Friday Music Series Fall 2015

Fall 2015

The Georgetown University Music Program’s Friday Music Series features free concerts on select Fridays at 1:15 p.m. in McNeir Hall, New North Building, *unless otherwise indicated.

Friday, September 18, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.
Co-presented with GU Library Associates and the Special Collections Research Center

Rebecca Gates

Rebecca Gates is a US based musician, curator, artist and audio editor. She has released five albums, three as leader of the critically acclaimed group The Spinanes (Sub Pop), toured internationally and appeared as a vocalist on numerous records by artists as wide ranging as The Decemberists and Willie Nelson. Entertainment Weekly notes, “…she might just possess the sexiest voice in rock.”
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE


Friday, September 25, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.

New Orchestra of Washington

The New Orchestra of Washington makes music relevant to new generations of audiences through virtuosic performances representing diverse genres, with fresh interpretations of classic works. Unconstrained by the structure or repertoire of traditional orchestras, the DC-based ensemble was founded in 2012 and programs inspiring, memorable concerts that are neither strictly classical nor purely academic. Program includes the East Coast premiere of Georgetown University Music Program Prof. Joel Friedman’s When the World Disintegrates Before Your Eyes for solo viola, John B. Hedges’ Clarinet Sonatina “Gumbo” (2008), and Mozart’s “Kegelstatt” Trio in E-flat, K498. 

McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE


Friday, October 2, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.

Mexico City Woodwind Quintet

Asako Arai, flute
Joseph Shalita, oboe
Fernando Domínguez, clarinet
Wendy Holdaway, bassoon
Paul Miller, horn

The Mexico City Woodwind Quintet is regarded as one of the most important chamber music groups in Mexico today. With four compact discs, the group is dedicated to promoting the composition and dissemination of contemporary works by Mexican and Latin American composers. The ensemble has performed at universities around the U.S. and presented Mexican music in the Mexican Consulate in New York and the Mexican Cultural Institute in the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C. This program, Postcards from the Americas, includes the following and was made possible by a grant from “México en Escena,” Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes:  

Argentina: Milonga by Astor Piazzolla
México: Momo by Eugenio Toussaint
Costa Rica: Zachic II  by Alejandro Cardona
México: Juegos Nocturnos (Night Games) by Federico Ibarra
Brazil: Quinteto de Sopros by Marlos Nobre
Uruguay: In Heaven by Miguel del Aguila

McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE


Friday, October 16, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.

Jinsun Cho, organ

Organist Jinsun Cho serves as the accompanist and assistant director of the Capitol Hill Chorale and the organist at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Annandale, VA. Dr. Cho has also served on faculty of the organ department at the Catholic University of America; the church music department at Mokwon University, Yonsei University, and Seoul Jangsin University in Seoul, Korea; and is currently accompanist of the Georgetown University Chamber Singers.

*DAHLGREN CHAPEL
FREE


Friday, October 23, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.
Part of the Katrina@10 Symposium

Donald Harrison, Jr., saxophone

New Orleans native Donald Harrison, Jr. has performed with an array of distinguished musicians including Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Lena Horne, Ron Carter, Terence Blanchard, Dr. John, Notorious B.I.G., the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and many more. He created Nouveau Swing, which merges modern dance music like R&B, hip-hop, soul,rock, and combined jazz with Afro-New Orleans tradition music, and serves as Big Chief of The Congo Square Nation Afro-New Orleans cultural group. An evacuee/survivor of Hurricane Katrina, he appeared in Spike Lee’s HBO documentary “When the Levees Broke,” and also appeared as himself in and co-wrote the soundtrack for Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme’s feature film, “Rachel’s Getting Married” starring Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger. He appears as himself in nine episodes of “Treme,” which chronicles aspects of his life and music with the two characters of Albert and Delmond Lambreaux. The New York Times has praised Harrison as “one of the most gifted young saxophonists playing jazz.”

This concert is part of the two-day Katrina@10 Symposium, led by Director of the GU Film and Media Studies Program Prof. Bernard Cook, Symposium events also include a screening and discussion of Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s film Trouble The Water (2008), and three panels–on Media and Memory, Public History, and Activism and Justice.

McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE


Friday, October 30, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.

Grace Kim, piano

Praised by The Washington Post as a pianist whose playing is “rich with emotional contrasts,” Grace Eun Hae Kim has performed as recitalist and chamber musician in notable venues such as Alice Tully Hall and Juilliard Theater at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Steinway Hall. She has appeared as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, and won prizes in numerous competitions including the Minnesota International Piano E-Competition, Washington International Competition, William Kapell International Piano Competition, and Corpus Christi International Competition.

Program includes Scarlatti’s Sonata in E Major, K. 380, Sonata in B Minor, K. 87, and Sonata in C Major, K. 159; Beethoven’s 15 Variations and Fugue in E-flat Major, Op.35 “Eroica”; Scriabin’s Five Preludes, Op. 15; and Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasy in A-flat Major, Op.61

McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE


Friday, November 13, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.

Modern Musick

The early music ensemble Modern Musick continues its residency in the Music Program at Georgetown University. Led by Risa Browder (violin) and John Moran (cello), the ensemble focuses on diverse genres and composers from the early modern era, utilizing period instruments and performance practice techniques.

Risa Browder & Leslie Nero, violins
John Moran, violoncello
Dongsok Shin, harpsichord

Vivaldi’s Sonata à 3 in B-flat major, op. 1 no. 10 (RV 78); Sonata for violoncello & continuo in a minor (RV 44); and Sonata à 3 in d minor, op. 1 no 12 “La Folia” (RV 63); Michele Mascitti’s Sonata à 3 in g minor, op. 6 no. 15; Giovanni Benedetto Platti’s Sonata à 3 in D major; and Handel’s Sonata à 3 in g minor, op. 2 no. 6 (HWV 391)

*DAHLGREN CHAPEL
FREE

 


Friday, November 20, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.

William Sharp, baritone
Steven Mayer, piano

Charles Ives’ America:  Part One
A recital of songs by America’s supreme composer of art-songs, featuring two celebrated Ives exponents. Sharp, “a sensitive and subtle singer who evokes the special character of every song that he sings” (New York Times) will perform the popular songs that inspired certain Ives songs. Mayer, praised by the New York Times for “piano playing at its most awesome,” will also perform “The Alcotts” from Ives’ “Concord Sonata” — an American masterpiece he has performed more than any other pianist. Presented by PostClassical Ensemble as part of a two-day Ives Celebration at Georgetown University. (Part two of Charles Ives’ America will be a ticketed GU Orchestra concert with guest artists Sharp and Mayer on November 22 at 5 p.m. in Gaston Hall.)
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE


Friday, December 4, 2015 at 1:15 p.m.

Annual Holiday Concert

The Georgetown University Jazz Ensemble, led by Prof. Aaron Broadus, presents a program of classic holiday standards.
McNEIR HALL, NEW NORTH BUILDING
FREE


 

Past Performances