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A Cappella Choir Spring Tour

Sunday, May 5

11:00 a.m. – Church Service at First United Methodist Church, Bowling Green, OH

1506 East Wooster

Bowling Green, OH 43402

 

7:00 p.m. – Evening Concert at Bay United Methodist Church, Bay Village, OH

29931 Lake Rd

Bay Village, OH  44140

 

Monday, May 6

 

11:00 a.m. – Performance at Manchester Presbyterian Lodge, Erie, PA

6351 West Lake Road

Erie, PA 16505

 

7:00 p.m. – Evening Concert at Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo

695 Elmwood Ave.

Buffalo, NY 14222

 

Wednesday, May 8

 

7:30 p.m. – Evening Concert at Knox Presbyterian Church, Waterloo, ON

50 Erb Street West

Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 1T1

BGSU issues call for young musician applicants for “From the Top”

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Accomplished young classical musicians from northwest Ohio are invited to audition for a chance to appear on National Public Radio’s popular program “From the Top.” Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts will host a live taping of the preeminent showcase for young musicians, to be recorded at the Moore Musical Arts Center Sept. 28. The event will lead off the college’s 2013-14 Festival Series.

Hosted by pianist Christopher O’Riley, the show is heard locally Sundays on WGTE-FM and features the performances and personal stories of extraordinary young classical musicians from across the country.

Regional musicians can submit an application and recording by mail. Applications can be downloaded at www.fromthetop.org and are due by June 28 to be considered for the BGSU taping.

Classical musicians ages 8-18 who have not yet graduated from high school are eligible for the program. Young performers can audition as soloists (including vocalists), instrumental or vocal ensembles, or as composers who have a piece they wish to have performed. While the show focuses mostly on classical repertoire, from time to time it will feature other genres, especially if the piece connects with the heritage of the regional taping.

There is a $50 application fee which can be paid online or by check. The fee is waived for students with financial need who are also applying for the show’s Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award scholarship.

In addition to being a radio program, From the Top is an independent, Boston-based nonprofit. Each year, it partners with the Cooke Foundation to award about 20 scholarships of up to $10,000 to pre-collegiate classical musicians who appear on the show. Students must demonstrate high levels of artistic achievement as well as financial need to be eligible for the award. Interested applicants apply for the scholarship in tandem with their application to appear on the radio program. More information about the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award can be found on the “From the Top” website.

What began as a radio experiment in 2000 quickly became one of the fastest growing and most popular weekly classical music programs on public radio. Broadcast on nearly 250 stations nationwide to an audience of nearly 700,000 listeners each week, “From the Top” has been described by the Boston Globe as “an entertaining, accessible and inspirational mix of outstanding musical performances, informal interviews, skits and games; the show is a celebration of extraordinary musicians who happen to be teenagers leading fairly normal lives.”

Annually, the program’s live tapings reach more than 20,000 audience members of all ages. In conjunction with its national tour, From the Top offers leadership training to young artists and conducts classroom and community programs leveraging the power of its performers as role models for younger students. Through the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the program has invested more than $1.6 million in support of pre-college students since 2005. Learn more at www.fromthetop.org.

Thomas Rosenkranz to tour China and to serve on the jury of Spring Festival Competition.

Associate Professor of Piano, Thomas Rosenkranz, will be presented in a solo tour of  China with performances in Shaoxing, Wenzhou, Leqing, Cixi, Ningbo, Houzhou and Jiaxing, from May 3rd-May 11th. On May 18th he will serve on the jury for the Spring Festival Competition in Shanghai, which is sponsored by Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. In addition he will give masterclasses at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, and at the Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou.

 

The Sound of Music

 By Elizabeth Cope

A broken reed or sticky keys are the variables most saxophonists face during live performance.

But living with hearing loss has prepared music education major Jacob Kopcienski to overcome to a wider range of variables during his own performances: even the batteries going dead in his hearing aids. The disability hasn’t stopped him from collecting awards as a top student in the BGSU College of Musical Arts.

Diagnosed at age four with moderate-severe hearing loss, Kopcienski has focused on finding solutions rather than on his obstacles. He says the key is to face limitations, accept them and adapt, and that includes developing coping strategies and problem solving skills in order to achieve goals.

“For me, hearing is not a constant thing, he said. “Yes, it’s a deficiency and it’s challenging, but I have so much control over it that I don’t even notice it. It’s something I don’t even think about. Most people go through their lives only hearing one way, and not noticing a change in their hearing, but for me, mine can change throughout the day.”

One of his adaptations is to have different programs for his hearing aides – one for direct conversation, one for general circumstances, and one for performing. Educators across the college agree, Kopcienski has never asked for special treatment or consideration. He just keeps smiling and pressing while encouraging others as he goes.

Kopcienski’s accomplishments during his four years at BGSU are impressive by any measure, but he resists viewing his success against the backdrop of his impairment.

“Jacob’s hearing is a very minor issue in his working life,” said Elaine Colprit, chair of the Department of Music Education. “He has never been defined by his disability. If Jacob didn’t tell you, you’d never know, and it certainly has not prevented him from being one of our top students.”

Along with being a top student, Kopcienski has been honored with the Music Presser Award, won BGSU Competitions in Music Performance in 2011, and has performed in prestigious university ensembles, including the Borealis Saxophone Quartet, and was a first place winner of the BGSU Chamber Music Competition in 2010. He is also a student teacher with the band program at Perrysburg High School.

He hopes to study next year in France with the world-famous saxophonist Jean-Michel Goury, a member of the prominent XASAX Quartet and is a faculty member at the Conservatoire National de Musique de Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris.

That sounds like sweet music.

(Posted April 29, 2013 )

Prof. Broman presents a paper at Harvard

Per F. Broman, Associate Professor of Music Theory and Associate Dean, will present his paper “Mute the Bereaved Memories Speak: ‘Vulgar! Rough! Tasteless!—A major music event! Brilliant critique of civilization’,” a paper dealing with the first Requiem by composer Sven-David Sandström, at the Society for Word-Music Relations 7th Annual Lyrica Dialogues at Harvard University on May 3.

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