Macalester College Music Department

Macalester guitar instructor Joan Griffith will be performing tonight at 7:30pm in Mairs Concert Hall, alongside jazz pianist Laura Caviani and cellist Greg Byers. The trio will be performing Griffith’s original, Brazilian-inspired compositions from her newest album, Sambanova 2. You can stream the album here: https://open.spotify.com/album/3qaMorw3NOikWKFmgRP3N2?si=-jz75UOITFqZ02boa3jMag

“Sambanova is not only the work of a gracefully lyrical performer but a showcase of Joan’s compositions that infuse the poetry and rhythms of Brazilian forms with modern jazz idioms. And one cannot imagine a more sympathetic partner that Laura Caviani, a pianist of exceptional range whose uncanny rhythmic sense and soulful eclecticism offer the perfect bond to Joan’s guitar” —Andrea Canter

Don’t miss our first concert of the semester! The Isles Ensemble, called “The Cream of Twin Cities Classical Musicians” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, will be performing on Thursday, February 2nd, at 7:30pm.

CARLOS SIMON
An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave for String Quartet

W. A. MOZART
Viola Quintet in G Minor, K. 516

FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 66

You will be deeply rewarded by venturing out to join us for their winter concert. The three works on this program grapple with the themes of reflection and resilience in different ways. Composed before the murder of George Floyd, Carlos Simon’s Elegy explores the feelings of sadness, frustration, anger, and finally, perhaps hope in reaction to the killings of Black men in America by law enforcement. Truly one of Mozart’s greatest chamber music masterpieces, the Viola Quintet in G minor explores serious emotions, including heartbreak and trauma, before yielding to an expression of pure joy in its final movement. The power and brilliance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in C minor will bring the concert to a rousing close. At first stormy and intense, the piece ends with an almost religious sense of majesty and triumph.

Featuring musicians Stephanie Arado (violin), Natsuki Kumagai (violin), Leslie Shank (violin and viola), Kenneth Freed (viola), Timothy Lovelace (piano), and Macalester cello instructor Tom Rosenberg.

There are two performances in Mairs Concert Hall today!

3pm - Asian Music Ensemble, under the direction of Chuen-Fung Wong
7pm - Five chamber ensembles, coached by Mark Mandarano

Both shows are free of charge, and you can stream them at: https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department.

The Macalester African Music Ensemble, under the direction of Sowah Mensah, will be performing tonight at 8pm in Mairs Concert Hall.

If you can't make it to the show, you can catch the livestream here: https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department.

Macalester Music Department Macalester Music Department @ video.ibm.com: . Music

The Macalester Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Mark Mandarano, will be performing their spring concert tonight, Friday, April 29, at 8pm in Mairs Concert Hall. Hear the finale of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet and music by Mozart, Dvorak, and Lili Boulanger.

The concert is free, and you can livestream it at: https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department.

Students in Professor Reid Kruger’s Electronic Music class will be presenting their final pieces tonight at 11pm in Mairs Concert Hall! The event will also be available for livestream at: https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department. Free admission!

Students in Prof. Victoria Malawey’s Songwriting course will be performing their final pieces tomorrow night at 7pm in Mairs Concert Hall. See you then! 😀

Family Fest Night 2 begins tonight at 7:30pm! Both the Asian Music Ensemble and the African Music Ensemble will be performing, and there are still tickets available at the door. You can also livestream the performance at this link: https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department

Macalester Music Department Macalester Music Department Music

Live concerts are back! Family Fest starts tomorrow night, and there will be performances in Mairs Concert Hall on both Friday and Saturday.

Friday, 10/15
Doors at 7pm, show at 7:30pm
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mark Mandarano
MacJazz, directed by Joan Griffith

Saturday, 10/16
Doors at 7pm, show at 7:30pm
Asian Music Ensemble, directed by Chuen-Fung Wong
African Music Ensemble, directed by Sowah Mensah

In order to attend, you will need to reserve a (free) ticket. The box office, located outside the Mairs Concert Hall doors, will be open Friday and Saturday from 10am-3pm. You can also reserve tickets online: https://secure.touchnet.com/C23333_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=135&SINGLESTORE=true
Tickets may also be available at the door, if available.

Masks and proof of vaccination (or negative test in the past 72 hours) + photo ID are required at the door.

See you there! 😎

Macalester Music Department Box Office

Tune in to our livestream tonight from 8-8:30pm to hear two of our chamber ensembles!

https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department

Macalester Music Department Macalester Music Department Music

MacJazz, under the direction of Joan Griffith, will be live-streaming their Spring Concert tomorrow evening! Tune in from 5-6pm at the link below to hear their performance:

https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department

Macalester Music Department Macalester Music Department Music

Tune in to our livestream tonight at 6pm to see the Early Music Ensemble perform "Spices from a far land: Sephardic Music and Medieval Cantiga from Portugal."

https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department

The EME is directed by Cléa Galhano and will feature Moura Saad (voice and harpsichord), Anna Catherine Jonaus (viola), Rhys King O’Higgins (bagpipes, guitar, and tin whistle), and Phil Rukavina (lute).

Macalester Music Department Macalester Music Department Music

The two winners of the Concerto Competition will be performing tonight at 8pm! We're sad you can’t join us in person, but we’re thrilled to be live-streaming the event at this link: https://video.ibm.com/channel/macalester-music-department

Kayla Schang (violin) - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saëns
Elinor Jones (soprano) - Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios by Rodrigo

The two winners will perform with a string quintet and Mindy Eschedor, the department accompanist. See you at 8!

Macalester Music Department Macalester Music Department Music

As the year draws to a close, we'd like to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of our graduating seniors! Join us in honoring them at our virtual Senior Awards Reception on Friday, May 15th from 7:30-8:30 CST. Family and friends are welcome! Email [email protected] for the Zoom link.

MacJazz will be performing in the concert hall this Sunday, March 8th! The show starts at 3pm, and it will feature both the full band and some smaller combos. See you there!

MacJazz March Concert

The Thalea String Quartet, an Austin-based touring group, will be performing in Mairs Concert Hall on Sunday, March 8th! They're renowned for their innovative programming and commitment to education. Don't miss out - show starts at 8pm! Free admission.

Creative and Destructive Feminine Power: Exploring Connections Between Blood and Sound in Assamese Performance

A talk by Rehanna L Kheshgi
Thursday, March 5, 2020
4:45 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.
ARTCOM 202

Musical performance is a central element in ritual events associated with reproduction and regeneration in human life and the natural world in the northeastern Indian state of Assam. This presentation investigates the interaction between songs that accompany the transition of a young woman on the occasion of her first menstruation and performances that propel seasons and lovers through the cyclical patterns of life and death during the annual New Year’s festival called Bihu. Recognizing both performance contexts as integral to the construction of femininity in Assam through their connection to the concept of gabhoru (feminine body-fullness), this paper examines the material and symbolic resonances between sound and blood as they traverse the borders of the human body and the body politic. Drawing on the concept of the “dividual” in Indian society (Marriott and Inden 1977; Lamb 2000) as a way to understand the porous nature of the body and the potential creative and destructive effects of invisible substances, I investigate the extent to which sound operates as a coded substance in the context of Assamese music and dance performance. My fieldwork with performers in Assam affirms that the female body is a key site on which “tradition” and “modernity” are debated, and feminine youth in particular bears what Ritty Lukose calls the “burden of locality” in the context of “liberalizing India” (2009). This presentation articulates how the body techniques (Mauss 1979) and discursive meanings young people learn through performance and through the act of listening (Kapchan 2017) are informed by cosmological beliefs related to transgression of the borders of the gendered body as well as the geopolitical history of Assam as a frontier province at the margins of Empire.

Rehanna L Kheshgi is Assistant Professor of Music at St. Olaf College. Her research focuses on gender, sexuality, and the body at the intersections of popular, folk, and sacred music and dance performance in India.

The Macalester Symphony Orchestra will be performing tonight, featuring concerto competition winners Jesse Crosby (baritone) and Annie Fromson-Ho (cello). The show starts at 8 - free admission!

Join us on Sunday, February 23rd at 2pm to see Trio Domenico, a piano trio composed of Music Department faculty Mark Mazullo and Thomas Rosenberg. They will be joined by special guest Daria Adams of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

The program includes the dramatic, four-movement Piano Trio in G Minor by Clara Schumann, the whimsical and devilish Piano Trio No. 1 by contemporary composer Lera Auerbach, and the majestic "Archduke" Trio, opus 97, by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Free admission, and open to the public!

Macalester professor Randy Bauer will be performing jazz originals and standards with acclaimed saxophonist and composer Andrew Rathbun on Sunday, February 9th at 3pm in Mairs Concert Hall! They will be joined by Graydon Peterson on bass and Dave Schmalenberger on drums. Free admission.

Read more about Rathbun here: http://andrewrathbun.com/composition-arranging/

Electronic Music class final projects live at 7:30pm!

Tonight's Jazz/Pop Combos Concert will be live-streamed right here at 7:55pm CST!

The Macalester Symphony Orchestra will be performing tomorrow (Friday) night at 8pm! The program includes the 1st movement of Beethoven's 9th, Liszt's 1st Piano Concerto (featuring guest artist Dion Cunningham), and a world premiere by Victoria Malawey. Livestream link in comments!