January 24, 1997
Pianist Jon Kimura Parker (shown at right) is featured with the
Warsaw Philharmonic.
Orchestra Brings European Accent to Lied Center
Warsaw Philharmonic to Perform Jan. 28
Bright galloping strings and the martial brass of the Warsaw Philharmonic
Orchestra will bring the traditional European sound and sense of
orchestral
authority to the Lied Center for Performing Arts at 8 p.m. Jan.
28.
Kazimierz Kord, music director and principal conductor, will lead the
115-piece
orchestra in an evening that will feature renowned pianist Jon Kimura
Parker.
The orchestra will perform Symphony No. 4 by Lutoslawski;
Rhapsody
on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 by Rachmaninoff and Symphony No. 3
in E-flat major, Op. 55 by Beethoven.
"The chance to hear a European orchestra doesn't come along every
day.
All of the world-class orchestras have a different sound in tone and
quality
and blending of the instruments. The European sound is 'brighter,'"
says Lawrence Mallett, director of the UNL School of Music.
Conductor Kord explains, "It's a different kind of music making. We
have a different approach to sound and a different style of playing. In
Europe, we like American orchestras because they are professional and
extremely
well prepared, but the style is quite different."
Reviewers have described the sturdy Warsaw ensemble as playing with
"emotion
and musical sensitivity" and "magical tone."
The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra plays with "a sense of authority
and tradition that has long since been leeched out of the bigger name
orchestras,"
wrote one critic.
The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra previously performed at the Lied Center
in 1993 under the direction of Kord.
Robert Emile, a UNL professor of strings and music theory, will be the
featured
speaker at a 15-minute pre-performance talk scheduled 55 minutes and 30
minutes before the 8 p.m. performance. The free educational talk will be
in the Lied Center's Steinhart Room.
Tickets for the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra are $42, $38 and $34. Half
price tickets are available for youth 18 and under and students from UNL,
Nebraska Wesleyan University and Doane College with valid identification.
The Lied Center box office is open for walk-in sales weekdays from 11
a.m.
to 5:30 p.m. and 90 minutes before the performance. Phone orders may be
placed by calling 472-4747 or 800-432-3231.
'Champion' Violist to Perform at Kimball Feb. 1
Nokuthula Ngwenyama's great gift with the viola has placed her in the
company
of the nation's most talented musicians. She will perform at 8 p.m. Feb.
1 in Kimball Recital Hall.
The plucky Young Concert Artists performer is a young champion of an
often
neglected instrument and has already launched a successful solo career.
Ngwenyama first made a name for herself in 1994 when she gave a powerful
performance at a House Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on behalf
of continued funding for National Endowment for the Arts.
Ngwenyama won the 1994 Young Concert Artists International Auditions -
the
first violist to be chosen in 14 years. In 1995 her performance at the
Young
Concert Artist Series at Washington's Kennedy Center received rave
reviews.
Last year she made her New York concerto debut at Lincoln Center's Alice
Tully Hall with the New York Chamber Symphony as a recipient of the Aaron
and Irene Diamond Soloist Prize of the Young Concert Series.
She had played the violin for years and remembers how she fell in love
with
the viola. "It happened by accident," she told The
Washington
Post, about hearing a recording of Mendelshohn's Octet her
mother
had taped. "There is a viola solo near the end of the scherzo in the
recording. . . I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever
heard.
I kept wondering: 'Who is that violinist, and how does he get that
sound?'
Finally it dawned on me; it wasn't a violin, it was a viola."
Ngwenyama was discouraged by her music teacher from taking up the viola
and taught herself to play "on the sly." She loved the sound of
the instrument (lower voiced than a violin), which is considered by many
to be the most versatile stringed instrument.
Ngwenyama will be conducting master classes and workshops around the
state
the week before her performance at UNL's Kimball Recital Hall.
Tickets for Nokuthula Ngwenyama are $18 and $14 with half price tickets
available for youth 18 and under and students from UNL, Nebraska Wesleyan
University and Doane College with valid identification. Target Treatseat
discount coupons are available at participating Target Stores. The Lied
Center box office is open for walk-in sales from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and
60 minutes before the performance. Phone orders may be placed by calling
472-4747 or 800-432-3231.
Sheldon Gallery to Host Faculty Biennial
The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden will present UNL
Faculty Biennial: Past and Present, the UNL Department of Art and Art
History Studio Faculty Biennial Exhibition from Feb. 11 to March 23.
This biennial exhibition showcases the recent work of 13 studio faculty,
which encompasses a wide variety of media, including painting, sculpture,
ceramics, photography and prints. Included in the exhibition will be Ron
Bartels, Shelley Fuller, Martha Horvay, Keith Jacobshagen, Gail Kendall,
Karen Kunc, Mo Neal, Pete Pinnell, Dave Read, Doug Ross, David Routon,
Pat
Rowan and Joe Ruffo.
An added dimension to this biennial is a smaller exhibition of the work
of former UNL faculty curated from the Sheldon's permanent collection
presented
in an adjacent gallery, which will include, among others, the work of
James
Eisentrager, Dan Howard, Dwight Kirsch and Sara Hayden.
Past and Present offers a unique opportunity to view the work of
current faculty within the broader historical context of more than a
century
of NU faculty work in the permanent collection of the Sheldon Gallery. A
public reception for the artists included in this year's faculty
exhibition
will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 21.
School of Music Hosting Winter Festival
Recitals at Kimball Jan. 25-26
The School of Music is hosting the 10th annual Winter Festival for Winds
and Percussion Jan. 24-26. The festival involves 64 high school students
from Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Wyoming in
intensive
work on chamber music and large ensemble performance.
Participants will perform in chamber ensembles coached by UNL music
faculty
members. They'll also perform in a wind ensemble and will join the UNL
Wind
Ensemble to form a festival symphonic band.
Each participant was required to submit an audition tape that was judged
by the UNL wind and percussion faculty. The 64 participants were chosen
from an audition pool of more than 160.
The festival schedule includes rehearsals and coaching sessions Jan.
24-25
and concludes with performances in Kimball Recital Hall. The chamber
ensemble
recital will be at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 and a finale concert will be
presented
at 3 p.m. Jan. 26.
The concert will include performances by the high school honors wind
ensemble,
the UNL Wind Ensemble and the festival symphonic band. The performances
are free and open to the public.
Sheldon Art Gallery on World Wide Web
Late last year The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery became the first Nebraska
art museum to open a site on the World Wide Web - address: URL
http://sheldon.unl.edu/
The site allows browsers to explore an impressive selection of images
from
the Sheldon's remarkable collection of 20th-century American art and
discover
valuable interpretive information about the art and artists, and why they
are among the most significant works in the country. The site also
includes
a map of the Sheldon Sculpture Garden.
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For questions regarding these Scarlet pages, contact:
dtaurins@unlinfo.unl.edu
(402) 472-8518, Fax: (402) 472-7825