Saturday, February 15, 2014

Hartt Guitar Department - 50th Anniversary Celebration

The following post is copied from the Alumni Newsletter of The Hartt School's Guitar Department.  I am re-posting it here to further encourage everyone to attend the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Guitar Department.
 
**************
Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration

Hello all,

Plans are moving surprisingly smoothly for our fiftieth anniversary celebration. Thanks to grants from the Augustine Foundation and LaBella Strings as well as contributions by several of our alumni we are $1000. away from raising the necessary $14,500. needed to underwrite the cost of Andrew York’s concert and the commissioning of Frank Wallace’s incredible eight-part work, As it Could Be, for the celebration. I’m hoping that many of you will be able to contribute to the fund so that we can reach our goal. No gift is too small or too large. If you are so inclined, please make the check payable to the University of Hartford and send it to me % The Hartt School, 200 Bloomfield Ave., W. Hartford, CT 06117. I would like to be able to say that all of the money raised came from Foundations or alumni.

 What do we have planned?

 Friday, April 11: 7:30 Auerbach Auditorium:  Solo Recital by Andy York.

 We begin the celebration with a concert by Andy York.  Andy has been a friend of the department for many years and has graciously altered his fee to meet our limited resources. After the concert, we will hang out at the Republic, our new hangout just one mile from the University.

 Saturday, April 12:

Saturday we have a full schedule of events. All events are in Millard
     9:00 AM -11:00AM Open rehearsals At this point we are not sure what groups performing that evening will be rehearsing.
     11:30-12:30: Suzuki guitar presentation. Nick Cutroneo
     12:30-1:30:  John LaBarbara. New music for guitar
1:30- Break
      2:00 -5:00: Rehearsal for Attic by Andrew York alumni, students, faculty community. This will be the concluding work
     on this evening’s program
 5:00- 7:30: Dinner Break: If enough people are interested, the Republic will make the restaurant available to us for dinner.

 8:00 PM: Anniversary Concert: World Premiere of Frank Wallace’s As It Could Be, made possible by a grant from the 
Augustine Foundation.
1) Changes Upon the Guitar, violin, viola and seven guitars
2) A Tune Beyond Us, violin, viola and guitar
3) A Wisp in the Underground, guitar solo    
4) If to Serenade, flute and guitar
5) Tom-tom, c'est moi, percussion and guitar
6) The Whirling Noise, viola and guitar   
7) Crying Among the Clouds, guitar solo
8) A World Quite Round, guitar quartet

NOTES

These eight works comprise As It Could Bea chamber suite dedicated to the Hartt School of Music Guitar Department and it's founder/director Richard Provost on the occasion of their 50th anniversary.  Dick suggested using The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens (a resident of Hartford, CT) as a source of lyrics for a song. I chose to use this incredible testimony to art as inspiration and have selected titles for all 8 pieces from the poem. Thank you Dick (and all your colleagues) who brought the guitar out of the dark ages and into a brilliant new community of creativity and progress through your courage, hard work and vision. Let us imagine a future as it could be.

The concert will conclude with a performance of Attic, by Andy York performed by students, area guitarists, and alumni of the department.

 If you will be attending and want to play in the guitar orchestra, (which I hope many of you will) please send Chris an email so that we can send you your part. (ladd@hartford.edu.Our goal is to have at least fifty guitarists on stage performing. If you are timid, rest assured that we will have a core group that has rehearsed and will cover all of the parts. They will be happy to help you during the rehearsal to get you comfortable for the performance. For those of you who have not been doing much with the guitar, this work was written for amateurs. There are several pretty basic parts in the work. If you’re still not sure, let Chris know and he will email you a part to see if your are up to the challenge.


We are still trying to locate the following alumni. If you have email, phone, or addresses please let me know.

Bob. Adelman
Henry Gwazda
Michael D. Anderson
Andrew Keene
Michel E. Anderson
Peter Obre
Michael Brownstein
Neal Skelton
Michelle Boudreau
Steve Sapoff
John Dallam
Stephen Sabatt
Marc Erwin
Ed Sperry
Randy Goldstein
Steve Usher
Tom Hanlon

Chris and I are looking forward to seeing you at the celebration.

Best,
Dick

No comments:

Post a Comment