Fall Honors Recital Performers Announced

The best of Fall 2019 will be showcased at the Honors Recital on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.

Students who accomplished exceptional musical work during the semester will showcase their talents as selected by their private teachers including:

VOCALISTS: Sami Eron, Lila Hyatt, Maya Rickard, Alayna Ross, Katie Snell, Rebecca Young

INSTRUMENTALISTS: Kailyn Buyok (violin), Ariane Hill (flute), Jed McFadden (piano/violin)

Percussion Ensemble Perfoms New Works, 11/25

On Monday, Nov. 25, at 7:30 p.m. under the direction of Liz Procopio, the AU Percussion Ensemble will present a concert of all contemporary works by modern composers including Music for Pieces of Wood by Steve Reich, In C by Terry Riley, and selections of Living Room Music by John Cage. In addition, the ensemble will perform the World Premieres of new works by AU composition studio students. The concert is free and open to the public.

AU Madrigal Feaste Featured in Beacon Journal

2017 AU Madrigal Singers

In the Thursday, Nov. 14 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal, an article was published about Area groups keep madrigal dinner custom alive. Ashland University's Madrigal Feaste was recognized with the following section:

Longtime feast 

For longevity, the Ashland University Feaste, started in 1976 by late choral director Calvin Rogers, takes the prize. The school’s 44th annual event will run before Thanksgiving this year, for five shows at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 20-24 in Redwood Hall, 1005 King Road. 

Led by choral director Rowland Blackley, the 17-member Chamber Singers perform ceremonial music, Christmas carols and madrigals based in Elizabethan England. Music includes “The Boarshead Carol,” “Gloucestershire Wassail” and a final “Silent Night” by candlelight.

“I inherited this as a strong traditional event,” said Blackley, who performed in Kent State’s madrigal feasts when he was a graduate student. 

The Madrigal Players also will offer a comedic play and improvisation. Rounding out the cast will be fanfare trumpeters, the court jester, butler and serving wenches. Each night, the four-course meal by the university’s in-house catering service culminates with flaming bread pudding. 

While other Northeast Ohio feasts have fallen by the wayside over the years, AU’s has continued because it keeps its costs down by keeping all of the work in-house, from food to costumes to servers from the choral program. 

The players offer a 15-minute skit that Blackley described as “fractured fairytales.” The jester and his troupe interact with guests during dinner, and the royal court serenades tableside. 

Tickets cost $28 for adults or $18 for children under 12. Children’s tickets can only be purchased directly through the box office at 419-289-5125. For adult tickets, see www.ashland.edu/tickets or call the box office. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Read about the other feasts throughout Northeast Ohio here.

PANdemonium4 Flute Quartet Performs 11/8

Ashland University Department of Music presents a guest artist recital featuring the Ohio-based flute quartet, PANdemonium4, on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. The concert program will feature contemporary pieces by composers from Ohio, across the U.S. as well as France including an arrangement of the top rock anthem from the American heavy metal band Metallica. The concert is free and open to the public.

This highly talented quartet of teacher-performer professionals represents a diverse group of Ohio universities through their teaching (Capital University, Mariettta College, Ohio University, Otterbein University, West Virginia University), along with a substantial listing of symphonies and chamber ensembles from their performances around the state and beyond (Ashland Symphony Orchestra, Central Ohio Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Westerville Symphony, Mansfield Symphony, Austin (TX) Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Hawaii and Honolulu Symphonies, West Virginia Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Famous Jazz Orchestra, Breckenridge Music Festival Chamber Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble).

Dr. Kimberlee Goodman, Lindsey Goodman, Lisa Jelle and Alison Brown Sincoff share a mutual passion for promoting all things flute in central Ohio and impacting the global future of chamber music collaborations within the setting of the quartet. They formed PANdemonium4 in 2016, and have performed at two National Flute Association Annual Conventions and in seven different states. They released their first studio recording titled Bolling & Beyond: Lisa Jelle, Jazz-Inspired Flute. Mark Flugge Remembered.

For their concert in Ashland, they will be joined by percussionist Liz Procopio and bassist Jeremey Poparad who are also teaching-performer professionals while teaching in their discipline at Ashland University. They will assist PANdemonium on Mark Flugge's Jazz Fantasy for Flute Quartet with optional bass and percussion in three movements (Ahmad, The Letter, Samba Fantasy).

Other pieces in the program include Daniel Dorff's Musetta Steps Out which is based on "Musetta's Waltz" from Puccini's La Bohème, Eugene Bozza's Jour d'été à la montagne, Cynthia Folio's Four 'Scapes (Cityscape, Seascape, Landscape, Escape), Linda Kernohan's My Compass Still to Guide Me, and Nicole Chamberlin's arrangement of Metallica's Enter Sandman.