For those who weren’t distraught by the rain and gloom of yesterday’s
weather (the calm before the ‘Frankenstorm’, so to speak) the Frostburg State
President’s Concert could be considered an Unforgettable show for the music lovers of the campus.
Despite the name, the concert was open to the public and was free to all students. Sadly, only half the
theatre was full, leading one to question why students wouldn’t take advantage of an event like this. That aside, 6 of
the school’s best student performers, 4 Faculty Artists, and the FSU Chamber Choir under the
direction of Dr. Karen Soderberg put on a 10 part Concert of a lifetime.
First on the stage was clarinet
player Amanda Gold accompanied by Robert O’Neal on Marimba. They performed 3 movements of Prisms by Robert
E. Kruetz, as highlights of the beautiful piece. This was not the first time the duet played this on
the stage of the Performing Arts Center, however, as almost a
month ago they (alongside Dr. James DeWire) took to the stage with this piece and two others for Amanda’s recital in September. After
their performance Amanda Kiser, a flute player, took the stage with an unusual piece of music titled “Lookout!”
by living composer Robert Dick. Dick, heavily influenced by Rock music of the 1960’s, made his piece
mimic the sounds of a guitar and drums of rock star Jimi Hendrix all on the flute. Despite being
unorthodox, the piece was executed brilliantly. After Kiser was the first of the Faculty Artists, Dr. Brent Weber,
took to the stage with his Saxophone. His piece, “Blue Caprice” by Victor Morosco, became one of the
highlights of the Concert. Like the other performers before and after him he was met with a score of
applause from the audience. Guitarist Robert Wallace was up after Dr. Weber, and played “A Breeze
from Alabama” and “Prelude No. 2” by Scott Joplin and Heitor Villa Lobos. Unlike many of the
other pieces it sounded less classically composed and more folk-like, which made for a beautiful change of
pace for the program. Another professor would replace him on stage after Wallace, Dr. Steven Soebbing, as
a Bass/Baritone singer alongside the faculty's accompanist Dr. James DeWire on piano. Aided
by his years of classical training he sang “Baachus is a pow’r divine” by Henry Purcell and in
German “Tom der Reimer” by Carl Loewe. Many of Vocal Music singers would agree that Soebbing is a
useful and integral part of the Department of Music.
Following
Intermission was another vocal piece by soprano Britany Poindexter titled “Let
a Gallant Youth Come Towards Me” by Carl Maria von Weber. Her voice can be
heard from most of the vocal chorales of Frostburg State, and she is a powerful
Soprano II in the Chamber Choir. Matthew Green, yet another Marimba player,
followed Poindexter with a song from another living composer, David Steinquist,
called "Uncommon Time". Next to perform was, without a doubt, the
most featured artist of the faculty-Frostburg State’s newest accompanist, Dr.
James “Jay:” DeWire. He not only had to memorize Dr. Soebbing and Britany
Poindexter’s pieces but he was featured alone on the Piano himself. He played
“St. Francis of Paola Walking on the Waves: Legend No. 2” by the famous
composer Franz Liszt, a riveting song about the catholic saint Francis crossing
a body of water to embark on God’s work after a boatmen refused to ferry him to
the other side. It, along with Brent Weber's performance of "Blue
Caprice" were among the favorites of the audience attending the concert.
Second to last was Dr. Patrick Sise, another new teacher specializing in Guitar
Music. He performed a song from Mozart’s The
Magic Flute arranged by Fernando Sor. The last group to take the stage was
the FSU Chamber Choir with 33 members in its composition. After singing 3 songs
by William Byrd, the 2 hour long concert was over and everyone could leave.
It
is interesting to note before I close
that, despite the mixture of Faculty and Students in the concert, one
could not truly discern as to which group was better than the other. Both
performed to the best of their ability, and every performer’s talents were mesmerizing.
Though the President could not be reached for a word on how he enjoyed his
concert-I have no doubts that he enjoyed the show of his namesake as much as
the audience did.
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