Upcoming Performances

CANCELLED

Guest Artists Christopher Caudill & Rachel Niketopoulos

Saturday, March 21, 2020, 4:00 p.m.
BCPA Recital Hall

Guest hornists Rachel Niketopoulos and Christopher Caudill will perrform a recital of works for solo and two horns, both on modern and baroque instruments, as the culminating event for the Wyoming Horn Wrangle.

The biannual Wyoming Horn Wrangle, now in its second installment, takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on March 21 in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall.  The workshop portion is suitable for all ages and will include a group warmup, horn technique, easy yoga and breathing exercises, horn choir fun reading, Alexander Technique from a master (Rachel Niketopoulos), and a horn master class taught by both guests and featuring UW horn students and the UW Horn Quartet. The event is free.  Pizza will be provided for lunch.

CANCELLED

Christine Beard, Flute Guest Artist Recital

Monday, March 23, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
BCPA Concert Hall

UW Music will host international performing artist, flutist Christine Beard, in a short residency on March 23-24, 2020.

Described by the Canadian flute journal Flute Focus as “…having shattered any notions that the piccolo might be lacking in deep, expressive powers," Christine Erlander Beard enjoys an active career as an international soloist, chamber artist and teacher throughout North and South America and Europe.

All events are free and open to the public.  For more information about Dr. Beard’s visit, please contact Dr. Nicole Riner at nriner@uwyo.edu.  

Monday, March 23, 4:00 -5:30 p.m., BCPA Rm 3058: Master class with UW flute and piccolo students.

Monday, March 23, 7:30 p.m., BCPA Recital Hall: Recital with collaborative pianist Stacie Haneline. The program will focus on 21^st century music for flute and piccolo by either female composers or which is focused on social justice themes, including Amanda Harberg's Court Dances (2017) for flute and piano as well as Derek Charke's Lachrymose (2008) for solo piccolo.

Tuesday, March 24, 1:10 p.m., BCPA Rm 2003: An entrepreneurship seminar, open to students of all disciplines, entitled "Self-Marketing Strategies for the 21st-century Musician," will include tips on writing bios and resumes, using social media, creating an "artist image"/branding, and more.

CANCELLED

CMS Rocky Mountain Chapter Conference: INTERSECTIONS

Friday, March 26, and Saturday, March 27, 2020,
BCPA

The University of Wyoming Department of Music will host the 35th annual conference of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the College Music Society, “INTERSECTIONS,” this March 27-28, 2020, at the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts (BCPA)

The conference includes a wide variety of performance and interest sessions, with ample opportunity for networking, and features presenters from across the U.S. , including a keynote address from Wyoming native Dr. Ariel Downing on the “Songs of the Johnson County War.”  This conference is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students looking forward to a career in academia.

Registration onsite (BCPA) only after March 1. Registration begins March 27 at 8:00 a.m. (Conference schedule starts at 9:00 a.m.)

For more information, contact Program Chair Nicole Lamartine: choir@uwyo.edu.

POSTPONED. More information to follow as available.

UW Symphony: The Planets, with special guest Jiji

Thursday, March 26, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
BCPA Concert Hall

One of the hugest and most popular works in the orchestral world (pun intended) is The Planets. Its seven movements run the gamut from incredibly soft and delicate to incredibly loud and powerful. It requires a vast orchestra, including seven horns, bass oboe, two tubas, and two sets of timpani. You’ll see more instruments on stage than the UW Symphony has ever gathered. Come to the BCPA Concert Hall on Thursday, March 26 at 7:30 to experience this magnificent work.

One hears bits of The Planets all the time – in film scores, in marching band arrangements, and on the radio – but almost never get to hear the entire piece live, in its entirety. Each movement is a gem. Surprisingly, it’s not describing astronomy. No, the movements are about the astrological characters the planets are named after: Mars, the Bringer of War, Venus, the Bringer of Peace, Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, and so on.

You’ll certainly recognize Mars and Jupiter. Both were hugely influential on film composers. Mars is probably the most famous piece of music in 5-4 time. Musicians are so eager to play it, two UWSO alumni are coming back to Laramie to join the ensemble. If that’s not enough, members of the Bel Canto Women's Chorus, directed by Dr. Holly Dalrymple, are the mystical Music of the Spheres in Neptune. Seriously, do not miss this incredible opportunity to experience the work.

For contrast, conductor Michael Griffith has chosen a crystalline, ancient-sounding piece for the solo piece. Rodrigo’s Fantasy on a Gentleman, for classical guitar and small orchestra, is based on Spanish Renaissance melodies. The soloist is the brilliant young guitarist, Jiji. She is brought to you by UW Presents, with financial support from the Symphony Association and the Music Department.

With such contrast already programmed, what can open the program? And God Created Great Whales is utterly fascinating music, with everything imaginable: free, unmeasured sectionals intermingle with mysterious melodies that are based on whale songs. Yes, actual pre-recorded vocalizations of great whales are part of the composition, some at actual pitch and some manipulated so they’re vastly lower. It’s engaging, startling, and, despite its seemingly bizarre elements, deeply moving. Composed in 1970 by the Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness, Great Whales will open the concert.

The Kansas City Star described Jiji as “A graceful and nuanced player,” adding that “…she presented an intimate, captivating performance” with the Kansas City Symphony. Meanwhile, the Calgary Herald described her as “…talented, sensitive…brilliant.” She happily moves back and forth between classical acoustic guitar (which she’ll play with UWSO) and eclectic works for electric guitar.

As a major highlight of her 2019-20 season, Jiji performed Hillary Purrington’s concerto Harp of Nerves at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra. Other highlights from this season include her Lincoln Center debut on the Great Performers series and the world premiere of four new pieces at her concert at New York’s 92nd Street “Y” in November. Upcoming major performances include an electric guitar concerto written for her, to be premiered in Latvia with Sinfonietta Riga in March 2020 and Jiji’s solo recital at Caramoor this July 2020. Her performances have been featured on PBS, NPR’s From the Top, WHYY-TV, FOX 4-TV, Munchies (the Vice Channel), The Not So Late Show (Channel 6, Kansas), and Hong Kong broadcast station RTHK’s The Works.

(To silently post on social media during the concert, just ask for “tweet seats” in the back two rows.)