SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music Welcomes Audiences for Upcoming Concerts & Recitals
The Crane Symphony Orchestra will present a spring concert on Wednesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m., in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall. For a full list of upcoming Crane concerts, visit www.potsdam.edu/cranelive.
SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will feature its talented students and world-renowned faculty artists in a series of upcoming live performances this spring.
All performances are free, and the public is invited to attend.
Christopher Keach (trumpet) and Andrew Voelker (piano) will present a faculty recital, titled “Songs of Hope and Resilience,” on Tuesday, March 18, at 7:30 p.m., in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater, joined by fellow faculty members. The evening will include an array of contemporary works by Beth Wiemann, Raven Chacon, Karen Tanaka, Ivette Herryman Rodriguez, Amy Dunker and Hannah Boissonneault. The performance will include two world premieres, including “Rise, Resurge and Rest” by Sofia Galadriel and “Three Avian Meditations” by Tyler Mazone ’21. The list of performers includes Marie-Élaine Gagnon (cello), Shelly Tramposh (viola), Emma Gierszal (marimba) and Margaret Hopkins (trumpet).
The Crane Latin Ensemble will offer another signature high-energy show on Friday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater. The group, which is directed by Peter McCoy and Ivette Herryman Rodriguez, will be joined by Keach on trumpet for this performance. The ensemble will perform works by Oscar Hernandez, Tito Puente, Paquito d’Rivera, Arsenio Rodriguez, José Madera and a transcription of Pete Escovedo’s version of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.” The Crane Latin Ensemble is dedicated to promoting Latin American dance music, specializing in Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican traditional musical styles.
Julianne Kirk Doyle (clarinet) will lead a concert, “Chamber Music by Women of the 21st Century,” featuring two world premieres and a series of guest artists, on Sunday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m., also in Snell Theater. Doyle and Emma Gierszal will open the concert with “All That Remains” by Theresa Martin, followed by two world premieres by the composer Stacy Garrop. The first, “Repair the World,” features Keilor Kastella on piano, and the second, “My Dearest Ruth,” includes Jonathan Brown as the narrator. Fellow clarinetists Jill Roberts and Christine Hoerning will take the stage for “Beautiful and Powerful Si Women” by Mary Alice Druhan. The performance will conclude with Jenni Brandon’s “From Sea to Sky: Stories of Amazing Women,” with Doyle joined by Anna Hendrickson (oboe), Carol Lowe (bassoon) and Brown providing narration.
“This recital celebrates living female composers who continue to generously contribute wonderful works to the 21st century clarinet repertoire. Each of these works will take you on a journey. Life journeys are full of wonder, joy, beauty and discovery, but can also be difficult, raw, ugly and painful,” Doyle said. “Music always perseveres and is our vehicle for expressing what we need to when words fail.”
Pianist Young-Ah Tak will present a solo faculty recital on Monday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Snell Theater. She will perform “Six Variations in G-Major” by Ludwig van Beethoven, “Piano Sonata No. 1” by Leon Kirchner and “Piano Sonata in G-Major” by Franz Schubert.
The Crane Wind Ensemble will present “The Winds of Change” on Tuesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m., in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall. The concert will open with “Deciduous” by Viet Cuong, followed by Catherine Bergman’s “Hidden Currents,” featuring Anna Hendrickson on oboe. The ensemble, which is directed by Brian K. Doyle, will present David Biedenbender’s “Enigma,” and will conclude the performance with Paul Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.” Formed in 1956 by Willard Musser, the Crane Wind Ensemble comprises 58 of the most outstanding wind and percussion majors in The Crane School of Music.
The Giroux Honors Jazz Combo and Crane Jazz Band, directed by SeungYoung Hong, will team up for a joint performance on Thursday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater. The combo will kick things off with “Love and Heartbreaking,” performing a range of works by Cole Porter, Mort Garson, Jimmy Van Heusen, Quincy David, Turner Layton. The band will close the show with “The Jazz Calling,” with pieces by Ernie Wilkins, Thelonius Monk, Bill Holman, Johnny Hodges, Fred Ahlert and John Clayton.
The Crane Symphony Orchestra will take the Hosmer Hall stage on Wednesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m., conducted by Michael Colburn (Hon. ’12). They will present Ivette Herryman Rodriguez’s “Bienvenido Jubilo,” followed by the “Symphony in G-Minor” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Following a brief intermission, the symphony orchestra will present Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. Featuring 85 premier student performers, the Crane Symphony Orchestra is the second oldest college orchestra in the United States.
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.
PHOTO 1: Dr. Young-Ah Tak will present a piano recital at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music on Monday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Snell Theater.
PHOTO 2: The Crane Latin Ensemble will present a spring concert on Friday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music.
PHOTO 3: Dr. Julianne Kirk Doyle, clarinet, will lead a faculty recital, “Chamber Music by Women of the 21st Century,” on Sunday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m., in Snell Theater at The Crane School of Music.
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