The Department of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College hosts performances by three of its student ensembles in Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall this weekend. The weekend opens with the Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Brian Buckstead, Friday, November 13 at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, November 15, the Gustavus Percussion Ensemble and director Bob Adney performs at 1:30 p.m. followed by a Woodwind Chamber concert, directed by Ann Pesavento, at 3:30 p.m. All three concerts are open to the public at no charge.
Third-year conductor Brian Buckstead and the Philharmonic Orchestra opens Friday’s concert with Mozart’s Serenata Notturna in D Major, K. 239. ‘Cellist Sharon Mautner-Rodgers, ‘cello instructor at Gustavus, then joins the ensemble as guest soloist on Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Major, Rv 404 and the Capriccio, Op. 24 by Georg Goltermann. The Phil’s fall concert concludes with St. Paul’s Suite, Op. 29, No. 2 by Gustav Holst.
Sunday’s concert afternoon opens at 1:30 p.m. with the Gustavus Percussion Ensemble and director Bob Adney and The Overture for Percussion Ensemble by John Beck. It is followed by Michael Daugherty’s Lounge Lizards featuring “directors turned percussionists” Bob Adney and Paul Hill with guest pianists Pinar Basgoze and Judy Lin. The 8-member percussion ensemble then returns to the stage to conclude the fall concert with Henry Cowell’s Ostinato Pianissimo and Lynn Glasscock’s Dragoon.
At 3:30, the Gustavus Woodwind Quartet and the Gustavus Woodwind Quintet take the Bjorling stage for an afternoon of woodwind chamber music directed/coached by Ann Pesavento. The Quartet opens with three works; the Trio in C minor by Georg Philipp Telemann, Quartet No. 1 by Gioacchino Rossini and the Allegro con brio movement from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Quintet. The Quartet is accompanied by pianist Sarah Cartwright. The concert continues with the Gustavus Woodwind Quintet and Giuseppe Cambini’s Quintet No. 3, Paul Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik (Allegro) and concludes with Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Gavotte with Six Doubles.
The weekend of ensemble performances at Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall is open to the public at no charge.