Christopher Newport University
October 30-31, 1998
Jennifer Barker, host

Region III Conference Review

The Department of Music at Christopher Newport University (Virginia’s newest state institution) is delighted to announce the success of the 1998 Region III Conference, held on Friday the 30th and Saturday the 31st of October. The faculty and students at Christopher Newport University also wish to extend their gratitude to the attending SCI members and their guest performers and friends for giving them the opportunity to mount three concerts of interesting, exciting and widely-diversified high-caliber compositions. Of the seventy-seven music majors at CNU, sixty-one attended at least one of the conference chamber music concerts, in addition to the Friday evening ensemble music concert, and submitted a written post-conference concert review to the Region III chair, Dr. Jennifer Barker.

Over the course of the conference the works of twenty-five composers from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York State, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Sweden, China and Scotland were performed by musicians from around the United States, England, Greece, Sweden and South Korea. In addition to the performance of new music, Orlando Legname, an Italian/Brazilian born composer and conductor, presented a most stimulating and thought-provoking paper entitled “Density Degree of Intervals and Chords.”

The opening concert on Friday, October 30th, which was attended by over 320 audience members, presented a collection of works for jazz band, electroacoustics, chorus and symphonic band. The CNU Jazz Ensemble, directed by Professor William Brown, performed Jonathan Peters’ Glide, Spin, Sail. Bruce Mahin performed his own composition, Galileo, for electronic wind instrument, interactive computer and synthesizers, and Joe Alexander’s Infamy… for tuba and tape was performed by Pete Dubeau, tubist with the Virginia Symphony. The CNU Chamber Singers, directed by Dr. David Means, performed Karen Tarlow’s Five Shaker Lyrics, and the CNU Brass Choir, directed by Dr. Mark Reimer, performed Larry Nelson’s Fanfare. The final two works on the concert were performed by the CNU Symphonic Band, directed by Dr. Mark Reimer. These were Cynthia Folio’s Living Legacy, which included four herald trumpets, and Donald Reid Womack’s Pearl. A post-concert reception was hosted by the highly-active National Association of Composers, USA/Tidewater chapter.

The conference proceedings on Saturday commenced with Orlando Legname’s research presentation and a buffet luncheon hosted by the CNU Friends of Music, with live music provided by the CNU Jazz Combo, under the direction of Professor William Brown. The remaining two chamber music concerts were separated by a gala dinner, attended by the University Provost, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, the Chair of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Department of Music faculty, CNU music students, and conference attendees.

The compositions on the two chamber music concerts were performed by guest performers from around the United States and abroad, members of the Virginia Symphony, members of the Virginia Opera Association, members of the USAF Heritage of America Band, regional freelance musicians, the CNU Contemporary Music Ensemble, CNU faculty members, CNU music alumni, and CNU student soloists. The Saturday afternoon concert was attended by over 250 audience members and the Saturday evening concert (Halloween night) was attended by approximately 75 audience members. The works performed included: Rite, by Christopher Coleman, Cinque Frammenti, by Bruno Amato, Studies for Right or Left Hand, by Allan Blank, Ali San, by Wang An-Ming, Six Symptoms, by Andreas Meyer, What, When and Where, by Donna Kelly Eastman, Self-Expression, by Stacy Garrop, 1/2 A Century, by Ulf Grahn, Four for Three, by John Winsor, A Prayer for the Forgotten, by William Price, Music of the Solistice, by Brian Bevelander, Shaarei Tikkun (Gates of Transformation), by Andrew Bleckner, Three Movements, by James Chaudoir, Hill Songs, by Kenneth R. Benoit, Nyvaigs/Naibh Beags, by Jennifer Margaret Barker, Two Studies for Mandolin, by Paul Epstein, Two Songs from Noh Variations, by Byron K. Yasui, Dominion Fragments, by Harvey Stokes.