As the month of March rolls into April and spring is finally here, the musical calendar at Stetson University is alive with the best-of-the-best in cultural entertainment available in Central Florida.  

The following is a list of the upcoming concerts scheduled for the next few weeks on Stetson’s DeLand campus. Complimentary admission for Stetson faculty, students and staff with ID. You do not want to miss any of these quality performances:

• Thursday, March 27 – Composer John Harbison (pictured; photo by Katrin Talbot), piano, will perform in concert with his wife Rose Mary Harbison, violin, and Stetson music professor Kristie Born, piano. 7:30 p.m., Lee Chapel. Sponsored by Stetson’s Artists and Lecturers Committee. Harbison, who is the recipient of many awards including a Pulitzer Prize, is one of America’s most distinguished artistic figures. A Q&A with the artists will immediately follow the performance. Admission is complimentary.
• Saturday, March 29 – Guitarist Benjamin Verdery. Stetson’s Artists and Lecturers Series presents internationally renowned guitarist/composer Benjamin Verdery, chair of the guitar department at the Yale University School of Music. Verdery will perform his own works for solo guitar, his arrangements of works by J.S. Bach, Prince, and Elvis Presley, and Ezra Laderman’s On Vineyard Sound, composed for Mr. Verdery. Admission is complimentary.

• Tuesday, April 1 – Stetson University Chamber Orchestra, Anthony Hose, conductor. 7:30 p.m., Lee Chapel. The theme of the program is “Wedded Heroes” and features works by several composers. In the Don Quixote Suite, by Telemann, a Spanish knight’s imagination takes him into fantastic battles. The Wedding Cake by Saint-Saëns is a composition dedicated to a Victorian musical amuse-bouche. String Quartet No. 8, Op. 110 for string orchestra by Shostakovich is  dedicated to “The Memory of the Victims of Fascism and War.” They will also perform Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

• Friday, April 4 – Student Composers Concert, 7:30 p.m., Lee Chapel. The concert will feature works composed by Stetson students for Stetson students.

• Sunday, April 6 – Percussion Ensemble, Marja Kerney, director. 3 p.m., Lee Chapel. The Percussion Ensemble, which consists of ten student performers, will be presenting a variety of works including a rag by George Hamilton Green; a marimba quartet adaptation of a piano solo by Louis Moreau Gottschalk; an up-tempo and exciting quintet by Nathan Daughtrey; a “drummy” trio by Russell Peck; and will close with the lush Crown of Thorns for keyboard percussion by David Maslanka.

• Sunday, April 6 – Woodwind Ensembles, 7:30 p.m., Lee Chapel. Stetson Woodwind Ensembles featuring works by various composers.

• Tuesday, April 8 – Stetson Women’s Chorale and Stetson Men, Andrew Larson and Timothy Peter, conductors. 7:30 p.m., Lee Chapel. The Stetson Women’s Chorale will be performing the Florida premiere of Dorothy Poems by Craig Hella Johnson. It is a four-movement work with poetry by Dorothy Walters, a poet-mystic whose poetry can be both incisive and comforting. One of the choir’s signature pieces, Ubi Caritas by Ola Gjeilo, will also be performed but with a newer spin conceived for jazz piano improvisation as accompaniment. The Stetson Men will be singing works by Grieg, Martini, and a variety of world music repertoire for male voices including a Spanish work which originated during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s against Hitler and Mussolini. Additional pieces will be sung in Swedish, Hebrew, and Latin. The concert will also feature the two choirs combining to sing Vox Populi, a piece composed by Giedrius Svilainis.
• Friday, April 11 – Stetson University Symphony Orchestra, Anthony Hose, conductor. 7:30 p.m., Lee Chapel. The concert will focus on Great Romantics – Wagner: Prelude to Act 3 of “Lohengrin”; Delius: The Walk to the Paradise Garden from A Village Romeo and Juliet; Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol; Gershwin: “Scenes from Porgy and Bess” with James Bishop on alto saxophone.   
• Saturday, April 12 – Stetson University Symphonic Band, Douglas Phillips, conductor. 7:30 p.m., Lee Chapel. The final concert of the academic year for the Stetson Band will include works by Antonin Dvořák (Carnival Overture), Joaquín Rodrigo (Adagio for Winds), Peter Mennin (Canzona), Gabriel Fauré (Cantique de Jean Racine), and the featured composition: Symphony No. 8 by the American composer David Maslanka. Maslanka has been on Stetson’s DeLand campus this week for a three-day guest composer residency (3/25-3/27) where students, faculty, and community members have had the opportunity to interact with and learn from the distinguished composer. 
• Sunday, April 13 – Brass Ensembles, 3 p.m., Lee Chapel. The public is invited to enjoy the Stetson University Brass Ensembles, featuring five different groups: the Trumpet Ensemble, Tom Macklin, director; Horn Ensemble, Kathy Thomas, director; Trombone Ensemble, David Schmidt, director; Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble, Tom Waid, director; and Brass Ensemble, Tom Macklin, director.   

Tickets can be purchased at the door, or in advance online at https://www.ticketreturn.com/prod2/team.asp?#.UzQc2fldWTI  For more information, contact the School of Music at 386-822-8950, or visit www2.stetson.edu/music.

Watch Stetson Today for more information on upcoming School of Music concerts.

by Allison Cooper