Topic: Lisa Vanarsdel

Renowned flutist William Bennett in concert at APSU Thursday, June 28th

June 27, 2012 |

Austin Peay State University

Clarksville, TN – In 1995, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth presented flutist William Bennett with the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his distinguished services to music.

He has been called the “greatest living flute player in the world,” and musicians across the globe dream of someday studying under his guidance. «Read the rest of this article»

APSU’s Gateway Chamber Orchestra presents world premiere of famed composers work

April 15, 2012 |

Austin Peay State University

Clarksville, TN – In March of 2011, an obituary appeared in the New York Times announcing the death of the great American composer Lee Hoiby at the age of 85.

The article championed his career, mentioning such notable works as his 1964 opera “Natalia Petrovna,” but for those who knew Hoiby, his death left something unfinished – an unperformed flute concerto he wrote 17 years earlier.

APSU's Gateway Chamber Orchestra presents world premiere of famed composers work

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APSU’s Dimensions Series Explores Composer Enescu and his Chamber Symphony

March 12, 2011 |

Clarksville, TN – In 1958, the conductor Constantin Silvestri experienced a slight dilemma. He was set to premiere composer George Enescu’s last work, Chamber Symphony for 12 Players, but he worried the Romanian audience wouldn’t appreciate the complexities or the brilliance of the work.

“He was convinced the audience would not be able to grasp it on first hearing it, so he had it played twice,” Dr. Gregory Wolynec, associate professor of music at Austin Peay State University, said. “This last work of his, people who specialize in the music of this composer refer to it as the hardest to understand.”

Gateway Chamber Ensemble

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The Gateway Chamber Ensemble seeks”New Beginnings” with 2010-11 concert series

By Bill Larson | September 30, 2010 |

The Gateway Chamber Ensemble has been making waves in the tight knit classical music community since they first formed in the fall of 2008. The group kicked off their 2010-2011 concert series with what they describe as a  new beginning. “The recurring thread this season will be composers we’ve heard of but approached in ways they aren’t usually done,” Dr. Gregory Wolynec, APSU associate professor of music and director of the ensemble, said. “It included works that we might not have heard of before, that don’t have a natural home. They are too small to be done by a full symphony or orchestra, and yet they are too large to be done by a typical chamber group. All our works will be done with 10 to 25 players. For most of these pieces, these are the only performances in these conditions they’ll get all year.”

The evening’s performance featured the ensembles interpretation of masterworks such as Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 6 “Let Matin,” Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” and Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.”

The Gateway Chamber Ensemble performing their New Beginning

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Gateway Chamber Ensemble uses Community Concert Series performance to kickoff release of new CD

February 24, 2010 |

The Clarksville Community Concert Association held the fourth of their planned five concerts in their 2009-2010 Concert series with a performance by the Gateway Chamber Ensemble at Austin Peay State University on Monday evening. The Community Concert Series is co-sponsored by the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts,  and brings in world class performers to give concerts in our city.

World Class is a description which easily fits the Gateway Chamber Ensemble, which is based around Austin Peay State University’s outstanding performing faculty and supplemented with the area’s leading professional musicians. Members of the ensemble include Lisa Vanarsdel-flute, Jeanette Zyko-oboe, Mingzhe Wang-clarinet, Brian Horner-saxophone, Dawn Hartley-basson, Francis Massinon-horn, Emily Hanna Crane-violin, Shu-Zheng Yang-viola, Michael Samis-cello, Timothy Pearson-bass, and the group is conducted by Gregory Wolynec. They perform milestone works of  chamber music both from the past and from the present.

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Who Comes This Night… An Evening Of Christmas Music at APSU

By Bill Larson | December 13, 2009 |

Mundell Lowe and James Ferguson came together with the talented musicians of the Austin Peay State University Department of Music & Conductor Gregory Wolynec to present “Who comes this night… An evening of Christmas Music.” Saturday evening. The Concert was a joint production of the APSU Department of Music and the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts.

Who Comes This Night... An Evening Of Christmas Music

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Bravo and Brava for Paris Between the Wars 1918-1939 at APSU

By Bill Larson | September 15, 2009 |

When you think about Paris, you can’t help but to think of the arts. In addition to the wonderful paintings from that period, Paris was also the center of what amounts to a perfect storm in music. The rise of Jazz in America had reached Paris with the influx of Americans musicians, after the end of the first World War. That was what was showcased during the Dimension’s New Music Series a free concert hosted by the Austin Peay Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts. The evenings program delved into the wonderful music that came out of the city of Paris Between the Wars: 1918-1939.

Patricia Halbeck playing the Noble and Sentimental Waltzes by Maurice Ravel

The first set featured Maurice Ravel’s Noble and Sentimental Waltzes, which were a look back at a France that could no longer exist after that city passed through the maelstrom of the first world war.

Patricia Halbeck takes her seat and The piano starts to play a series of almost harsh and somewhat discordant notes with an upbeat refrain hinting at that innocence that was lost never to be found again.

Stanley Yates playing the Twelve Études for Guitar by Heitor Villa-Lobos

She was followed by Stanley Yates who played a selection from Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, his Twelve Études for Guitar which was written in 1928. In his playing You could hear the intertwining of European and Latin sounds and rhythms.

“To some degree, his guitar works also pay homage to Chopin, whose piano etudes were clearly the model for Villa-Lobos’s Estudos for Guitar. These are true concert Études for the guitar and, like the Chopin works, are meant for the stage; they are not limited to the status of mere pedagogical tools. Villa-Lobos’s Estudos also represent an attempt, consciously or subconsciously, to legitimatize the guitar as a concert instrument and raise it to the level of the piano…”

– Choro: a social history by Tamara Elena Livingston-Isenhour and Thomas George Caracas Garcia

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“Do you hear what I hear?” — A Christmas concert with Paul Binkley

November 25, 2008 |

Don’t miss a special Christmas concert on Monday, December 8, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the MMC Concert Hall at Austin Peay State University.

The program features Paul Binkley on guitar playing music from his Christmas CD “Do You Hear What I Hear”. Paul is a former Austin Peay music student, spent five years performing with the Grammy Award winning band Alabama, and is currently president of Grand Vista Music, a Nashville-based recording company.

The concert will also showcase members of the APSU Music Department faculty including: singers Tom King, Sharon Mabry, and Gail Robinson-Oturu; pianists Anne Glass and Jeff Wood; violinist Emily Crane; woodwind players Lisa Vanarsdel and Jeanette Zyko; brass players Francis Massinon, Richard Steffen, and Chris Vivio; guitarist Stanley Yates; and percussionists Richard Frey and David Steinquest. Karen Sorenson and Ted Jones from Languages and Literature will provide narration. «Read the rest of this article»

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