KINGSTON, R.I. – April 16, 2024 – A week-long cacophony of concerts by the Department of Music at the University of Rhode Island is scheduled to kick off Saturday, April 20, and finish with a flourish on Sunday, April 28, with the student composers concert that showcases original compositions of numerous student musicians.
Tickets for each event are available on-site the night of each performance, and they can also be purchased online via EventBrite. General admission is $15; $10 for students and seniors. URI concerts are free for children 12 and under. All concerts are in the Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston.
The Concert Choir, an audition-based ensemble conducted and taught by Department Chair Mark Conley, will open the series of concerts set to close out the spring semester schedule with a performance on Saturday, April 20, at 8 p.m.
On Wednesday, April 24, the University Chorus, a vocal collective open to all students without audition, is the next concert in store for the URI community. The chorus is conducted by Elizabeth Woodhouse, a URI teacher in music education. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.
The Jazz Big Band, conducted and taught by Professor of Music Emmett Goods, has set its concert for Thursday, April 25, at 8 p.m. The show will premiere a selection by one of the music department’s very own educators. Student musicians have been refining the eight-movement suite by Music Teacher Haneef Nelson, who will be performing alongside them.
“This is the first time we’re doing a premiere,” says Goods.
The Big Band will also perform two pieces by the late jazz pianist Cedar Walton, with vocals provided by juniors Ricki Rizzo and Beckett Collins.
On May 2, the Big Band will perform at Pump House Music Works in Wakefield at 7 p.m., and several URI jazz combos will play the day after at the Pump House at 6 p.m.
Students belonging to URI jazz combos, groups selected by the music department, will perform tonight, April 16, and Thursday, April 18, respectively at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center. The combos will feature the Latin jazz ensemble, performing alongside jazz voice students, in small performance groups.
On Friday, April 26, the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band will perform at 8 p.m. This will be the third time the Concert Band and Wind Ensemble will share a performance, says Director of Bands Brian Cardany, who conducts both ensembles.
The ensembles will perform separately, but with a joint theme. The concert will take the audience on an intentional journey through genre and subject matter via the pacing and intensity of each selection.
The Wind Ensemble will begin its performance with several pieces based on the liveliness of city living. “Metroplex,” by Robert Sheldon, is an ode to New York City, while “Urban Light,” by James David, is inspired by Los Angeles. In between those selections, “Melodious Thunk,” by David Biedenbender, will provide a transition in the style of bebop jazz.
The bridge between the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band repertoire is a piece that Cardany believes is timeless and eternal in its depiction of the battle between good and evil in the real world. “Angels in the Architecture,” by Frank Ticheli, is a powerful, 14-minute song that dips and dives between melancholic, joyous, and war-like.
“It seems like we’re having these conflicts, as well as these moments of catharsis and beauty in the world,” says Cardany, describing why he chose the song.
“This piece was written 20 years ago, when the world was quite different,” he says. “But it seems like we’re still having these general issues.”
After the thematic pivot of “Angels in the Architecture,” the Concert Band will begin its repertoire. “Canticle Creatures” by James Curnow is the first piece, based on the mystical writings of St. Francis of Assisi.
The band will also perform “The Redwoods,” by Rossante Galante, “Vesuvius,” another Ticheli selection, and in finale, “Xerxes,” by John Mackey, based on the exploits of the ancient Persian emperor.
Cardany says that gearing up for concert season is “a long process, weeks and weeks, trying to have the most refined performance.”
The Symphony Orchestra has scheduled its final performance for Saturday, April 27, at 8 p.m. This performance will recognize student composer Matthew Masse, premiering one of his own selections, “Chronicle,” which won him the URI Orchestral Composition Competition.
The Symphony Orchestra will perform five selections, featuring two graduate student soloists and winners of the University’s concerto competition – Moe Takamatsu and Rom Larson – Masse’s composition, and “Warrior Legacy,” by Soon Hee Newbold. The final selection will be conducted by first-year graduate student Keith Brown.
The other compositions are “Trombone Concertino” by Ferdinand David, “Capriccio Espagnol” by Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov, and the Piano Concerto No. 3 by Ludwig Van Beethoven.
The Symphony Orchestra is made up of students from all grades, as well as community members with a passion for music.
“One of the things I am very proud of, is that even though we have both students and community members, we are playing works that the Boston Symphony Orchestra or the Rhode Island Philharmonic get to play,” says Luis Viquez, director of orchestral studies at the University.
This story was written by Samantha Melia, a senior journalism and political science major at the University of Rhode Island and an intern in the Department of Marketing and Communications.