Lycoming College to present “Animal Crackers” concert

WILLIAMSPORT — Violinist Riana Muller, a strings instructor at Lycoming College, will perform a piece titled, “Animal Crackers,” in the College’s Mary Lindsay Welch Honors Hall at noon today . Her show is part of Lycoming’s Noon Concert Series.

In addition to Muller on the violin, other performers include violinist Marcus Smolensky, violist William Muller, cellist Andrew Rammon, and pianist Gary Boerckel, a professor of music at Lycoming.

“Animal Crackers” is comprised of music related to animals and their antics and features works by Turina, Hadyn, Morley, Schubert and others.

A featured piece is “In the Barn” from the Second Violin Sonata of Charles Ives. The performance is a tribute to Ives, who was born 125 years ago on Oct. 20.

“In the Barn” will be performed using a uniquely-shaped violin by Lewisburg violinmaker William Paul Muller. The violin is shaped like a cowboy boot. The sound holes are in the shape of revolvers and the scroll is a carved horse’s head.



Martha Graham Dance Company performs full-length “Clytemnestra” today

UNIVERSITY PARK — Choreographer, dancer and Pittsburgh-area native Martha Graham, who founded her iconic modern dance company in 1926, created 181 works. But only one, “Clytemnestra,” fills an evening’s program. Martha Graham Dance Company, called “one of the seven wonders of the artistic universe” by a Washington Post critic, performs the masterwork at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Penn State’s Eisenhower Auditorium.

In Aeschylus’ “Oresteia,” the Greek classic from which the dance takes its inspiration, Clytemnestra is a femme fatale who kills her husband Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the Trojan Princess Cassandra. Graham’s adaptation tells the story from Clytemnestra’s point of view, which gives the dance an unorthodox perspective. Although it relives a tragic past, “Clytemnestra” is ultimately about rebirth and redemption.

Originally performed in 1958 and performed to a score by Egyptian composer Halim el-Dabh, “Clytemnestra” features sets by longtime Graham collaborator Isamu Noguchi.

Tickets are $39 for an adult, $26 ages 18 and younger and available online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255, or 800-ARTS-TIX.





Jazz notables to take stage at Susquehanna University

SELINSGROVE — Jazz standouts Terri Lyne Carrington and Tim Miller will perform with Susquehanna University’s Joshua Davis in a guest artists recital on Monday . The concert will be held in Susquehanna’s Weber Chapel Auditorium at 8 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Carrington, Miller and Davis are all current or former professors at Berklee College of Music in Boston and have extensive experience in music performance, each releasing individual and collaborative recordings and performed with other well-known musicians.

Carrington’s experience of more than 20 years showcases her work as a drummer, composer and producer. Throughout her career she has worked with such jazz masters as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, David Sanborn, Joe Sample, Cassandra Wilson, Clark Terry, Dianne Reeves and numerous others. She lives in her hometown of Boston and teaches at her alma mater, Berklee College of Music, where she received an honorary doctorate in 2003.

Miller is currently an associate professor of music at Berklee. He released his first solo guitar recording, “Trio,” in 2005 and followed with the release last year of “Trio Vol. II.” Recently, he has performed in concerts and music festivals with Paul Motian, Randy Brecker, Mark Turner, Gary Thomas, Gary Husband, George Duke, Chris Cheek, Keith Carlock and other musicians.

Currently an assistant professor of music at Susquehanna, bassist Davis joined the faculty in 2006 as the new director of jazz studies. Davis taught at Berklee for six years as one of the school’s youngest faculty members, where he was leader of curriculum management. His recent releases have included Miller’s “Trio Vol. II;” Vardan Ovespan’s “Aragast;” and his feature recording “Squashua,” showcasing Take Toriyama, Miller and Ovespan in an interpretation of Romantic Era symphonies and the music of Sting.



Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet performs 9/11-inspired ‘Awakening’

UNIVERSITY PARK — San Francisco’s Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet makes its first appearance at Penn State in more than a decade in the evening-length “Awakening,” a meditation on redemption that features music from a dozen countries and a guest appearance by the Nittany Valley Children’s Choir. The concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Tickets are $36 for adults, $26 for ages 18 and under and are available at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255 or 800-ARTS-TIX.

In “Awakening,” violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violist Hank Dutt and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler perform a work inspired by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “Awakening,” which takes its name from a work by Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky of Uzbekistan, features music by Argentineans Osvaldo Golijov and Gustavo Santaolalla, Americans Michael Gordon and Terry Riley and Finlander Aulis Sallinen. Other music comes from composers in Turkey, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, India, and Sweden.

The Nittany Valley Children’s Choir is scheduled to sing Sallinen’s ethereal “Winter Was Hard.” The presentation also features a metal assemblage created specifically for this performance by Penn State graduate student Joe Netta.

Kronos Quartet has spent more than three decades combining a spirit of exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet.