PSU faculty make Carnegie Hall debut

  Tuesday, January 15, 2013 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

When Patrick Howle and Reena Berger Natenberg perform at Carnegie Hall next week, they’ll be returning to a familiar theme. Howle and Berger, both members of the Pittsburg State University Music Department faculty, will perform some of the pieces featured on a CD they recorded and released last fall, as well as several complimentary works.

Howle and Natenberg will make their debut performance at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 22, in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Howle, a baritone, teaches voice and opera and directs the PSU Voice and Opera Workshop. Natenberg is an associate professor of piano at PSU and was a recipient of the 2012 Excellence in Teaching Award from PSU’s College of Arts and Sciences. Both have performed extensively in the U.S. and abroad, but Howle said there is something special about a debut at Carnegie Hall.

“Every performer dreams of performing at Carnegie Hall,” Howle said, “so to make my recital debut there is really the culmination of my work as a solo vocalist.”

For their Carnegie Hall performance, Howle and Natenberg will perform a number of vocal music pieces by French composer, Francis Poulenc. In addition, they selected a set of vocal works by Johannes Brahms, a solo piano piece by Franz Liszt and another solo piece by contemporary French Canadian composer Denis Gougeon.

Howle earned a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance from East Carolina University and a master of music degree in vocal performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music.

Natenberg was born in Montreal, Canada. She was educated at the McGill Conservatory of Music, Tel-Aviv University, The New England Conservatory of Music and Université de Montréal.

Their CD, entitled "Carte Postale," was funded by grants from the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. It was released in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Francis Poulenc’s death. For more information and/or to purchase the CD contact Patrick Howle at tphowle@yahoo.com or Reena Natenberg at reena@reenabergernatenberg.com.