In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the East Central University Faculty, Students and Friends Composer Concert will feature an evening of new compositions and a special choral premiere at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, in the Ataloa Theatre of ECU’s Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center.
The concert is free and open to the public.
Victoria Davison and Rudy Lupinski’s “Let There Be Peace for God’s Children” will be presented by the Washington Elementary School Honor Choir, under the direction Micah Gordon, with flute and piano accompaniment by Dr. Alexandra Aguirre and Lupinski.
The concert will also feature performances of five new compositions written by student members of the fall 2015 ECU Studies in Composition class.
Caitlin Braden, of Cleveland, Okla., will premiere “Paris 2015,” composed as a tribute to the city of Paris after attacks there in November 2015. The piece was written for euphonium, tube chimes, snare drum and piano and will be performed by Woodrow Clark, Jared Kriege, Jack Malm and Edward Sallee.
Christopher Lee Bragg, Sulphur, was inspired to create “Suite Macabre” after a commute home on a dark night with an “eerie moon and looming thunder clouds” and an “irregular thumping noise” as he drove. The piece will be performed by the ECU Clarinet Choir.
Mary Elizabeth Frye’s poem “Autumn Rain,” which was played at the funeral of beloved ECU alum Chris Pletcher, became the inspiration for Steve Filkins, Ada, to create a new vocal solo. Catie Caton will premiere this beautiful piece with piano accompaniment by Filkins.
Inspired from her membership in Historic Dance Oklahoma, Chloe Henry, of Stratford, will premiere “Down Memory Lane,” a waltz for violin and piano performed by ECU faculty members Susanne Woolley and W.T. Skye Garcia.
Corey Hubbard, Oklahoma City, will present a unique musical performance as he is joined on stage by ECU music student Clayton Sullivan to premiere Hubbard’s new marimba duet “Concordance en Masse.”
In 2007, Bo Chesser teamed up with his sister Lisa Chesser Williamson on the back porch of his home in Konawa to compose a vocal composition “Let There Be Light.” Chesser, an ECU music major, will provide the vocals and mandolin accompaniment for this inspirational song with Jake Walker joining him on the piano.
Another joint compositional venture will be presented by ECU and Composer Concert alums Casey and Tommy Long, Ada. The couple’s inspiration for “Again,” a vocal solo with guitar accompaniment, came from watching their young daughter Emily play and thinking about all the changes in their lives since they performed in the 2010 Composer Concert.
Dr. Alan Marshall, ECU faculty member, will present the composition “Which of You Would Call Me His Glancing Stream,” and aria from No Exit, A Chamber Opera in One Act, libretto by Chris Besett, based on the play by Jean Paul Sartre. The aria will feature Dr. Melody Baggech, ECU associate professor, as she takes on the role of the grieving Estelle.
Making her fifth appearance in the concert, local composer Anna Tynsky returns to the stage with her 12-string guitar to perform a premiere of “The Flint Hills.” Inspired by a visit to the Flint Hills of Kansas, Tynsky dedicated her composition to her sister, Kathleen, who always said, “Take the backroads, leave the interstate, see what lies behind the billboards.”
Cellist John Emery, Ardmore, makes his first appearance in the Composer Concert, performing his “Canon in B Minor” for cello and violin along with Susanne Woolley, ECU strings instructor.
The evening will include the presentation of ECU student composer “Compy Awards,” for outstanding student composers in the fall 2015 Studies in Composition class. For more information, contact W.T. Skye Garcia, ECU Composer Concert Series coordinator, at 590-559-5479 or wgarcia@ecok.edu .
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