Seven Recitals Performed in Less Than Three Weeks!

The Department of Music at Ashland University announces seven recitals which are scheduled over the next three weeks. From faculty and senior recitals to the fall honors recital, the concerts will offer performances by instrumentalists (flute, saxophone, organ, piano, cello, and guitar) and musical theatre vocalists. All of the following performances are free and open to the public.

The marathon of recitals begins on Sunday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall with a faculty recital by flutist Jane Berkner. Ms. Berkner will perform with cellist Miles Richardson, pianist Susan Gregg and Stephen Aron on guitar. Primarily featuring flute and cello, the program will include Jean-Michel Damase's Sonate en Concert, Eric Lamb and Martin Rummel's arrangement of J.S. Bach's (Re)Inventions, Heitor Villa Lobos' Jet Whistle, Lake Wallenpaupack by Daniel Dorff and Danzas de le Abuela by Ricardo Iznaola.

There will be three separate recitals the following Sunday, November 8 beginning at 1 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall with a senior recital featuring music education major Jessica Barnhouse (Cambridge, Ohio). Miss Barnhouse will present her senior saxophone recital accompanied by pianist Susan Gregg and guest performers Jaylynn Buchmelter, trombone; Derek Rangel, guitar; her private instuctor Dr. Thomas Reed, guitar; and Polly Dexter, drums. Her program will include Giovannini's Rhapsody, J.S. Bach's Two Bourrées from Third Cello Suite, Darius Milhaud's Scaramouche, along with Gershwin's Summertime, Parker's My Little Suede Shoes and more.

At 4 p.m. in the Jack and Deb Miller Chapel, Dr. Timothy Guenther will present his faculty recital in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the reconstructed Olive Williams Kettering Memorial M. P. Möller Pipe Organ. The repertoire includes music by J.S. Bach, José Lidon, César Franck, Felix Mendelssohn, Paul Hindemith, Eunice Lea Kettering, Knut Nystedt, Paul Desmond, and Joseph Bonnet; and features the Ashland premiere of the Chorale Fantasia by J.S. Bach on “Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält”, BWV 1128, discovered in March 2008.

Returning to the Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m., senior applied vocal major Fatima Imani Smith will perform a musical theatre revue to fulfill her senior music project. Directed by Andrea Disch, accompanied by pianist Deb Logan, and assisted by tenor Jake Riley and baritone Deric Dove, Fatima will present her original show of "Musicals Throughout the Ages." Fatima studies voice privately with Stephanie Sikora.

On Sunday, November 15, senior instrumental music education major Rachel Crow (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) kicks the day off at 1 p.m. in the Recital Hall with her senior piano recital. Under the tutelage of her private instructor Susan Schoeffler, Rachel's program includes piano classics from Brahms' Rhapsody to Beethoven's Sonata (Op. 49, Nov.2), along with Rachmaninoff's Moment Musical, five movements from Prokofieff's Vision Fugitives and The Entertainer by Scott Joplin.

At 7:30 p.m. on November 15, saxophonist and instrumental music education major Shayne Smith (Bellevue, Ohio) will present his senior recital in the Recital Hall. He will be accompanied by pianist Susan Gregg and assisted by fellow sax players Michael Byndas, Derek Rangel, Jessie Barnhouse, Jaylynn Buchmelter, Jason Wolf and Nick Slinger. He will perform classic pieces by Robert Schumann and Jean Baptiste Singelee along with contemporary selections including Rudy Wiedoeft's Saxophobia, Dave Heath's The Celtic Concerto, and Little Gap, Pennsylvania by Charles W. Smith. Shayne studies privately with Dr. Thomas Reed.

On Wednesday, November 18 Thursday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m.,the best of Fall 2015 perform at the Fall Honors Recital in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. Students who accomplished exceptional musical work during the semester will showcase their vocal and instrumental talents as selected by their private teachers.

Flutist to Present Senior Recital

The Department of Music at Ashland University presents a senior recital featuring flutist Devyn Renninger on Saturday, November 8 at 3 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall.  The recital is free and open to the public.

Miss Renninger is a music education major from Norton, Ohio and studies privately with Jane Berkner.  For her recital, she will be joined by pianist Sue Gregg and fellow flutist D. R. Haught.  The concert program will include Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonata IV along with Christoph Willibald Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirit, Andante and Rondo by Franz Doppler and Serenade by Howard Hanson.

SEVERAL STUDENT RECITALS SLATED FOR NOVEMBER

The Department of Music at Ashland University is presenting a full slate of student recitals in November including senior and junior recitals as well as student ensemble performances.  All of the student recitals are free and open to the public and are held in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall in the Center for the Arts (formerly known as the Arts & Humanities Building).

The student recitals begin on Sunday, November 4 at 7:30 p.m. with a senior recital by Margaret Rickard on oboe.  She will be accompanied by pianist Pavlina Draganova and joined by guest musician Margaret Couts on oboe.  Margaret is a graduate of Cloverleaf High School (Lodi, OH), and is an instrumental music education major studying privately with oboist Andria Hoy.  

On Sunday, November 11 at 5:00 p.m., clarinetists Alex VanScoy and Katie Stone will present a joint junior recital.  They will be accompanied by pianist Pavlina Draganova and joined by guest clarinetists Robin Wolf and Janet Ankomah. Alex and Katie are music education majors and both study privately with Professor Thomas Reed. Alex graduated from Huron High School (Huron, OH) and Katie graduated from Riverview High School (Sarasota, FL).  

Also on November 11 at 7:30 p.m., Janet Ankomah will perform her senior recital on clarinet.  She will be accompanied by pianist Pavlina Draganova and joined by her applied Music Professor Thomas Reed on bass clarinet, and clarinetists Robin Wolf, Alex VanScoy, and Katie Stone. Janet is a native of Erie, PA and a graduate of Mansfield Senior High School studying music education with an instrumental emphasis.

The Jazz combos and percussion ensemble will present a student ensembles recital on Wednesday, November 14 at 7:30 p.m.  Under the direction of instructors Jeff Neitzke and Ashley Summers, these  ensembles will perform a wide variety of traditional and contemporary pieces.

On Thursday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m., the student chamber ensembles will each perform a selection of chamber music.  The ensembles include the brass under the direction of Michael Metcalf, clarinets with Dr. Reed, flutes with Jane Berkner and strings with Jane Reed.

The last student recital for the month is a senior recital with oboist Margaret Couts on Sunday, November 18 at 3:00 p.m.  She will be accompanied by pianist Pavlina Draganova and joined by guest musician Margaret Rickard, English horn. A graduate of Delaware Hayes High School (Delaware, OH), Margaret is an instrumental music education major studying privately with Andria Hoy.

For more information about the music department and a full events schedule, visit the Web site at www.ashland.edu/music or contact Tricia Applegate, coordinator of performing arts publicity and events, at 419-289-5950 or tapplega@ashland.edu.

FACULTY FLUTE & PIANO RECITAL SLATED FOR FEB. 5

The Department of Music at Ashland University presents a faculty recital with flutist Jane Berkner and pianist Kim Bakkum on Sunday, February 5 at 3:00 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

Jane Berkner and Kim Bakkum have been performing together since 1997 appearing in concert venues across the Midwest, as well as Sere Musicale and Corofest Assisi in Italy. They have performed for the National Flute Association and with the Singers Companye at the National Gallery in Washington, DC; and in 2007 released a CD together, “In Cynthia’s Garden”.  For their faculty recital at Ashland, they will perform works by Paul Taffanel, Fikret Amirov, Shulamit Ran, Daniel Dorff, Carl Reinecke and Michael Garson.

Jane Berkner is on the music faculties of both Ashland University and the University of Akron, and has performed with the Akron, Ashland, Canton and Youngstown Symphonies, the Ohio Ballet Orchestra, O’Neil Chamber Players and the Chamber Music Society of Ohio. Currently performing with guitarist Stephen Aron in the duo AronBerkner, they are presenting concerts across the United States, and will be playing and teaching at Suonare in Italia in Assisi, Italy during the summer of 2012.  Recognized for her expertise as a flute choir director, she was coordinator of the National Flute Association’s High School Flute Choir from 2001 to 2006, and is the director of a summer flute choir camp for adults at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.  She is also arts and enrichment director for the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and currently serves on the board of directors of the Ohio Arts Presenters Network.  www.janeberkner.com

A Montana native, Kim Bakkum is an active pianist in the Akron-Cleveland area of Ohio.  She holds a masters in piano performance from Western Michigan University, and has done extensive studies in art song and opera in Graz and Vienna, Austria.  She has been on the faculties of the University of Montana, the University of Akron and Kent State University.  She has performed with Cleveland Opera on Tour, Porthouse Summer Theatre, O’Neil Chamber Players, Canton Players Guild, the Wiener Symphoniker Percussion and Flute Seminars, and was coordinator of piano studies for the Western Michigan High School piano camp.  She has been chairperson of the Independent Music Teachers Forum for the state of Ohio, and is a popular adjudicator and clinician throughout the state.