School of Music

Q'd up, the Brigham Young University School of Music faculty jazz quintet, will perform Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in Madsen Recital Hall. The concert is free. Featuring new compositions by Steve Lindeman and Jay Lawrence, Q'd up specializes in 'jazz that inspires.' Special guests include vocalist Emily Merrill along with several School of Music faculty and students performing arrangements featured on Oscar Peterson and Johnny Mandell recordings. With more than 25 different instruments under their command, Q’d up members include Ray Smith on woodwinds, Ron Brough and Jay Lawrence on percussion, Steve Lindeman on keyboards and Eric Hansen on bass. Other guests artists include Emily Merrill on vocals, Monte Belknap on violin principal and Claudine Biglow on viola principal. The concert will include compositions such as “Payin’ My Dues,” “I Need You to Tell Me,” “Paragon” and “Fiery Vortex.” For more information, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348. Source: BYU News

Arden Hopkin, head of vocal studies at the Brigham Young University School of Music, will present “Swan Song,” a recital of vocal chamber music, Friday, Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free Accompanied by Baraba Allen, piano, Hopkin will perform selections from Purcell's 'Harmonia Sacra,' Debussy's 'Trois chansons de France,' 'Cinco Canciones Negras' by the Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge, a set of songs in Hebrew by Max Helfman and selections from Schubert's 'Schwannengesang.' The program will conclude with a set of American spirituals. Hopkin has been coordinating the vocal division at BYU since 1998. He teaches studio voice and vocal pedagogy in addition to serving as a clinician across the country and internationally. He earned a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music, a master’s degree from the University of North Texas and a bachelor’s degree from BYU. Allen served as opera coach and staff accompanist in the California State University system before returning to Utah. She continues to accompany in recitals and to coach opera with the BYU Opera program and the Utah Lyric Opera. For more information, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348. Source: BYU News

Steve Lindeman, professor of theory, jazz and piano in the BYU School of Music, was listed among the top artists of the year in Arnaldo DeSouteiro's 35th Annual Jazz Station Poll for Lindeman's CD The Day After Yesterday with BYU Synthesis. DeSouteiro is is a Los Angeles-based jazz historian, educator and record producer. Results of the poll were selected based on outstanding works from the international jazz scene released in 2013. The Day After Yesterday was listed among the Best Jazz Instrumental CDs, while Steve Lindeman topped the lists for Best Composer and Best Arranger. Other CD contributors were also honored, with BYU Synthesis placing 2nd in the Big Band/Jazz Orchestra category, and Michael Chadbourne placing 3rd for Best Engineer. To view a complete list of the results, see the Jazz Station blog.

Performance at 7:30 p.m. has sold out

In conjunction with the previously released album Set Apart: Beloved Missionary Hymns, the BYU Men’s Chorus has released a new arrangement of the hymn “the Iron Rod.” This new release, arranged by Ronald Staheli, will be offered as a free MP3 download, in keeping with the album’s original intents of creating an album for missionaries and to promote missionary work. The release of the new track represents a continuance of the project’s commission to inspire missionary work. Each year a new song will be released. “The Iron Rod” was made available December 12, 2013 for download at SetApartAlbum.com along with the full Set Apart album. At the album’s original release on April 5, 2013, the album was comprised of 10 new arrangements of favorite hymns created specifically for the choir. Notable arrangers, including Matthew D. Nielsen, David Zabriskie, and Lane Johnson, generously forfeited licensing rights so the BYU Men’s Chorus could offer the hymns in this album for free.

Brigham Young University’s Jazz Voices will perform its fourth annual “Joyful Noise” concert Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall.

The Utah District Auditions of the 2013-14 Metropolitan Opera National Council yielded four winners on November 16, all of which were BYU students or BYU alumni. The competition was held on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City and featured 18 singers.

Cellist Michelle Kesler and pianist Jeffrey Shumway of Brigham Young University’s School of Music faculty will be performing Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. The concert is free. The duo will play Samuel Barber’s Violoncello Sonata, op. 6, Alfred Schnittke’s Violoncello Sonata, No. 1 and Johannes Brahms’ Violoncello Sonata, No. 2, Op. 102. Kesler is a visiting instructor in string performance. She received her bachelor’s degree in music performance from the University of Colorado-Boulder and her master’s and doctorate in music performance from Arizona State University. Shumway has been a professor of keyboard studies at BYU since 1985. He began his studies at BYU and received his bachelor’s degree in 1976. He continued his studies at Juilliard and Indiana University. He is a member of the acclaimed American Piano Quartet and the American Piano Duo and has performed and recorded in the United States, Europe, the Far East and Canada. He is the recipient of the Gina Bachauer Medal of Artistic Distinction and took second place in the 1977 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. For more information, contact Michelle Kessler at (801) 422-6353 or kesler.michelle@gmail.com. Source: BYU News

Brigham Young University’s School of Music will present a woodwind chamber night Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the University Parkway Center.

Composer and musician Michael Hicks of Brigham Young University’s School of Music will perform a folk music concert as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy on the 50th anniversary of his assassination Friday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend. Hicks graduated from BYU in music composition and from the University of Illinois with a doctoral of musical arts. His compositions of both chamber and solo works have been performed and recorded by BYU faculty and student artists as well as performers around the country and at events for the American Society of University Composers and the Subtropics Music Festival. For more information, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348 or ken_crossley@byu.edu. Source: BYU News

Concert will feature two Fazioli 308 pianos, tribute to founder Paul Pollei The Brigham Young University School of Music will present the American Piano Quartet in concert Saturday, Nov. 23, in the Madsen Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-2981 or byuarts.com/tickets. Tickets are $6. The American Piano Quartet is comprised of faculty artists from the School of Music, including Robin Hancock, Scott Holden and Jeffrey Shumway. They will be joined by Del Parkinson, a professor of piano at Boise State University. 'During this performance, we will be performing on two Fazioli 308 pianos, a very exclusive piano with only 100 in existence,” said Scott Holden. “With two of these pianos on stage, each 10 feet long, it will literally be the only place on earth that there are two of these models are side by side – outside of the factory in Italy.” The concert will open with “Grand Galop Chromatic” by Franz Liszt, followed by the “Die Moldau” by Friedrich Smetana and the Waltz Suite, Op. 8 by Mortiz Moszkowski. The first half will end with Aram Khatchaturian’s fiery “Sabre Dance,” which will be dedicated to the memory of APQ founding member Paul Pollei, who passed away last summer. After a brief intermission, the American Piano Quartet will present “Espana” by Emmanuel Chabrier, “Pavanne,” Op. 50 by Gabriel Faure and a transcription of the Symphony No. 3 by Johannes Brahms. They will conclude the performance with “Fantasy on Themes of Offenbach” by Mack Wilberg and “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Franz Liszt. The American Piano Quartet was formed in 1984 after former BYU piano faculty member Paul Pollei received a piece of music for a piano quartet. The resulting concert was so well-received that they decided to continue as a group and have since performed around the world. For more information, contact Robin Hancock at robin_hancock@byu.edu. Source: BYU News

The Brigham Young University School of Music will present the Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Kory Katseanes, in a performance of “The Orchestra Dances” Thursday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

The Brigham Young University School of Music presents a Saxophone Chamber Night featuring eight student musicians Friday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in room 313 of the University Parkway Center.

Baritone Darrell Babidge of Brigham Young University’s School of Music will be performing a faculty artist recital on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend. The first half of the program will feature the song cycle “An die ferne Geliebte” by Ludvig van Beethoven and 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' by Gustav Mahler. The second half of the program is comprised of pieces by Jean-Baptiste Lully, George Frederick Handel and Claudio Monteverdi. To see the recital program (PDF) in its entirety, click here. Babidge will be assisted by Monte Belknap, viola; Alex Wood, violin; Michelle Kesler, cello; Barbara Allen, piano and harpsichord; and Jennifer Welch-Babidge, soprano. Darrell Babidge has appeared as featured soloist at Carnegie Hall in performances of Faure’s “Requiem” and Mozart’s “Coronation Mass.” He also performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall in London. For more information, contact Darrell Babidge at (801) 422-4599 or babidge@aol.com. Source: BYU News

The Brigham Young University Singers and Concert Choir will take the stage Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15 and 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center.

Brigham Young University’s School of Music will present “Jazz for Kids,” the second concert in the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Family Concert Series, Saturday, Nov. 16, at 11 a.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

Vocal Point, Brigham Young University’s celebrated male a cappella group, will perform in concert at the Covey Center for the Arts on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2, at 7:30 p.m.

The Brigham Young University Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band will be performing Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall.