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School of Music to host November 20 piano concert and November 21 percussion concert

ISSUED: 15 November 2019
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens

SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University School of Music is hosting a night of piano ensemble music in the Frank Center’s W. H. Shipley Recital on Wednesday, November 20, at 6 p.m., under the direction of Dr. Yu-Hsuan Liao, associate professor of music. The concert is free and open to the public.

The program includes Greig’s “Peer Gynt Suite,” a composition for piano and synthesizer with Argentinean flavor, newly composed tunes for kalimba (thumb piano) ensemble, and other traditional pieces for piano four-hands and six-hands. Piano ensemble members are Jenny Forbes, Korinne Myers, Sianna King, Savannah Williams, and Lorie Payne. Kalimba ensemble members are Daniel Morris, Jenny Forbes, Korinne Myers, and Dr. Yu-Hsuan Liao.

Percussion concert

The School of Music is also hosting an evening of percussion ensemble and studio music in the Frank Center’s McCoy Rehearsal Hall on Thursday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m., under the direction of Dr. Steven Owen, adjunct music professor. Admission is free and open to the public.

Selections include “Misdirection” for solo marimba and “Amid the Noise” for snare drum and computer generated sounds by Shepherd music education major Daniel Morris of Martinsburg, “Call and Response” by Owen, “Intentions” for percussion trio by Eugene Novotney, “Variations on a Ghanaian Theme” by Daniel Levitan, “Drum Amalgam” by Adam Vidiksis, and “Sleep” transcribed for marimba choir by Eric Whitacre.

Owen is a percussionist, timpanist, and drum set artist with The President’s Own United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C. He composed an original work for solo timpanist and percussion ensemble titled “The Four Humors,” which has been featured in the Marine Band Chamber Series, the University of Maryland Day of Percussion, the Arkansas Day of Percussion, and at the University of Oregon School of Music. Owen has performed with the jazz combo section at the White House over three different administrations, the home of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the residence of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the State Department, as well as a week-long residency at the Juneau Jazz and Classics Festival in Alaska.

For information call 304-876-5555 or www.shepherd.edu/music.

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