Michele Gillman, an instructor in the Department of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College, will lead a cast of faculty members, students, alumns and friends in a recital of new compositions, Cirque de les Ridicule, Sunday, May 18. This performance includes performances and works by Gillman, Gustavus alumnus Paul Fraser, Jeffrey Kowalkowski, Paul Tierney, Phillip Cooke and Justin Merritt and begins at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday in Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall on the Gustavus campus. It is free and open to the public.
Sunday’s recital opens with Gillman’s Hooked on Gillman for violin, viola, ‘cello and drumset, followed by Kowalkowski’s The Wind Beneath My Wings Polka with a dance band of strings, winds, piano and percussion. The band continues with a series of works by Tierney, Gillman and Cooke, with Paul Tierney as vocalist on his composition, Tierney Song. Pianists Esther Wang and Yumiko Oshima-Ryan then enter the fray to perform Gillman’s Sermo quod exspecto sermo (aka “Complaints”). The recital concludes with the Tarantella by Justin Merritt and a final new work, another of Gillman’s, En una noche oscura, with voice, strings, synthesizer, accordion and percussion.
Sunday’s presentation of new works begins at 3:30 p.m. in Bjorling Recital Hall. It is free and open to the public.