Music Professors Perform Contemporary Works June 7

Larry Stockton, professor and head of music, and James Moyer, associate professor of music and director of bands, will be joining members of the modern music organization Luna Nova for a New Music Concert held at 7:30 p.m. June 7 in the Williams Center for the Arts.

The free concert will feature flute, cello, marimba, and piano performances of works by contemporary Japanese, Cambodian-American, and American composers, as well as an improvisational piece using traditional Japanese percussion instruments by Stockton.

The program includes:

• Air for Solo Flute by Toru Takemitsu, performed by John McMurtery on flute
• Khse Buon by Chinary Ung, performed by Craig Hultgren on cello
• Rimbasly by Daniel McCarthy, performed by Moyer on marimba
• Improvisations on Geza Ongaku, performed by Stockton on Japanese percussion
• Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) by George Crum, performed by McMurtery on electric flute, Hultgren on electric cello, and Adam Bowles on electric piano

Stockton’s piece is related to research he has been performing on the 400-year-old Japanese Kabuki Theater. He will improvise variations on the traditional off-stage music (Geza Ongaku) or sound effects used during kabuki performances. There are more than 200 sound effect patterns used to indicate weather, location, and dramatic situations. Stockton has been studying with Tanaka, Denji, an 11th generation member of the Tanaka guild of Kabuki drummers.

Luna Nova is a group of seven musicians formed in 2002 as the resident ensemble for the annual New Music Festival of the Associated Colleges of the South. It is also currently the resident ensemble for the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE) New Music Festival. The Lafayette music department will host the NITLE Orpheus Alliance Music and Technology Conference June 7-10.

John McMurtery holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School. He performs with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, UpTown Flutes, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, The Society for Chromatic Art, and the New Vienna Chamber Ensemble.

Craig Hultgren is a recipient of two Artist Fellowships from the Alabama State Council on the Arts. He is a member of Thámyris, a contemporary chamber music ensemble in Atlanta, and the Alabama Symphony. He has performed solo concerts and chamber music in Rome, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadephia and Atlanta. He also produces the Hultgren Solo Cello Works Biennial, an international competition that highlights the best new compositions.

Adam Bowles performs frequently in the Birmingham Art Music Alliance, Artburst, and similar venues for new music. He is an instructor at the Birmingham-Southern College Conservatory.