The Department of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College presents three student recitals this weekend in Bjorling Recital Hall as another recital season comes to a close. Percussionist Todd Swingle opens the weekend with his senior recital at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, May 13. Baritone Greg Dokken and soprano Jamie Hultgren combine efforts at 7:30 p.m. Aaron Hanson, saxophone, presents his senior recital in the recital hall beginning at 3:30 p.m., Sunday, May 14. All three recitals are free and open to the public.
Persussionist Todd Swingle opens the weekend with a performance and composition recital on Saturday, May 13, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Along with the 8-piece percussion ensemble and 33 members of the Gustavus Wind Orchestra, Swingle will perform solo works for percussion composed by Evelyn Glennie and David Mancini, a marimba quartet, Quarternity, which he composed last year, and two of his newest works, Lost in a Signless Land (2006) and Heaven’s Playground (2006). To conclude the recital, Swingle will switch from percussionist and conductor to double bass to perform three works for jazz quartet with Matt Bergman, tenor sax, Phil Sowden, piano and Justin Haaheim, drum set. This final set includes works written by Matt Dennis, Harold Arlen and will finish with Giant Steps by John Coltrane.
Junior Greg Dokken is a native of New Hope, Minnesota, with a major in music honors in performance at Gustavus. He is a member of the Gustavus Choir and the St. Ansgar’s Chorus, and studies voice with Professor Music at Gustavus, Michael Jorgensen. For this 7:30 p.m. recital, Dokken will open with Maurice Ravel’s Don Quichotte a Dulcinee with accompanist Katie Fillius He will also perform Gibbs’ Songs of the Mad Sea Captain, van Heusen’s Call Me Irresponsible and George Gershwin’s They Can’t Take That Away From Me.
Soprano Jamie Hultgren is also accompanied by Katie Fillius as she presents her senior recital. A communications studies major with a music minior, Hultgren is a 2003 graduate of Cathedral High School and a resident of Excelsior, Minnesota. She is a member of the Gustavus Choir, the Chamber Singers and studies voice privately with Michael Jorgensen. Hultgren opens her part of the program with Bizet’s Chanson d’avril and Handel’s Lascia ch’io pianga. She continues with Harvey Schmidt’s They Were You and Leonard Bernstein’s What a Movie. Hultgren shares the stage with Dokken to conclude the recital with the American spiritual Ride On Jesus.
Senior saxophonist Aaron Hanson takes the Bjorling stage at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 14, to present the final student recital of the spring performance schedule. Hanson, a Coon Rapids High School graduate from Isanti, Minnesota, will graduate from Gustavus with majors in music and political science. With accompanist Beth Winterfeldt, he will perform works as varied as Paul Bonneau’s Caprice en Forme de Valse, solo pour saxophone to Histoire de Tango by Astor Piazzolla, with a quartet from the saxophone section of the Gustavus Wind Orchestra. Aaron will finish the recital with brother, Adam, on bass, Justin Haaheim on drums and Phil Sowden on piano as the quartet presents Joshua Redman’s Can’t Dance.
All three recitals will be followed by a reception in the recital hall lobby. The performances are free and open to the public.