This afternoon was a busy one in the area's Classical music scene with a variety of concerts in Lincoln and Omaha from orchestras and flute choirs to pianists and operas. One crowded event was Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra's "Three Little Pigs" Family Concert. What a sight to see as families with children of all ages, from babies on up, crowded into Wesleyan's O'Donnell Auditorium for the afternoon's entertainment.
LSO is doing a tremendous service to the community by holding these family concerts: encouraging children to come, listen, and experience orchestral music while also keeping it short, entertaining, and engaging. Maestro Edward Polochick, although forced to remain seated throughout the concert due to a broken foot, was warm and welcoming to the children as actor Tim Marrone came along in the character of Mother Goose, then Mr. Pig, and finally, the Big Bad Wolf.
Not only is clapping and noise allowed and encouraged (as laughter or boos resounded throughout the auditorium depending on the antics and character of Marrone), but children also had the opportunity beforehand to play various instruments, have their faces painted, do crafts, then color on their programs and help conduct on stage. Although some of the music is lost behind the laughter, it is heard, and the next time children hear Beethoven's 5th or the music of Ravel, they'll have a happy memory associated with it and want to learn more!
A wonderful way to inspire a love of orchestra and perhaps the next generation of musicians!
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Friday, November 11, 2016
UNL Opera's 'Little Women:' brilliant and emotional
Tonight, the audience seated in Kimball Recital Hall laughed, cried, and grew up with Jo March. The Glenn Korff School of Music put on Mark Adamo's Little Women opera--a brilliant opera written in 1998, featuring the some of the best that modern music can be, beautifully performed.
The story of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott should be familiar to many, but the opera, while staying true to the story, brings out the themes of Jo's struggles and her loves.
In the first half, the audience laughed and rejoiced as the sisters played together, Meg was wooed by her "knight," and Jo wrote her "potboiler."
The music thrilled and made the emotions strike the hearts of everyone in the audience as the telegram arrived for Jo telling her that Beth was ill...and at the death scene, the instruments dropped out and the singing carried on--beautiful, but a little lonely, as Jo was feeling.
The themes presented of family, love, change, and, eventually, growth were perfectly brought together in the music, libretto, staging, set, costumes, and performance by the talented students at UNL.
With one more performance remaining on Sunday, Nov. 13th at 3:00pm, this is a chance that can't be missed--you will be able to relate to it on some level. Who has not longed for things to stay the same, but found that change comes upon them? Who has not had to learn that "now is all we have."
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| Tickets for Sunday's performance can be purchased here. |
The story of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott should be familiar to many, but the opera, while staying true to the story, brings out the themes of Jo's struggles and her loves.
In the first half, the audience laughed and rejoiced as the sisters played together, Meg was wooed by her "knight," and Jo wrote her "potboiler."
The music thrilled and made the emotions strike the hearts of everyone in the audience as the telegram arrived for Jo telling her that Beth was ill...and at the death scene, the instruments dropped out and the singing carried on--beautiful, but a little lonely, as Jo was feeling.
The themes presented of family, love, change, and, eventually, growth were perfectly brought together in the music, libretto, staging, set, costumes, and performance by the talented students at UNL.
With one more performance remaining on Sunday, Nov. 13th at 3:00pm, this is a chance that can't be missed--you will be able to relate to it on some level. Who has not longed for things to stay the same, but found that change comes upon them? Who has not had to learn that "now is all we have."
Monday, November 7, 2016
Lincoln's Flute Choir: Discover the variety of flutes
In 2013, a trio of flute playing friends decided to form a Lincoln flute choir, now known as Coro di Flauti. Perhaps you’ve never seen a flute besides the flute and piccolo: so how is it that there can be 17 members in the group and upcoming concert?
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| Coro di Flauti will perform 3:00pm, on Sun, Nov. 13th, 2016 Holy Savior Lutheran Church |
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| "we would love...a contrabass ...about eight feet tall..." |
Already enjoy the sound of the flute? Then be sure to attend this concert; experience the variety and range of the flute family! Enjoy a program of classical and sacred music including 'Remembrances' by Kelly Via, which is “much loved by Coro. It is a gorgeous flute choir arrangement of Claude Debussy's 'Clair de Lune'. Kelly Via has midwest connections by the way, as he received his Bachelor of Music from Drake University in Des Moines, IA.”
Besides the sacred and classical works that will be performed on the concert on Sunday, Lincoln’s flute choir enjoys playing “for the St. Paul Friday concert series [which] has allowed us to explore flute choir music other than sacred. Early next year we have been invited to perform for the opening of an exhibition of Japanese quilts at the International Quilt Museum, so Coro is performing Japanese-themed music. It has been an interesting experience to program for a variety of types of performances.”
Flute choirs, becoming more and more popular since the 1970s, have been a wonderful way for flute players to perform together and more frequently since flute parts are often limited in orchestras and bands. In fact, “there is a vast amount of quality flute choir music to select from” although Coro di Flauti “would love” a world premiere composed for them by a local composer sometime in the future.
Sunday’s performance is just one way that the flute choir not only enjoys the opportunity to make music together as flutists but also to “culturally and musically enrich the community”—their audience: you.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Lincoln's Choral Scene: bright and beautiful
Lincoln Choral Artists came together to celebrate choral music in the Capitol city today with Lincoln Lutheran Choir and the Sacred Arts Homeschool Choirs. On a beautiful November afternoon with sunlight shining through the stained glass windows of College View Church, the audience was treated to an hour-and-a-half concert with a lovely blend of styles and selections of music.
Perhaps best of all, in a concert featuring local choirs, local composers were featured as well. Jean Henderson, Garrett Hope, David von Kampen, and Kurt Knecht had pieces sung, to name just a few. Music was sung praising God, celebrating Nebraska, and some just for fun.
A crowd pleaser was "I'll Tell My Ma" with clapping and stomping along with the music, although Salmo 150, also sung by the Lincoln Choral Artists, was also attention grabbing in an entirely different way. The children's "Scales and Arpeggios" was delightful and fun, while the combined pieces with all three choirs to end the concert were excellent selections allowing moments where the children's voices rang out clear and then were joined in full chorus.
The homeschool choirs' presence lent a hopeful quality to the concert. The sight--and sound--of the children singing alongside the adult choirs could give no clearer a vision of the future of choral arts in the community: it is a bright one.
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| The setting of the Capitol City Choirs Concert: College View Church |
A crowd pleaser was "I'll Tell My Ma" with clapping and stomping along with the music, although Salmo 150, also sung by the Lincoln Choral Artists, was also attention grabbing in an entirely different way. The children's "Scales and Arpeggios" was delightful and fun, while the combined pieces with all three choirs to end the concert were excellent selections allowing moments where the children's voices rang out clear and then were joined in full chorus.
The homeschool choirs' presence lent a hopeful quality to the concert. The sight--and sound--of the children singing alongside the adult choirs could give no clearer a vision of the future of choral arts in the community: it is a bright one.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
2016 NMTA Conference: Love of Music, Gift of a Lifetime
Once again, the Nebraska Music Teachers’ Association will feature wonderful musicians and educators at its annual conference next week. In past years, some of the stunning clinicians, composers, and performers have included Barbara Lister-Sink, Libby Larsen, Tony Caramia, Kurt Knecht, Dmitri Vorobiev, and Polina Khatsko, just to name a few.
The insights and sharing of ideas that these artists bring to the NMTA conferences each year have a far-reaching impact in the state. It’s not just the attendees that benefit but also their students for many years to come. To celebrate 100 years of bringing teachers and ideas together, NMTA will host Phyllis Lehrer in concert on Thursday, October 13, 2016 at the Strauss Performing Arts Center at UNO with tickets available for just $5. Besides talks and sessions with teaching and performing tips and tools, commissioned composer, Anthony Donofrio, of UNK will present and premier his composition, “Canto II,” for soprano and percussion featuring Amanda DeBoer Bartlett and Scott Shinbara, both of Omaha.
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| Phyllis Alpert Lehrer 2016 NMTA State Conference Guest Artist and Clinician |
Phyllis Lehrer, guest artist and clinician for the conference, and fellow clinician, Ingrid Clarfield, have been friends and colleagues since 1982 and have collaborated on a series called Classics for the Developing Pianist (Books 1-5). Lehrer describes these books as containing “20 pieces each (the 100 pieces ranging from early intermediate through early advanced) that we believe every pianist will enjoy and should learn to play.”
Lehrer and Clarfield both have a passion for teaching. In a LincolnCMN interview, Lehrer shared that she “pretended to be a teacher even before kindergarten; I remember setting up chairs in my basement playroom and talking to my ‘class.’" By 16-years-old, she was teaching her first piano lesson.
Clarfield has stories about good teachers and bad teachers that helped form her into the educator that she is today a teacher at Julliard taught her “how not to motivate students” and she learned that helping her students love music, feel motivated, and be prepared was of the utmost importance. She always finds something positive to say to her students while still holding the bar very high.
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| Ingrid Clarfield Guest Clinician |
Their work on intermediate repertoire by no means suggests that they overlook the importance of beginner piano students. As Lehrer stated:
“The beginner is probably our most important student. This is when we have the opportunity to share our love of music, to motivate students to discover how extraordinary our instrument is, it's many colors, it's ability to imitate moods, characters, be an orchestra, to keep us company through our own practicing, improvising, composing, to make music with our teacher, parent or friend. Beginning teachers who have just graduated with performance degrees naturally want to share their recent knowledge and expertise with more advanced students. But with good pedagogy courses that enable interested teachers to learn about the sequences and processes of music learning, the variety of literature available, the possibilities,of group and private instruction, piano parties, chamber music, the rewards and importance of teaching beginners can convince those who are hesitant. In our pedagogy programs at Westminster Choir College, …students… have special opportunities to intern with our faculty, choosing to learn about subjects such as the gifted student, the adult beginner, pre-school music, teaching college students, and to explore all levels of repertoire, technical approaches, learning styles, and more!”
Clarfield’s love of teaching and music is proved beyond a doubt by the perseverance and determination needed to continue teaching and sometimes performing following the loss of the use of her left hand due to a stroke in 2007. Not even a stroke could keep her from sharing her love of music—and she’ll be spreading her passion and knowledge with Nebraska’s music teachers during the course of the conference.
When asked if there was one thing she wishes every music educator or piano teacher could learn and put into practice, Lehrer shared: “I would urge teachers to constantly check that we are teaching skills, musicianship, practice habits, but above all sharing and bringing a love of music to our students. That is the gift of a lifetime."
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