From voice to violin, flute to bass trombone and piano to percussion, the weekend of May 15 – 17 and the Department of Music at Gustavus will provide the community with a lot of everything. Eight junior and senior recitals will feature the work of ten Gustavus student musicians. It’s a great weekend of music in Jussi Björling Recital Hall and it’s all free.
The weekend of music opens Friday, May 15, with a 7:30 p.m. senior voice recital by soprano Emily Moran. A native of Chicago, Emily will be accompanied by pianist Julie Sweet as she presents Quia Respexit by Bach, five songs from Frauenliebe und Leben by Robert Schumann, In Miss Todd’s Parlor by Gian Carlo Menotti and, with the assistance of tenor David Lick, Tonight from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein.
Mankato violinst Mark Wamma opens Saturday’s busy schedule at 11:00 a.m. with his senior violin recital, accompanied by pianist Beth Winterfeldt. Mark’s program includes Mark O’Connor’s 13-movement Strings and Threads Suite, a work he performed on the Gustavus String Orchestra’s winter concert tour. The recital concludes with Ravel’s Sonate pour Violon et Piano and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major.
At 1:30, juniors Scott Simpkins and Tom Oelfke join to present a trombone recital in Björling Recital Hall. Oelfke (tenor trombone) and Simpkins’ (bass trombone) program includes works by Donald While, Benedetto Marcello, Ralph Vaughn Williams and concludes with the tenor and bass trombone duet of Charles Small’s Conversation.
Saturday’s musical march continues at 3:30 with David Guptill’s senior clarinet recital. Accompanied by pianist Brenda Moore, David will present Johannes Brahms’ Sonata in Eb major for Clarinet and Piano, Duo II for 2 Clarinets by Bernhard Crusell, assisted by clarinetist Elizabeth Olson. He continues with 4 Pieces for Flute and Clarinet, assisted by flutist Rachel Guptill and concludes with Rossini’s Introduction, Theme and Variation.
At 7:30, pianist and percussionist Becky Strobel will present her senior recital. The Glencoe native opens with Six Bagatelles by Ludwig van Beethoven, Evelyn Glennie’s A Little Prayer and the Suite Bergamasque by Claude Debussy. Percussionists Marlene Kvitrude and Laura Walker join Becky on stage to present Mark Ford’s Stubernic prior to the conclusion of the recital, Ballade No. 2 in F major by Frederic Chopin.
Sunday’s schedule opens at 1:30 with a joint recital by junior flutists Laura Mahowald and Bethany Brown. The recital will open with solo works by Mozart and Hindemith and a duet, Three Duos Brilliantes, by Friedrich Kuhlau. Laura continues with Takakishvili’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, followed by Bethany’s performance of Ibert’s Piece for Flute. The two conclude the recital with Ian Clarke’s Maya.
Soprano Alyssa Hansen continues at 3:30 accompanied by pianist Julie Sweet. Alyssa’s recital includes works from Vivaldi’s Gloria, Puccini’s La Boheme Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Victor Herbert’s The Enchantress, along with two works, Noche Serena and Mi Sueno by Edward Kilenyi.
Soprano Hannah Wunsch, accompanied by pianist Alison Utke, concludes the weekend of music with her senior honors voice recital at 7:00 p.m. in Björling Recital Hall. Hannah opens with Addio Corindo