocal ensemble OPUS 181 in a program titled “My Dancing Day” on December 12 in the First Presbyterian Church of Bowling Green.

In the coming months, BGSU College of Musical Arts faculty composer Christopher Dietz will have a number of pieces performed, including performances at the Florida State University Festival of New Music, and at the College Music Society’s 2011 International Conference in Seoul, South Korea.

“La Fleur du Ciel” for scordatura violin, viola, cello will be performed at the Tutti Festival of New Music at Denison University on March 4, 2011 by
CMA violist Megan Fergusson and 2 members of the Toledo Symphony.

“Five Reflections on the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám” for solo piano was premiered at Elon University’s Symposium on Words and Music in September by
Israeli-American pianist Omri Shimron. The work was later performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference in November. In July 2010,
Mr. Shimron will present a lecture-recital on the work at the College Music Society’s 2011 International Conference in Seoul, South Korea.

“Gharra” for chamber orchestra will be performed at the Florida State University Festival of New Music on January 26, 2011.

“Le Chemin de Salut” for soprano voice and chamber orchestra will be performed on a special concert by the BGSU New Music Ensemble (composer conducting) at Wright State University on January 11, 2011. The concert closes the “Constructed Territory” art exhibit at WSU. The work will be repeated with the NME on BGSU’s Faculty Composers’ Forum on February 23, 2011 at 8pm in Bryan Hall at the CMA.