Saxophonist Kimberly Gedde
The Department of Music at Gustavus is pleased to bring guest saxophonist Kimberly Gedde to the Jussi Björling Recital Hall stage on Friday, October 3 at 7:30 p.m. for a guest recital with pianist Sandra Joy Friesen. This performance, part of the department’s Colloquium Series, brings the two musicians to Gustavus for a day-long residency which includes clinics and masterclasses on Friday afternoon and this performance on Friday night. The Gedde/Friesen recital in Björling will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Friday night’s program is entitled In Tributum and is a tribute on several levels. It is, first, a tribute to several pieces that the performers believe are true “gems” of the classical saxophone literature and of their composers. It is also a tribute and example of the versatility of the saxophone and its body of repertoire. Finally, on a personal level for the soloists, it is a tribute to the many people, and places who have influenced their musical and pedagogical development.
The program features works for unaccompanied saxophone and saxophone and piano. Unaccompanied saxophone works will include C.P.E. Bach’s Sonata in a-moll and Balafon by Christian Lauba. Balafon, a contemporary work, is categorized as a concert etude that imitates the balafon, an African pitched percussion instrument and calls upon the saxophonist to circular breath throughout the work. Accompanied works will include; two sonatas — one each from French composer Lucie Roberts and American composer William Albright — Suite Hellenic a work based on Greek dances and fused with jazz and funk elements by Pedro Itterualde, and Mary Ann, by Jonathan Roberts, a work commissioned by Dr. Gedde and written in memorial of her mother, Mary Ann Gedde.
Currently Kimberly Gedde is instructor of saxophone and music education at Southeastern Louisiana University. She previously served on the faculties of the Bowling Green State University, Summer Music Institute, as a woodwind instructor for the LaGrange and Appleton school districts, and as the applied saxophone teaching assistant at Louisiana State University. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Louisiana State University, a Masters of Music in Saxophone Performance from Bowling Green State University, and a Bachelor or Music degree in both Saxophone Performance and Music Education from Lawrence University.
A music educator since 1992, Sandra Joy Friesen has studied extended piano techniques, musical styles and aesthetics from the past century and has dedicated a large part of her career to lecture-recitals, presentations and workshops on learning and teaching new music. A member of the Alberta Registered Music Teachers Association, the Canadian Music Centre, and the Canadian New Music Network, Sandra Joy continues to be a musical voice for Canadian composers and pedagogy of new piano music. Following years of professional work in British Columbia (Kwantlen Polytechnic University), she pursued the doctoral degree at the University of Alberta and completed it in 2012 as a scholar of the Kule Institute for Advanced Studies. She is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano at St. Olaf College.
Friday’s recital, In Tributum, by saxophonist Kimberly Gedde and pianist Sandra Joy Friesen will begin at 7:30 p.m. on October 3 in Jussi Björling Recital Hall. This performance is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.