Recitals 4 You

Monday, September 22, 2025

Love, Lust, and Murder....

Rapides Symphony Orchestra

Coughlin-Saunders Performing Arts Center

1101 Fourth Street

Alexandria, Louisiana

September 20, 2025, at 7:30 pm

Don Giovanni ... WA Mozart

Brief video of Act I Finale

Masterclass with Marcos Machado

September 19, 2025, at noon

Double Bass Masterclass with Marcos Machado

Magale Recital Hall

Natchitoches, Louisiana

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Coaching and Concert

Caldwell Arts Academy: K-8 Fine Arts Magnet School

331 So. College

Tyler, Texas

September 17, 2025, at 11:30 am

Coaching for Middle School All-State

PROGRAM

Ute and Mark Miller

NSU alums: John Davide Floyd, orchestra & Jaime Neeley, band

Monday, September 15, 2025

Guest Artist Double Bass Recital

Dr. Marcos Machado, Double Bass

Dr. Ellen Price Elder, Piano

Thursday, September 18, 2025, at 7:30 pm

Magale Recital Hall

Natchitoches, Louisiana

PROGRAM

Georgian Dance ... Artemy Aivazian

Melody ... Myroslav Skoryk

Nero Barocco ... Mateo Musumeci

Garden Scene ... Erich W. Korngold

Tarantella ... Reinhold Gliere

Carmen Fantasy ... Frank Proto

Prelude

Aragonaise

Toreador's Song

Micaela's Aria

Bohemian Dance

Misty ... Errol Garner

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Out of the Gate

Monroe Symphony Orchestra

September 13, 2025, at 7:00 pm

John Mason Hodges, Conductor

Hotel Monroe, Louisiana

PROGRAM

Brandenburg Concert No. 4 in G Major, BWV 1049... JS Bach

Allegro

Andante

Presto (Gavotte)

Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat Major, K. 417... WA Mozart

Rondo

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Faculty Showcase Recital

September 9, 2025, at 7:30 pm

Magale Recital Hall

Natchitoches, Louisiana

PROGRAM included:

Invocation for Cello Solo ... Mel Powel (1923-1998)

Paul Christopher, cello

Passacaglia ... G. Handel & J. Halvorsen (1685-1759)

Andrej Kurti, violin & Sofia Tchetchelashvili, viola

Duo for Violoncello & Double Bass in D Major ... G. Rossini (1792-1868)

II. Andante molto

Paul Christopher, cello & Karla Gonzalez Bueno, double bass

Sunday, September 7, 2025

Flute Guest Artist Recital and Master Class

Dr. Elizabeth McNutt

Monday, September 8, 2025, at 7:30 pm

Magale Recital Hall

Natchitoches, Louisiana

PROGRAM

Cassandra’s Dream Song (1970) ... Brian Ferneyhough (b. 1943)

Sintra (1969) ... Ursula Mamlok (1923-2016)

I. With Intensity

II. Very fast

III. Calmly

Vidimus Stellam (2020) ... Sungji Hong (b. 1973)

Enchanted Preludes (1988) ... Elliott Carter (1908-2012)

Nidi (1979) ... Franco Donatoni (1927-2000)

II.

PROGRAM NOTES:

The score of Cassandra’s Dream Song is constructed of two sheets of music: the lines of the first are to be played in sequential order with the lines of the second inserted, in any order, between them. Thus, the choices of the performer are integral to the form of the piece. The notation of the score is extremely dense and difficult to realize, especially as Ferneyhough asks for a great variety of timbres (many of which occur simultaneously). Some of the instructions given are contradictory, which is intended to yield unpredictable results. According to Ferneyhough's notes to the score, a “beautiful" performance is not the goal: the difficulties of this music should not be concealed by compromises or inexactitudes. Instead, a successful performance is one that rigorously attempts to reproduce as many of the details as possible, maximizing the various levels of intensity. By trying to realize the score accurately, certain "divergencies and impurities" will occur which are essential to the work.

According to Ursula Mamlock's publisher,Sintra is a typical Mamlok work. In this three movement composition, slow-fast-slow, the alto flute has fast cadenza-like passages, while the cello writing alternates between arco, pizzicato and snap pizzicato, with both instruments sharing unusual trills and vibrati. The dynamics are extreme and constantly shift. This piece also demonstrates her interest in palindromes, which she shared with many serial composers.

Vidimus Stellam for solo flute was commissioned by the National Flute Association to be performed by the semi-finalists at the Young Artist Competition. The Latin title translates to "We have seen His star" and pertains to the Biblical account of the star hovering above the birthplace of Christ. I wanted to create a sound that imitates the effect of a rapidly flickering star in the night sky; the way the starlight intensifies and changes its brightness in complex patterns. I explored this natural phenomenon with everchanging musical gestures of soft microtonal glissandi and pitch bends, and also in dynamic sections with jet whistles, harmonic sweeps, and harmonic climbings. It is dedicated to Elizabeth McNutt, experimental flutist and friend, who has been an inspiration for the piece. -S.H.

Enchanted Preludes is a birthday present for Ann Santen, commissioned by her husband, Harry, and composed in gratitude for their enthusiastic and deeply caring support of American music. It is a duet for flute and cello in which the two instruments combine their different characters and musical materials into statements of varying moods. The title comes from a poem of Wallace Stevens: The Pure Good of Theory, “All the Preludes to Felicity,” stanza no.7:

Felicity, ah! Time is the hooded enemy,

The inimical music, the enchanted space

In which the enchanted preludes have their place. — E.C.

Nidi centers around the same three pitches, and is characterized by small notes, mordents, trills, excessively contrasted dynamics, and extreme registral writing. In the second movement, Donatoni also explores the timbral possibilities of piccolo by including multiphonics and unusual tremolos.

Dr. Elizabeth McNutt, flutist