Music in Mind Honors Pianists at Clarice Smith Center Nov. 13

Cabaret Songs, "Trout" Quintet & More Celebrated in Second Series Concert

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Andrew Zender, azender@umd.edu
(301) 405-8151

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 — College Park, MD. — The UM School of Music continues its Music in Mind series with “Am I Too Loud? A Bow to Collaborative Performance,” a unique concert that honors pianists who spent their professional lives playing well with others. The performance will take place at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Gildenhorn Recital Hall on Friday, November 13, 2009 at 8 p.m.

The art of musical collaboration is at the heart of the program. With Rita Sloan at the piano, it also features faculty instrumentalists Evelyn Elsing (cello), Anthony Manzo (double bass), Linda Mabbs (soprano), Gregory Miller (horn), Katherine Murdock (viola), David Salness (violin) and Delores Ziegler (mezzo-soprano).

Opening the program is Richard Strauss's Ein Alphorn hör' ich schallen, a piece written by the Germany composer as a teenager as a tribute to his father, also a composer and an early influence. Benjamin Britten's A Charm of Lullabies follows. Written in 1947, this was the third work by the British composer to be written at Crag House in Aldeburgh, where he was planning the first of the festivals that have been held there since 1948.

Three works by Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler follow: Chanson Louis XIII and Pavane (In the style of Couperin), Polichinelle (Serenade), and Tempo di Menuetto (In the style of Pugnani). A beloved composer whose career began with the study of his main instrument, Kreisler abandoned his study of music in 1888 after being turned down for a position with the Vienna Philharmonic; after cycling through career phases that included medicine, painting and a stint in the army, he returned to music and made his second debut at the turn of the century to critical acclaim.

The program will return to Benjamin Britten once more, featuring his Cabaret Songs, a four-song cycle composed with W.H. Auden between 1937 and 1939 for singer Hedli Anderson, and clearly influenced by the popular hit songs of the period by Cole Porter. Closing out the program is Franz Schubert's die Forelle "The Trout," D. 550 and Quintet in A Major D. 667. The former piece, for voice and piano, begins with a light tone and gradually shifts to darker textures as the music reflects the text of this work, in which the narrator describes looking at a trout in the water and his indignation when a fisherman catches it by unfair means. The fuller Quintet echoes the main themes of "The Trout."

Tickets are $30 for the general public and $9 for full-time students with I.D., available at www.claricesmithcenter.umd.edu or by calling (301) 405-ARTS (2787). In support of state employees during these trying economic times, the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center has joined the Maryland State Arts Council’s Arts StepUp program with a special ticket offer. The Center's StepUp offer will allow state employees to purchase two tickets per ID to any performance in our 2009-2010 season at a 20% discount, with no limit on the number of performances. Online and phone purchases will be held at will call. Use promotional code STEPUP. ID must be presented when picking up tickets.

The Music in Mind series examines points of intersection in our musical traditions, encouraging further reflection and discovery, bringing together talented guest artists with UM’s world class faculty, outstanding alumni and students. Other Music in Mind events in 2009-10 include American Voices (Feb. 7); Guarneri & Friends (March 28) and Titans, a collaboration with the UM Symphony Orchestra (April 30.)

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is located at the intersection of University Boulevard (Route 193) and Stadium Drive in College Park, on the campus of the University of Maryland. A parking garage is located across the street from the Center.

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business & Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Additional support is provided through generous grants from the Leading College and University Presenters Program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and from The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.