A rare event – almost all of WVU’s major music ensembles performing together in one concert – will take place at the Creative Arts Center on Thursday, Oct. 29 as the Division of Music presents its Gala Scholarship Fundraiser.
The program begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre and will also feature several student soloists.
The program opens with “Tikkun Olam” (Repair The World) by Gary Kent Walth, featuring a group of voice students: Jeanna Nestor, Kelsey Pierce, Sarah Plata, G. Michael Simpson, Christopher Toeller and Jason Wilcox. They will be joined by student percussionists Zane Cupec, Colin McBride and Matthew Zeh.
The University Choir, under the direction of Kathleen Shannon, will perform the traditional spiritual “Great Day!” also featuring Sarah Plata and Jarrell Strickland as soloists.
Members of the WVU Percussion Ensemble, conducted by George Willis, will perform “Eleanor Rigby” by Paul McCartney, which they also performed at their fall concert in October. This beautiful song is an arrangement by Willis that will be accompanied by a keyboard percussion ensemble. Willis will lead this work and incorporate a vibraphone solo as part of the arrangement.
WVU Opera Theatre, directed by Robert Thieme, will then perform one of its opera scenes featuring students Sarah Nale and Joshua Stubbs, accompanied by Samuel Oram on piano. “Bella voi siete?Dite alla giovine?Morr�!” is from Act II of “La Traviata” by Giuseppi Verdi.
The first half of the concert will conclude with the WVU Wind Symphony, conducted by John Hendricks, III, performing “Lincolnshire Posy” by Percy Grainger.
Following intermission, the WVU Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Mitchell Arnold, will take the stage to perform “Lincoln Portrait” by Aaron Copland with Dr. Christopher Wilkinson, a faculty member in the Division of Music, as speaker.
Little Big Band, one of the numerous jazz groups within the WVU Jazz Studies program, will perform “Two Finger Punch” by John Mills and “Sugar” by Stanley Turrentine, under the direction of Paul Scea, who is also director of jazz studies.
The final works on the program include the WVU African Ensemble performing a social dance from the Ga people of Ghana in West Africa, under the direction of Michael Vercelli, head of the World Music Center and the WVU “Pride of West Virginia” Marching Band, directed by Dearl J. Drury, performing “Jupiter” from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst.
During the second half of the program, Dean Bernie Schultz of the College of Creative Arts will also present the 2010 Presser Award. Given annually to a senior music student, based on merit, the award is funded through a grant from the Presser Foundation.
The Division of Music has been hosting an annual fundraiser for more than 40 years. Proceeds from the concert are used to support music scholarships at WVU, as well as to purchase materials, and to support travel and musical productions.
Tickets to the Music Gala Concert Fundraiser are available at the WVU Box Offices or by calling the 304-293-SHOW.
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cl/10/27/09
CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4841 ext. 3108, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu