NEWS

By JENA WITTKAMP
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL – New interpretations of long-familiar classical music pieces will be performed April 16-20 in "Revisions and Rethinkings: A Festival on the Hill," presented by the music department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

UNC faculty and student musicians, plus two guest music scholars, will discuss and perform original and revised pieces in a symposium and four concerts. The music will be from the Baroque period through the 20^th century.

"This biennial festival unites the creative and academic talents of the department and combines both thinking and doing," said Dr. Tim Carter, David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of music a festival organizer. "This year’s festival is no exception. The department will become a laboratory where we will experiment with previously unheard versions of well-known musical works. We’ll test the results and ask the audience to ponder the question, ‘which thoughts are better: first or last?’"

A festival highlight will be the American premier of Dr. Jon Finson’s edition of the first version of Schumann’s 4^th Symphony (1841). Finson is a UNC music professor and adjunct professor of American studies.

All events, except for the symposium, will be in Hill Hall Auditorium.

· Gala Concert, 8 p.m. April 16. Performances by the Carolina Choir (choral transcriptions of American songs by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and Ned Rorem); the UNC Cello Choir (Arvo Part’s "Fratres"); the UNC Wind Ensemble with the Carolina Choir( "The Circus Band" by Charles Ives); and the UNC Symphony Orchestra (Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, edited by Finson).

· Symposium on Musical Revisions and Rethinkings, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 17, Person Recital Hall. Dr. Annegret Fauser, associate professor and adjunct associate professor in women’s studies at UNC, and Dr. Philip Gossett, music professor at the University of Chicago, will discuss "Rescripting Opera." Finson and Dr. Susan Youens, music professor at the University of Notre Dame, will discuss "Revisiting the Salon and Concert Hall."

· Chamber Music Concert 8 p.m., April 17. Faculty artists will perform American songs for solo voice by Copland, Rorem, Barber and Charles Ives; Maurice Ravel’s "Ma Mere L’Oye" for piano four hands; and the original version of Johannes Brahms’ "Trio for Piano and Strings in B major"; also, a collection of melodies reflecting the impact of French poets on composers including Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy.

· Choral Concert, 3 p.m. April 18. UNC Chamber Singers, Carolina Choir, faculty and guest artists will perform Claudio Monteverdi’s "Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (1610)."

· Orchestra Concert, 8 p.m. April 20. The UNC Symphony Orchestra will perform the suite from Ravel’s "Ma Mere L’Oye," Part’s "Fratres" for violin, strings and percussion, and Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 (1851 revision). UNC music professors Richard Luby and Tonu Kalam will play violin and conduct, respectively.

Tickets are available in advance in 106 Hill Hall or at the door the night of each concert. Each concert is $15 for the public, $12 for seniors and $5 for students. A festival pass for all concerts is $40 for the public, $35 for seniors and $25 for students and may be purchased in advance or at the door the night of the first concert. The symposium will be free. For more information, call 962-1039.

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(Wittkamp, of Raleigh, is a December 2003 UNC graduate, with degrees in women’s studies and journalism and mass communication.)

Music Department Contact: Glenn McDonald, 962-1039

News Services Contact: L.J. Toler, 962-8589, laura_toler@unc.edu