A long tradition at Gustavus, the Nobel Concert will be presented Tuesday, September 27 at 7:00 p.m. in Jussi Björling Recital Hall. This year’s concert includes members of the Gustavus Department of Music performing works by Cesar Franck and Francis Poulenc. Admission to the concert is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
Violist Justin Knoepfel and pianist Yumiko Oshima-Ryan will open the concert with Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major for Viola and Piano written in 1886. Pianist Oshima-Ryan writes, the sonata “became one of the most admired in Franck’s repertoire because of its poetic and lyrical passages filled with romantic passion. … Franck uses a compositional technique called a ‘cyclic form’ in which motifs, or themes, repeat in later movements.”
Following intermission, pianist Oshima-Ryan will return to the stage with Barbara Leibundguth, flute, Sarah Erickson Lume, oboe, Rena Kraut, clarinet, Melissa Morey, horn and Ann Pesavento, bassoon, to present the Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet, composed by Francis Poulenc. The composer describes the three-movement quintet as “an homage to the wind instruments which I have loved from the moment I began composing.” In her program notes, Oshima-Ryan writes “Poulenc, like most French composers of his generation, was influcenced by Stravinsky. The strong rhythmic characters, diatonic harmonies, and simple, pure melodic lines in this piece are all reminiscent of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. But the most appealing character of Poulenc’s work might be his wit and humanity, found most strongly in the finale movement.”
Tuesday’s Nobel Concert will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Jussi Björling Recital Hall on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus. The concert is free and open to the public.
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