Contemporary Music Festival
SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
presents the...
45TH ANNUAL CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL
featuring
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS
APRIL 19-21, 2007
Huntsville, TX - On April 19-21, the Sam Houston State University School of Music, Department of Theory/Composition, will present the 45th Annual SHSU Contemporary Music Festival ("CMF07"). The three day festival will include five concerts of the best in modern classical music and several other educational programs.
This prestigious and long-running festival has always included the top names in contemporary music composition as guest artists, including four Pulitzer Prize winners (Karel Husa, Joseph Schwantner, Michael Colgrass, and Leslie Bassett). This year, SHSU is honored to host John Luther Adams as its Festival Guest Composer. John Luther Adams, an avid naturalist, is known for creating stunning musical "soundscapes" that depict the elemental landscapes, indigenous cultures, and natural phenomena and sounds of his native Alaska. He has written music for orchestra, small ensembles, percussion, electronic media, installations, and soloists, and his music has been recorded and released on the Cold Blue, New World, and New Albion labels. Adams has worked with many prominent performers and venues, including Bang on a Can, Almeida Opera, the California E.A.R. Unit, FLUX Quartet, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, Percussion Group Cincinnati, the Sundance Institute, and Arena Stage. He has received awards and fellowships from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, Lila Wallace Arts Partners, the Rockefeller Foundation, Opera America, and the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts. Adams as served as composer-in-residence with the Anchorage Symphony, Fairbanks Symphony, Arctic Chamber Orchestra, Anchorage Opera, and the Alaska Public Radio Network. He has taught at the University of Alaska, Bennington College, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and he has served as the President of the American Music Center. More information on him can be found at www.johnlutheradams.com.
The festival will open with a lecture by John Luther Adams on Thursday, April 19, at 3:30PM in Room 219 of the SHSU School of Music Building.
The opening concert of the festival will take place Thursday night at 7:30PM in the SHSU Recital Hall. This performance will feature the music of SHSU’s student composers. The scheduled works include a diverse variety of performers, including pieces for choir, percussion, piano, and various chamber ensembles. The evening will culminate with the announcement of the winner of the 4th Annual Phi Mu Alpha Fisher Tull Student Composition Award. The award is sponsored by the local Zeta Mu chapter of the nation’s most prestigious music fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and is named in honor of the late Chairman of the SHSU School of Music, Dr. Fisher Tull, who has also been previously featured as the guest composer of this music festival.
The second day of the festival (Friday, April 20) begins with a composition masterclass conducted by John Luther Adams and sponsored by the local chapter of the Society of Composers, Inc. This will take place in Room 219 of the SHSU School of Music Building at 2:00PM.
"Concert 02" of the festival will feature chamber music, including three works by John Luther Adams. Scheduled performers include many members of the SHSU School of Music Faculty and the SHSU Flute Choir, directed by Professor Kathryn Daniel. Isaac Nagao, a composer from Japan, who recently hosted SHSU Theory/Composition Department Coordinator Trent Hanna’s Asian tour, will also be performing one of his works. That concert will be in Killinger Auditorium at the SHSU Criminal Justice Center at 4:30PM on Friday, April 20.
Friday night will end with a concert by the SHSU Percussion Ensemble at 7:30PM in the SHSU Recital Hall. This concert will feature two works by guest composer Adams and two world premiere performances, including one of a new work based on human DNA sequences by SHSU Professor of Percussion John Lane. A preview presentation over this research-based endeavor, which has been co-developed by SHSU Professor of Biology Chris Randle, will take place in SHSU’s Lee Drain Building on Monday, April 16, at 5:30PM. A free reception will follow this evening’s concert.
The festivities of Saturday, April 21, will begin with a solo recital by SHSU Professor of Percussion John Lane at 4:30PM in the Recital Hall. This concert will feature two more works by John Luther Adams and the world premiere of another work by Lane.
The festival’s culminating concert will be on Saturday night at 7:30PM in Killinger Auditorium of the SHSU Criminal Justice Center. This final event will include two works by John Luther Adams and several original compositions by SHSU professor-composers. Additionally, a performance piece involving 100 metronomes will make its campus debut. This year’s installment of the annual festival will close with a reception in the SHSU School of Music Building following the concert.
All events, including concerts, are free and open to the public. More information on the festival can be found at http://www.shsu.edu/~music/events/contemporary.php or by contacting Dr. Trent Hanna, Assistant Professor of Music Theory-Composition / Festival Coordinator, at 936-294-1372 or trenthanna@hotmail.com, or Daniel Pfannstiel, Graduate Assistant in Music Theory-Composition / Assistant Festival Coordinator, at 832-443-9338 or dmpfannstiel@yahoo.com.