The Texas Tech University School of Music’s first concert of the 2017-18 academic year will feature the University Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Philip Mann, the School of Music’s newly appointed Director of Orchestral Studies.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Sunday (Sept. 17) in the Hemmle Recital Hall. The performance is free and open to the public.

Titled “Love Rising,” this concert heralds new horizons of programming and collaboration for the University Orchestras, thanks to Mann’s recent arrival.

The performance opens with the overture to Russian composer Mikhail Glinka’s 1842 opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila.” Based on the poem of the same name by celebrated Russian poet and novelist Alexander Pushkin, its plot tells the tale of an evil sorcerer kidnapping Prince Vladimir the Great’s daughter Lyudmila during her wedding feast with her betrothed Ruslan. Amidst chaos, magic and dealings with Lyudmila’s unsuccessful suitors, Ruslan wins the day and successfully rescues his beloved.

After Glinka’s overture, a contemporary work will make its world premiere by the orchestra along with the collaboration of flute virtuoso Carol Wincenc.

Contemporary American composer Joan Tower wrote “Rising,” a piece for flute and string quartet, for Wincenc in 2009. In this concert, its arrangement by Tower for flute soloist and orchestra will be performed for the first time.

“I have always been interested in how music can ‘go up,'” Tower said. “It is a simple action, but one that can have so many variables: slow or fast tempos, accelerating, slowing down, getting louder or softer – with thick or thin surrounding textures going in the same or opposite directions.”

Following “Rising,” the concert will close with selections from Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Swan Lake.”

Hailed “Queen of the Flute” by New York Magazine, Wincenc was first-prize winner of the Naumburg Solo Flute Competition as well as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Flute Association.

Wincenc has appeared as a soloist with such ensembles as the Chicago, San Francisco and London symphonies. She also teaches on the faculties of The Juilliard School and Stony Brook University.

Wincenc’s appearance with the orchestra is the first event to take place during her four-day residency at the School of Music. Throughout her visit, she will give master classes to both the School of Music’s flute studio and to chamber groups composed of students from the woodwind area of the School of Music.

The master class for the graduate woodwind quintet will be 10 a.m. Monday (Sept. 18) in Hemmle Recital Hall at the School of Music. Three flute studio master classes will be offered at 6 p.m. on their respective days. The first will be held Monday (Sept. 18) in room 010 of the School of Music’s Choir Hall. The other two will be held on Tuesday (Sept. 19) and Wednesday (Sept. 20) in the Talkington Hall of the Legacy Event Center. Burkart Flutes will have instruments available for trial from 5-6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Legacy Event Center prior to the master class that evening. All master classes are free and open to the public.

CONTACT:
Alicia Caicedo, Unit Coordinator for Choirs, Orchestras and Opera Theatre, School of Music, J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts, Texas Tech University (806) 742-6734 or alicia.caicedo-cavazos@ttu.edu

(News release from Texas Tech University)