UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Music at Midweek

Music at Midweek: Tim Connell on Mandolin, March 11

The next Music at Midweek performance will feature mandolinist Tim Connell on Wednesday, March 11, 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. The event is free and open to all.

Tim Connell is well-known to acoustic music fans as a top-tier, virtuoso mandolinist, touring nationally with Don Julin, Eric Skye, and Mike Marshall’s Ger Mandolin Orchestra. Tim has also spent many years putting together a set of solo arrangements for the mandolin, from Brazilian choros to Irish jigs, from Beatles to Broadway. Tim couples these flights of virtuosic picking with heartfelt American songs, giving audiences an intimate window into his virtuosic yet emotional style and his deep passion for music and life.

For more information contact PFA at x7228 or pfa@up.edu.

Music at Midweek: Trevor New

The next Music at Midweek event will feature Trevor New, a Brooklyn-based electro-acoustic viola musician, on Wednesday, February 19, from 12:30 to 1:25 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. The performance is free and open to all. 

Trevor New has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist. He has appeared as a soloist performing the Elgar Cello Concerto transcribed for Viola, and premiering the Henderson Viola Concerto with the Chelsea Symphony of New York. As a chamber musician he has played with the Balkan Chamber Orchestra on a multi-city tour of Japan, Chris McNulty on her Jazz album “Eternal”, Joe Daley’s “Portraits and Virtues”, David Chesky’s “Joy and Sorrow”, Feist’s “Metals”, Hip-hop Violinist and Emmy award winner Damien Escobar, and in the TV Orchestra of television’s first drama about life in a symphony, “Mozart in the Jungle.” In 2018 Trevor performed a concert series with Academy Award winner Joe Hisaishi, playing his film scores, including “Spirited Away” at Carnegie Hall.

For more information contact performing and fine arts at x7228 or pfa@up.edu.

Music at Midweek: Carl Dupont and Gregory Thompson

The next Music at Midweek performance will feature bass-baritone Carl Dupont and pianist Gregory Thompson (pictured) on Wednesday, Oct0ber 23, at 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. Dupont and Gregory will present a recital of songs by African-American composers. They will also perform a concert that night in Mago Hunt at 7 p.m. Both are free and open to all.

 

 

 

Music at Midweek: Rhythmic Workshop

The next Music at Midweek event will feature TaKeTiNa, a rhythmic workshop with Mary Kogen (pictured) and Jacob Stein, on Wednesday, October 2, at 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. All are welcome to attend.

According to Kogen’s website, “TaKeTiNa invites everyone to be a beginner again. It lets people re-experience the resilience , perseverance, and joy of a baby learning to walk. TaKeTiNa begins with the voice speaking rhythmic syllables and the drum is added to establish the beat. We then add steps to those syllables. Soon everyone is moving and stepping, some to the beat, some not. Tensions ease and the atmosphere lightens as we explore how our bodies move in and out of rhythm. We often share our thoughts as we solidify our steps. As the drum  continues, we add a more complicated polyrhythmic clap, and then eventually a call and response of singing.”

For more information contact PFA at pfa@up.edu or go to marykogen.com/ or peaceinrhythm.com/.

 

 

Music at Midweek: The Alexander Technique, Sept. 25

The September 25 Music at Midweek event will be “Introduction to Alexander Technique,” with Rebecca Robbins, at 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. The event is free and open to all.

Robbins will speak on the Alexander Technique, invented by Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869-1955). An account of Alexander’s self-experimentation and discovery is related in his book, The Use of the Self, which describes his groundbreaking work in changing movement techniques in everyday life. According to alexandertechnique.com:

“The Alexander Technique is a way of learning to move mindfully through life. The Alexander process shines a light on inefficient habits of movement and patterns of accumulated tension, which interferes with our innate ability to move easily and according to how we are designed. It’s a simple yet powerful approach that offers the opportunity to take charge of one’s own learning and healing process, because it’s not a series of passive treatments but an active exploration that changes the way one thinks and responds in activity. It produces a skill set that can be applied in every situation. Lessons leave one feeling lighter, freer, and more grounded.”

For more information contact PFA at x7228 or pfa@up.edu. Also find out more at http://www.oregonalexander.com/

Music at Midweek: Voice Technique Master Class, March 27

The next Music at Midweek will feature a master class lecture on “Contemporary and Commercial Voice Technique” by Matthew Edwards on Wednesday, March 27, at 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. Music at Midweek is free and open to all.

Edwards is one of the leading voice teachers for commercial and musical theatre styles in the United States. He serves as associate professor and coordinator of musical theatre voice at Shenandoah University, artistic director of the Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute, and much more.

For more information contact performing and fine arts at x7228 or pfa@up.edu.

Music at Midweek: Dan Balmer & Friends, March 20

The next Music at Midweek will feature a jazz combo, Dan Balmer and Friends, on Wednesday, March 20, 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. Music at Midweek is free and open to all.

Balmer is a renowned guitarist who has worked with the Tom Grant Band in the 1990s, on world tours with two-time Grammy Award winner Diane Schuur, and in countless contemporary jam-bands. His playing spans nearly one hundred CDs including twelve as a leader from which his original works have appeared internationally in television, film and radio. He is the director of jazz combos at Lewis And Clark College while also serving on music faculty at virtually every other college in the greater Portland area. See Balmer in action at this link.

For more information contact performing and fine arts at x7228 or pfa@up.edu.

 

Music at Midweek, March 13: XX Digitus Duo

This week’s Music at Midweek event will feature the piano duo, XX Digitus Duo, on Wednesday, March 13, at 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. The performance is free and all are welcome.

Made up of Maria Garcia and Momoko Muramatsu, XX Digitus Duo is based in Portland and has gained wide acclaim for enthralling performances of four-handed piano pieces (hence “20 Fingers” Duo). Find out more about XX Digitus Duo at this link.

Music at Midweek, Feb. 27: Glazier & Ugorich

This week’s Music at Midweek featured Jackie Glazier on clarinet and Ivan Ugorich on piano on Wednesday, February 27, at 12:30 p.m., in Mago Hunt Center Recital Hall. Music at Midweek is free and open to all.

Glazier is an active soloist, chamber musician, orchestral clarinetist, pedagogue, and advocate of new music. She was appointed assistant professor of clarinet at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music in 2016. Ugorich has performed with full-time orchestras including the Florida Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra and Orlando Philharmonic. Additionally, he served for two seasons as principal violist of Symphony Orchestra Augusta, Georgia. He also teaches at the Fred Fox School of Music.

For more information contact performing and fine arts at x7228 or pfa@up.edu.