Even more University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music Ensembles will be performing during the month of April.
The UNL Campus Bands will be presenting a concert inspired by both the presence and absence of light entitled, “A Little Light Music” on April 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall. The concert will feature performances by both the Jack R. Snider and the Donald A. Lentz Concert Bands. The bands bear the names of former band directors here at UNL. Featured composers include: Brian Balmages, Thomas Duffy, David Gillingham, Quincy Hilliard, John Mackey, Dmitri Shostakovich, Frank Ticheli, and Others. Adding a unique touch to the concert will be a slide show to accompany John Mackey’s “Lightning Field” and an electroaccoustic work “Lights Out” by Alex Shapiro. Conducting the bands will be Assistant Director of Bands, Douglas W. Bush along with Conducting Associates, Bradley Nelsen, Alexander Burgess, and Melanie Settle. Tickets are General Admission $5; Students/Seniors $3.
Clark Potter celebrates his 20th year as viola professor at UNL with a musical party for violas of epic proportions with Viola Celebrations I & II on April 23. The first performance will take place in Westbrook Recital Hall at 4 p.m. with the Kimball Recital Hall performance at 7:30 p.m. Former students are coming back from as far away as Reno, Tulsa, and Lexington, KY to perform and enjoy the reunion. Music for both recitals will feature music for multiple violas, including an octet and a quintet for violas composed by Jonathan Crosmer (MM, Composition (2008) and DMA, Viola Performance (2011)). Crosmer will also perform two movements of his own Autumn Suite for solo viola, and Potter’s friend and viola colleague Jonah Sirota will also perform. Current UNL violists will perform the music and the drama in an arrangement of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” as well as Potter’s arrangement of the “Sanctus” from Fauré’s Requiem. Plenty of additional surprises are planned, including a Grande Finale in which all violists in attendance will storm the stage to play a rousing rendition of an old Motown tune from Potter’s youth arranged by current viola student Tanner Pfeiffer. Both performances are free and open to the public.
The UNL Chamber Singers under the Interim Direction of Dr. Eph Ehly will perform a varied program of choral works at two of Nebraska’s premiere sites, The Holy Family Shrine near the Gretna exit (Friday, April 22, 7:30 p.m.) and the Nebraska State Capitol building (Sunday, April 24, 3 p.m.).
Included in their repertoire are “not so standard” works by traditional composers such as Hugo Distler, Verdi and Chopin, as well as, the beautiful “Vocalise” by Nebraska composer Wilbur Chenoweth for soprano solo and male chorus; “Smile” by Charley Chaplin arranged for vocal jazz by Steve Zegree; “Deep River” with Saxophonist Paul Haar; and a very unique arrangement of “Golden Boy” as performed by the rock singer Freddie Mercury and opera star Montserrat Caballé. The University Chamber Singers, directed by Ehly, are UNL’s premiere vocal chamber ensemble. A small choir of 24-28 voices, it is intended to provide the highest level of choral chamber performance experience for graduate and undergraduate singers at the Glenn Korff School of Music and throughout the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.