Community
Arts
Tickets are on sale now for the six concerts, each of which will be performed in the Sharon Kay Dean Recital Hall in McCray Hall and will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are free to full-time Pitt State students.
This year’s theme: Community.
“Community comes in many shapes and sizes, and it can arise from many different sources,” said series coordinator Professor Susan Marchant. “Those of us who have had a long history with this series celebrate the community that gathers on six evenings throughout the year to experience the extraordinary performances our guest artists share with us.”
“An audience that is warm, receptive, and thoroughly engaged is something that performers notice and appreciate, and they find it here, time after time,” she added.
Some of the visiting musicians will present master classes as part of their visits. These will be open to the public in addition to students, faculty, and staff. For details, please call the Music Department at 620-235-4466.
The season will open with the Valencia Baryton Project, a trio that provides a rare opportunity to hear the stringed instrument that graced the halls of the Esterhazy court in Austria during Haydn’s tenure.
The collective was founded by Valencia-based barytonist Matthew Baker with the vision of performing the nearly 170 works written by Franz Josef Haydn as well as compositions by other composers, both modern and classical.
The artists have recorded a second album of Haydn trios on the Naxos label following the great success of their first, which was featured on Gramophone’s Top 20 UK Classical Chart.
The GRAMMY® Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer has been hailed as “the world’s reigning male chorus” by The New Yorker, and is known around the world as “an orchestra of voices” for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity.
Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly took its place as one of the most prolific recording and touring ensembles in the world.
The group’s repertoire is rooted in the renaissance, and it has continued to expand to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz, popular music.
Named for the “clear-singing” rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chanticleer continues to maintain ambitious programming in its hometown of San Francisco, including an annual concert series with its legendary holiday tradition “A Chanticleer Christmas.”
Trio Globo has crafted a totally original voice in contemporary acoustic jazz. With roots in jazz, classical, and sacred music, rhythmic influences from six continents, and a combustible spontaneity, cellist Eugene Friesen, pianist and master harmonica player Howard Levy, and percussionist Glen Velez epitomize the quintessential group for the 21st Century.
They are true originals, re-inventing their instruments in new music both personal and global.
“Eugene, Howard and Glen are magnificent players with distinct musical voices. Together they have a fresh new sound and offer a unique vision of the world of music.” - Dave Brubeck
At the very forefront of American pianists, critics and audiences have unanimously hailed the distinctive and compelling performances of pianist Steven Spooner.
He has been engaged at many of the world’s most prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Great Hall of the Liszt Academy (Budapest), Salle Cortot (Paris), and Shanghai Concert Hall, among many others as soloist with orchestra and recitalist.
He has released more than 30 recordings on Naxos, A Life of Music, and other record labels including a monumental project of 16 albums honoring his heroes called Dedications. He is professor of piano at the Peabody Institute, and previously at the Juilliard School.
Flutist Demarre McGill has gained international recognition as a soloist, recitalist, chamber, and orchestral musician. Now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, he previously served as principal flute of the Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, as well as acting principal flute of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has taught at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Aspen Music Festival.
This concert will also feature composer and pianist Daniel Schlosberg, whose previous collaborations as pianist have included work with Angel Blue, Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, the Imani Winds, and NOVUS NY. He was also the audition, rehearsal, and soundtrack pianist for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.
Stephen Ahearn has been a member of the Dallas Symphony since 2012. Currently on the faculty of Southern Methodist University, he has also taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Chamber music credits include the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Voices of Change.
Haley Hoops joined the Dallas Symphony in 1999. She has performed with other orchestras across the globe and as a long-term member of the Grand Teton Music Festival, and has been a First Prize Winner in the International Horn Competition of America. She likewise teaches at SMU in Dallas.
Dallas Symphony pianist Anastasia Markina has received top prizes in competitions in Europe, Russia, and the United States. She has performed extensively in chamber music festivals throughout North America and Europe and has made two recordings with cellist Eugene Osadchy.
Tickets are free to full-time Pitt State students with valid student ID; $10 for youth under 18 and those over 65; and $15 for the general public.
Season ticket packages also are available.
Tickets can be purchased in the following ways:
They also may be purchased at the door 30 minutes prior to each concert, based on availability.
