New Music Festival at MU Feb 28

Performances will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in Smith Recital Hall on Marshall’s Huntington campus; at noon Friday, March 1, at First Presbyterian Church, 1015 5th Ave. in Huntington; and at 8 p.m. Friday, March 1, in Smith Recital Hall.

“Those with an interest in contemporary music will experience an exciting array of new works,” said Dr. Mark Zanter, professor of music at Marshall and coordinator of the festival.

Guest performers during the festival will include Lindsey Goodman, principal flutist of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra; violinist Anyango Yarbo-Davenport; faculty chamber ensembles from Marshall and Morehead State University and the MU Contemporary Music Ensemble.

Thursday evening and Friday noon concerts feature a variety of chamber music, including works with electronic media and many U.S. premieres of works composed within the past two years, Zanter said.  Three new commissioned works by Zanter, Suite, Gestures II and The Persistence of Memory, are included.

The Friday evening concert will feature a performance of Rossum’s score to the John S. Robertson’s 1920 film, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “Rossum’s jazz-inspired score adds an entirely new dimension to the viewer’s experience of the film,” Zanter said. “[His] interpretation of Jekyll’s struggle with ‘good and evil’ adds a modern twist to the classic tale.”

In addition to the concert performances, Satterwhite will give a presentation at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in Drinko Library room 341 on Marshall’s Huntington campus. The discussion will focus on issues concerning composition and composing concert music. Satterwhite is professor of music at the University of Louisville and coordinator of that university’s Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition.

All events are free and open to the public. For further information, persons may contact Zanter by phone at 304-638-3481 or by e-mail at zanter@marshall.edu.