Upcoming Performances

Check out the Fall 2020 Archive to stream recent concerts and recordings.

The Department of Music is excited to continue to present high-quality student and faculty performances during this unusual time.

While we will not be having live audiences for a while, but we will be livestreaming concerts for free for our many patrons. We have installed a new multi-camera, high-definition, livestreaming set up in our concert hall.

You may tune in to a concert live via livestream from your computer or other device. For many concerts, you may also access the recording at a later date. Many of our ensembles, such as the jazz ensemble, are producing high-quality recordings rather than performing live streamed concerts.

Each scheduled livestreamed concert for spring will be assigned its own link. Recorded videos will be accessible from this page as they become available.

While this is a challenging time in many ways, the Department of Music is embracing this challenge by finding new ways to teach and learn music. Our students will learn new skills in recording technology and performance media.

We hope to engage our current audience while also reaching out to a larger community across the State of Wyoming to find new listeners.

We hope you will join us for some or all of our performances this year.

Spring 2021 Virtual Events

	UW Symphony 2020-2021 See the UW Symphony Brochure for descriptions Dr. Michael Griffith, conductor Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote To a Mouse in 1785. But the line, “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley,” is just as true in 2020, isn’t it? That’s the original form of “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” The more I plan, the more Burns’ words ring in my ears. Fall will be very different: players must be socially distanced, 10’ for winds, 6’ for everyone else. The orchestra will therefore be small, very small. Some musicians will play one concert, some the second. Concerts will be live-streamed, with no audience in the hall. If we must pivot to a virtual university (the best laid plans…), we will create musical, artistic videos for you. Choosing repertoire for such a situation was a great challenge. I think we have music that you’ll find fascinating, and for the students that is challenging and worthy. Copland’s Appalachian Spring was originally composed for 13 players. Stravinsky’s In Memoriam Dylan Thomas, 9. I’ve also chosen works by Bach, J.C. Bach, Francesca Caccini, Ives, and Mozart, and that work perfectly in these circumstances. Just as Black Lives Matter, Black composers matter. Our repertoire will include an overture-symphony by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the overture to Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha, and Three Nigerian Dances by Samuel Akpabot. The Chevalier was a contemporary of Mozart, Joplin wrote much more than Ragtime, and Akpabot was a distinguished Nigerian musician and my friend in graduate school. It will be a pleasure to explore this music. In spring we may be back to normal, or perhaps not. So for March I’ve scheduled the Mahler Symphony No. 4: either in its full splendor, or in a brilliant reduction for 14-20 musicians. The Berlin Philharmonic restarted their season with this version. Maureen Boddicker will be the soprano soloist for the Mahler, and Nathan Snyder the tenor soloist for the Stravinsky. The season will then end with the Jacoby Competition. The finalists might be able to do full, Romantic concerti, or might have to choose solos designed for a small accompaniment. Livestream dates: October 1 and November 19, 2020; March 18 and May 6, 2021

	UW Symphony: Appalachian Spring January 28, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Dr. Michael Griffith, conductor Joplin, Overture to Treemonisha Copland, Appalachian Spring Akpabot, Three Nigerian Dances Hu, Red Lily Blossom Francesca Caccini, La Liberazione di Ruggiero Prelude Gruselle, Postcards from Russia

	UW Music Faculty Potpourri Concert February 21, 2021, 3:00 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Get the Program

	UW Chamber Orchestra: Baroque Alchemy February 25, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Dr. Beth Vanderborgh, director

	Jacoby Finalists' Recital March 7, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall With UW going completely virtual for the last few weeks of the semester, the UW Symphony’s traditional Jacoby Concert in May had to be cancelled. Instead, the winner – chosen at the audition round – will perform with the UWSO on March 18. The other finalists will present this recital, with piano. These performers include the Jacoby Runner-Up, soprano Tamara Caetano, and the winner of a special Judges’ Prize, Ben Facundo, saxophone. The entire evening will include these exciting performers and their repertoire: Yuqing He, piano, and Dr. Theresa Bogard, piano: Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 15, movement 3 Tamara Alvarenga Caetano, soprano, and Dr. Nathália Kato, piano: Handel, “E pur così in un giorno…Piangerò la sorte mia” from Giulio Cesare YunYao Liu , piano and Dr. Chi-Chen Wu, piano: Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 9, movement 1 Madison Ryan, violin, and Dr. Nathália Kato, piano: Shostakovich, Sonata for Violin, Percussion, and String Orchestra Ben Facundo, saxophone, and Yuqing He, piano: Van der Roost, Images Get the Program

	UW Wind Symphony March 11, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Dr. Robert Belser, conductor Get the Program

	The Complete Works of Gabriel Fauré for Violin & Piano, with John Fadial, violin, and Chi-Chen Wu, piano March 12, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Drs. John Fadial and Chi-Chen Wu will livestream the complete works for violin and piano by Fauré. Gabriel Urbain Fauré (1845-1924) was a pivotal figure in French music who helped to move composition from post-Beethoven romanticism into the modern age of Cocteau and Stravinsky. Trained as a young boy at the famous École Niedermeyer, to be an organist and choirmaster, he gained complete mastery of counterpoint and classical forms, but also of the ancient church modes (or tonalities). It was through his thorough, facile, and even virtuoso handling of these musical basics that he was able write the highly chromatic 20^th century music that remained elegantly grounded in a deeply traditional, universally expressive language. The program will feature music from every period of Fauré’s life, culminating in his final sonata that would usher in the modernism of his students, including Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger, who would become the teacher of Aaron Copland and Astor Piazzola. Get the Program About Faure

	UW Symphony: MAHLER'S 4TH March 18, 2021, 7:30 p.m. TBA from the BCPA Concert Hall Dr. Michael Griffith, conductor Maureen Boddicker, soprano Nathan Snyder, tenor Ana Huerta Fernández, piano (2021 Jacoby Competition winner) Program Stravinsky, In Memoriam Dylan Thomas Mahler, Symphony No. 4 Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue Igor Stravinsky’s In Memoriam Dylan Thomas is a setting of Thomas’ poem, Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night. Its searing words (“Rage, rage against the dying of the night…”) give one view of our response to the pandemic. Then, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 ends with a song whose words paint a child-like, joyful vision of Heaven. Thus Mahler’s “gladden our senses, so that all awaken for joy,” acts as counterpoint to Stravinsky’s rage. In between, the first three movements of the Mahler have some of the most beautiful and expressive music ever heard. Then we celebrate Jacoby Competition winner Ana Huerta Fernández, a graduate pianist from Spain. Her chosen work is Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which is certainly a crowd-pleaser. The Jacoby Competition was originally scheduled for May. Then UW’s compressed in-person semester forced us to fold the Jacoby into this concert. Perhaps Rhapsody in Blue will seem strange coming after Mahler, but Covid can make strange bedfellows, it seems.

	Concertmaster Fund Recital March 20, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Jessica Caviness, violin The Ostara String Quartet Dr. Nathalia Kato, piano Haydn - String quartet Op. 76, No. 5 Grieg - Sonata for Violin and Piano in C minor, op. 45 Saint-Saëns - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso

	UW Symphonic Band March 22, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Get the Program

	Combined UW Jazz Concert March 25, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall The Wyoming Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble 2, and the Jazz Combos will present a livestream concert featuring 30 minutes of material from Jazz Ensemble 2, pre-recorded materials from the combos, and closing out with 30 minutes of material from the WJE. Get the Program

	Piano Extravaganza March 28, 2021, 3:00 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Featuring: Ana Huerta Fernandez, piano Tarje Grover, piano Yunyao Liu, piano Yimu Wang, piano Get the Program

	UWYO Percussion Ensemble Concert SP2021 Premiering April 5, 2021, 7:30 p.m. The UWYO Percussion Ensemble, directed by Andy Wheelock, will present its Spring Performance on Monday, April 5, at 7:30pm MST. The ensemble will perform: “Katraterra,” by Jim Casella; “Vespertine Formations,” by Christopher Deane; “Sharpened Stick,” by Brett William Deitz; “Donner,” by David Skidmore; and “Sin Timbal,” by Poncho Sanchez (arr. by Mayor and Scheitroma).

	Blake McGee and Chi-Chen Wu Faculty Duo April 24, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Program Sonatina pour Clarinette et Piano (1956) Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959) The Enchanted Glen, Fantasia for Clarinet and piano (1996) Jennifer Margaret Barker (b. 1965) The Blue Bag (2011) Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941) Three Poems for Clarinet and Piano (2012) Emily Rutherford (b. 1993) Grand Duo Concertant, Op. 48 (1816) Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

	Ben Markley/Bob Bowman Duo April 28, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Program TBA.

	Faculty Chamber Concert May 7, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Program TBA.

	Faculty Chamber Concert May 8, 2021, 7:30 p.m. Livestream from the BCPA Concert Hall Program TBA.

	UW Jazz Performances 2020-2021 Recordings TBA Dr. Ben Markley, Director of Jazz Studies In place of performances this semester, the Wyoming Jazz Ensemble will be releasing its second commercially released recording. The album will be recorded in a remote fashion with the students recording their parts individually at their homes and then submitting them to be recorded. Additionally, many of the tracks on the recording will also come with a video of group playing the tune. The recording will be released in the spring semester. The group plans to release videos of individual tracks as they are finished. The Fall 2020 Archive provides access to existing recordings.

	UW Choirs 2020-2021 This academic year, the University of Wyoming choirs have been learning and making musical experiences together through virtual platforms. The Fall 2020 Archive provides access to existing recordings by UW choirs, including Collegiate Chorale, Civic Chorus, Bel Canto, and Singing Statesmen. Watch for additional recordings coming Spring 2021.