Lots of free music performances coming from Wellesley College’s Music Department this fall:
Zili Misik and the Cercie Miller Quartet Wednesday, Sept. 15 | 7:30 pm| Jewett Plaza
In conjunction with the opening of the Davis Museum’s fall exhibition Calculated Risks, Department of Music faculty Cercie Miller and Kyra Washington, bring their dynamic bands together on one stage. Both the Cercie Miller Quartet (CMQ) and Zili Misik are beloved contributors to Boston’s musical landscape, with unique sounds of their own. The pairing of CMQ’s mastery of the jazz canon with Zili’s blend of music that reconnects the sounds of Africa and African diasporic nations is a calculated risk bound to reap significant musical rewards.
Beacon BrassQuintet Wednesday, Oct. 6 | 12:30 pm| Jewett Auditorium
Hailed as “one of the nation’s finest chamber ensembles” by Bostonia magazine, Beacon Brass Quintet features performing faculty member Dana Russian. In 1983, the Quintet became the first brass ensemble ever to win the prestigious Concert Artists Guild Award, and it has been performing in concert throughout the United States ever since. Recently, the Quintet was featured in lecture-recitals with Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart. Noted for their expertise in a wide spectrum of music, their program at Wellesley will span five centuries.
“That Wants it Down”: Music that Defies Barriers – Faculty Concert Saturday, Oct.16 | 8:00 pm | Houghton Chapel The annual classical faculty concert brings Wellesley’s dynamic performing faculty from the studio and classroom to the stage and community. This year, they will present a program of music by polystylist composers, including Barber, Cage, Del Tredici, Hindemith, Schnittke and Shostakovich. Faculty musicians include Eliko Akahori, piano; Marion Dry, contralto; David Russell, cello; Dana Russian, trumpet; Lois Shapiro, piano; Olga Talroze, piano; and Antoine van Dongen, violin.
Blue HeronRenaissance Choir Saturday,Nov. 6 | 8:00 pm | Houghton Chapel
Dubbed a“leading actor in the field of Renaissance music,” by Fanfare Magazine, the Boston-based Blue Heron Renaissance Choir (www.Blueheronchoir.org) is a vocal ensemble that combines commitment to vivid live performance with the study of original source materials and historical performance practice. The ensemble’s program is inspired by a new acquisition in the Wellesley College Music Library, a heart-shaped facsimile of the Le Chansonnier de Jean Montchenu, a book of 14th-century French chansons. The book will be displayed in the Multifaith Center following the evening’s program.
The Carey Concert: Pianist Charles Fisk Colloque Sentimentale: Chopin and Debussy in Paris Sunday, Nov. 14 | 7:00 pm |Jewett Auditorium Pianist Charles Fisk, Phyllis Henderson Carey Professor of Music, will be joined by faculty members contralto Marion Dry and cellist David Russell in a program including Debussy’s Fetes galantes II, Trois Poèmes de Mallarmé, Pour le Piano and Images, and Chopin’s cello sonata, Polonaise in F# minor, Op.44, Mazurka in C# minor Op.50/3, Berceuse in Db, Op.57 and Barcarolle in F#, Op.60. A faculty member since 1973, Fisk was the highest-ranking American in the 1980 J.S. Bach International Competition in Washington, D.C. His Carey Concert performances are a beloved annual tradition.
Paula Zeitlin Quintet Wednesday, Nov. 17 | 12:30 pm| Jewett Auditorium
Paula Zeitlin Quintet (PZQ), featuring Wellesley performing faculty member and jazz violinist Paula Zeitlin, guitarist Steve Thomas, bassist Maggie Rizzi, pianist Bob Ponte and drummer Greg Conroy, is a veteran ensemble in the Boston music scene. Their performance at Wellesley will showcase PZQ’s unique sound, influenced by Dawg and gypsy jazz, samba and Afro-Cuban jazz, Bach and bluegrass. For more, go to www.paulazeitlin.com.
Boston Modern Orchestra Project Luminous Noise: Three Women Compose Saturday, Dec. 11 | 8:00 pm |Houghton Chapel
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the most prominent orchestra in the country devoted to playing new orchestral music, will be in residency and perform at Wellesley College during the 2010-11 academic year. Not only is BMOP is dedicated to commissioning, performing and recording new music, but also to training the next generation of young composers and musicians. Throughout the year, BMOP members will interact with Department of Music student composers, performers and music historians through master classes, ensemble coachings and classroom visits.
BMOP’s December 11 program will feature music by three cutting-edge women composers—Chen Yi, Arlene Zallman and a world premiere by Wellesley faculty Jenny Olivia Johnson.
