Ub Concert Performance Essay

One the afternoon of Sunday, 03 May, 2015, I was watched a performance of the North Dakota State University Spring Choral Concert Festival Concert Hall at North Dakota State University. The NDSU Concert Choir has a distinguished tradition of performing eminent choral literature at the highest level of artistry.

“A Music Faculty Recital” at Prince George 's Community College was actually the very first concert I’ve been to that included Baroque style. The environment created a nostalgic yet modern and elegant mood; something that made you feel like you were in the late 1700’s yet still in modern times. The songs were mostly enjoyable and we 're all well played. This concert included an ensemble: the flute, the cello, the piano, and the harpsichord. Peggy Bair, who played the flute, was very enthusiastic. Irma Cripe, who played the cello, was quiet for the first part of the concert but gradually became more important throughout the concert. And lastly, the virtuous Gary Kirkeby, who played the piano and harpsichord, served as the backbone of all parts of the concert and made this concert very enjoyable.

The University of Alabama Faculty Jazz Band along with guest player, Bill Peterson the jazz pianist, made up a chamber ensemble and performed beautiful and upbeat jazz music. The faculty members include Tom Wolfe, the guitarist, Chris Kozak, the bass player, and Mark Lanter, the drummer. The entire concert was played in a major key and had nothing but positive energy. The pieces and players were extremely creative and they managed to tell a story and create beautiful imageries through the changing sounds, rhythms, melodies, keys and texture.

On October 13, I attended a concert by the UT Jazz orchestra at the Bates Recital Hall. This performance consisted of seven pieces and all were stylistically different, which allowed the audience to enjoy the various sounds of jazz music. Among the instrument groups, there are saxophones, trumpets, trombones, piano and drums. Professor Jeff Hellmer served as director andJohn Mills appeared as guest conductor. The whole concert made a lasting impression on me.

Last Monday, October 17th, I had the privilege of seeing the performances of the University Repertoire Ensembles. They were live at the School of Music’s Malcolm Bird Recital Hall, and each ensemble played several jazz melodies that were very engaging and entertaining. The University Repertoire Ensembles included the Contemporary Ensemble (CE), the Hard Bop Ensemble (HBE), and the Brazilian Ensemble (BE). The CE performed the songs, “Have You Heard,” “Sail Away,” and “Got A Match,” while the HBE performed, “Nica’s Dream,” “The Sidewinder,” “Wisper Not,” and “The Jody Grind.” In addition to that, the BE performed, “Lamentos,” “Pra machucar meu coração,” and “A rã.”

It was the same as the first music. The main performer gave intro to the music and said the name and the history to music. Then the performance starts and the audience starts to engage with performers with their usual body language. The tone was different form the first one. At first, the music was loud and all the instruments were in play. Later after few minutes, the tone starts to go down and after few minutes, only the double bass and the drum was playing in lower tone. The main singer was singing during the whole time according to the tone. This slowly lead to the third music.

For my first concert report of this semester, I attended the Chamber Music Concert put on by the Bronx Arts Ensemble. The performance consisted of three chamber pieces from the classical and early romantic periods; “String Trio in B Flat Major, D. 471” by Franz Schubert, “Quartet in E Flat Major, Op. 2 No. 1” by Bernhard Henrik Crusell, and “Divertimento in E Flat Major, K. 563” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Each song was played in true historic fashion (although we only heard four of the six movements from Mozart’s composition), and it was very stimulating to be able to see the music we have been listening to in class being played live.

On November twenty-ninth, I attended APSU Student Recital at the George and Sharon Mabry Concert Hall. The performance consisted of only three pieces, yet both were met with enthusiastic applause and praise. When I attended the performance I hear and seen exactly what I expected which were student performing amongst their peers. This particular performance was different because I never experience a student recital. I was very pleased by the performance I thought it was very entertaining and interesting.

For some students, like Jillian Paffenbarger ‘18, Ostermann’s song choices succeeded in carrying out a joyful sound. “I think it definitely did reflect the theme of joy. Some of the songs were virtuosic and playful, almost.” For other students, with finals only a few weeks away, the concert provided an outlet of creativity. College Choir member and alto singer Lauren Brumfield ‘20 enjoyed performing these songs. “Music in general makes me feel really happy,” she explained. “I liked that we got to sing pieces about joy.” She also added that “it was great to see so many members of the Carlisle community here.”

We got to our seats early so we could be sure we were in a good location. The instrumentalists warming up with different sounds and scales all playing at the same time was like listening to the sounds of nature. Everyone had their own different sound. Everyone was playing something different. While I was amazed at what I heard, it wasn’t until the conductor raised his baton and the first sounds from a well-practiced group took my breath away. Every section came together to make the most beautiful sound floating throughout the hall; a sound of excellence.

On April 4, 2017, I attended the Student Jazz Ensemble at the State University of New York at New Paltz. The concert held in the Julien J. Studley Theatre at 8 pm. It was an impressive student spring concert series performed by the students from our college. Although the concert was not performed as the professional concerts held in famous places, it was great opportunity for the campus community to listen that kind of musical activity. I have attended the same Jazz Ensemble concert in the previous spring semester because one of my friends from Turkey was playing saxophone during the performance like he did in this performance.

On November 12, 2016 I attended a concert brought to you by the Chamber Musical Festival. The performers for this concert were; Vaneza Tallman, Peter Jalbert, Andrew Boyle, Christine Wang, Daniel Aizenshtadt, Kyunggok Kim, Nathalie Gaynor, Francesca Fetten, Rachel Halverson, Danbe Lee, Yu Ching Shelley Ng, Michael Brown, Abigail Tucker, Sebastian Stefanovic, Benjamin Lanners and last but not least Artem Kuznetsov. The instruments played tonight were the; Violin, Piano, Viola, Cello and clarinet. This concert review will be the last one I will be doing this semester and quite frankly I was very sad. That being said my mind was set to enjoy it more than ever.

Their experience and extraordinary sense of unity could be appreciated throughout the breathtaking concert, which relied on wild improvisational creativity, incendiary dynamics and languages, and super articulated, if sometimes completely refracted, rhythms. You can think of an intoxicating odyssey whose noisy prayers and agitated passages are gradually transformed into calm and breathable atmospheres, essential to regroup forces and continue exulting inspiration.

On Friday, November 06, 2015 at 7:30 pm, I attended the conservatory orchestra concert conducted by George Rothman that was held in the Whitman Theatre of the Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College. There were four pieces of music during this concert. The first piece of music was “Belshazzar’s Gastabud” (Belshazzar’s Feast), op.51 by Jean Sibelius. The second piece of music was “Le Tombeau de Couperin” by Maurice Ravel. The third piece of music was “Le Festin De L’Araignee” (The Spider’s Feast), op. 17 by Albert Roussel. The last piece of music was Symphony No.1 in D major, “Classical,” op.25 by Sergie Prokofiev.

The concert in which I will be reviewing in this essay is the Department of Fine Arts and The Faulty of Arts and Science Presents The Mallery Concert Series Fall 2015 in the Mallery Room on November 4, 2015 at 12:15pm. This concert series lasted for an hour long. It started at 12:15 pm and it finished approximately at 1:15pm.