MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Location: file:///C:/610C5983/explore-more-of-the-world-with-music.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Explore More of the World with Music

PRESS RELEASE

From the Orchestra of Southern Utah

 

To Be Release= d: Between September 21-25, 2007

Contact: = Laurel Kay Dodgion, (435) 865-1492

 

Photo Cutline:= Patrick Roulet, Nancy Meng, Ling Yu, Carol Ann Modesitt and other local artists will perform music from around the world September 25th a part of the= OSU Fall Recital Series.

 

Explore More of the World with Music

 

   &nbs= p;        Join the Orchestra of Southern Utah as they take you on a musical journey through Europe, Asia, and Africa.  This musical safari is part of the= Fall Recital Series and will take place September 25th at 7:30 pm at St. Jude’s (70 N 200 W) in Cedar City.

   &nbs= p;        The musical journey will begin with an exploration of African percussion. The S= UU Percussion Ensemble directed by Dr. Patrick Roulet will share drumming from tropical Ghana. The Ensemble will perform Kpatsa and Kpanlogo. Kayla North will perform Gha= naia by Matthias Schmitt on the marimba. Dr. Roulet will then perform music from Yanyakole, Gandayina and Zorwatourime on the gyil, the traditional xylophone from Ghana.  Roulet is a leading percussion edu= cator, performer, and clinician.  He = has appeared with a broad range of professional organizations including the Sea= ttle Symphony, the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, the <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Boston Civic Orchestra, the Bellingham Festival Orchestra, the What= com Symphony and the American Sinfonietta. He has also performed with the Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet, Indian tabla virtuoso, Sandip Burman, and = the Dimitri Pokrovsky Russian Folk Ensemble as a soloist and chamber musician. =

   &nbs= p;        The world tour will continue in Israel, with vocalist Bonnie Smith Ries and cel= list Nina Hansen performing Yerushalayim Shel Zahav by “the First Lady of Israeli Song” Naomi Shemer.  Born on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Shemer was hailed as one of= Israel'= s most important and prolific song writers during her lifetime.  Ries began her vocal training at a= ge 9 in New York, and was enrolled at an arts conservatory at 16, where she studied soprano v= oice and theatrical make-up.  Her experience includes leading roles in both West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof with a North Babylon, New York troupe.  Hansen leads the lower strings for= the Orchestra of Southern Utah.  S= he also directs Cellomania, a group of young cellists who are currently prepar= ing for performances in = China.

   &nbs= p;        The journey continues northward into Germany, birthplace of compos= er Richard Strauss.  John Gallis,= who plays French horn for OSU, will present Concerto by Strauss.  Gallis is a student at Southern Ut= ah University.

   &nbs= p;        This musical expedition will then be transported to China.  The visit to this land rich with 6= 000 years of culture and song will begin with Nancy Meng and Ling Yu, who will present Liang Zhu on the piano = and violin.  Meng, a remarkable yo= ung woman from Beijing= , taught herself to play the piano and can play by ear.  She is learning to play the violin, under the tutelage of LingYu.  Meng set a goal to come to the United States when she was four years old and h= as spent her entire life working to achieve this goal. She is currently attend= ing SUU where she is majoring in Economics and Psychology and minoring in music.  Yu is an adjunct profe= ssor of viola at SUU and a member of the newly founded SUU Halversen String Quar= tet. She began playing violin under her father’s guidance when she was six. Later she studied the violin and viola at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music a= nd is married to Xun Sun.

Carol Ann Modesitt will sin= g Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes by Bainbridge Crist, accompanied by Rachel Roulet.  Modesitt, a professor at SUU, is an experienced soloist both nationally and internationally. She has performed = at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Pemigewas= set Choral Society in Scotland, and the New Hampshire Friendship Chorus in South America= . Modesitt was also a regional finalist in the Carnegie International Competi= tion in San Francisco.  Roulet taught and studied music in= Maine this summe= r.  She is an accomplished pianist who performs as a soloist as well as an accompanist.

   &nbs= p;        Xun Sun, violin, and June Thorley, piano, will perform Song of Homesickness by Si-Chong Ma.  Sun serves as the Director of Orch= estral Activities at SUU. In 2003, Mr. Sun became the Music Director and Conductor= of OSU. He is also currently the principal guest conductor of the Hunan Sympho= ny Orchestra, China.   As a violinist Professor Sun= has given numerous solo recitals in Washington= , D.C., New York City, South Carolina, West Virgini= a, Kansas City Missour= i and Utah in the United States, and Changsha City and Guangzhu City in China.  Sun was born in City of Taiyuan, Ch= ina.  His talent became evident at an ea= rly age and began his formal music training and violin studies at Wuhan Conservatory of Music at age eleven.  Thorley taught orchestra for Cedar City schools for ma= ny years.  She is currently a sec= tion leader for the 2nd violins in OSU.

   &nbs= p;        This musical journey is&nbs= p; provided by the Orchestra of Southern Utah Fall Recital Series.  Jan Downs of the Iron County School District stated: "We've lived in Cedar City for 14 years but we're always amazed at the talent we have in our community. We're looking forward to hearing more." The recital is open to adults = and children over the age of six are welcome to attend. OSU requests that babies and children under the age of six not attend as the performance will be recorded and broadcast worldwide. A donation of $5 per adult and $3 per stu= dent is suggested.  Funds raised by= the recitals help finance the OSU concert season.

 

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