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The Lafayette Wind Chamber Ensemble and Concert Band will perform in concert 5 p.m. Sunday at the Williams Center for the Arts.
The performance is free and open to the public. It will be preceded by a Lafayette Orchestra concert at 2 p.m.
The Wind Chamber Ensemble program will begin with “Escapes” by Gaston Nuyts and “Arcade,” featuring the clarinet quartet of Abigail Frueh ’04, Magee Perini ’05, Aperna Sherman ’02, and Alyssa Wiley ’05. “Menuet” by B.M. Colomer and “Allegro Molto” by Mozart will be performed by the quintet of Kelly Stewart ’02, flute; Jennifer Tonkin ’03, flute; Anne Neumeister ’03, clarinet; Alanna Cleary ’03, bassoon; and Virginia Foulkrod ’05, horn. The final pieces, “Allegro” from Brandenburg Concerto No.3 by J.S. Bach (arranged John E. Davis) and “Pavane” by Gabriel Faure (arranged by William Bennett), will be played by the flute choir: Ponder, college relations office assistant Caroline Dawson, Karen Dunlap ’03, Jonathan Glick ’05, Andrew Saunders ’02, and Stephanie Spence ’02.
“Playing chamber music in small ensembles is both challenging and rewarding,” says Charlton. “The students each have their own individual part and there is no one to hide behind. Many technical and musical aspects must be addressed in weekly rehearsals, including pitch, blend, phrasing and interpretation of the music. Playing chamber music is much more than just sitting down and nailing the correct notes and rhythms. In effective chamber music rehearsals, students learn how to give and receive constructive criticism, experience the delicate art of compromise and, in the end, improve their own musicianship.”
A native of St. Paul, Minn., Charlton earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin. Her principal teachers include Robert Cole, Robert Goodberg, and Mary Roberts Wilson, and she has performed in master classes given by Julius Baker, Paula Robison, and Thomas Nyfenger. She has performed with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, Waterloo Festival Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, and Ambrosian Wind Quintet. Locally, Charlton performs with the Allentown Symphony, Bach Festival Orchestra, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, and chamber music ensembles, including frequent collaborations with Lafayette piano instructor Alexis Firstenberg Fisher. She has held the positions of instructor of flute and director of wind chamber ensembles at Lafayette since 1992.
The Concert Band will perform “Gavorkna Fanfare” by Jack Stamp, “Suite Francaise” by Darius Milhaud, “The Black Horse Troop” by John Philip Sousa, and “In C” by Terry Riley.
The Concert Band is comprised of flutists Stephanie Spence ’02, who also plays piccolo, and Julie Struck ’03; bassoonist Alanna Cleary ’03; clarinetists Abigail Frueh ’04, Alyssa Wiley ’05, Rachel Harris ’04, Magee Perini ’05 (soprano), and Aperna Sherman ’02 (bass); alto sax players Jonathan Glick ’05 and Jack Furlong ’05; trumpet players Mike Nilson ’05, Rob McEwen ’05, Briana Niblick ’05, Tom Brennan ’05, and Tom Ahrens ’02; horn player Virginia Foulkrod ’05; trombonists Jim Reeder ’03 and Ingrid DeVries ’05; baritone players Dave Mitchell ’05 and Katie Powell ’03; tuba player Laura Feeney ’02; and percussionists Elizabeth Cassidy ’05, Charise Logan ’05, and Dave Casteletti ’05.
“Gavorkna” is an ordinary piece for band, although it is a very ambitious one for the Concert Band, notes director Tom DiGiovanni ’96.
Milhaud is best known for his orchestral works, but wrote a handful of pieces for band, he adds. “Suite Francaise” was written after World War II, and each of the five movements is named for different provinces where Allied forces fought alongside the French underground for the liberation of France. The fourth movement will be guest conducted by Mitchell. “Dave is involved with almost every performance group on campus and will be playing baritone horn in the remainder of the concert,” says DiGiovanni.
“In C” was written in 1964 by Terry Riley. It is the first piece to use repeated “cells” of music to formulate the whole. It is scored for open instrumentation, meaning it is written for any instrument, including voice.
“Each performer is asked to play a ‘cell’ of music (a short melody or motif) and repeat that cell as many times as he or she wishes to do so,” says DiGiovanni. “The piece contains 53 total cells, and it is up to each individual when to move on to the next one. The piece ends when all performers arrive at cell 53. This type of modular composition opened the floodgates for the minimalist music of composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass.”
In addition to Concert Band, DiGiovanni directs Lafayette’s Pep Band, Brass Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble. He organized the first Pep Band camp in 1997. DiGiovanni graduated from Lafayette with a dual degree in music and computer science. He earned his master’s in orchestral conducting from Queens College. He is pianist with Speck6, a new music sextet based in New York, and conductor of the Miraculous Mandarin Ensemble, a New York chamber orchestra dedicated to performing works by up-and-coming composers.
At its December concert, the Lafayette Jazz Ensemble performed “Philly Cheese,” a new DiGiovanni composition that he conducted. He frequently serves as musical director for College Theater productions, including She Stoops to Conquer last month.