NDSU Announces 36th Annual Jazz Festival
January 26, 2018
The North Dakota State University Division of Performing Arts is excited to announce the 36th Annual High School Invitational Jazz Festival, Febraury 10th, 2018 at NDSU Festival Concert Hall, featuring guest artists Greg Abate, saxophone and Charles Lazarus, trumpet.
The NDSU High School Invitational Jazz Festival will feature regional high school jazz ensembles. Guest adjudicators bring their world class jazz talents as both educators and performers to the stage of Festival Concert Hall. During the festival, guest artists will present a series of clinics to area jazz students, along with critiquing the bands in performance. All clinics are free and open to the public.
High school’s in participation include West Fargo Liberty Middle School, Central Cass High School, Moorhead High School, West Fargo High School, and Minot High School.
The festival culminates in a high-powered concert featuring our world-class guest artists in performance with the NDSU Jazz Ensemble. The closing concert is free and open to the public on February 10th at 7:00 P.M. in Festival Concert Hall.
NDSU presents Opera Wars
January 26, 2018
Fargo, N.D. – NDSU Opera presents Mozart’s musical comedy The Impresario along with Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges on Friday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2:00 p.m. Opera Wars will offer you a good laugh and a touching reflection on humanity.
Mozart’s The Impresario (1786) features the hilarious trials and tribulations of two warring sopranos fighting for the lead role in the impresario’s new opera production. This comedic Singspiel has spoken dialogue as well as sung arias and ensembles and will be performed in English.
Another type of “Opera War” will be presented in Maurice Ravel’s “The Child and the Enchantments”. In the original libretto by Colette, written around 1917, a naughty little boy throws a tantrum and the animals and inanimate objects that he has harmed or broken in the past come to life to confront him. The NDSU production will draw upon parallels between the story of the opera and Ravel’s actual experiences during WWI, when he served in the French Army. The child represents Ravel himself, confronted by his traumatizing memories of the War. Musical highlights include the beautiful final chorus which stands as a tribute to the innate compassion embodied in a human soul.
The production is performed entirely by NDSU students and is staged by guest director Frederic Heringes. Heringes is a Fargo resident with a rich experience on stage across the nation, he has directed productions regionally for the FM Opera’s Gate City Bank’s Young Artist Program as well as for Concordia College.
Mariane Lemieux-Wottrich who recently joined NDSU as assistant professor of voice and opera is producing the double bill. Originally from Montreal and specialized in French repertoire, Lemieux-Wottrich is thrilled to share a gem of French opera in L’enfant et les Sortilèges and to display some impressive vocal fireworks by NDSU students in Mozart’s The Impresario.
For more on the production, visit here.
Col. Václav Blahunek appears with NDSU Wind Symphony Dec. 3
November 29, 2017
The NDSU Wind Symphony will perform “A Czech Festival” concert on Dec. 3, featuring guest artist conductor Col. Václav Blahunek from the Prague Castle Guard and Czech Symphonic Police Band. The concert is at NDSU Festival Concert Hall at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday and will showcase works by Czech composers.
Col. Václav Blahunek, Ph.D., has been conductor of the Prague Castle Guard and Czech Police Symphonic Band since 1999, and was appointed its director and chief conductor in 2009. Born in 1971 in Olomouc, Czech Republic, he studied clarinet and conducting at the Prague Academy, where his teachers included Radomil Eliska and Frantisek Vajnar on clarinet, and the renowned Czech conductor Jiri Belohlavek and Nicolas Parquet in conducting. Col. Blahunek has conducted bands and orchestras internationally, including the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic of Zlin, and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra of Japan. He has appeared as guest conductor at the Prague State Opera and the Usti nad Labem Theatre. In 2010, he finished his doctoral studies at the Prague Academy, focusing on the theory of interpretation, with special emphasis on conducting the symphonic repertoire for wind orchestras.
Under the direction of Dr. Warren Olfert, The NDSU Wind Symphony is part of a tradition of band excellence at North Dakota State University that spans more than 100 years. Included in that tradition is a legacy of performances around the nation through tours and conferences and the contribution of new music to the band world through commissions and consortiums. The Wind Symphony has worked with composers such as David Maslanka and Dana Wilson and has performed with internationally renowned soloists Eugene Rousseau and Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Thomas Hooten.
NDSU Challey School of Music presents December holiday events
November 6, 2017
The NDSU Challey School of Music will present its popular series of Madrigal Dinners on Dec. 7-9 on campus, and two holiday concerts of Handel’s Messiah on Dec. 1 and 2 at First Lutheran Church in Fargo.
The Madrigal Dinners provide a rollicking atmosphere of Renaissance dining and entertainment, with holiday music by the Madrigal Singers and NDSU Brass Quintet ensembles. Hosted in the Challey Atrium of the NDSU Reineke Fine Arts Center, the dinner consists of several courses with a main entrée of beef, chicken or vegetarian fare. The dinners are offered Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 7-9, beginning at 6 p.m. Tickets for the Madrigal Dinners are $40 and the reservation deadline is Dec. 1. A special rate of $10 for NDSU students is available on Dec. 7.
Conducted by Dr. Jo Ann Miller, more than 200 students in five choirs and the Baroque Festival Orchestra will present Handel’s Messiah, on Friday, Dec. 1 and Saturday, Dec. 2 at First Lutheran Church, 619 Broadway, Fargo. Both concerts are at 7:30 p.m. A holiday tradition throughout the world, Messiah combines Old and New Testament texts in one of the most memorable works of Western music, including the iconic Hallelujah Chorus. Tickets for the Messiah concert purchased in advance are $17 for adults, $12 for seniors, $7 for students (free to NDSU students with I.D.) and at the door are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, and $10 for students.
Tickets for the Madrigal Dinners and the Messiah performances are available through the NDSU Performing Arts Box Office at (701) 231-7969 or online at www.ndsu.edu/performingarts.
NDSU Wind Symphony announces 2017 Fall Tour
October 12, 2017
Fargo, N.D. – The NDSU Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Warren Olfert, will present its 2017 Fall Tour in October, featuring works from composers that include David Maslanka, Eric Whitacre, Jack Stamp, Vincent Persichetti and Steven Bryant. NDSU’s professor of horn, Gwendolyn Hoberg, will also perform with the ensemble.
The Wind Symphony will perform a public concert at Mandan High School with the Mandan High School Wind Ensemble on Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. The 55-member ensemble will also visit other North Dakota high schools in the communities of Beulah, Bottineau, Grand Forks, Jamestown, Minot and Williston.
The NDSU Wind Symphony is part of a tradition of band excellence at North Dakota State University that spans more than 100 years. Included in that tradition is a legacy of performances around the nation through tours and conferences and the contribution of new music to the band world through commissions and consortiums. The Wind Symphony has worked with composers such as David Maslanka and Dana Wilson and has performed with internationally renowned soloists Eugene Rousseau and Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Thomas Hooten.
NDSU Gold Star Marching Band to hold free concert Nov. 12
October 12, 2017
The NDSU Gold Star Marching Band presents “Sounds of the Gridiron,” a free concert at the Fargodome on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. The band will march and perform its 2017 Bison pre-game show with select standards from its half-time show.
About 80 percent of the band members are pursuing majors other than music. The Gold Star Marching Band has 210 students in 62 majors as diverse as veterinary science, criminal justice and mechanical engineering, who share a commitment to performing rousing music and boosting school spirit.
The show is free and open to the public, who are invited to cheer on the young men and women who help keep the energy high at Bison games.
Jazz Ambassadors to give free concert at NDSU on Oct. 21
September 25, 2017
Fargo, N.D. – The internationally acclaimed Jazz Ambassadors of Washington, DC will perform a free concert at NDSU Festival Concert Hall on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. To reserve free tickets for the event, contact the NDSU Performing Arts Box Office at 701.231.7969.
The Jazz Ambassadors is the official touring big band of the United States Army and features a 19-member ensemble. The band’s entertaining and diverse repertoire includes big band swing, bebop, Latin, contemporary jazz, standards, popular tunes, Dixieland, vocals, and patriotic selections.
The Jazz Ambassadors has appeared in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, and throughout Europe. Recent notable performances include concerts at the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Richmond Jazz Festival at Maymont, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Jazz Education Network Conference, and an appearance on the Colbert Report.
The concert is sponsored by the NDSU Challey School of Music and Forum Communications Company.
NDSU duo reach finals round in International Song Competition
September 8, 2017
Fargo, N.D. – Mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski (NDSU Bachelor of Music 2008) accompanied by Dr. Tyler Wottrich, assistant professor of piano, Challey School of Music, took fourth place in the 2017 Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition. The only female vocalist in the finals, she was awarded the Richard Tauber Prize for best performance of Schubert Lieder. Held at Wigmore Hall in London on September 2-7, the competition featured 23 selected duos from 15 countries.
In March, Ms. Oswoski was awarded the 2nd prize award in the prestigious 2017 Das Lied International Song Competition, where she was also accompanied by Dr. Wottrich. Following the Wigmore Hall event, the duo were invited to perform on Sept. 8 on the prestigious BBC radio program “In Tune.”
Ms. Osowski is an award-winning soloist and chamber musician who performs throughout the United States and Europe. Earlier in 2017, she won the Saengerbund Awards German Vocal Competition in Houston, and previously was a finalist in the 2015 Das Lied competition. She sings with the Rose Ensemble and Seraphic Fire, internationally touring vocal ensembles, and she is the co-founder of and serves as the associate artistic director of the annual Source Song Festival in Minneapolis. She graduated from North Dakota State University in 2008 with a bachelor of music in vocal performance, and received her master of arts degree in voice from the University of Iowa in 2010. She is a native of Carrington, N.D.
Dr. Wottrich has developed a career spanning a broad spectrum of musical genres including solo piano, chamber music, ballet, opera and gospel. An alumnus of Ensemble ACJW (a program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, the Weill Music Institute and the New York City Department of Education), he performs frequently in such venues as Carnegie’s Zankel and Weill Halls and the Juilliard School. Dr. Wottrich received the 2011 Emerson Quartet’s Ackerman Prize for chamber music, and is the founder and artistic director of the annual NDSU Chamber Music Festival. He developed the graduate collaborative piano program at NDSU’s Challey School of Music and teaches applied piano as well as music theory and analysis courses.
Since its foundation in 1997, the International Song Competition has grown in status and prestige, and continues to attract singers and pianists from around the world, aged 33 or under, who are keen to embark on significant recital careers. Providing an invaluable opportunity for feedback and guidance from a jury consisting of the highest calibre of internationally renowned artists and directors from the world’s elite concert halls and music festivals, the Competition also promotes the exchange of ideas between artists from all over the world, and presents an important platform for public performance and the expansion of repertoire.
Hurricane Relief Concert set for Sept. 17 at NDSU
September 8, 2017
Fargo, N.D. – NDSU Performing Arts and the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra are partnering on a benefit concert for hurricane relief on Sunday, Sept. 17 at 2:00 p.m. at Festival Concert Hall, NDSU Reineke Fine Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public, and free-will donations will be accepted for the American Red Cross – Dakotas Region. All event expenses will be donated, so 100 percent of audience donations received during the concert will go directly to Red Cross Disaster Relief to help those affected by 2017 hurricanes in the United States, such as Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma.
The concert will include performances by the FM Symphony Brass Quintet, the NDSU BisonArts Singers with the Radio All Stars, Symphony violinist and Houston native Sonja Harasim, and other musicians with the Symphony and the NDSU Challey School of Music. American Red Cross Regional CEO Lynn Speral and NDSU President Dean Bresciani will also take the stage during the show.
Financial donations enable the American Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. This includes providing food, shelter, relief supplies, emotional support, recovery planning and other assistance, to those affected by these devastating storms.
Theatre NDSU announces 2017-18 season
August 1, 2017
Fargo, N.D. – Theatre NDSU, the student performance company at North Dakota State University, announces the following line-up of four exciting and memorable productions for its 2017-18 season. Tickets are available at www.ndsu.edu/performingarts or by calling the NDSU Performing Arts Box Office at 701-231-7969. Contact the Box Office for reduced rates available with the Season Flexpass, providing four tickets for use in any combination to the shows.
Urinetown: The Musical
Music & Lyrics by Mark Hollmann
Book & Lyrics by Greg Kotis
Oct. 19–21 and Oct. 25–28, 2017 | 7:30 PM | Askanase Auditorium
Get ready for a sidesplitting sendup of greed, love, revolution (and musicals!), in a time when water is worth its weight in gold. Winner of three Tony Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards and two Obie Awards, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, municipal politics and musical theatre itself! Hilariously funny and touchingly honest, Urinetown provides a fresh perspective on one of America’s greatest art forms.
How I Learned to Drive
By Paula Vogel
Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 2, 6–9, 2017 | 7:30 PM | Walsh Studio Theatre
Recommended for ages 14 and up due to mature content
Li’l Bit, age seventeen, is learning how to drive from a man that finds her attractive—her Uncle Peck. Join Theatre NDSU as we explore this magical, dark, funny, and powerful Pulitzer Prize-winning play about love, abuse, and growing up through both.
Tartuffe
By Molière
Feb. 22–24, 28 and March 1-3, 2018 | 7:30 PM | Walsh Studio Theatre
The scheming con man Tartuffe charms his way into Orgon’s household with plans to marry his daughter, seduce his wife, and run off with his fortune. Despite Tartuffe’s appalling behavior, Organ is blinded to the truth – will he see through Tartuffe’s pious mask before it’s too late? One of the world’s greatest plays, Molière’s hilarious farce takes an over-the-top twist in the style of commedia dell’arte that will resonate with contemporary audiences.
Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!
By Allison Gregory
April 20, 21, 26-28, 2018 | Askanase Auditorium
April 20, 21, 27, 28 | 7:30 PM
April 21 & 28 | 2 PM
April 26 | 10 AM
It’s holiday time and Junie B. Jones can’t wait for her class Secret Santa gift exchange. But wait! Junie B.’s arch nemesis, that tattletale May, keeps getting in the way of all her fun. Junie B. comes up with a way to teach May a lesson—and learns a very special holiday lesson along the way. Based on the popular book Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May).