Nazareth College Music Department presents 2017 Winter/Spring Ensemble and Faculty/Guest Artist Recital Series

ROCHESTER, NY (12/27/2016)(readMedia)-- The Nazareth College Music Department presents its annual ensemble and faculty/guest artist recital series. All performances are free and open to the public.

Visit naz.edu/arts-center/newsroom/ for photos. Artists are available for advance interviews.

Faculty Recital, Linda Boianova (piano): Keyboard Wit, Virtuosity and Evocation

Friday, Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

Linda Boianova (piano) performs Beethoven's Sonata Op. 31 No. 1, Rachmaninoff's Etudes-Tableaux Op. 39, and Three Galician Pieces by Nazareth College Music Department faculty Octavio Vazquez.

Opera Workshop 2017: The Old Maid and the Thief

Friday, Jan. 27, 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 28, 7:30 p.m., Callahan Theater

The Nazareth College Opera Workshop (Katie Hannigan, director; Kevin Nitsch, musical director) presents a full production of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief. The Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra (Nancy Strelau, conductor) will accompany the performance, which will be presented with full scenery.

Faculty Recital, Wilmot Wind Quintet: Variations and Dances

Sunday, Jan. 29, 3 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

Nazareth College's Wilmot Wind Quintet presents a program of 20th-century chamber music classics that accentuate the ensemble's versatility and tonal variety. The concert includes a featured work for percussion and wind quintet by Schuman, along with works by Jansons, Klughardt, and Rossini.

Faculty Recital, Tigran Vardanyan (violin): Three Countries, Three Giants, Three Sonatas

Friday, Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

Tigran Vardanyan (violin) and Robert Auler (piano) perform sonatas for violin and piano by Beethoven, Prokofiev, and Corigliano.

Nazareth College Trombone Choir: A Festival of Trombones

Saturday, Feb. 4, 3 p.m., Linehan Chapel

The newly formed Nazareth College Trombone Choir presents A Festival of Trombones alongside the Rochester Area Trombone Society, featuring music of Albam, Crespo, Gabrieli, Mozart, Hidas, and others.

Guest Recital: Lake George Music Festival on Tour

Sunday, Feb. 5, 3 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

Members of the Lake George Music Festival artist roster, including Colin Sorgi (concertmaster, National Philharmonic, Washington, D.C.), Schuyler Slack (cellist, Richmond Symphony, Va.), and Jacob Ertl (piano faculty, Nazareth College) perform selections of chamber music.

Guest Recital, Yi-Wen Chang (piano): Then and Now-Imaginary and Real

Friday, Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

Yi-Wen Chang (piano) performs two masterworks depicting human emotions and the wonders of the universe: Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze Op. 6 and selections from David Liptak's Constellations.

Faculty Recital, Kristen Shiner McGuire (percussion): Dis Is How Her Songo

Sunday, Feb. 12, 3 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

Percussionists Kristen Shiner McGuire, Anthony Calabrese, Matthew Bevan-Perkins, and Thomas Nanni treat the audience to the many languages and surfaces of percussion in wood, skin, metal, body percussion, and voice. The performance also includes quartets for drum set and marimba, as well as a trio with tabla soloist.

Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra: Rising Stars

Saturday, Feb. 18, 4 p.m., Linehan Chapel

The Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra (Nancy Strelau, conductor; Dr. Jefferson Svengsouk, guest conductor) performs James Newton Howard's Treasure Planet Suite for its annual Rising Stars concert with the 2016/2017 Concerto/Aria Competition winners.

Nazareth College Wind Symphony: Sanctuaries

Sunday, Feb. 19, 3 p.m., Linehan Chapel

The Nazareth College Wind Symphony (Jared Chase, conductor) with the 2016/2017 Concerto/Aria Competition winners performs Mackey's Frozen Cathedral, as well as works by Gabrielli and Bach.

Faculty Recital, Beverly Smoker (piano): Our Evenings

Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

Beverly Smoker (piano) performs the music of Janacek, Rorem, Scriabin, and Schubert.

Nazareth College "Loose Change" Jazz Combos

Sunday, April 2, 3 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

The Nazareth College Jazz Combos (Brad Batz, director) perform standards, swing, funk, Latin, and more.

Nazareth College Symphonic Band: By the Sea

Wednesday, April 12, 7:30 p.m., Linehan Chapel

Join the Nazareth College Symphonic Band (Steven Zugelder, conductor) on a musical voyage exploring nautical music, including McBeth's Of Sailors and Whales, based on Moby Dick.

Nazareth College Wind Symphony: Spring Fever

Friday, April 21, 7:30 p.m.. Linehan Chapel

The Nazareth College Wind Symphony (Jared Chase, conductor) is joined by professor Chisato Marling (saxophone) on Dreams in the Dusk by David Biedenbender, Firefly by Ryan George, La Procession du Rocio by Joaquín Turina/Reed, and Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy.

Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra: Big and Bigger! From Land, Sea and Space

Saturday, April 22, 4 p.m., Linehan Chapel

The Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra (Nancy Strelau, conductor) performs Alan Hovhaness's And God Created Great Whales, John Williams's Star Wars Epic, and Tschaikovsky's monumental 1812 Overture.

Nazareth College Choirs: Dona Nobis Pacem

Sunday, April 23, 3 p.m., Linehan Chapel

The Nazareth College Choirs (Mark Zeigler, conductor) with special guests Kimberly Upcraft (soprano) and Mario Martinez (baritone) and members of the Rochester Oratorio Society Chamber Choir perform Ralph Vaughan Williams's cantata, Dona Nobis Pacem.

Nazareth College Jazz Ensemble

Thursday, April 27, 7:30 p.m., Wilmot Recital Hall

The Nazareth College Jazz Ensemble (Brad Batz, director) performs its annual spring concert.

Community Music: Center Stage Pops Symphony Orchestra

Saturday, April 29, 8 p.m., Linehan Chapel

The Center Stage Pops Symphony Orchestra (Anthony Bisbano '06, music director) performs music from stage, screen, and popular American culture. CSPSO concerts feature current and former Nazareth vocalists, the Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra (Nancy Strelau, conductor), and instrumentalists and vocalists from the Greater Rochester area.

The NAZARETH COLLEGE MUSIC DEPARTMENT integrates intensive studies in music (musicianship and performance), with professional programs and the liberal arts, for a truly unique experience that prepares students for careers in music and equips them with the skills to share the art of music in a variety of capacities.

Each degree program is designed to prepare students not only for careers within the various degree areas, but also for exciting endeavors that will perpetuate and sustain the art of music in local and global communities.

The department is a vibrant community of musicians focused on the art of music, the professional domains of knowledge within the musical career areas, and the relationship of these areas to the liberal arts.

NAZARETH COLLEGE's academic strengths cross an unusually broad spectrum of 60 majors, including education, health and human services, management, the fine arts, music, theater, math and science, foreign languages, and the liberal arts. The coeducational, religiously independent, classic campus in a charming suburb of Rochester, N.Y. challenges and supports 2,000 undergrads and 800 graduate students. Nazareth is recognized nationally for its Fulbright global student scholars and commitment to civic engagement. Rigorous programs, an uncommon core, experiential learning, career skills, and a global focus prepare graduates for not just one job, but for their life's work.

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