Spring '20

Explore the viola’s colors and emotions from the far reaches of the globe through 20th century composers Rebecca Clarke, Paul Hindemith, Tōru Takemitsu, and György Ligeti. Featuring Professor Christiana Fortune-Reader collaborating with pianist Yalin Chi.

SUNY New Paltz jazz artist faculty perform an evening of jazz standard arrangements and original compositions by featured ensemble members.

Oboist Joel Evans and colleagues will present Gothic Romance, an evening of music inspired by poetry and literature of the late 19th and early 20th century, featuring the works of Carl Nielsen, Charles Martin Loeffler, and Antonin Dvorak.

Hear the artistry and virtuosity of the music department’s outstanding students.  Works to be performed include Maurice Ravel’s ravishing Une Barque Sur L’ocean for piano, Missy Mazzoli’s Isabelle Eberhardt Dreams of Pianos for piano and electronics, and Franz Schubert’s Trout Quintet. 

An evening of original compositions and arrangements performed by composer, jazz pianist and former music department chair Vinnie Martucci. This concert will bring musicians from all genres to collaborate and improvise in a special farewell tribute.  

The Choral Ensembles, directed by Professor Edward Lundergan, present a program featuring Schubert’s enchanting Hirtenchor (Shepherd’s Chorus), Stravinsky’s exquisite miniature Ave Maria, and the adventurous Four Shakespeare Songs by Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi.

Described by the New York Times as “spellbinding” and “delightfully quirky matched with interpretive sensitivity,” Phyllis Chen is a composer/keyboardist/creative force whose music draws from her tactile exploration of sound and objects. This evening features her recent work, Roots of Interior, featuring MacArthur Genius Fellow Claire Chase for flute and heartbeat. The concert will also feature the world premiere of a new work funded by New Music USA for New Paltz viola Professor Christiana Fortune-Reader.

The Symphonic Band will perform a varied program by a number of distinguished wind band composers.

Celebrate the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth with his major works played by SUNY New Paltz music students. Enjoy performances of Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight,” 32 Variations in C minor Woo 80, and the “Spring” sonata for violin and piano. 

The Concert Choir and College-Community Chorale, with soloists and full orchestra, combine in two of Haydn’s late masterpieces, the Lord Nelson Mass and the Te Deum for the Empress.

Hear ye good citizens! The Collegium Musicum ensemble for early music will present an afternoon of medieval, renaissance, and baroque melodies for your good pleasure.  All manner of serfs, oafs, louts and drolls are welcome—but please, ladies, no hoop-skirts. And, gentlemen, leave the horses outside!

SUNY New Paltz students in the Chamber Jazz Ensembles perform in a variety of jazz and jazz-influenced styles.

Saint-Säens’ The Carnival of the Animals is a humorous suite of 14 movements, each bearing the name of a different animal. It is best known for its penultimate movement, “The Swan,” for two pianos and cello. Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite is a five-movement symphonic suite based on the score for 1933 film “Poruchik Kizhe (Lieutenant Kijé).” College-Youth Symphony will also feature winning concerto soloists of the College Youth Symphony Competition.

Students from Professor Kent Smith's vocal studio present the culmination of their semester's work in an evening of art songs and arias. Alumni guests will also perform alongside current students.