The legacy of British composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) will live on at the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts due to the hard work of two faculty members from the School of Music.

Assistant Professor Nicholas Perna and his wife, voice lecturer Mandy Spivak, have developed a three-part recital series that will celebrate the centennial year of Britten’s birth.

The first recital will take place Nov. 1 at 8:15 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall in the Creative Arts Center. It is free and open to the public.

The lecture portion of the recital will unveil the completed annotated database of Britten’s songs that Perna and Spivak compiled during an intensive research residency in Britten’s home of Aldeburgh, England. The database will be available for students’ use in the voice studio.

“Our work was fueled by an intense love of his music,” said Perna. “This recital series is our way of bringing a miniature Britten festival to Morgantown.”

The database organizes Britten’s songs into four difficulty levels: moderately easy, moderate, moderately difficult and difficult.

To demonstrate the levels for the lecture recital, WVU undergraduate students will be performing selections from the moderately easy and moderate categories.

Perna, a tenor, and Spivak, a soprano, will be performing selections from the moderately difficult and difficult ability levels.

Professor Robert Thieme, who is coordinator of the vocal area in the School of Music, will accompany all the performers on piano.

The student performers are: Stacey Dabaldo, Devan Balaguer, Katti Grosso, Lexi Smith, Samantha DeStefano, Nicoletta Ciampa, Aaron Scarberry, Christie Curley and John Scherch.

The second recital of the series will take place in March and the third will take place next November.

For more information, contact Nicholas Perna at Nick.Perna@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-4537.

-WVU-

bu/10/24/12

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

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