Several unique compositions, including a number of premiere performances, by students in the West Virginia University School of Music will be featured during a New Music Concert at the Creative Arts Center, Friday, April 20.

The free event begins at 8:15 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (200A) and will feature works by students Rafael Langoni Smith, Alan Racadag, Timothy Kowalski, Scott Jones and Jacob Sandridge. All of the students study with WVU Composer-in-Residence John Beall.

All are undergraduates, except Langoni Smith, who is an exchange student from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, studying for a master’s degree in composition, and Scott Jones, a doctoral student from Dayton, Ohio, studying trombone.

Racadag is a junior composition major from Charleston, W.Va., Kowalski is a freshman composition major from Wind Gap, Pa., and Jacob Sandridge is a sophomore composition and piano double major from Philippi, W.Va.

The full program includes: the premiere of “Newark” for Brass Quintet by Kowalski, performed by Christian McCarty and Kolawski on trumpets, Garrett Maner, trombone, Emily Norwood, horn, and Shane Emrich, tuba; two piano pieces from “Pieces of Glass” by Sandridge, which are premieres and will be performed by the composer; and the premiere of a brass quintet by Scott Jones.

Langoni will have three works on the program: “Valsa do Tamagotchi” (Tamagotchi’s Waltz) for Violin and Marimba, performed by Zara Simon-Ogan, violin, and Logan Seidler, marimba; “Tonberry Invisera” featuring Larissa Hardin, Courtney Marie Ventura, Joel Rhodes and Matthew Pitts, clarinets; and “In the Event of Moon Disaster” with Michael Hamm, countertenor, Sarah Beattie, cello, and Arthur Novaes do Amorim, piano. All of these works will be premieres.

“Tonberry Invisira” (2011) is the story of a stray dog that traveled all the way from Rio de Janeiro to Morgantown on his own. The hardships of the journey cost him one of his legs, but he still grooves hard with the rhythms of baile funk and maracatu. The performers of this work are all fluent in Portuguese and are trained to deliver the ultimate experience in both clarinet and Brazilian music.

Racadag will have two songs on the program, including “Still Here,” with Michael Hamm, countertenor, and “it was just a little while ago” with T.K. Scherch, on bass, and Jacob Sandridge, on piano. These songs use poems by Langston Hughes and Charles Bukowski.

For more information about the recital, contact the College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4359.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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