music

Philharmonia to Perform in Kalamazoo

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The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will collaborate with the West Michigan Opera Project to present another concert featuring “Susannah,” an opera from American composer Carlisle Floyd.

Kalamazoo Philharmonia Presents Susannah
The Kalamazoo Philharmonia will collaborate with the West Michigan Opera Project to present two concerts which will feature “Susannah,” an opera from American composer Carlisle Floyd.

The opera is set in the mid-20th Century in the rural south amidst a small, tightly-knit religious community. Susannah does something she sees as harmless that scandalizes her peers. The charges against her grow into lies, yet the more she tries to defend herself, the more convinced everyone is of her guilt. “Susannah” asks important questions that resonated in the McCarthy Trial era involving how we condemn others, the righteousness of accusers and what we recognize as truth.

The concert takes place at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, in Dalton Theater, Light Fine Arts Building. Tickets for the Kalamazoo performance are available at the door, and cost $5 for adults and seniors and $2 for students. Kalamazoo College students will be admitted free with a College ID.

The Philharmonia, directed by Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew Koehler, is an orchestra of Kalamazoo College and the community. The group brings together students, faculty and amateur and professional musicians. The group won the 2014 American Prize Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Orchestral Programming and has produced several CDs. It also has appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning,” and collaborated with the Bach Festival Chorus, as well as many renowned soloists. Listen to some of its recorded concerts at our website or listen to Koehler’s interview with WMUK regarding these concerts.

The West Michigan Opera Project of Grand Rapids is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing unprecedented workshop and performance opportunities to singers of all ages and is dedicated to educational outreach, as well as community enrichment.  For more information about this organization, visit its website.

For more information about the concert, call the Music Department at 269.337.7070 or email Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.

College Singers Offers Earth-Themed Concert in Three Cities

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The College Singers, a 32-voice choral ensemble at Kalamazoo College, will perform a program featuring the music of pop artists such as Carole King and Stevie Wonder in three cities in November.

The concerts are at:

College Singers Rehearse Social Justice-Themed Concert
The College Singers’ Earth-themed concerts will feature the music of pop artists such as Carole King and Stevie Wonder.
  • 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, at Okemos Presbyterian Church in Okemos, Michigan (Lansing area);
  • 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at Church in the Hills in Bellaire, Michigan; and
  • 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, in Dalton Theater at Kalamazoo College’s Light Fine Arts Building.

The program will combine global song, folk music spirituals and other styles in an entertaining and enlightening program centered on our relationship with the Earth, each other and ourselves. Songs such as “I Feel the Earth Move” and Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” will be interspersed with music of different cultures, Appalachian folk music, spirituals and other global fare. All concerts have no admission fee but a free-will offering will be taken to help defray travel expenses. The concert is about 75 minutes long and is a fast-paced, informative and uplifting performance.

The College Singers represents various cultures and areas of study on the school’s liberal arts and sciences campus. The College Singers is led by Assistant Music Professor Chris Ludwa, who is also the director of the Kalamazoo Bach festival. The ensemble includes music majors and non-music majors alike, offering a different approach to choral singing. Ludwa calls it “singing with a higher purpose,” a hallmark for which he is well-known in the Midwest.

Kalamazoo College, founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts and sciences college and the creator of the K-Plan, which emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, independent research, and international and intercultural engagement.

For more information on the concerts, please contact Ludwa at cludwa@kzoo.edu or 231.225.8877.

Academy Street Winds Concert Slated for Friday

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Academy Street Winds concert
The Academy Street Winds concert Friday will follow a theme of “Sacred and Profane.”

Music lovers will gather at 8 p.m. Friday for an Academy Street Winds concert at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Building.

The Academy Street Winds, formerly known as the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band, functions as a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities.

The group, conducted by Music Professor Thomas Evans, performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The band is a great favorite for its members and its audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and new.

The theme on Friday for the fall-term concert will be “Sacred and Profane.” Songs within the performance will include “The Imperial March” from Star Wars, written by John Williams and arranged by Paul Murtha; and “Ride of the Valkyries,” written by Richard Wagner and arranged by Robert Longfield.
Admission is free.

For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Music Department at 269-337-7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.

Choral Concert Centers Around Love Affairs, Obsessions

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The College Singers, a 24-voice choral ensemble that specializes in social justice-themed programming, will perform its concert titled “EXCESS: Shadows of Pleasure and Power” in two free, public performances in Kalamazoo. The first will take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 30, at First Congregational Church and the second at 3 p.m. Sunday, June 3, in the Dalton Theater of the Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College.

College Singers in concert
The College Singers will perform its concert titled “EXCESS: Shadows of Pleasure and Power” in two free, public performances May 30 and June 3 at First Congregational Church and the Dalton Theater at Kalamazoo College respectively.

In the wake of an epidemic-level crisis around opioid abuse in the United States, the program explores genres from Broadway to folk, and from Renaissance songs to vocal jazz, each touching on those experiences that can enhance life in moderate quantities, but which quickly become destructive when taken to extremes. Chris Ludwa, director of the College Singers, described it as entertaining and educational, suggesting that audience members will experience a range of emotions as the concepts of indulgence, self-control and balance are explored as part of the human condition.

The program will touch on the love affair people tend to have with caffeine, alcohol, sex, power and relationships. There will be music from the musicals “Wicked” and “Chicago,” madrigals of Monteverdi, soul music by Sam Cooke, and more.

Both concerts are supported by a free-will offering to work toward the goal of local and Midwest touring to share these social justice concerts with an ever-increasing audience.

The College Singers includes music majors and non-music majors, offering a different approach to choral singing. Ludwa calls it “singing with a higher purpose,” a hallmark for which he is well known in the Midwest.

For more information on the concerts, contact Ludwa at cludwa@kzoo.edu or 231-225-8877.

Student Music Experiences on Display in Free Concerts

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Two free concerts this week in the Dalton Theater at the Light Fine Arts Building will demonstrate the breadth of student music experiences at Kalamazoo College. Both concerts feature groups directed by Music Professor Thomas Evans.

Student Music Experiences Spring Concerts
The Kalamazoo College Jazz Band will be one of two groups performing in free concerts this week that will demonstrate the breadth of student music experiences on campus.

The Academy Street Winds, formerly known as the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band, will perform from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday. The group is a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities.

The group performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The band is a great favorite for its members and its audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and new. The theme for this concert is “Channel Surfing.”

Then, enjoy K’s Jazz Band from 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday. The group is known for its eclectic collections of contemporary and classic jazz arrangements that provide the students participating and the audience members an electric experience. The concert is titled “Everything in its Right Place.”

For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Music Department at 269-337-7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.

Free Concerts Slated for Tuesday, Thursday

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The general public is invited to two free concerts this week at Kalamazoo College.

The Grand Valley String Trio — consisting of Megan Crawford, violin; Pablo Mahave-Veglia, cello; and Paul Swantek, viola — will perform Beethoven’s Serenade, Op. 8 and the Intermezzo by Kodaly at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Recital Hall at Light Fine Arts.

Guitarist Xavier Jara performs free concerts
Guitarist Xavier Jara will perform in one of two free concerts this week at Kalamazoo College.

The trio was formed in 2009 as a cultural and educational outreach of Grand Valley State University’s Music Department and orchestra program. The ensemble performs a variety of pieces for trios and enjoys coaching high school string ensembles.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Guitar Foundation of America International Competition winner Xavier Jara will perform in Dalton Theater at Light Fine Arts. Students also will participate in a masterclass with Jara at a time and date to be determined.

Jara, an American classical guitarist and Minnesota native, was studying guitar at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis in 2011 when he moved to Paris.

He studied in Paris for six years, during which time he completed his bachelor’s degree at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. His other international honors have included first-place finishes in the Viseu International Competition (2014), the Boston Guitarfest (2014), the Gargnano, Italy Competition (2015), the Ciudad de Coria Competition (2015), and the Tokyo International Competition (2016).

For more information on these free concerts, contact Susan Lawrence in the Music Department at 269-337-7070.

Kalamazoo Philharmonia Concert Slated for Saturday

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The Kalamazoo Philharmonia, an orchestra of Kalamazoo College and the community, will have a concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Dalton Theater of the Light Fine Arts Building.

Andrew Koehler directs the Kalamazoo Philharmonia
Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew Koehler directs the Kalamazoo Philharmonia.

The concert, titled “Americas,” will feature composer Sean Neukom and soloist Jessica Hung, who met as students at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Tickets are $5 for the general public, $2 for students, and free for Kalamazoo College students.

The Kalamazoo Philharmonia is directed by Kalamazoo College Associate Professor of Music Andrew Koehler. Hear a podcast interview about the concert featuring Neukom, Hung and Koehler at WMUK’s website.

The Kalamazoo Philharmonia brings together students, faculty, and amateur and professional musicians. The group won the 2014 American Prize Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Orchestral Programming and has produced several CDs. It also has appeared on “CBS Sunday Morning,” and collaborated with the Bach Festival Chorus, as well as many renowned soloists. Listen to some of its recorded concerts at our website.

For more information, call the Music Department at 269-337-7070 or email Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.

Lecture to Explore Intersection of Math and Music

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For David Kung, the relationship between math and music goes far beyond alliteration.

Math and Music speaker David Kung
David Kung will deliver the annual Kitchen Lecture, sponsored by the Kalamazoo College Department of Mathematics, while exploring the interrelations between math and music.

The star of a series of popular video lectures explaining the applications of mathematics to the world around us, especially music, Kung will deliver the annual Kitchen Lecture, sponsored by the Kalamazoo College Department of Mathematics, at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Stetson Chapel.

A math professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, that state’s public liberal arts institution, he grew up studying violin while developing a passion for math. He says that at age 16, he had to decide which field to pursue professionally. Although he chose math, he never gave up music.

“While pursuing a doctorate in math, I always made sure to keep up my violin chops — or not let them fade too badly,” he says on his website about mixing math and music. “Now I get the privilege of traveling around the country giving talks and performances about the connections between these two beautiful subjects.”

He has authored a variety of articles on topics in harmonic analysis and mathematics education. His series of Great Courses lectures, “How Music and Mathematics Relate,” is a top math and science seller for the Teaching Company.

Performing and explaining, he discusses — for example — how the math that explains the movement of electrons also lets us understand why a particular string on the violin vibrates at a certain pitch, and why a clarinet’s tone is so much lower than that of a flute. He also explores how the brain recognizes harmonics and other musical patterns the same way it recognizes numerical patterns, and how errors in that pattern recognition lead to auditory illusions, tricking the brain into hearing something that isn’t there.

In addition, he uses abstract algebra to provide insight into the structures beneath the surface of Bach’s canons and fugues.

Kung holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a Ph.D., all in mathematics, from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. At St. Mary’s, he is a full professor and chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. He also serves as director of the Mathematical Association of America’s Project NExT, a professional development program for new faculty in the mathematical sciences.

The George Kitchen Memorial Lectureship was established at Kalamazoo College in 1999 to honor George Kitchen, a mathematician and teacher at Portage Northern High School in Portage, Michigan. Kitchen was married to Susan Kitchen ’60.

The purpose of the lectures is to provide an opportunity for high school students and mathematics educators to hear mathematicians speak about their own or related work at a level intended for high school students.

Music Concerts Feature Jazz Band, College Singers

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Be sure to attend two music concerts this weekend that will feature Kalamazoo College student performers. Both concerts will be at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Building.

Jazz Winter Music Concerts from 2017
Be sure to attend two music concerts this weekend, featuring the Kalamazoo College Jazz Band and the College Singers.

From 8 to 10 p.m. Friday, enjoy Kalamazoo College’s Jazz Band. The group, directed by Thomas G. Evans, pulls together an eclectic collection of contemporary and classic jazz arrangements to provide the students participating and the audience members an electric experience.

From 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday, hear a variety of musical favorites from Broadway shows performed by the College Singers in their “Broadway Revue.” The group is a 24-voice choral ensemble that performed a sold-out show at K last fall. More recently, they performed a social justice-themed concert in Farmington Hills, Mich., and Chagrin Falls, Ohio, in February. The group is directed by Christopher J. Ludwa and features a mix of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices.

Read more at our website about the Kalamazoo College music ensembles and find music scholarships available to music majors and non-music majors alike.

Academy Street Winds Concert Slated for Saturday

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Academy Street Winds rehearsal
Music Professor Thomas Evans leads the Academy Street Winds. Their winter-term concert is slated for this Saturday.

Music lovers will gather at 8 p.m. Saturday for an Academy Street Winds concert at Dalton Theater in the Light Fine Arts Building.

The Academy Street Winds, formerly known as the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Band, functions as a beloved creative outlet for woodwind, brass and percussion students. Community musicians joined the ensemble in winter 2016 to expand the group’s sound and capabilities.

The group, conducted by Music Professor Thomas Evans, performs one concert each term, playing exciting arrays of challenging band music. The band is a great favorite for its members and its audiences as the programs are coordinated around diverse themes, which allow for performances of much-loved pieces, both classic and new. The theme on Saturday will be “Landscape Escapes.” Admission is free.

For more information, contact Susan Lawrence in the Music Department at 269-337-7070 or Susan.Lawrence@kzoo.edu.