Dr. Darleen Mitchell
UNK Department of Music and Performing Arts, 308.865.8632
Original compositions by national and international composers will be featured during the 10th annual New Music Festival Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 14-15) at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Three different concerts will be presented in the UNK Fine Arts Recital Hall, which is located in the UNK Fine Arts Building. The concerts will take place on Monday, Feb. 14, at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. and on Tuesday, Feb. 15, at 5:30 p.m. All performances are free and open to the public.
The New Music Festival is directed by Dr. Darleen Mitchell, UNK associate professor of music, and will feature more than 20 musicians performing works by composers from eight states and Germany.
“We host the New Music Festival, because it gives our students, as well as the community, an opportunity to hear music they would not hear otherwise,” Dr. Mitchell said.
“We perform musical pieces by composers from around the country, and many of them attend the festival,” Dr. Mitchell said. “So, this gives our composition majors and other music majors a chance to meet with them and share ideas.
“Audience members can expect to have their notions of what music is challenged,” she said. “It is somewhat like, if the only art you saw was realistic paintings of people, and then you saw an abstract work.”
Composers featured in the 5:30 p.m. concert on Monday include: Nels Drue Daily of Lincoln with “Brass Quintet”; John Bilotta of Concord, Calif., with “Monologue” being sung by Dr. Andrew White; Jonathan Crosmer of Lincoln will perform his piece “Lullaby in C” on the viola; Dr. Duane Bierman will perform his piece “She Being Brand” on the timpani with Dr. Seth Fletcher on the tuba and Jordan Peterson of O’Neill singing tenor; Robert Roth of Arcadia with “Bugs” performed on flute by Brooke Harris of Dickens; Nicholas Omiccioli with “Insights No. 1” being performed on bassoon by Keel Williams, both from Missouri; and David Wolfson of New York City with his world premiere of “Interior Life” sung by Dr. Sharon Campbell, mezzo soprano, and accompanied by Nancy Curry on piano.
The 7:30 p.m. concert on Monday will include the Quadrivium Ensemble of Kansas City, Mo., featuring Jonathan Borja, flute; Cheryl Melfi, clarinet; Sascha Groschang, cello; and Kari Johnson, piano. Quadrivium Ensemble will perform “Bioluminesence” by Christopher Biggs of Council Bluffs, Iowa, “Orbit” by Daniel Eichenbaum and “A slow Unraveling” by Andrew Cole. Both Eichenbaum and Cole are from Kansas City, Mo.
The TransNebraska Players include Franziska Nabb of Kearney, flute; Dr. David Neely of Lincoln, violin; Dr. Clark Potter of Lincoln, viola; Dr. Noah Rogoff of Kearney, cello; and Dr. James Margetts of Chadron, piano.
The TransNebraska Players will perform “Scent of Summer” by Jae Eun Jung of San Diego, Calif., “Quartet” by Matthew Fuerst of Jackson, Mich., “Hebdomas Squatinae” by Ryan Jesperson of West Hartford, Conn., and “As the Moon in a Bright Sky” by Dr. Mitchell.
Composers featured Tuesday in the 5:30 p.m. concert include: York Holler of Germany with “Scan” being performed by Franziska Nabb on the flute; Ingrid Stolzel of Kansas City, Mo., with “Here There” performed by Dr. Ting-Lan Chen on violin and Dr. Nathan Buckner on piano, both of Kearney; “A Frenetic Poem Strolls” by Piotr Szewczyk of Jacksonville, Fla., performed by Dr. Jan Harriott of Kearney on the clarinet; and the “The Deepest Desire” by Jake Heggie of Los Angeles, Calif., performed by Franziska Nabb on the flute, Dr. Buckner on the piano and Dr. Campbell singing mezzo soprano.
