The Department of Music is presenting a series of concerts in the next few weeks.
The Early Music Ensemble will present “A Window of Time: Music in Seventeenth-Century Europe,” with works by Cazzati, Purcell and Rosenmuller, on Sunday, Feb. 25, 1:30 p.m. in Emerson Auditorium in the Taylor Music Center. Admission is free, and the event is open to the public.
The ensemble, founded in 2011 by Dianne McMullen, professor of music, is being led by André Laurent O'Neil while McMullen is on sabbatical. O’Neil is an affiliate artist on cello and principal cellist of the Union College and Community Orchestra. The Early Music Ensemble features small intimate chamber groups of between two and six players, with one person on a part.
Zakuro-Daiko, the Japanese Drumming and Global Fusion Band, will perform “Celebration of Winter” in the auditorium Friday, March 1, 7 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $15 for the general public, $10 for Union faculty, staff and alumni, and $5 for students. Tickets are available through Eventbrite. . All donations directly support the band.
The ensemble (whose name translates to Garnet Drums) was established in 2007 by resident ethnomusicologist and Music Department chair Jennifer Milioto Matsue to bring Japanese music and culture to life on campus. The group performs a type of Japanese ensemble drumming that is popular in Japan and throughout the world.
The Choir, Chamber Singers and Orchestra are scheduled for Saturday, March 2, 5:30 p.m. in Memorial Chapel.
That concert, “Silent Peace,” will feature works by Mozart, Schubert, Tavener, Kook, Part, Pärt, Jenkins, Gjeilo, Whitbourn, Runsestad and Bernstein, as well as a premiere of a musical composition by Jackson Janney ’24. The conductor is Jin Byun, director of music performance. There is a suggested donation of $15 for the general public, $10 for Union faculty, staff and alumni, and $5 for students. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.
The Jazz Ensemble, directed by Professor of Music Tim Olsen, is slated for Wednesday, March 6, 8 p.m. in Emerson. The group will play the music of Frank Sinatra, Etta James, Count Basie, Bill Withers, Luiz Bonfá, Stanley Turrentine, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Sinatra and the Andrews Sisters. The concert is free and open to the public.
The Musical Theater and Opera Workshop class taught by Byun will perform Thursday, March 7, 5 p.m., also in Emerson. This course is designed to help students discover their potential for singing, acting, and dancing through the performance of scenes from the opera and musical theater literature. The performance is free and open to the public.
The student recital, featuring performances by students in the private lesson program, will be held Tuesday, March 12, 5 p.m., in Emerson.
In addition, several guest artist events are scheduled.
“Muzak as Sonic Air-Conditioning in Tokyo,” a webinar with SUNY Purchase anthropology and media studies professor Lorraine Plourde, will be held Saturday, Feb. 24, 2 p.m. via Zoom. It is being presented by the Japanese Performing Arts Special Interest Group of the Society for Ethnomusicology with sponsorship from the University of Arkansas Department of Music. To register, follow this link.
The Department of Music joins the Capital Region Classical Concert Series in presenting “Great Britain Through the Centuries,” Monday, Feb. 26, 1-1:50 p.m. in Emerson. The concert features Geneva Lewis on violin and Janice Carissa on piano, with works by Handel, Frances-Hoad, Poldowski, Coleridge-Taylor and Elgar. It is free and open to the public. ll
The Duo Axis ensemble will perform Monday, Feb. 26, 7 p.m. in Emerson. Flutist Zach Sheets and pianist Wei-Han Wu present works for flute, piano, sampler and electronics by Chandler, Heredia, Ko, León and Stephenson. Christopher Chandler, a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music, is assistant professor of music at Union. This event is free and open to the public.