Guest artist Latitude 49, brass tribute to Bernie Sánchez highlight UT Spring Festival of New Music, April 1-3

The University of Toledo Department of Music Spring Festival of New Music opens Tuesday, April 1, 2014 with two compositions dedicated to the late Bernie Sánchez and concludes with guest artist Latitude 49. In between, is an exciting and varied mix of new music in virtually every genre.
 

Latitude 49

A total of three concerts will be presented, one each night at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 1 through Thursday, April 3 in the UT Center for Performing Arts Recital Hall. All concerts in the festival are free and open to the public.

The UT Spring Festival of New Music is one of the highlights of the cultural year for both the campus and the Toledo music community. For 37 years, guest composers and performers have interacted with students and faculty, resulting in exciting concerts and presentations on campus. The Festival has also sponsored premiere performances of student and area composers.

This year, the winner of the student composer contest will have their work performed on the Faculty and Student Chamber Music Concert, which kicks off the Festival on Tuesday. In addition, two works - “Tribute in Brass” for brass quintet, composed by UT professor Dr. David Jex, and “To the West Wind,” composed by Music faculty member Dr. Lee Heritage, will also be premiered at this concert.

Both compositions honor the memory of UT Professor Emeritus Bernard Sánchez, who passed last October. Professor Sánchez retired after serving for more than 30 years at UT and in our area as a performer, teacher, conductor, department chairman, and advocate for music and the arts.

Heritage said, “While I was composing this quintet, the news came suddenly – and with a great sense of shock and tragedy - that Bernie had died.  I was deeply saddened, and gradually realized that the second movement of my woodwind quintet was taking shape as an elegy to our great friend.  The movement is set for flute solo, singing an angular, emotional melody, accompanied by somber chords in the rest of the quintet.” 
 

“To the West Wind” will be performed by the Toledo Symphony Woodwind Quintet. The instrumentalists are:  Joel Tse, flute; Michele Tosser-Smith, oboe; Georg Klaas, clarinet; Sandra Clark, horn; and Gareth Thomas, bassoon.

The “Tribute in Brass” quintet will be performed by UT faculty members David Jex, Alan Taplin, Dan Harris, Andrew Rhodes, and features guest trumpeter David Kosmyna, a UT alumnus who is currently Professor of Music at Ohio Northern University.
 

The Good, The Bad, and The Blues!

The second concert of the Festival, Wednesday, April 2, is an eclectic mix of new music in a variety of genres. The Good, The Bad, and The Blues! (http://www.thegoodthebadandtheblues.com/), a funk, fusion quartet, will perform a set of original songs. They are 4-time Black Swamp Blues Society Challengers, and were among the International Blues Challengers Semi-finalists of 2013 in Memphis.

UT graduate student and teaching assistant Christina Eck, an electronic music composer, singer and songwriter, will be performing her album "Diamond in the Rough,” featuring a collection of four original songs. Stephen Mariasy, a UT Film/Video student, will present his new composition “Raindance,” all realized by virtual-instrument, computer-based digital sound.

David Mariasy, Senior Lecturer of Music Technology will debut his new composition, “Requiem for Violin and Digital Orchestra.”  Performing on the work will be violin soloist, Cecilia Johnson, a member of the strings faculty at UT. Video projections will be part of the concert as well, produced by Holly Hey, Associate Professor of Film and Head of Film at UT.

Concluding the festival on Thursday, April 3 is guest artist Latitude 49. The music of Latitude 49 explores new sounds, engaging diverse audiences, and holding hands with composers of today. Twice-featured by the Michigan Muse magazine, the group’s University of Michigan roots have grown to include performances on stages across the Midwest and public radio. L49’s top priority is to foster future audiences by creating dynamic concert experiences that give a voice to some of today’s hottest composers.

Full details about each concert are available on the UT Department of Music web site. www.utoledo.edu/comm-arts/music  or www.calendar.utoledo.edu 

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Revised: 04/01/14 18:57:26 -0800.