NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

1/25/2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES ­Faculty from the Mrs. H.D. Dear, Sr. and Alice Estelle Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts at Northwestern State University will present a concert of works by composer Eric Ewazen Thursday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 pm in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. The concert is sponsored by the School of Creative and Performing Arts and the NSU Student Activities Board.

Ewazen, a faculty member at the Juilliard School, will be the accompanist on piano at the concert. He will also conduct a masterclass at NSU and work with music students.

The program will include the NSU Trumpet Ensemble performing "Fantasia for Seven Trumpets"; "Pastorale," with Dennette McDermott on flute and Kristine Coreil on horn; and "Rhapsody," featuring J. Mark Thompson on bass trombone. Also performing will be the Faculty Brass Trio with Galindo Rodriguez on trumpet joined by Coreil and Thompson performing "Fanfare for a Great Teacher." The Faculty Woodwind Quintet (Dennette McDermott, flute; Mary Cicconetti, oboe; Malena McLaren, clarinet; Douglas Bakenhus, bassoon; and Coreil) will perform "Roaring Fork."

Two additional solo performances will round out the concert with Andrej Kurti performing the first movement from the "Violin Concerto," and Masahito Kuroda will perform the third movement from "Euphonium Concerto."

"I have been familiar with his work for more than 10 years and find it to be fresh and inspiring to me," said Thompson, who arranged for Ewazen's appearance. "He has a real flair for writing. Few composers have caught on to writing for brass like he has. Over the years, he has studied with a who's who of composers and has written excellent works for other instruments."

He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Tanglewood and The Juilliard School where he received numerous composition awards, prizes, and fellowships. Currently on the faculty of The Juilliard School and lecturer for the New York Philharmonic's Musical Encounters Series, he has also served on the faculties of the Hebrew Arts School and the Lincoln Center Institute. Ewazen has previously served as vice president of the League of Composers - International Society of Contemporary Music; Music Academy of the West, and for the International Trombone Association convention. He is composer-in-residence with the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble.

Ewazen's works have been commissioned and performed by organizations such as the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Greenwich Symphony, Fairfield Chamber Orchestra, American Brass Quintet (three times), Chicago Chamber Players, Borealis Wind Quintet, Bellevue Philharmonic, Detroit Chamber Winds, Western Piedmont Symphony, School for Strings, L'Amore di Musica, New York State Council on the Arts, the Phillip-Morris Companies, Jerome Foundation, University of Arizona, University of Oklahoma and the Music Academy of the West.

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