News of music: Chamber concert set in Maumee
1/31/2008Chamber Music Toledo will celebrate one of the country's pre-eminent black composers, William Grant Still, with a recital by Greg Kostraba and Friends at 3 p.m. Feb. 10 in the Maumee Indoor Theater, 601 Conant St., Maumee. It's the third concert in CMT's inaugural season. Kostraba, a pianist and CMT founder - as well as classical music director of WGTE-FM - is to be joined by violinist Rico McNeela and Chicago hornist Robert Garcia in music by Still and Brahms. McNeela is director of orchestral studies at the University of Toledo; conducts the UT Symphony Orchestra, and performs with the Toledo Trio. Garcia is director of graduate admissions at Columbia College in Chicago and performs widely in chamber music events, including the American Opera Group Orchestra and the St. Roch Chamber Music Festival. Tickets are $8 in advance, $5 for college students, $1 for those 18 and younger, and $12 at the door. They are available through the Toledo Symphony: 419-246-8000.
Toledo Opera on Feb. 9 will present "The Last Great Romantic," a gala performance of works from operas of Richard Strauss by three sopranos. All three singers - Deanne Meek, Tonya Currier, and Rachele Gilmore - will be making their Toledo area debut. Music will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. Thomas Conlin will conduct the Toledo Symphony, accompanying the singers as well as performing incidental music by Strauss. Tickets begin at $20. A $50 ticket includes a post-concert reception at Diva restaurant. Information: 419-255-7464.
Several events are scheduled in the near future in the University of Michigan's Rackham Auditorium, 915 East Washington St., Ann Arbor.
The Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble, a septet created in 2003 at the Oriental Institute in Chicago, is to appear at 8 p.m. Feb. 8, Musicians from the United States, Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel perform traditional instrumental and vocal music from the North African, Egyptian, Levantine, Turkish, and Armenian repertoire. Tickets are $20 to $40.
The area premiere of a 2007 octet by University of Michigan composer William Bolcom will be performed by the Guarneri and Johannes string quartets at 8 p.m. Feb. 9. Also on the program are works by Esa-Pekka Salonon, Derek Bermel, and Mendelssohn. Tickets for the concert are $22 to $46. Information on both concerts: 734-764-2538 or www.ums.org.
The Michigan Chamber Players will perform music by Mozart, Danzi, and Brahms in a free recital at 4 p.m. Feb. 10.
The University Philharmonia Orchestra and Choir will perform two major works by Brahms - Nanie (Lament) and Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny) - at 8 p.m. Feb. 12 in Hill Auditorium, 825 North University, Ann Arbor. The concert is free.