Crane School of Music Celebrates Contemporary Works by Alumni Composers

POTSDAM, NY (03/03/2012)(readMedia)-- SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music will present a special performance of music written entirely by alumni composers on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater. The pieces will be performed by Crane faculty members, students and in some cases, the composers themselves.

Works by SUNY Potsdam graduates Rob Smith '90, David Dies '01, Doug Van Nort '01, Brian Vlasak '03, William Ryan '90, Roger Ames '67 and Paul Riker '02 will be featured.

The concert will inspire an incredible variety of sounds and styles.

Rob Smith's work, "Spike," was written for piano and is inspired by the many images the title invokes, from nails to spiked shoes to a punk London haircut.

David Dies' work for guitar, "Sonetos," is based on two Neruda sonnets and incorporates the rhythms and speech patterns of the Spanish poems.

Experimental musician Doug Van Nort created a work entitled "c'n'ear," which will have its world premiere at the performance, and features the mixing and reverberation of sounds he recorded at improvisational sessions.

Brian Vlasak will premiere his "Broad Street Triptych," based on three poems from William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience." The songs will be performed by soprano Kathleen Miller with Kirk Severtson on piano.

William Ryan's work "Smoke" will incorporate both live and recorded saxophone performances to create a "virtual ensemble."

Three selections from Roger Ames' chamber opera "I Wonder," will be performed by soprano Deborah Massell and mezzo-soprano Lorraine Yaros Sullivan, accompanied on clarinet and piano. The pieces include "The Call," "I Wonder" and "Dawn." "I Wonder" was commissioned by the American Chamber Players, and premiered at the Paris Opera House and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. The poetry for the piece was written by patients who are undergoing special treatment for schizophrenia.

The concert will close with the world premiere of Paul Riker's solo work, "Memory Fragments," which is inspired by T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land." This piece utilizes a unique brain-to-computer interface, and is "played" via Riker's thoughts.

This concert is free, and the public is invited to attend.

To learn more about the many events planned for the 125th anniversary of SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/125years.

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution, and is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2011-12.

-www.potsdam.edu/crane-