A busy schedule of recitals and concerts completes the Department of Music’s fall semester at Gustavus Adolphus College. Beginning at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, December 9, performances will be presented in Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall and Christ Chapel throughout the weekend. These solo recitals and ensemble performances are free and open to the public.
The weekend of music opens with Kristen Heider, bass trombone and Emily Johnson, clarinet presenting a joint student recital at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, December 9 in the recital hall. Heider, a senior studying with Scott Moore and accompanied by pianist Nathan Kennedy, will present works by Eduard Lassen, Alexey Lebedev and finish with Jean-Michel Defaye’s Deux Danses. Emily Johnson will present Johannes Brahms’ Second Sonata, op. 120, no. 2 with St. Peter pianist Bonnie Jorgensen. Johnson is a sophmore studying with Richard Weber.
Travis Michelson, a senior majoring in music education, continues with his solo voice recital at 1:30 p.m., accompanied by pianist Erica Duin and assisted by several students from the Department of Music. Travis opens the recital with seven works from Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, one of the earliest song cycles written for solo voice and piano. He is then joined by the Gustavus Cantorum to present Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden. Following a selection from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Michelson concludes the recital, joined by soprano Alison Fast and the Gustavus Jazz Quartet, with two works by Frank Loesser, Baby, It’s Cold Outside and What are You Doing on New Year’s Eve?
At 3:30 p.m., senior Ben Richter presents his senior voice recital, accompanied by pianist Evan Hilsabeck, the Gustavus Trombone Quartet, Jazz Quartet and the Plaza 108 Barbershop Quartet. Under the guidance of faculty members Michael Jorgensen and Scott Moore, Richter will present a set of American songs by Leslie Bricusse and Aaron Copland, followed by works by Eugene Bozza, Jacques Ibert and Mozart. He will then be joined by the other members of the Trombone Quartet to present Achieved is the Glorious Work by Joseph Haydn. Intermission leads into additional vocal works by Schubert, a jazz set with the Gustavus Jazz Quartet and two works with the Plaza Barbershop Quartet to complete the recital.
An Evening of Vocal Jazz begins at 7:30 p.m. in the recital hall Saturday. The ensemble is directed by Gregory Aune and accompanied by the Gustavus Jazz Quartet and members of the Gustavus Jazz Lab Band the the Adolphus Jazz Ensemble. The evening’s program includes works by such well-known jazz composers as Dizzy Gillespie, Hoagy Carmichael and Mel Torme, as well as Penny Lane by the Lennon/McCartney duo, All the Things You Are by Jerome Kern, and Stephen Schwartz’s For Good, from the Broadway musical, Wicked.
The Sunday, December 10 schedule in Bjorling Recital Hall begins at 1:30 p.m. with the Brassworks! concert. Conducted by Scott Moore, three brass ensembles combine efforts in this annual end of the semester event. Christ Chapel Brass opens the concert with Brahms’ Lo How a Rose is Blooming, followed by Scherzo by Karl Pilss. The Trombone Choir continues with works by Manny Album, a Gordon Cherry arrangement of the Children’s Prayer from Hansel and Gretel, and Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor. The concert concludes with performances by the Gustavus Brass Choir and the Chapel Brass of the Overture from The Nutcracker and Silent Night.
At 3:30 p.m., the department moves to Christ Chapel for a performance by the Birgitta Singers and the St. Ansgar Chorus. The two vocal ensembles will present works for the holidays as well as traditional works for chorus. The Birgitta Singers, a women’s chorus conducted by Travis Sletta, will present the first half of the concert and includes works by Handel, Wilberg, Katie Moran Bart and the Austrian Folk Carol Still, Still, Still. The male chorus, St. Ansgars, conducted by Gregory Aune, will present works by Allegri, Tschesnokoff and Vaughan Williams, followed by Maria by Bernstein/Sondheim, a John Leavitt arrangement of O Holy Night and Mankato composer David Dickau’s Stars I Shall Find.
The final recital of the weekend will be presented by senior music education major and flutist Sarah Johnson, a student of instructor John Samuel Roper. Accompanied by pianist Nathan Kennedy, Ms. Johnson will begin her 7:30 p.m. recital with Fantaisie by Georges Hue. The program continues with works by Antonio Vivaldi, Robert Muczynski and concludes with the traditional Swedish folk song Halsa dem darhemma.
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