Early vocal music, music of Japan headline week at UO School of Music and Dance

Editor's Note: For more information about these events or to obtain high resolution images of Laurie Monahan, Mitsuki Dazai, Peter Hill, cellist Steven Pologe and tubist Seth Horner, call Scott Barkhurst, 541-346-1163, scottb@uoregon.edu.

University of Oregon Music Wrap-up for Oct. 25-31

Friday, Oct. 26 -- 8 p.m.
Mezzo-soprano and early music specialist Laurie Monahan will be the featured guest artist in a Vanguard Series concert at 8 p.m. in Beall Hall, Music Building, 961 E. 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $10 general admission, $8 for students and senior citizens. Monahan will perform with Shira Kammen (vielle) and Eric Mentze (tenor), a UO professor of voice. The program includes a wide-ranging selection of songs from the troubadour and trouvere traditions, sacred music from medieval Aquitaine and pieces by Guillaume de Machaut, plus the premiere of a work by Robert Kyr, UO professor of composition and theory. Monahan, who received her bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon, is the Robert M. Trotter Visiting Professor at the School of Music and Dance during fall and winter terms. She is a leading singer of early and contemporary music, who tours nationally and internationally as a soloist and ensemble director. A founding member of Ensemble Project Ars Nova, she also directs Tapestry, a Boston-based ensemble of women’s voices, which has attracted a large following.

Saturday, Oct. 27 -- 8 p.m.
The University of Oregon’s World Music Series presents "Music of Japan," featuring Mitsuki Dazai, koto (long zither) and Peter Hill, shakuhachi (bamboo flute). The concert begins at 8 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall, 1484 University St. Tickets at the door are $12 general admission and $8 for students and senior citizens. There also will be a free lecture-demonstration at 3 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall, 1484 University St. Mitsuki Dazai graduated from Japan’s renowned Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, and completed studies in traditional and contemporary koto music at the Ikuta School and the Sawai Koto Conservatory. She is active in concerts and festivals throughout the United States and Japan. Mitsuki’s musical background is diverse as a performer, innovator and arranger. Her performances often incorporate western, pop and improvisational elements, challenging the many voices of the koto. Peter Hill is one of the foremost performers and authorities on the shakuhachi outside of Japan. He began his studies in Kyoto in 1988, eventually spending seven years learning from master players, including grandmaster Yokoyama Katsuya. In 2002 Hill was awarded first place in the New King of Shakuhachi Competition in Tokyo -- the first foreign player to win this prize.

Sunday, Oct. 28 -- 3 p.m.
The University Symphony, directed by Wayne Bennett, will give a concert at 3 p.m. in Beall Hall, Music Building, 961 E. 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $7 general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens. The program includes "Danse Macabre by Saint Saens; "Funeral March of a Marionette" by Gounod; two movements from "Symphonie Fantastique" by Berlioz; and "Rainbow Body" by Christopher Theofanidis. Also on the program is Schumann’s "Cello Concerto," featuring faculty cellist Steven Pologe. Pologe received his bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and his master’s degree from the Juilliard School. Prior to joining the music faculty, Pologe was a principal cellist with the Honolulu Symphony for 13 seasons, appearing frequently as a featured soloist.

Monday, Oct. 29 -- 8 p.m.
University of Oregon Jazz Lab Bands II and III will present an evening of instrumental jazz at 8 p.m. in Room 178, Music Building, 961 E. 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $7 general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens.

Tuesday, Oct. 30 -- 7:30 p.m.
Members of the Oregon Tuba Ensemble and the University of Oregon Tuba Ensemble will be featured in the annual OcTUBAfest at 7:30 p.m. in Beall Hall, Music Building, 961 E 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $7 general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens. The "high-class, low-brass" concert, under the direction of professor Michael Grose, will also include a variety of student soloists in addition to the two ensembles. Composers represented will include Vaughan Williams, Hindemith, Nehlybel, Holst, Gounod and others. A featured soloist will be Seth Horner performing the classic "Asleep in the Deep" with the University of Oregon Tuba Ensemble. Horner is a master’s student at the University of Oregon. He graduated from South Eugene High School and earned his bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He has been a member of the Colorado Symphony and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

For more information on the School of Music and Dance, or to receive a complete calendar of events, call the university music school weekdays, 541-346-5678, or visit music.uoregon.edu. Additional University of Oregon event listings are available at http://duckhenge.uoregon.edu/calendar/.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest

Contact: Pauline Austin, 541-346-3129, paustin@uoregon.edu

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