MUSIC FACULTY SHOWCASE TALENTS AT CHAMBER RECITAL

Directed by Arie Lipsky, several faculty members from the Ashland University Department of Music combine and showcase their talents with Lipsky for a chamber ensemble recital on Sunday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital. The performance is free and open to the public.

The program begins with William Bergsma's "Four All" featuring Lipsky on cello; Thomas Reed, clarinet; Scott Garlock, trombone; and Jeff Neitzke, percussion followed by Arthur Honegger's "Trois Contrepoints" performed by Lipsky; Jane Berkner on piccolo; Jane Reed, violin; Andria Hoy, oboe and English horn. Flutist Jane Berkner and Jeff Neitzke on marimba perform Gareth Farr's "Kembang Suling" in three movements followed by Astor Piazzolla's "Primavera Portena" with clarinetist Thomas Reed, Lipksy on cello, and pianist Pavlina Draganova. After a brief intermission, the recital concludes with Jean Francaix's "Octuor" conducted by Lipsky and performed by violinists Michelle Abraham and Jane Reed; Jim Froelich, viola; Miles Richardson, cello; Dave Lenigan, bass; Thomas Reed, clarinet; Ian Hoy, bassoon and Mike Metcalf, horn.

Known in the Ashland area as the music director and conductor for the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, Arie Lipsky is a native of Haifa, Israel, where he received extensive training as a cellist and flutist. He holds degrees in Aeronautical Engineering and Music which he received before serving in the Israeli armed forces as a tank commander. After moving to the United States, Arie served as Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and graduated from there with distinction. During this period he also assumed conducting responsibilities with the Ohio Light Opera. He moved to Buffalo, New York in 1984 to become the Philharmonic's principal cellist and, in 1990, also became the Resident Conductor, a position he held for twelve years. Maestro Lipsky is currently in his seventeenth season as Music Director and Conductor of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, and also in his thirteenth season as Music Director and Conductor of the Ann Arbor (Michigan) Symphony.

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.

MUSIC FACULTY COMBINE TALENTS FOR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE RECITAL

Directed by Arie Lipsky, several faculty members from the Ashland University Department of Music combine their talents with Lipsky for a chamber ensemble recital on Sunday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital.  The performance is free and open to the public.

The program begins with the faculty wind quartet performing Gioacchino Rossini’s “Quartet No. 6 in B-flat” featuring Arie Lipsky on flute; Thomas Reed, clarinet; Ian Hoy, bassoon; and Michael Metcalf, horn.  A faculty trio with soprano Denise Milner Howell, cellist Arie Lipsky and pianist Megan Barth will then present Johannes Brahms “Two Songs, Op. 91.”  Combining many elements of jazz with ragtime, the faculty trio of Thomas Reed on clarinet; Arie Lipksy, cello; and Pavlina Draganova, piano will perform Paul Schoenfield’s “Café Music.”  The program will conclude with a sextet playing the four movement suite of Bohuslav Martinu’s jazz ballet “La Revue de Cuisine” including Prologue (Marche), Tango, Charleston and Final.  The sextet features violinist Jane Reed, cellist Arie Lipsky, clarinetist Thomas Reed, bassoonist Ian Hoy, Amanda Bekeny on trumpet and Pavlina Draganova, piano.

Known in the Ashland area as the music director and conductor for the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, Arie Lipsky is a native of Haifa, Israel, where he received extensive training as a cellist and flutist.  He holds degrees in Aeronautical Engineering and Music which he received before serving in the Israeli armed forces as a tank commander. After moving to the United States, Arie served as Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and graduated from there with distinction.  During this period he also assumed conducting responsibilities with the Ohio Light Opera.  He moved to Buffalo, New York in 1984 to become the Philharmonic's principal cellist and, in 1990, also became the Resident Conductor, a position he held for twelve years.  Maestro Lipsky is currently in his fifteenth season as Music Director and Conductor of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, and also in his eleventh season as Music Director and Conductor of the Ann Arbor (Michigan) Symphony.  

BENNETT AND DRAGANOVA PRESENT FACULTY RECITAL

The Department of Music at Ashland University presents a faculty recital with soprano Dione Bennett and pianist Pavlina Draganova on Sunday, February 26 at 5:00 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

The concert program offers a "World of Colors" through the Latin rhythms of Xavier Montsalvage, the jazz fusion of Ricky Ian Gordan, the classical musings of Robert Owens, H. T. Burleigh, John Carter and Rosephanye Powell. Bennett will also highlight the poetry of Langston Hughes.

An established pedagogue, Bennett is in her eighth year at Ashland University and is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). She expects the conferral of her doctorate in May from the University of Illinois where she studied with professor Cynthia Haymon. Further study has taken her to Graz, Austria with the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) where an Austrian newspaper said she was “the discovery of the evening”. A performer in such operatic roles as Micaela (Carmen), Bess (Porgy and Bess); Mimi (La Bohéme); Suor Genevieffa (Suor Angelica); and Lucy (Treemonisha); and such oratorio’s as Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Mass in C, Schubert's Mass in G, Dubois' Seven Last Words of Christ, and Mozart's Vespers, she has been featured with the Warren Philharmonic, Akron Symphony, Ashland Symphony, Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Eastern Illinois Symphony as well as Cleveland Opera and Opera Western Reserve. As an avid recitalist, she paired with pianist John Wustman singing Brahms, Berlioz, and Burleigh as well as a journey of the development of spirituals.

A native of Bulgaria, Mrs. Draganova is a staff accompanist at Ashland University and the principal pianist of Ashland Symphony Orchestra. She earned her first masters degree in piano performance from Pancho Vladigerov State Academy of Music, Sofia studying with Stela Dimitrova and the prominent Bulgarian piano duo Konstantin and Julia Ganev. After moving to the United States, she graduated with a masters in piano performance from The University of Michigan where she was a student of Louis Nagel. Mrs. Draganova has been on the faculties of the Music High School, Plovdiv; The Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Plovdiv; and Pancho Vladigerov State Academy of Music, Sofia. An active performer as a collaborative and solo musician, Pavlina has performed in major cities in Bulgaria, Michigan and Ohio, and appeared as a soloist with the Plovdiv Symphony Orchestra under Maesto Dobrin Petkov. As a member of the Michigan Music Teachers Association she performed at the organization's 120th State Conference.

THOMAS REED PRESENTS CLARINET/SAXOPHONE RECITAL, JAN. 15

The Department of Music at Ashland University presents a faculty recital on Sunday, January 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall featuring Music Department Chair and Professor of Music Thomas Reed on clarinet and saxophone with pianist Pavlina Draganova.  The performance is free and open to the public.  

The program begins in the Baroque style with J. S. Bach's Partita in A minor in four movements, then jumps to the Romantic era with Reed's arrangement of Georges Bizet's Minuet and Carillon from the play "L'Arlesienne," and Fred Hemke's arrangement of Robert Schumann's "Three Romances." Pieces from the twentieth century include Vincent David's arrangement of Claude Debussy's "Rapsodie," and Louis Cahuzac's "Cantilene," with the concert concluding with Francis Poulenc's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano in three movements.