UMusic
UMusic
UMusic is edited by Carol Dale for the University of Mississippi Department of Music. HTML version by Warren Steel.
From April 17-19 the University of Mississippi Opera Theatre Ensemble will present two one-act operas at 8:00 on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 on Sunday in Meek Auditorium. Both operas are in English. Tickets may be purchased through the Student Union Ticket Office at 232-7411.
Gianni Schicchi is a delightful comedy in the spirit of eighteenth-century opera buffa written by Giacomo Puccini. The opera takes place in Florence, Italy in the bedroom in the house of Buoso Donati, who has recently died. Finding they have been left out of the will, grasping relatives hire Gianni Schicchi to find a way to cheat the church out of Buoso's generous legacy. An aria from this opera, "O mio babbino caro," is one of the most recognizable melodies in operatic literature.
Gian Carlo Menotti wrote the libretto and music for Amelia Goes to the Ball. The time is the early twentieth century in New York; the action takes place in the luxurious bedroom of Amelia, wife of a wealthy, upper-middle class citizen. Hell hath no fury like a woman prevented from attending the biggest ball of the season. Her husband, lover, and the entire city learn the comedic consequences of thwarting her intentions.
The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council is sponsoring a special peek behind the scenes on Thursday, April 16 from 5:00-7:00. Backstage at the Opera features a tour backstage, musical excerpts from the singers, a panel of experts to discuss various aspects of the productions, and free food. There is no admission charged for this event.
Featuring ninety instrumentalists and a sparkling repertoire of French classical music, the University of Paris Sorbonne Orchestra will perform on campus April 19-20. Presented by the Ole Miss Artist Series, the orchestra's Oxford appearance is one of many special events highlighting the University’s Sesquicentennial Celebration.
On April 19, the Sorbonne Orchestra will perform a full concert program at 7:00 pm in Fulton Chapel. A reception follows in the Student Union lobby. On April 20, the orchestra will give two free one-hour performances - at 10:00 am and 1:00 pm - in the C.M. "Tad" Smith Coliseum for some seven thousand schoolchildren invited to attend from across north Mississippi. Ticket prices for the April 19 concert are $20.00 for the general public and $10.00 for Ole Miss students with valid ID cards.
Walton Music, a major publisher of choral music, has announced that the company publish a choral series named for Ole Miss. The series, edited by Jerry Jordan, will be titled the Ole Miss Choral Series and will feature some of Jordan’s own editions of spirituals and Renaissance music, compositions by Ole Miss professor of music Raymond Liebau, and some Eastern European music which the choir has performed.
Norman Luboff was a composer and arranger of choral music, primarily American folk songs, and founder of Walton Music Corporation, which is among the most prominent music publishers in the country. Luboff and Walton have been instrumental in bringing music from around the world to the United States. As stated by Ms. Gunilla Luboff, head of Walton Music and wife of the late composer, “It is important to expose American choirs to music from other cultures because good music can be understood by any good conductor.
Jerry Jordan, director of the Ole Miss Concert Singers, has performed Walton music for years, at conventions and concerts. Because of this and Dr. Jordan's long-time personal and professional relationship with Norman Luboff, there seemed to be a natural connection between Walton Music and the Ole Miss choral program. Dr. Jordan hosted the Luboff choir at Ole Miss during two of their tours during the 1980s, and they have always enjoyed great audiences in this area.
Ms. Luboff and Walton Music found the Ole Miss name attractive for the choral series because of its strong connection with the South and with Dr. Jordan. The choral programs at Yale and Harvard universities had their own choral series in the 1950s, but there are no other university choral series presently in print. University Publications is designing the covers for the series which will prominently carry the university seal and names, Ole Miss and University of Mississippi.
Jordan has also been invited to serve on the Walton Advisory Board. According to Ms. Luboff he was chosen because of his evident musical skills, success in performances, effectiveness at seminars and lectures, and his business sense in directing a choral program.
Ms. Luboff has a great respect for Dr. Jordan and his choral program, and always felt that the Concert Singers have a way of bringing excitement to the choral concert. "Their concerts have a very professional feel, truly expressive and elegant. Dr. Jordan's selection of music is always adventuresome, trying to break new ground." Ole Miss was the natural choice for this collaboration because they had already performed and recorded so much of the music so well. "His feeling for the music of Norman Luboff was impeccable -- I knew that my husband's music would be in good hands."
The Concert Singers will be recording CDs of the series to promote the series as well as to give guidance to choral directors as to how to interpret the music. Jordan said, "We are most pleased with this honor for the choral program and for Mr. Liebau as well. Hundreds of thousands of singers in schools and churches across the country will use music in the series for decades to come."
In April 1998 the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble will present not one
but two concerts of French baroque music. These presentations will be part
of the International Baroque Music Festival that will take place throughout
Mississippi in connection with the Splendors of Versailles exhibit at the
Mississippi Arts Pavilion in Jackson.
The first concert, on April 4, will feature the faculty members of MEME, together with guest artist Susan Marchant, viola da gamba, in a program of chamber instrumental and vocal music. Selections will include harpsichord music by Fran¸ois Couperin and Elizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, recorder music by Hotteterre and Chédeville, secular cantatas by Montéclair and Charpentier, and incidental music and songs by Charpentier for a comedy by Molière.
The second concert, on Friday, April 24, featuring the entire ensemble, will include three chansons from the French Renaissance, along with works by Couperin, Clérambault, and Rameau. The featured work will be Charpentier's Judicium Salomonis. This Latin oratorio, composed for the opening of Louis XIV's Parlement in 1702, recounts King Solomon's interrogation and judgment between two women who claimed to be the mother of the same child. The Mississippi Early Music Ensemble, directed by Thomas A. Gregg and David Warren Steel, includes both students and faculty, and specializes in the interpretation of European music before 1700.
Ole Miss alumnus and Oxford native Davis Brown had his orchestra piece Dance of the Moryak performed by the Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra on March 11 at the Belk Theatre in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was the first time the piece was performed in public, and the first time his music was performed by a professional orchestra. Composed in 1988 while Brown was a student at Ole Miss, Dance of the Moryak is a raucous Russian sailor dance in the tradition of the Glière classic. Brown attended Ole Miss from 1985 to 1989 and studied with Raymond Liebau and Desmond Kincaid. He was also active in the band and wind ensemble. Brown is now an attorney in the United States Air Force, and currently is stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He continues to compose and perform piano concerts.
Lamar Buckner has been accepted into the doctoral program at Florida State University. He is from the studio of Carol Dale.
Dawn Henry has been accepted to be a counselor at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp has over a thousand junior high and high school students for each two-week camp from June through August.
Brenda Jenkins, junior piano performance major, recently was named one of four winners in the Lifetime Quest Young Artists Competition held at Meridian Comunity College. In addition to receiving a $500.00 cash award, Brenda will perform in a master class on January 29, 1998, for one of the winners of the Van Cliburn Competition. Brenda is a former pupil of Susan Walker and Ann Eaves, and is currently studying with Raymond Liebau.
Melissa Meeks has been accepted into the Peter Lloyd Flute Masterclass in Toledo, Ohio in June.
Ken Ortlepp (M.M. ‘97) has won the 1st horn position at Offut Air Force Base in Omaha. Boot camp starts in May. Ken was from the studio of Jill Wilson.
Charles Gates, Chuck Quinn (M.M. ’91 and Instructor of Trumpet at the University of Central Arkansas), Ryan Todd (B.M. Music Ed.), and Brandon Lewis (B.M. Performance) performed Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks with the Meridian Symphony Orchestra on March 7, and will perform Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and other works with the MSO on April 24-25.
Angie Innman was nominated for and won the Larry D. Givens Award from the History Department. This includes a $500 scholarship. She was nominated by Dr. James Cook of the History Department and was recognized at the honors ceremony on April 2 at Fulton Chapel. Angie is from the studio of Carol Dale. Amanda Palmer, Brenda Jenkins, Brandon Buffington, and Jason Roberts -- all piano performance majors -- are playing their junior recitals at the end of this month.
Stephen Purdy is playing for the New York (original and still going) company of The Fantasticks. It is the longest-running show in theatre history (38 years). Before this he toured Europe conducting the ongoing original production of 42nd Street and the previous year was spent in Hong Kong and southeast Asia playing (and later conducting) My Fair Lady. Stephen was from the studio of Ray Liebau.The Music Library just received a donation of more than two hundred LP albums, including over forty complete opera titles, from the estate of Mrs. Virginia Marshall Douglas. The recordings include performances of exceptional artistic and historic importance. Mrs. Douglas was a long-time resident of Oxford and an enthusiastic fan of opera. She willed her entire estate to the University of Mississippi. The donation was arranged by John Pilkington, President of the Friends of the Library, and Ronald Vernon. The recordings were transferred to the Music Library. and will become available to faculty and students as soon as they are catalogued.
The UMusic newsletter is edited by Carol Dale. Please send all information to: Carol Dale, Music Newsletter, Department of Music, University of Mississippi, University MS 38677, office: (601) 232-5589; e-mail: mudale@olemiss.edu.
The Ole Miss Men's Choir, directed by Chris White, received an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end of their performance for the ACDA/MMEA convention on March 20 in Hattiesburg. To begin the concert, the men processed into the auditorium singing a Praetorius canon. They continued the concert with partsongs by Francis Poulenc and Franz Schubert and folksong arrangements by Michael Richardson and Robert Shaw. Chris White directed the performance, his first appearance in Mississippi before the state's music teachers and singers from the all-state choirs. This semester two alumni returned to Ole Miss conducting their own high choirs. In January Kim Parker brought her choir from Vicksburg High School for a performance and workshop at the music department; in March Charles Harraway brought his choir from Germantown High School. On both days the choirs performed for the Concert Singers and received clinical appraisal and instruction from Jerry Jordan and Chris White.
The Ole Miss Concert Singers received an emotional standing ovation in February as they performed with four other choirs at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) convention in Charleston, S.C. They were joined by other international professional choirs and collegiate choirs that performed before an audience of approximately 1,500 choral directors from across the nation.
Concert Singers Chosen to PerformMilton Aldana performed with the Memphis Symphony in March and April and will be judging a Performing Arts Consultants Festival in St. Louis this weekend. One of his euphonium students, William Waldrop of Pontotoc High School, was runner-up at the MTNA regional competitions at Florida State University in February. Aldana will be having a recital on April 26 with Stacy Rodgers and Julia Aubrey. He will be coordinating a student Dixieland band for performances at the Oxford Double Decker Festival on April 25. At the Mid-South Honor Band in February, he performed James Curnow's Capriccio for Trombone and Band with Symphonic Band, conducted by Mark Howle.
Ricky Burkhead hosted a clinic which featured Johnny Lee Lane, Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Eastern Illinois University. The clinic was presented at Ole Miss on March 16, 1998.
Carol Dale was president of the Flute Festival Mid-South on March 20-21, held at Delta State University. Guest artist was Bradley Garner, flute professor at the Juilliard School of Music and at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Also attending the Flute Festival were Dawn Henry, Melissa Meeks, and private students Regan Frink, Jennifer Sukanek, Amanda Brown, and Heather Young. Carol Dale brought New York flutist Linda Marianello to Ole Miss on March 27 for lessons with flute students. In addition, she performed Gustav Holst's The Planets with the Memphis Symphony .
A review by Charles Gates of Top 50 Orchestral Audition Excerpts for Trumpet: A Detailed Guide to Playing Auditions and Performing Orchestral Excerpts (ed. Philip Norris) was published in the February 1998 Journal of the International Trumpet Guild.
Thomas Gregg performed the Schütz Musikalisches Exequien with Heinichen's Circle on April 8 in Jackson, a recital of American Sacred Songs for the Fortnightly Musicale Music Club on April 14 in Tupelo, and a concert of Baroque music with PanHarmonium on May 17 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Wade Irvin performed with the Corinth Symphony March 28. He played the Weber Concerto in F Major for bassoon, the Brasiliera from Scaramouche Suite for saxophone by Darius Milhaud, and Gershwin's "Summertime" with wife Judy Irvin and the orchestra. Judy also sang "Fascinating Rhythm." He also performed Gustav Holst's The Planets with the Memphis Symphony.
Jerry Jordan traveled to the Italian lakeside town of Riva del Garda on April 5 to judge the Fifth International Choir Competition. Dr. Jordan was invited by Interculture Foundation to serve as a juror for the competition. The honor of being chosen as the only judge from the United States is a reflection of the worldwide reputation of the Ole Miss Concert Singers for excellence in choral singing. The International Choir Competition is the world's largest alliance of choral competitions with competitions in Italy, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Czech Republic, and Florida (USA). The competition in Riva del Garda will include eighty choirs with 3,000 singers from 25 countries around the world. Jordan has also been placed on the Artistic Committee for the Interculture Foundation USA competition. Jordan has judged previous international Competitions, including the Concorso Polifonico Guido d'Arezzo in 1997, where he was again the only judge from the United States. The Arezzo competition is the oldest and most prestigious choral competition in Europe.
Desmond Kincaid accompanied the faculty recital of Cynthia Linton, served as accompanist for the All-State High School Honors choir in performance March 21-22, accompanied ten UM students at NATS auditions in Hattiesburg on March 28-29, and is enjoying a quiet(?) retirement.
Ray Liebau and Jeff Myers played a piano duet recital in Tupelo on March 29. The concert was sponsored by the Tupelo Symphony Orchestra. Both Ray and Jeff play piano, harp, and celeste, even accordion parts in the symphony concerts when needed. They will also perform the recital in Grenada in April.
In February Chris White and his wife, Dona, heard and adjudicated over one hundred choirs at the Northeast Arkansas ACDA Choral Festival in Jonesboro, Arkansas. In April he rehearsed and conducted in performance an honor choir of ninety fifth graders from northeast Mississippi at Itawamba Community College.
David E. Willson has been elected the Board of Directors of Phi Beta Mu International. Phi Beta Mu is an honorary fraternity of men and women whose careers in instrumental music have set them apart as leaders in their field and as teachers of distinction. His nomination for this office by the membership of Mississippi's Delta Chapter placed his name on a ballot with nominees from eight other states. Willson's three-year term of office began at the December 1997 Mid-West International Band Clinic in Chicago. He has been Director of Bands at UM since 1991.
At the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition held at the University of Southern Mississippi on March 27-28, Ole Miss had nineteen finalists from twenty categories. In one of the best showings ever, UM singers were six of the first-place winners, and winning over 25 percent of the competition. There were approximately two hundred students competing from almost ten schools. Here are the winners:
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Last modified
26 October 1998
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