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composers: Mary Lou Williams, Maria Schneider, Patty Darling, Ellen Rowe, and Carla Bley. The pieces presented at this concert represent a small sample of a body of compositions that have been growing steadily over the decades. With music written as early as in the 1930s and as recently as five years ago, this concert will span many eras and iterations of jazz, from swing era “popular” music to bold, modern works. Cassio Vianna, Director of Jazz Studies and Assistant Professor of Music, assembled the

Pacific Lutheran University premieres new original opera: Fiery Jade Cai Yan Posted by: Mandi LeCompte / October 18, 2016 October 18, 2016 By Mandi LeCompteOutreach Manager PLU Music Professor Gregory Youtz teams up with prominent Chinese poet Zhang Er, Professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, to create this new work around the life of an extraordinary woman poet of ancient China, Cai Yan. In this new opera, Fiery Jade: Cai Yan, we see the collapse of a dynasty, the sack of a city

, as the old joke goes, the extent of diversity on campus, was Swedes, Danes and Norwegians. But as the university began to grow, both in student population and in recognition, the make-up of the student population began to change. A lot of this has to do with PLU’s history. PLU always had an international focus inasmuch as it was very connected to Norway. By the late ’70s, things were beginning to fundamentally change – PLU was becoming more globally focused. By the early ’80s, according to Phil

April 1, 2013 Greg Youtz: Composing for the cannery – of boxcars, rhinos, and grapes By James Olson ’14 In 1973, a 17-year-old Gregory Youtz departed from Sea-Tac International Airport and landed in France. Meritoriously skipping the third grade, the young composer had afforded himself the luxury of a year in limbo – graduating high school a year early and giving himself time to explore before college. In the dead space between high school and “higher learning,” potential itineraries sprawled

Philosophy from Penn State University. He regularly teaches courses in ethics, social and political philosophy, and business ethics, as well as courses in early modern philosophy, 19th and 20th century continental philosophy, and the philosophy of race. “Many have begun to consider seriously the ethics of producing food under such conditions and, indeed, the ethics of eating animals in general. I look forward to participating in a public debate about these issues in order to bring them more clearly into

seven movements and represents a major contribution to modern brass quintet literature. Although Jerry’s work was premiered by a different bass quintet, this CD represents the world premiere recording. How did the opportunity for a CD come about? Dr. Jerry Kracht wrote this piece a year or two ago and sent it to me for possible inclusion on a Lyric Brass recital.  We performed LUTHER in its entirety on one of our recitals as part of the 500th Reformation celebration. We thought it was important

and moments of baroque and florid music. Britten pays attention to the Shakespearean play’s central theme: the madness of love. The plot follows that of the play, though Britten cut much of Act I and re-ordered scenes. Music tends to lengthen the duration of text, but anyone who knows the play will recognize the story. Jim Brown, vocal chair and director of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is updating the opera to modern day Central Park in New York City- for a sort of “Shakespeare in the Park

from our string faculty- forming a duet with the singer. It must be heard to be believed! Handel really outdid himself in this music.” Brown programs the annual production with a three-year cycle of repertoire to expose students to baroque, standard repertoire, and modern opera during their four years of study. Brown notes that Handel is a particularly healthy repertoire for young singers. The music alternates between lyrical and melismatic without straining the range of a younger singer. “There

remodeling the Chapel comes up, the student chorus is always the same: “Please don’t change the feel of the Chapel!” One would think with its bare concrete floors and creaky benches that the students would want new and modern furnishings. But it is the medieval ambiance of the chapel that seems to lend the space a spiritual quality. And well it should. The Chapel and the Rose Window have seen the course of human life as the generations of Lutes have come and moved on to other vocations in the world. The

Lute Plays Piano ‘Up Close with the Masters’ Posted by: Mandi LeCompte / February 21, 2014 Image: Natalie Burton ’13 plays a Bach piece on the piano for master pianist Vladimir Feltsman during Portland Piano International’s Up Close With the Masters series. (Photo courtesy of Portland Piano International) February 21, 2014 A Q&A With Natalie Burton ’13 By Sandy Deneau Dunham, PLU Marketing & Communications Music and Chinese Studies major Natalie Burton graduated magna cum laude from PLU in 2013