What: University of North Texas faculty and students will come together for a recital featuring Mozart's Gran Partita and Dvořák's Serenade for Winds conducted by UNT Professor Paul Leenhouts
When: 8 p.m. Sept. 10 (Wednesday)
Where: Voertman Hall, located inside the UNT Music Building at 415 Avenue C in Denton
Admission: Free. Evening parking is free in lot 26, southwest of the Music Building. The entrance to the lot is off of Highland Street.
DENTON, Texas (UNT) – Two of the most significant chamber works in wind music literature will be featured in a faculty and student musical collaboration for the University of North Texas College of Music's fall season. Dvořák's Serenade for Winds and Mozart's Gran Partita will be performed during a recital at 8 p.m. Sept. 10 (Wednesday) in Voertman Hall, located inside the UNT Music Building at 415 Avenue C in Denton. Admission is free.
The concert's coordinators, Bill Scharnberg, Regents Professor of music, and Joseph Klein, chair of the Division of Composition Studies, explained that facilitating opportunities for students to play alongside faculty is important to the College of Music.
"Musicians learn their craft by imitating others and then use that information as a basis to finesse their own unique style," said Scharnberg. "In music, students seldom, if ever, get the chance to play next to professional musicians during their studies; these kinds of faculty and student collaborations are particularly valuable experiences in the College of Music and can be seen throughout all our divisions."
Scored for 13 instruments, including two basset horns (a somewhat rare member of the clarinet family), Mozart's Serenade, K. 361 or Gran Partita is celebrated for its colorful combination of instruments, uncharacteristically oversized ensemble and extended length. Considered one of Mozart's finest compositions during the early portion of his career, the haunting oboe melody from the slow movement of the Partita was used in the opening of the film Amadeus.
As the story goes, Dvořák composed his Serenade for Winds or Serenade, op. 44 in two weeks following a concert of the Gran Partita in 1878. Inspired by Mozart's Serenade writing, Dvořák made the Harmoniemusik genre his own, adding the deeper tones of the cello, reducing the number of movements, and pulling elements from his Czech heritage with "sousedska" and "furiant" folk dances.
Professor Paul Leenhouts, director of the College of Music's early music program, will conduct the ensemble. The faculty performers include James Ryon (oboe), Deborah Fabian (clarinet), Daryl Coad (clarinet), John Scott (basset horn), Kimberly Cole Luevano (basset horn), Kathleen Reynolds (bassoon), Eugene Osadchy (cello), William Scharnberg and Terry Reynolds (horns) and Joseph Klein (contrabassoon). The student performers will be Jason Paschall (oboe), Jorge Cruz (bassoon), Mathew Croft (horn), Brandon McDannald (horn), Gabriel Sakamoto (double bass) and Li Zhi Yeoh (horn).
About the UNT College of Music
The highly comprehensive programs of the UNT College of Music enroll the largest number of music majors of any university in the country. The UNT College of Music is the choice of more than 1,600 music majors from all over the world who are pursuing a wide variety of specializations, including classical music performance, jazz studies, music education, composition, musicology, theory and ethnomusicology. The college provides a rich musical environment with 100 full-time faculty members, 200 adjuncts and graduate assistants, a vast music library, and more than 40 student ensembles. UNT music alumni populate every corner of the profession in this country and abroad.