Horn trio to present world premiere at Zankel
The Skidmore Horn Trio, featuring faculty members Evan Mack, Patrice Malatestinic, and Josh Rodriguez, will present the world premier of Mack’s Sonata for Violin and Piano during its upcoming concert at Arthur Zankel Music Center.
Free and open to the public, the concert begins at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 7, in Zankel.
Mack is an accomplished composer and pianist who has produced five full musicals (three of them for children’s theater), as well as numerous popular songs and classical works. His choral suite, “Langston Hughes’ Dream of Freedom,” was a selection winner of the National Association of Composers in San Francisco and the UCM New Music Festival. Mack’s “Pinocchio,” premiered in the Charleston Civic Center by the Charleston Ballet, has been hailed as the “Springtime Nutcracker.”
“American Groove,” Mack’s work for two pianos, was performed by the Westhuizen Duo throughout the United States and South Africa during 2011. A selection winner for the 2010 SCI Regional Conference, “American Grove” premiered in Greensboro, N.C. His choir piece, “Of Fire and Form,” a choir piece by Mack that was commissioned by the West Virginia chapter of the ACDA, premiered in February 2011 at the Clay Center in Charleston, West Va.
Mack’s performances have included recent appearances with the Kentucky Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony Chamber Players, the Dayton Philharmonic, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; including a performance in Carnegie Hall. He holds a doctorate of musical arts in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and is on the faculty of the College of Saint Rose and Skidmore.
Malatestinic and Rodriguez are both lecturers at Skidmore. Malatestinic is a French horn player and holds a master of music degree from the College of Saint Rose. She has been a horn instructor, brass coach, and director of the horn ensemble at Skidmore for 23 years.
Violinist Rodriguez, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, has toured internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. He was one of the first Western musicians to tour China and performed the Butterfly Lover’s Concerto in a live television broadcast from Shanghai. He won the assistant concertmaster position for the Glens Falls Symphony in 2003. Currently a private instructor, he coaches one of Skidmore’s string chamber ensembles and performs with the Skidmore Orchestra along with several area symphony orchestras.
Although admission is free for the March 7, 8 p.m. concert, tickets are required. For advance reservations click here or call the Zankel box office (518) 580-5321 for more information. The Zankel Music Center is wheelchair accessible and offers listening devices for the hearing impaired. For more information, please click here.
