Music Department to Present Five Spring Concerts

The Fairmont State University School of Fine Arts will present five spring concerts. Admission is free and open to the public.

Under the direction of W. Randall Hall, the Saxophone Quartet will present its spring concert at 8 p.m. Monday, April 30, in Room 229 Wallman Hall.

Members of the quartet, Cecil Lopez (soprano and alto saxophone), Bryan Foley (alto sax), Brandon Haggerty (tenor sax) and Rachel McIntire (baritone sax), will be joined by Emma Carpenter (electric bass) and Michael Robinson (drums).

The program includes selections by Gershwin/Cappuccio, “Blues Theme” from “An American in Paris”; Lennie Nelson’s “Sir Sax”; J.S. Bach’s and Voxman’s “Bourree”; Warren Barker’s “Sailor’s Hornpipe”; the traditional “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” arranged by Jack Gale; Lennie Niehaus’ “Uptown Waltz”; and Duke Ellington’s and Michael Sweeney’s “Satin Doll”; and will conclude with Bill Holcombe’s arrangement of John Philip Sousa’s “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”

The Jazz and Percussion Ensembles will present a joint concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 1, in Wallman Hall Theatre.

The FSU Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Valarie Huffman, and the FSU Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Matthew Schoonmaker, will present an evening of an eclectic variety of music from different genres including, jazz, rock, swing, pop, bluegrass and Latin.

Opening the concert will be the FSU Jazz Ensemble. Pieces for this concert will feature standards from jazz including: “Leap Frog” (signature tune of Les Brown and His Band of Renown), “Here’s that Rainy Day,” “Besame Mucho,” “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Big Noise from Winnetka.” From the pop genre, the band will perform the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There,” Ray Charles’ “Georgia on My Mind” featuring vibraphone soloist Michael Robinson, two selections from the Carpenters (“Top of the World” and “I Won’t Last a Day Without You”). Not to be left out, the ensemble will perform two selections from the rock genre: Chicago’s “Make Me Smile” and The Commodores “Still.”

As a special highlight of the evening, the ensemble will present the world premiere performance of “Oasis by Invitation,” written by the ensemble’s guitarist, Tristram Salisbury, a senior music major from Parkersburg.

The Percussion Ensemble and African Drum and Dance Ensemble will present their portion of the concert with a variety of music from different genres. Pieces that will be included will be “Afro Amero” by the former Dean of the College of Creative Arts at West Virginia University, Phil Faini; “Fiesta Latina,” traditional African Drumming and Dancing; and as special highlights: “Big Country” by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein.”

The Collegiate Singers and Community Chorus will offer a concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, in Wallman Hall Theatre.

Directed by Dr. Sam Spears, the Collegiate Singers and Community Chorus will be accompanied by a chamber orchestra and pianist John Morrison for their concert with the theme “Be My Love.”

The musical selections are as follows: “Derr Herr denket an uns” (BWV 196) by Johann Sebastian Bach; Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams; and Five Hebrew Love Songs by Eric Whitacre.

The FSU Wind Ensemble will present the final concert of the semester, “Voices of the Past,” at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 3, in Wallman Hall Theatre.

The connecting thread of the concert is that all the pieces performed are based on either a hymn tune, spiritual or folk song. Opening the concert, Dr. Valarie Huffman will conduct “Clouds that Sail in Heaven,” a fanfare based on the hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King,” followed by Luigi Zaninelli’s “Remembrance,” which contains a setting of the Phillip Bliss hymn “It is Well With My Soul.” Matthew Schoonmaker will conduct Brant Karrick’s “They Shall Run and Be Free.” This piece depicts a slave escape during the Civil War and is based on the spiritual “To Freedom.”

David Allen will conduct Frank Ticheli’s setting of “Shenandoah.” Allen is from Middlebourne and will graduate in the spring of 2013 with a degree in music education.  Concluding the concert, Huffman will conduct Reber Clark’s “Hymn of St. James,” a contemporary setting of the hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” which is frequently sung in the Episcopal Church.

Continuing with the Marching Band’s effort to raise funds for new band uniforms, donations will be accepted at both concerts and are appreciated.

The Fairmont State University Community Orchestra, featuring Anthony Errigo, will present a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 6, in Wallman Hall Theatre.

Conducted by Jack Ashton, the FSUCO will perform Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, “Symphony No. 1 in D major”; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Symphony No. 25” (the Little G minor); Arthur Honegger, “Pastorale d ètè” (Summer Pastorale); and Johannes Brahms, “Serenade in A major.”

The winner of the orchestra’s annual concerto competition, Anthony Errigo, will be featured singing the famous “Largo al factotum” from Gioacchino Rossini’s opera “The Barber of Seville.” The orchestra will also play works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Mozart, Honegger and Brahms.

Fairmont State University Community OrchestraMusicSam SpearsWind EnsembleValarie HuffmanJazzSaxophone QuartetSchool of Fine ArtsRandall HallPercussionAfrican Drum and Dance EnsembleCollegiate SingersMatthew Schoonmaker