College is an ideal time for expanding one’s horizons, and where better to enrich oneself in the arts than at the Moores School of Music? One of the country’s premier music schools, it offers a diverse schedule of concerts and recitals featuring students, faculty and guest performers throughout the semester.
The Moores School will host a concert titled Mendelssohn, Korngold and Brahms ‘- Oh My! at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Dudley Recital Hall. Featuring Kyung Sun Lee on violin and Brian Suits on piano, this faculty recital will highlight the works of Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
Among the many classics on the program, Korngold’s Much Ado About Nothing Suite has enjoyed modern success with its use in the ballet Robin Hood. Both accomplished musicians, Lee and Suites have recorded two albums together as a husband and wife team, Salut d’Amour and Spanish Heart. The two serve as associate professors at UH. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students.
The next performance will be the A. I. Lack Music Master Series at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Dudley Recital Hall. This program, an annual visitor to the University, presents distinguished classical performers and recognized pedagogues in a series of free events at the Moores School of Music. Cellist Tilmann Wick and pianist Heasook Rhee will perform a selection of works by Johannes Brahms, Francis Poulenc and Schumann, and will also feature the world premiere of Reiko Fueting’s Art of Losing.
In addition to the concert, Rhee will be teaching a master class on piano at 1 p.m Monday, also in the Dudley Recital Hall. Wick will be teaching a cello master class at noon on Jan. 28 in Room 147A, Moores School of Music Building. These classes seek to provide a wider educational context for students, but all events are free admission and open to the public.
Starting Jan. 29 and playing through Feb. 1, the first opera to be performed this semester will be Daniel Cat’aacute;n’s Florencia en el Amazonas, sung in original Spanish. The first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by major U.S. opera houses, Florencia was a joint effort of the Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera and Seattle Opera and made its debut in Houston in 1996.
The two-act opera is inspired by the magical realism and characters of Columbian author Gabriel Garc’iacute;a M’aacute;rquez. Double-cast and accompanied by a full orchestra, the performances will be aided by computerized subtitles for those who wish to follow the story in English. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 students, with reserved seating available at each performance.
Luco Sillia, the second of UH’s four opera productions this season, will run Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 at Moores Opera House. One of the many operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Luco Sillia tells the story of a Roman dictator who lusts after his enemy’s daughter, who herself is in love with an exiled senator – classic opera material to be sure. Sung in Italian, Luco continues Moores’ strong opera tradition. Like Florencia, it will be double-cast and performed with orchestra and English subtitles as well. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students, with reserved seating available.
For a complete list of the semester’s events, visit http://www.music.uh.edu.
