SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will present a faculty recital featuring Lauren Becker on horn, accompanied by pianist Julie Miller, on Sunday, Feb. 4 at 3 p.m., in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater.
The duo will present Vaclav Nelhybel’s “Scherzo Concertante,” followed by a contemporary sonata by Margaret Brouwer and a 2006 piece, “Moon Lilies,” by Lydia Lowery Busler. Following a brief intermission, Becker and Miller will perform Edith Borroff’s “Sonata for Horn and Piano,” followed by the three-movement “Hunting Songs” by Brett Miller, and ending with “Eckig Blues” by Anthony Plog.
This concert is free, and the public is invited to attend.
About the performer:
Dr. Lauren Becker is an assistant professor of horn at The Crane School of Music. Active as a freelance musician, she has performed with ensembles throughout the United States and beyond, including the Rochester Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, Symphoria and Kuala Lumpur International Festival orchestras, as well as the North Country Chamber Players. Becker is a member of Music in the American Wild, a chamber ensemble that performed world-premiere compositions in nontraditional venues in seven U.S. National Parks during the summer of 2016 to celebrate the centennial of the National Parks Service. The ensemble continued its mission of commissioning and performing new music during the summer of 2017 with a residency at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute in New Hampshire. Becker has appeared on many recordings, including the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s collaboration with the Canadian Brass, titled “Manhattan Music” and the Buffalo Philharmonic's recording of selected works of Béla Bartók. She is a member of the Potsdam Brass Quintet and has presented at many conferences. Prior to her appointment at Crane, Becker taught horn at Nazareth College, the University of Rochester and the Eastman Community Music School. She has also been a horn instructor and chamber music coach at Crane Youth Music, the New York Summer Music Festival, the Summer Youth Music School at the University of New Hampshire and the Kendall Betts Horn Camp. Becker holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and a performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the 2013 Teaching Assistant Prize for excellence in collegiate teaching. She also received a Master of Music degree in horn performance and literature from Eastman, and earned her Bachelor of Music degree in music education at the University of New Hampshire.
This concert will be broadcast live on the Crane School of Music YouTube channel at the performance time. To view the program and see other upcoming streaming performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/streaming.
For more information about SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.
Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York’s only All-Steinway institution.
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