Performance Listing

Dr. Roddy Cowie, Professor of Psychology and accomplished musician gives presentation on how the growing interest in measurable impact of music is reshaping contemporary science.  Co-presented by Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology; Department of Computer Science; Center for Human-Computer Interaction; and Department of Music.

Acclaimed violinist Mark O'Connor returns to the concert stage performing his solo recital after more than a decade.  From foot stomping fiddle tunes to ragtime, free improvisation, jazz and blues, O'Connor provides a memorable evening of breathtaking performances.  His creative journey began at the feet of a pair of musical giants--folk fiddler Benny Thomasson and then French jazz violinst Stephane Grappelli.  He has "crosssed over so many boundaries, that his style is purely personal" (Los Angeles Times).  The Center For the Arts at Virginia Tech is bringing Mark O' Connor to work with the students of the Virginia Tech String Project, to teach and present masterclasses.  This performance is co-presented by the Lyric Theatre.  Tickets will be $40 general public, $34 seniors, $16 students and youth under 18. Tickets will be available at the Lyric Theatre online (general tickets only) at www.thelyric.com or by calling 951-4771 or stopping by M-F during regular box office hours, 10am to 2pm. Tickets go on sale December 5th, 2011.

Kathleen Gately performs a junior cello recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

The University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band perform an afternoon concert under the baton of Travis Cross. Student Ensemble Concerts are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

Bennett Layman performs an afternoon baritone recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

The University Jazz Bands perform an evening concert in Squires Old Dominion Ballroom. Student Ensemble Concerts are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

Erin Casey performs a senior clarinet recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

The New River Valley Symphony Orchestra performs an evening concert.  NRVSO tickets are $9 General, $7 Senior, and $5 Student. Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

Virginia Tech's Early Music Ensemble, directed by Professor John Howell, presents a Winter Concert with the Baroque Orchestra playing music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Henry Purcell, Hans Leo Hassler, and Georg Philip Telemann.  Tech students Zach Payton, Mark Lewers, and Lydia Eggleston are featured in Telemann's Triple Violin Concerto.  The Singers and the Medieval Band combine to present a variety of medieval songs of Faith, Fun, and Protest.  The concert is free and open to the public. 

Viva Vivaldi returns to Musica Viva by popular demand. Join us for an afternoon celebrating  the glorious music of Antonio Vivaldi. David Ehrlich, violinist and VT Outreach Fellow, Benedict Goodfriend, violinist of the Kandinsky Trio, Ben Wyatt, cello, faculty member of Renaissance Music Academy and VT Fine Arts Initiative, perform rarely heard concerti with the string ensemble.  Recently released CD recording will be available at the concert.  No matter what your mood when you arrive, you will leave this concert with uplifted spirits! This concert is co-sponosred with the Center For the Arts at Virginia Tech.  For more information go to MusicaViva.com.

Molly Overson performs an afternoon senior bassoon recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Alan Weinstein performs an evening cello recital assisted by Dr. Tracy Cowden on piano. The program will include Sonata for Cello and Piano, Opus 102, #1 in C Major by Beethoven, Sonata Romantica for Cello and Piano by Kent Holliday, and Sonata for Cello and Piano Opus 19 in G Minor by Rachmaninoff. Faculty/Guest Artist Recitals are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the door of the venue one hour prior to the performance. 

Jason Crafton, trumpet, and Dwight Bigler, piano, perform an afternoon recital featuring works by Scarlatti, Pilss, Hubeau, Fauré, Higdon, and Ropartz.  Featuring Ariana Wyatt, soprano and Kelly Parkes on trumpet.  Faculty Artist Recitals are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

Virginia Tech students perform a public recital as part of the twentieth annual student soloist competition. A panel of outside judges will select the winner, who will perform at a later date with the Virginia Tech Symphonic Wind Ensemble.  This concert is free and open to the public.

The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra Virtuosi Ensemble performs under the baton of David Stewart Wiley.  Celebrate the tenth special appearance by the RSO's chamber ensemble on the campus of Virginia Tech, a special partnership between the New River Valley Friends of the RSO and the Center For the Arts at Virginia Tech.  Tickets will be $25 or $15 with student ID. Ticket information is available at www.RSO.com or by calling 540-343-9127.

The University Choirs present a spring concert under the direction of Dwight Bigler. There will be two performances of this concert: Friday, March 16th at 8pm and Saturday, March 17th at 8pm.  Student Ensemble Concerts are $5 general and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

The University Chamber Music Series at Virginia Tech presents Marcolivia in an afternoon recital. The program, entitled 'Enchanted Masterworks' will feature a Beethoven piano trio (arranged for violin, viola and piano) and Mozart's Magic Flute arias arranged by Marcolivia for violin and viola; UCM ticket prices:  $15 General, $10 Senior, $5 Student.  For additional ticket information, call the Student Centers and Activities Ticket Office at 231-5615.

Rebecca Johnston, clarinet and Kristen Fowler, horn present a shared junior recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

The Mid-Atlantic Women's Chorus Festival, founded at Virginia Tech in 2010, will feature an afternoon workshop in Squires Recital Salon, followed by a concert at 7:30 pm at Blacksburg Presbyterian Church. Dr. Joni Jensen, director of choral activities at Texas Women's University, will be the guest conductor this year. Participating choirs include the Virginia Tech Women's Chorus and women's choirs from North Carolina State University, Meredith College, Roanoke College, Southern Virginia University, and Christiansburg High School. The concert is free and open to the public.

Lee Seidner performs a senior clarinet recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Kelsey Lund performs a senior clarinet recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Musica Viva presents an evening concert.  Formed in Israel, the Ariel String Quartet moved to the United States in 2004, and has since rapidly gained the attention of the music world. Grand Prize winners of the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, First Prize at the international competition “Franz Schubert And The Music Of Modernity” in Graz, Austria (2003), prizewinners at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2007; The American Record Guide described the quartet as “a consummate ensemble gifted with utter musicality.”  Don’t miss the first appearance on Musica Viva of this phenomenal group of young musicians that is sure to dazzle the audience!  For more information go to Musica Viva.

The Colorado Quartet has been a ground-breaking ensemble for nearly three decades. Catapulted onto the scene by back-to-back wins at the Banff International String Quartet and Naumburg competitions, it was the first all-women quartet to attain international stature. The first female quartet in history to perform the complete Beethoven Quartet cycle in Europe and North America, its recording of the cycle is available on the Parnassus label. Of the Late quartets, Fanfare Magazine said: The Colorado Quartet tears into these works with a combined tension, cohesion, grace, and complete understanding of the music. . . if it's the music and what the music says that interests you, well, this is the only set of the late quartets you'll ever need. These four women bring Beethoven to intense, blazing life. The program will feature all works by Beethoven.  UCM ticket prices: $15 General, $10 Senior, $5 Student.  For additional ticket information, call the UUSA ticket office at 231-5615.

Claire Vogler, violin and Marla Schrettner, clarinet, perform a shared junior recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Tau Beta Sigma presents an a cappella concert featuring some of Virginia Tech's premiere a cappella groups. Tickets are $5 and are available at the door one hour prior to the event.

 Kelly Vaeth performs a senior clarinet recital.  Senior recitals are free and open to the public.

Join Virginia Tech faculty members for a flute and voice recital titled 'Of Shepherds and Romance'.  Elizabeth Crone, flute, Ariana Wyatt, soprano, John Walker, oboe,  Jay Crone, piano and Tracy Cowden, piano. The program will feature romantic music by Caplet, Roussel, Hue, Ravel, Chaminade, Sancan and more.  Faculty recitals are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

Sarah Edwards performs a junior clarinet recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

The students of Elizabeth Crone will perform an evening recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

This will be the 1st Annual Concert of the Virginia Tech/Opera Roanoke Mentorship Program.  Experience the lust of Troubadours and Gypsies with Carmen as your guide.  Concert features guest artists Carla Dirlikov and Amy Cofield Williamson from Opera Roanoke's production of Carmen and Virginia Tech students.  Scott Williamson, General Manager of Opera Roanoke, will conduct.  This concert is co-sponsored by the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech and Opera Roanoke.  Tickets are $15 general, $10 senior, $5 student and will be available at the door one hour prior to the concert.

Brittany Arrington horn presents a junior horn recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Dakota Corbliss, french horn and Tyler Lundy, tuba, perform a shared junior recital. Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Tatiana MacMartin performs a senior soprano recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Garrick Moravek and Candice Flake, saxophone, perform a shared junior saxophone recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Omri Shimron, piano, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania but raised in Haifa, Israel. His work represents a range of musical interests spanning multiple specialties. A pianist by training, Shimron is a prolific performer whose repertoire choices are traditional yet increasingly contemporary. A seasoned music theory pedagogue, Shimron has devoted himself to undergraduate instruction in a variety of settings ranging from high school to conservatory, liberal arts colleges and larger universities. His scholarship focuses on analysis and interpretation of tonal and post-tonal music, and the relationship between analysis, performance and the learning process. He has presented his work for the College Music Society and is a frequent guest in music departments nationwide. Numerous collaborative and solo concerts have included sessions for WBFO and WXXI radio, the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Sundays on the Island series in New York City. Venturing outside the US, he has given concerts at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, Wolfson College at Oxford University, the Bursa State Conservatory, Turkey and the SoundsCAPE festival in Pavia, Italy (2008).

Christopher Cummins, cello and Serena Tang, piano, perform a shared junior recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Aurora Martin performs a senior soprano recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Dr. Hunter Hensley Dr. Hunter Hensley presents a master class about singing Gregorian Chant and a solo recital – “Chants and Songs: A Window into the Middle Ages”.  He is Professor of Music at Eastern Kentucky University teaching applied voice and vocal diction.  Hensley’s Gregorian chant recordings number almost 100 chant melodies of the 500 included in  “A Gregorian Archive: a study edition on compact disc”, produced by Richard Crocker, Emeritus Press, Berkeley, CA.   Other recordings made for Emeritus Press include: “The Trouvère Songs of Adam de la Halle;” and “Project Motet,” Motets from Montpellier fasc. 6.  Companion recordings for Judith Peraino’s most recent book “Giving Voice to Love: Song and Self-Expression from the Troubadours to Guillaume de Machaut” is forthcoming from Oxford University Press in November, 2011.  Hensley is also commissioned to make modern critical performing editions for Edizione Nazionale dell’Opera Omnia di Alessandro Stradella– (Modern Performance Editions with Critical Notes).  Serie I Cantate: vol. 1 & 2, Cantata profane a 1 voce e basso continuo (volume for the male voice in preparation). Editione ETS, Pisa. (tba)  This masterclass is free and open to the public.

The University Jazz bands present an evening concert.  Student Ensemble Concerts are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

Guest artist, Dr. Hunter Hensley presents a lecture demonstration entitled, Chants and Songs: A Window into the Middle Ages. Dr. Hunter Hensley is Associate Professor of Voice at Eastern Kentucky University, where he currently conducts the Concert Choir.  He previously conducted the concert choir at Lincoln Memorial University (Tenn.), where he served on the faculty from 1993-2000.  There he also directed the Tri-State Community Chorus, a group he founded.  Hunter has been the director of church choirs at First Presbyterian in Raleigh, North Carolina, and at Lexington’s Central Baptist (positions which he modestly describes as “church musician”).  He has also served as chorusmaster for productions with the Knoxville Symphony and Lexington Philharmonic.  Hunter is an exceptional vocal soloist, too, with special interests ranging from music of the 17th Century to chant of the 8th. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Andrew Wilson, trombone, and Steven Eckert, trombone, perform a shared junior recital. Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Paige Russell, soprano, performs a senior recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Alexander Pettingell performs a senior cello recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

The Symphonic Wind Ensemble performs an evening concert under the baton of Travis Cross.  Student Ensemble Concerts are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

The University Symphonic Band and Concert Band will perform an afternoon concert.  Student Ensemble Concerts are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

The piano students of Mary Louis Hallauer perform an afternoon recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

The Early Music Ensemble, under the direction of John Howell, performs an evening concert. Student Ensemble Concerts are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

The Imani Winds performs an informal afternoon chamber music recital with students in the University Symphonic Wind Ensemble. This is a special event student convocation that is open to the public.  Student Ensemble Concerts are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets will be available at the venue door beginning one half an hour prior to the performance.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion and The Department of Music at Virginia Tech, with support from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, bring the Imani Winds to Blacksburg on Tuesday, April 24^th, 2012.  This will be the second time that the group has performed in Blacksburg and worked with students at Virginia Tech.  In 2010, the Imani Winds came to Virginia Tech with the support of a grant from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.  In April, the group will rehearse with members of the University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and perform a side by side chamber music concert with them in Squires Recital Salon at 2pm on Tuesday, April 24^th.  The Imani Winds will perform their East Meets West program on Tuesday April 24^th at 8pm in the Lyric Theatre.  Featured works include:  East Meets West Wuite by Aquila & Rahim, Wind Quintet, Op. 10  by Haas,  Tzigane by Valerie Coleman, Wanderings by Bermel, Drones and Nonorhythms by Resanovic and Dance Mediterranea by Shaheen.  The Imani Winds features Valerie Coleman on flute, Toyin Spellman-Diaz on oboe, Mariam Adam on clarinet, Jeff Scott on French horn and Monica Ellis on bassoon.  Tickets can be purchased at the Lyric Theatre online at www.thelyric.com, by stopping by M-F 10am-2pm, or at 540-951-4771.  ($40 General Public/$34 Seniors/$16 Students and youth under 18 years old).

Imani Winds has established itself as more than a wind quintet. Since 1997, the Grammy nominated ensemble has taken a unique path, carving out a distinct presence in the classical music world with its dynamic playing, culturally poignant programming, genre-blurring collaborations, and inspirational outreach programs. With two member composers and a deep commitment to commissioning new work, the group is enriching the traditional wind quintet repertoire while meaningfully bridging European, American, African and Latin American traditions and bringing new sounds and textures to traditional instrumentation. The ensemble will perform on March 26 at the University of Texas at Austin Performing Arts Center’s McCullough Theatre.

The group is in the midst of its Legacy Commissioning Project, an ambitious five-year endeavor launching Imani Winds into its second decade of music making. The ensemble is commissioning, premiering and touring ten new works for woodwind quintet written by established and emerging composers of various musical backgrounds. The select composers originate from different points of the globe bringing experience not only in classical music, but jazz, Middle Eastern, Latin, and harder to define sounds. The Legacy Project kicked off in 2008 with world premieres by Alvin Singleton and Roberto Sierra.

Imani Winds enjoys frequent national exposure in all forms of media, including two features on NPR’s All Things Considered, appearances on APM’s Saint Paul Sunday, NPR’s Performance Today and News and Notes with Ed Gordon, the Bob Edwards Show on XM Satellite Radio, BBC The World, as well as frequent coverage in major music magazines and newspapers.

Their excellence and influences have been recognized with numerous awards including the 2007 ASCAP Award, 2002 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, as well as the CMA/WQXR Award for their debut and self-released CD Umoja. At the 2001 Concert Artists Guild 

A student saxophone quartet presents an afternoon recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

The New River Valley Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of James Glazebrook, performs an evening concert.  NRVSO tickets are $9 General, $7 Senior, and $5 Student. Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

Carolina Worra, soprano, and pianist Tracy Cowden will be presenting the world premiere performance of the song cycle "Vegetable Verselets" by composer Daron Aric Hagen.has sung over 50 different operatic roles including 15 World and American Premieres and several demo recordings.  She was internationally acclaimed for her performances of Jenny in The Mines of Sulphur (Grammy nominated CD for Best Opera Recording) and as the title role forThe Greater Good; Passion of Boule de Suif (Opera News andNew York Times pick for one of the top classical CDs of the year). Ms. Worra has worked with over 20 opera companies including The Metropolitan Opera, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and six seasons at both Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera.  Caroline performed on two U.S. National Tours singing Violetta inLaTraviata and Rosalinda in DieFledermaus.  She gave a debut recital at Carnegie Hall (Weill Hall) and performed on the main stage of Carnegie Hall as the soprano soloist in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Carmina Burana.  Overseas she has performed as Anne True Love in The Rake's Progress at Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, Sicily and Jenny in The Mines of Sulphur at The Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland (winner of The 2009 Best Opera of Ireland Award).  Caroline is a recipient of the Shoshana Foundation/Richard F. Gold Career Grant and has a Doctor of Music degree in vocal performance from Indiana University.  Guest Artist Recitals are $5 general, $3 senior, and $3 student.  Tickets are available at the venue door beginning one hour prior to the performance.

Robert Baird performs a senior piano recital.  Student recitals are free and open to the public.

Blacksburg Community Strings performs a spring recital.  The concert is free and open to the public.