Faculty Artist Series concert resonates in Ruth Lilly
The University of Indianapolis held a Faculty Artist Concert Series performance on Jan. 30 that highlighted the flute. The concert, entitled “Focus on Flute,” was held in Ruth Lilly Performance Hall in the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center.
Faculty music adjunct, Anne Reynolds, assistant professor of music Ariana Kim and faculty music adjunct Thomas Gerber perform on flute, violin and harpsichord. Photo by Kelbi Ervin
The concert was comprised of four pieces, blending the sounds of flute, violin, cello, harpsichord and harp. Electronics and percussion, as well as a dancer, added to the performance.
The show opened with the Baroque piece “Trio Sonata in B minor,” composed by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The audience responded well to this piece, offering an extended round of applause to the performers.
The 500-seat Viennese-style concert hall was nearly full with concert-goers as the performance moved on to the second melody, “First Concerto for Flute and Percussion.” This piece included a flute and two drums and was written by American composer Lou Harrison.
“My premise is that I try and present music that’s varied and as interesting as I can find,” said Adjunct Professor of music Anne Reynolds. “I hope it’s interesting to the audience; I know it’s interesting to me.”
Reynolds’ principle goal for the “Focus on Flute” concert was to give the audience a variation of styles for everyone to enjoy.
The third piece was “Serenade No. 10 for Flute and Harp.” Vincent Persichetti composed this piece, which included eight parts. The unusual combination of flute and harp greatly varied from the previous music.
Bringing up the end of the concert was “Narcissus for Solo Flute with Digital Delay.” Originally composed by Thea Musgrave, “Narcissus” was altered for this performance with the use of electronics. The dance that accompanied this number was performed and choreographed by Mariel Greenlee, a member of Dance Kaleidoscope in Indianapolis.
According to Reynolds, she still gets nervous during performances.
“When I start, I’m a little shaky,” she said. “And then as you play along − that’s the nice thing about playing a whole recital is you playing along − you get involved in what you’re doing, and then you’re not so nervous.”
In addition to Reynolds and Greenlee, Associate Professor of music Ariana Kim played violin, Associate Adjunct Faculty of music Dennis McCafferty played cello, Heather Sloan and DePauw University Professor of music Amy Lynn Barber were the percussionists and Stephanie Newberry Hall played harp. On the harpsichord for the evening’s concert was Thomas Gerber. Peter Nichols rounded off the group with electronics.
Reynolds has a specific idea for how she wished the show to affect music students.
“One hopes that it [the concert] represents an idea of how they should do performances, and shows them some different music.”
