SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music Welcomes Audiences for Upcoming Free Performances
The Crane West African Drum and Dance Ensemble will present a concert on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m., in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music. For a program or to see the full list of upcoming livestreamed performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/cranelive.
SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will feature its talented students and in a series of nearly daily upcoming live performances this month.
All performances are free, and the public is invited to attend.
This evening, the Crane Jazz Ensemble will be joined onstage with tap dancer Bailey Yerdon in a performance on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m., in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater. The ensemble, which is directed by SeungYoung Hong, will present the Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite,” followed by classic tunes, including works by Raphael Bryant, Miles Davis, Frank Foster and Thad Jones. Yerdon will perform percussive tap dance alongside the 19-member ensemble.
The Crane Flute Choir and Crane Clarinet Choir will join forces for a shared concert tomorrow, Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m., in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall. Taking the stage first, the Crane Clarinet Choir, which is directed by Carol Lowe, will present a series of television and film favorites, including the “Classic Cartoon Suite,” and themes from “Forrest Gump,” “Pink Panther,” “The Polar Express” and “Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid.” Then, the Crane Flute Choir, directed by Brian Dunbar, will present works by Ladd McIntosh, Peter Schickele, Jindrich Feld, Alexandrea Molnar-Suhajda and Nicole Chamberlain, as well as an arrangement of “Wait for Me” from “Hadestown.”
In a concert titled “Fire and Water,” the Crane Concert Choir and Hosmer Choir will perform together on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater. Conducted by Nils Klykken, the Hosmer Choir will present “The Road Home” by Stephen Paulus, “Meet Me Here” from “Considering Matthew Shephard” by Craig Hella Johnson, “Phoenix” by Jocelyn Hagen and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” by Elton John. The Concert Choir, conducted by Meagan Dissinger, will perform Katerina Gimon’s “Come Back Like the Sea,” an arrangement of “Wade in the Water” by Rosephanye Powell, Benjamin Britten’s “Carry Her Over the Water,” George Tsz-Kwan Lam’s “Water in Love” and Reginal Wright’s “Tides.”
The Crane West African Drum and Dance Ensemble will get toes tapping with their performance including works from Ghana, Togo and Benin, on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Snell Theater. Joined by guest artist and instructor Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng, the group will present traditional songs and dances including “Calabash Song,” “Nuwoname Loo” and “Nsa Ni O,” as well as Gahu, Kpegisu and Kpanlogo dance-drumming pieces. Dancing is encouraged at this family-friendly performance.
The Student Composers Forum will showcase premieres of new works by seven students on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m., also in Snell Theater. The composers include Brodie Ainsworth, William Codd, Chris Connors, Katherin Golden, Luke Jandreau, Connor Martin, Matthew Puhlman and Maria Tartaglia.
The Crane Latin Ensemble is among the upcoming groups to have near-daily free performances at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music. For a full list, visit www.potsdam.edu/cranelive.
The Crane Brass Ensemble will present a fall concert on Monday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m., in Hosmer Hall. Directed by Christopher Hernacki, the 20-member ensemble will open with “Olympics Fanfare” by Robert Washburn, followed by “Mutations from Bach” by Samuel Barber. The performance will also include “Now… and Not Yet” by Thomas B. Yee, “Quidditch” by John Williams, “Australian Up-Country Tune” by Percy Grainger, “On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss” by David Holsinger, arranged by Christopher Prentice, and “Symphony in Brass” by Eric Ewazen.
The Crane Mariachi Ensemble will present a concert titled “Mariachi Los Osos del Norte” on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater. The group is directed by Shelly Tramposh, and will welcome special guest Joanna Alpizar on violin and vocals for the performance. The ensemble will present boleros, rancheras, sones, huapangos, and an arrangement of “Remember Me” by student Ricky Chui. Singing, dancing, clapping and shouting are all welcome at the show, which will be followed by a reception in the Snell Lobby.
The Crane Concert Band, directed by Jill Roberts, will offer a wide-ranging program at its performance on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m., in Hosmer Hall. The group will open with “Procession of the Nobles” from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera ballet, “Mlada,” followed by an introspective and soulful arrangement of the classic American folk tune “Shenandoah” by Omar Thomas. The band will also perform “Festal Scenes” by Yahushide Ito, which interweaves four folk songs from the Aomori Prefecture of Japan, Carolyn Bremer’s “Early Light” (derived in part from “The Star Spangled Banner”) and Dana Wilson’s “Day Dreams,” which was originally commissioned in honor of conductor Frank Battisti. The performance will conclude with Arturo Marquez’s “Conga del Fuego Nuevo,” a celebratory Latin American piece with considerable temperament and rhythm.
An evening of string music will follow, featuring Student Quartets and the Crane Cello Ensemble, on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 5 p.m., in Snell Theater. The ensembles will present Antonin Dvorak’s “Terzetto in D-Major,” Philip Glass’s “String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima),” and Edvard Grieg’s “Quartet in G-Minor.” Following a break, the Crane Cello Ensemble will close the program with “In Nature’s Realm, Op. 63” by Dvorak, a movement from “Rock Light” by Jean-Christophe Masson and a special arrangement of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Freddie Mercury.
Next up is the Crane Symphonic Band, performing on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m., in Hosmer Hall. In a concert conducted by Brian K. Doyle, the band will present Katahj Copley’s “Skyward,” Joni Greene’s “Suspended in a Sunbeam,” Shawn Okpebholo’s “Ritual Dances,” Arthur Frackenpohl’s “Madstop Twostep,” Cait Nishimura’s “Origin,” Johannes Hansen’s “Valdres,” and John Barnes Chance’s “Symphony No. 2” and Omar Thomas’s “Caribana Afterparty.”
The Eclectic Ensemble will present a concert on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater, with a program to be announced.
With another performance to get audiences grooving and moving, the Crane Latin Ensemble will perform an evening concert on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater. The group is directed by Peter McCoy with co-instructor Ivette Herryman Rodriguez. This performance will highlight faculty member Christopher Hernacki on trombone, in a program featuring works by Junior Cepeda, Luis Demeterio, Oscar Hernandez, Aaron Lington, La Lupe, Miguel Matamoros, Cesar Osozco, Tito Puente, Pablo Beltran Ruiz, Israel Lopez Valdes “Cachao,” and Consuelo Velazquez.
The Crane Harp, Guitar and Percussion Ensembles will present a group concert on Thursday, Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater.
The traditional Crane Candlelight Concert will be held on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 3 p.m., also in Hosmer Hall. More details on this holiday season classic will soon be announced.
To close the semester, the Crane Wind Ensemble will offer its final fall concert on Monday, Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m., in Hosmer Hall.
The events are a community benefit of being home to one of the premier schools of music in the nation—and thanks to livestreaming, anyone anywhere can watch and enjoy. For program details and more information on these and other upcoming performances, please visit www.potsdam.edu/cranelive.
About The Crane School of Music:
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 and was one of the first Yamaha Institutions of Excellence. For more information, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.
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