30th New Music Festival offers performances, talks

10/15/2009

Bowling Green State University will present its 30th annual New Music Festival from Oct. 22-24 in the Moore Musical Arts Center and other campus and town venues. Organized by the BGSU College of Musical Arts and its MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, the festival will bring live performances, lectures, seminars, and workshops to the public. Most events are free.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky of Cornell University will be the featured guest and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), a vocal group, will be special visiting performers. Music by dozens of contemporary composers will be performed by university soloists and ensembles.

The festival will begin with a preview talk at noon Oct. 22 in the Wood County Public Library, 251 North Main St. At 3:30 p.m. that day, Stucky will discuss his work in Bryan Recital Hall at the Moore Center. Works by Stucky, Kristin Kuster, David Lang, and others will be performed by students and faculty at 8 that night in Kobacker Hall. A late-night show in the Clazel Theater, 127 North Main, will present ICE performing music by Steve Reich, Du Yun, Peter Evans, and others at 10 p.m. Oct. 22.

Oct. 23 will offer four events, starting at 10:30 a.m. with a recital in Bryan Hall and winding up with the ICE in Kobacker Hall at 8 p.m. Three concerts and a preconcert lecture will fill the final day, Oct. 24, concluding with the only ticketed concert at 8 p.m. in Kobacker with the BGSU Philharmonia and conductor Emily Freeman Brown, the ICE, and baritone Jesse Blumberg performing works by Stucky, BGSU composer Marilyn Shrude, and others. Tickets ranging from $7 to $13 are available at 419 372-8171.

For a full schedule, check bgsu.edu/colleges/music/MACCM/festival/nmf30/schedule.htm

Also at BGSU, members of the music faculty will play as the Romanian Octet at 8 p.m. Tuesday, a preview of its coming performance at the American Romanian Festival in Romania Nov. 3-7. The event is free to the public.

Music from Bowling Green at the Manor House will continue in a 7:30 p.m. recital of scenes from coming BGSU Opera Theater productions of Telemann's Don Quixote, and de Falla's Master Pedro's Puppet Show. The performance in the Manor House of Wildwood Preserve Metropark is free to the public.

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Pianist-conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn will lead the Toledo Symphony in its Classics II performances at 8 p.m. Oct. 23 and 24 in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 11 in F Major, K. 413 will open the program, which will conclude with the Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 in E Minor. The orchestra and guest will perform the Rachmaninoff work at 8 p.m. Oct. 22 in Corpus Christi University Parish Church, 2955 Dorr St.

Tickets for the Classics concerts are $20-$50 at toledosymphony.com or 419-246-8000. Tickets for the Corpus Christi concert are $15 prior to the concert (no tickets will be sold at the door) at 419-531-4992 or at the church; ask for Pam.

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The University of Toledo Symphony Orchestra will present a concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Doermann Theatre. The UT Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble are to perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 21 in Doermann. Both events are free.

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Trinity Episcopal Church will open its 2009-2010 Performing Arts Series with the debut of Canticum Novuum, a professional chorale, at 2 p.m. Oct. 25 in the church, Adams and St. Clair streets. Wayne Anthony, founder, will lead the 24-voice group in music by Randall Thompson, including his cantata, Peaceable Kingdom, and his classic Alleluia. Tickets are $10-$15 at the door or in advance at 419-243-1231. For more information check trinitytoledo.org.

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The Adrian Symphony will launch its First Federal Bank Classical Series with a program called "Atlantic Crossing," at 8 p.m. Oct. 24 in Dawson Auditorium on the Adrian College campus.

Music director John Thomas Dodson will lead the orchestra in a program of works by Debussy, de Falla, Lalo, and the world premiere of a piece by college resident composer Kenneth Fuchs. Violinist Kurt Nikkanen, concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, will solo in the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole. Tickets are $10-$25 at 517-264-3121 or aso.org.

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Trumpeter Ryan Anthony and organist Gary Beard will perform an eclectic program presented by the Sandusky Concert Association at 4 p.m. Oct. 25 in Zion Lutheran Church, 503 Columbus Ave., Sandusky. Anthony is a member of the Canadian Brass and principal trumpet of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Beard is a church musician and leader of the Gary Beard Chorale based at Lindenwood Christian Church, Memphis. Anthony and Beard have performed and recorded together for years. Tickets for the recital are $5-$15 at the door or in advance at Fort Music, 212 Hancock St., Sandusky, 419-626-1200.

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The Ohio Northern University Singers will embark on their fall tour on Oct. 25, presenting a week's worth of concerts. Director Dennis L. Kratzer will lead the Singers, with accompanist Ryan Neal as assistant. Mary Jane Eichelberg, organist, A. Lewis Jones, percussionist, and Faith Heflin, keyboards, will accompany the group in performances in Lima, Defiance, Norwalk, Sandusky, and Westerville. A homecoming performance is set for 7 p.m. Nov. 1 in ONU's Presser Hall.

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Tickets for Ballet Theatre of Toledo's annual holiday production of Nutcracker are on sale now. Performances are at 7 p.m. Nov. 28 and 2 p.m. Nov. 29 in the Maumee Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $16-$36 at 419-861-0895 or ballettheatreoftoledo.org.

Items for News of Music should be sent to svallongo@theblade.com at least two weeks ahead of the performance date.