Fall Concerts 2014

JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University’s Department of Music has a full line-up of concerts and recitals to appeal to a variety of musical tastes during the fall 2014 semester.

The fall concert schedule features several student ensembles, as well as noted guest artists and faculty musicians.

Highlights of the fall season include a regional male choral festival along with collaborative productions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!” and Johann Strauss’ operetta “Die Fledermaus (The Bat).”

The “Men in Song” Choral Festival is a two-day event celebrating male singers from throughout the region.  Sponsored by the ETSU and Milligan College music departments, it is free and open to all male singers.  Rehearsals will be held Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 4-5, with a public concert on Oct. 5 at Johnson City’s First Presbyterian Church featuring the full choir, along with the BucsWorth Men’s Choir from ETSU, Milligan College’s Heard Mentality, the Appalachian Men’s Express, MECCA Men and AMEn. 

As part of the ETSU Arts Initiative, “Oklahoma!” will be produced by the Department of Music and the Division of Theatre and Dance in the Department of Communication and Performance, with support from ETSU’s Mary B. Martin School of the Arts.  Students from both departments will combine their talents for these performances, which will be held Nov. 19-23 in the Bud Frank Theatre in Gilbreath Hall.

The ETSU Festival Chorus will join Kingsport’s Symphony of the Mountains and the Asheville (N.C.) Lyric Opera to put an Appalachian twist on “Die Fledermaus.”  Performances are scheduled in three regional cities – in Asheville at the Diana Wortham Theatre on Oct. 3 and 5, in Bristol at the Paramount Center for the Arts on Oct. 10 and in Kingsport at the Toy F. Reid Eastman Employee Center on Oct. 11.

Student Concerts

Greyscale, ETSU’s men’s and women’s vocal ensemble, will take its music to the community throughout the semester starting with “Music in the Park” on Sept. 21 at Veterans Park on Southwest Avenue in front of Southside Elementary School.  This will be followed by the popular “Java Jive” concert series at area coffeehouses, including Starbucks in The Cave on the lower level of the D.P. Culp University Center on campus (Sept. 25), and downtown Johnson City’s Willow Tree Coffeehouse and Music Room (Oct. 16) and Acoustic Coffeehouse (Nov. 20).

In addition, Greyscale and the ETSU Jazz Combo will present “Moonlight Silver,” an evening of music and cuisine that will help guests forget the daily grind on Nov. 8 in the Culp Center ballroom.  The program will begin with a dinner buffet, with desserts provided at intermission.  Limited seating will be available, with both dinner and dessert-only options from which to choose.

The ETSU Concert Band and Wind Ensemble will present the Opening Fall Bands Concert on Oct. 9 and the Ending Fall Bands Concert on Nov. 25 in the Culp Center’s Martha Street Culp Auditorium.  Selections to be performed during the Oct. 9 concert relate to stormy weather and the trouble it can bring, while the Nov. 25 show will highlight “Symphonic Soundings.”

The ETSU Chorale, Women’s Choir, BucsWorth Men’s Choir and Greyscale will perform in the Fall Choral Concert on Oct. 19 at Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church.  The program will include the premiere of a new work by 2014 ETSU graduate Zach Ross.  The Mountain Empire Children’s Choral Academy will join the ETSU ensembles during the concert.

The four ETSU vocal ensembles will also present the annual holiday concert in two performances on Dec. 6 at Munsey Church.  This year’s concert includes a chamber orchestra that will be featured throughout the program and highlighted in the title song, “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

The early music ensemble Collegium Musicum will join the Mandolin Orchestra from ETSU’s Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies to perform a variety of music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods on Nov. 11 in the Mathes Hall auditorium.

The student Brass Ensembles will give a concert titled “Brass Factory of East Tennessee!” on Dec. 2 at First Presbyterian Church of Johnson City.  These include the Trombone Choir, Horn Choir, Trumpet Ensemble and Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble.

The Percussion Ensemble will perform standard percussion literature and arrangements of Latin and popular pieces on Dec. 7 in the Mathes Hall auditorium.

Guest Artist Concerts

“Hot Southern Trumpet Nights,” a Guest Artist Recital to be held Sept. 29 in the Mathes Hall auditorium, will be performed by Drs. Jason Bergman (trumpet) and Ellen Elder (piano), both of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Known as “the father of modern jazz trombone,” Bill Watrous will be the featured guest artist with the ETSU Jazz Ensemble and regional band The Jazz Doctors in “‘Bone’ Voyage,” the annual Fall Jazz at the Culp concert, on Dec. 5 in the Culp Auditorium.

Faculty Concerts

Dada Cabaret, a fun and nonsensical ensemble, debuted last spring with “China Rabbit and Other Tales.”  This fall, the absurdity will continue with “We Broke the China Rabbit,” with three performances for mature audiences scheduled in downtown Johnson City: Sept. 27 at the Nelson Fine Art Center, Oct. 25 at the Willow Tree Coffeehouse and Music Room and Nov. 22 at the Acoustic Coffeehouse. 

Several faculty members will perform together in a recital titled “Amalgam!” featuring a curious blend of instruments and music on Oct. 3 in the Mathes Hall auditorium. 

Visiting faculty member Esther Park, who has been featured in ETSU’s Powell Piano Series, will present “A Night of Fantasia and Dances” on Oct. 10 in the Brown Hall auditorium.

“Musical Landscapes,” a program of music depicting the time and place of distant lands, will be performed by Dr. Heather Killmeyer on oboe, accompanied by Andrew Ford on piano, on Oct. 18 at First Presbyterian Church of Johnson City.

ETSU’s brass faculty say they pride themselves “on the ability to have the brass needed to perform whatever is called for in order to please any audience,” and they are called on frequently for appearances at a variety of occasions.  In “Have the Brass to Do Something,” the Faculty Brass ensemble will perform selections of chamber music for brass; the concert will be held Nov. 18 at First Presbyterian Church of Johnson City. 

Inspired by the mountains of Northeast Tennessee, Dr. Sun-Joo Oh, soprano, will tell of a young woman’s journey through life in “A Cycle of Shepherdess’ Life” on Nov. 14 in the Mathes Hall auditorium.  She will be accompanied by Park on piano and Eugene Jones on clarinet.

Admission to these concerts ranges from free to $36.  For more information on these concerts and other performances, or to purchase advance tickets, visit https://www.etsu.edu/cas/music/.  For more information or to purchase tickets by phone, call the Department of Music at 423-439-4276.  For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.