Conservatory

Friday, April 26 | 7:30 p.m.
Memorial Chapel

Praised by Opera News for “high notes with ease, singing with a luxuriant warm glow that seduced the ear as he bounded about the stage with abandon,” American tenor David Portillo has established himself as a leading classical singer of his generation. In 2022-23, David Portillo will showcase his talent for concertgoers and in a range of notable projects, including performances as Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, Ferrando in Così fan tutte with The Dallas Opera, Nadir in The Pearl Fishers with Austin Opera, and assume the title role in Handel’s Jephtha with Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque.

David Portillo, tenor, with Craig Terry, piano

Friday, April 26 | 7:30-9 p.m.
Memorial Chapel

Praised by Opera News for “high notes with ease, singing with a luxuriant warm glow that seduced the ear as he bounded about the stage with abandon,” American tenor David Portillo has established himself as a leading classical singer of his generation. In 2022-23, David Portillo will showcase his talent for concertgoers and in a range of notable projects, including performances as Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, Ferrando in Così fan tutte with The Dallas Opera, Nadir in The Pearl Fishers with Austin Opera, and assume the title role in Handel’s Jephtha with Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque.

Friday, April 19 | 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Memorial Chapel

Lawrence Symphony Orchestra and Lawrence University Choirs present Mozart’s “Great Mass in C Minor.”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Overture to The Magic Flute, K. 620
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Mass in C minor, K. 427 “Great”

This event is free and open to the public! You can also catch the live webcast here.

Saturday, April 13 | 2-3:30 p.m.
Harper Hall

This event is free and open to the public!

Pianist Ksenia Nosikova, praised as “First rate” (Germany’s Fono Forum), “Full of dramatic intensity” (London’s International Piano), “Subtle and expressive” (France’s Journal L’Alsace) “Impressive musicianship, musically very poetic” (Boston Globe), and “Refined sensibility and exquisite pianism” (New York Concert Reviews), has performed extensively in Europe, Asia, Russia, USA, Canada, and South America. The scope of her concert engagements expands from prestigious professional concert venues, such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York City, Shanghai City Hall in China, City Hall Theatre in Hong Kong, Chetham’s International Piano Series in England, and Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago, to major academic institutions world-wide, including over 180 American universities’ guest artist series. Her diverse and extensive repertoire list consists of masterworks and lesser-known pieces, as well as over 30 piano concertos.

She has recorded for Profil Medien, Albany Records, Centaur Records, and Capstone Records labels. Among her nine critically-acclaimed recordings are the complete Years of Pilgrimage by Franz Liszt, called an ‘outstanding achievement’ by Classics Today and “super disc” by London’s International Piano magazine. A graduate of Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and University of Colorado, Dr. Ksenia Nosikova is a Professor of Piano and Co-Chair of Piano Department at the University of Iowa. Her students have won prizes at various national and international competitions and have been accepted to prominent music programs, including Curtis, Juilliard, Colburn, Eastman, and Peabody. She has presented over 300 master classes in the US and abroad, most recently at the Beijing Central, China, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xian, Sichuan, Tianjin, and Shenyang conservatories and Hong Kong Academy in China.

She is an artist faculty member of the Semper International Music Festival in Italy and Wiener MusikSeminar International Master Classes in Austria. Her 2019-2020 concert engagements have taken her to Brazil, China, Singapore, Thailand, and Prague. She is a member of the American Liszt Society’s Board of Directors and the Artistic Director of Piano Sundays at Old Capitol Concert Series (IA). Ksenia Nosikova is a Steinway Artist.

Wednesday, April 10 | 8-9:30 p.m.
Harper Hall

Dr. Kenneth Johnson is a dedicated trombonist and educator newly relocated in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is originally from Fredericksburg, VA, where he began playing trombone in elementary school under the guidance of his musician parents. He has been the Principal Trombonist in Sinfonia Gulf Coast in Destin, FL since 2017 and is a founding member of the Brass Institutes of America where he has served on the faculty since 2013. As a home studio recording musician he can be heard on the podcasts. The Musical and the Award Winning Bite Sized Broadway, and as well as through the American Composer’s Alliance. This past fall he also joined the staff at Notre Dame of DePere, where he teaches Instrumental and General Music.

This event is free and open to the public!

Composer/lyricist, musical director and activist

Both events are open to all campus community members.

Maestra Talk given by Georgia Stitt

Tuesday, April 9 | 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Shattuck 163

For the women and non-binary people who make the music in the musical theater industry

GEORGIA STITT is a composer/lyricist, music director, pianist, and music producer. Her original musicals include Snow Child (commissioned by Arena Stage and directed by Molly Smith); Samantha Spade, Ace Detective (commissioned by TADA Youth Theater and written with Lisa Diana Shapiro, National Youth Theatre 2014 Winner “Outstanding New Musical”); Big Red Sun (NAMT Festival winner in 2010, Harold Arlen Award in 2005, written with playwright John Jiler); The Danger Year (a musical revue); The Water (winner of the 2008 ANMT Search for New Voices in American Musical Theatre and written with Jeff Hylton and Tim Werenko); and Mosaic (commissioned for Inner Voices Off-Broadway in 2010 and written with Cheri Steinkellner). She is currently writing The Big Boom (with Hunter Foster) and an oratorio called The Circling Universe that has been developed at Princeton University.

Reflections on Race and Class

Tuesday, April 9 | 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Harper Hall

A discussion on growing up in the segregated south in the 1990s with Georgia Stitt and Dr. Kenny Yarbrough.

April 12-13
Shattuck 163

Lawrence University’s National Association of Music Education presents its 7th annual symposium!

Register Today!

It Takes You!

Composition, Improvisation, and Hip-Hop in the Music Classroom

Featuring keynote speaker Kiran Vedula, hip-hop educator and musician

Also featuring Loren Dempster, Eli Grover, Patty Darling, and Tim Albright

Itinerary

Friday, April 12

• 7-9 p.m. | Open Mic Night | Shattuck 046 – Jazz Room
  In collaboration with JGEI (Jazz and Gender Equity Initiative), join us for NAfME Open Mic Night! Share any of your original compositions, improvisations, songs, poems, or other creative works! The stage is yours!

Saturday, April 13

• 8:30-9 a.m. | Arrival & refreshments | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  Enjoy some coffee and an assortment of breakfast pastries before we begin our day of learning!
• 9-9:20 a.m. | Loren Dempster – Songwriting Activity/Warm-up | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  Loren Dempster, Instructor of Music at Lawrence University, leads us in a short songwriting activity that you could incorporate into your own classroom.
• 9:30-11 a.m. | Kiran Vedula – Hip-Hop Session | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  Musician, producer, and educator Kiran Vedula shares about the power of hip-hop in facilitating culturally-responsive educational experiences. Kiran is the founder of  “Flutes at Dawn.” Their mission, excerpted from their website is as follows:
  • “Provide high-quality education and mentorship through vulnerable communication, cultural relevance, and shared positive experiences. Create inspiring spaces where people learn about themselves and connect with others in the process of expressing and making art/media. Respect, study, and elevate cultures, people, and art forms that are historically undervalued/misunderstood by presenting music and dance performances, workshops, and other educational material at professional theaters, performing arts centers, schools, universities, and beyond.”
• 11:30 a.m. | Lunch – Catering from Tipsy Taco | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  Join us for a free lunch catered by Tipsy Taco! There are several cafes within walking distance; feel free to get lunch on your own as well.
• 1-1:30 p.m. | Eli Grover – Bucket Drumming | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  AASD educator Eli Grover shares a bucket drumming activity that you can bring to your classroom.
• 1:30-2:30 p.m. | Patty Darling & Tim Albright – Emerging Improvisers | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  Patty Darling and Tim Albright, both Lawrence University Jazz Department Faculty, share ideas and activities for encouraging emerging improvisers in your music classroom.
• 2:30-3 p.m. | Loren Dempster – Songwriting Activity/Sharing Lyrics & Songs | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  Loren Dempster joins us for a second songwriting activity.
• 3-4 p.m. | Eli Grover – Body Percussion | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  Eli Grover shares ways we can get students powerfully creating with body percussion — no external instruments needed!
• 4-5 p.m. | JGEI – Beginning Jazz Jam Session | Shattuck 163 (Large Rehearsal)
  NAfME partners with JGEI (Jazz and Gender Equity Initiative) for a beginning jazz jam session — no previous experience required!

Michael Lowenstern (b. Chicago, Illinois, United States, 1968) in the Hyde Park neighborhood, is an American bass clarinetist and composer specializing in new music.

Lowenstern holds a B.M. and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, an Artist’s Certificate from the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam, and an M.M. and D.M.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In 1989, Lowenstern received a Fulbright grant to study in Amsterdam with bass clarinet virtuoso Harry Sparnaay. In addition to Sparnaay, Lowenstern’s clarinet and bass clarinet teachers have included Charles Neidich, Richard MacDowell, and John Bruce Yeh, and he has also studied composition with Daniel Weymouth.

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Lowenstern’s playing is characterized by an expressive, almost vocal tone, an agile technique, and a strong command of the instrument’s upper register. He has performed with ensembles representing a wide range of musical genres, including The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Steve Reich and Musicians, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Klezmatics, Robin Cox Ensemble, John Zorn, and Billband. In 1991 he won the first prize at the International Gaudeamus Competition in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Lowenstern has created numerous compositions for bass clarinet, both solo and with electronics. His works explore the possibilities of large ensembles of bass clarinets (done by multi-tracking), as well as juxtaposing the instrument with drum and bass-style beats more common to electronic dance music than to contemporary classical music. He has also composed music for film, dance, and the Internet. Since October 2006, a segment of his playing with Billband has been used as the theme for the National Public Radio segment “Science Out of the Box,” which airs on the Weekend All Things Considered program.

Wednesday, April 3 | 7:30 p.m.
Memorial Chapel

Seven Lawrence faculty members will perform works by Poulenc, Tomasi, and Mozart:

• Joe Connor (saxophone)
• Ann Ellsworth (horn)
• Brigit Fitzgerald (bassoon)
• Andy Hudson (clarinet)
• Erin Lesser (flute)
• Nora Lewis (oboe)
• Michael Mizrahi (piano)

Free and open to the public!

Can’t make it to the Lawrence Memorial Chapel? Catch the live webcast.

Sunday, April 14 | 3 p.m.
Lawrence Memorial Chapel

A Congo Square Gathering

A Reverence for Culture & Healing for Humanity, Down By The Riverside

Second Line Community Event

with live music by Conservatory Jazz Students

Michelle N. Gibson is a consummate storyteller, employing body and mind to build a bridge between the arts and academia. On stage and in the classroom, Gibson’s dance, choreography, and associated scholarship evoke the social, political, economic, and spiritual understandings central to building bonds within and across cultures.

Admissions is free; be prepared to move!

Read more about Michelle N. Gibson