Music faculty to celebrate new home with concert

Flutist Jan Vinci and pianist Pola Baytelman, senior artists-in-residence at Skidmore, will present the world premiere of acclaimed composer Jennifer Higdon's composition Flute Poeticon Saturday, Nov. 13, at the Arthur Zankel Music Center. They and their department colleagues will perform in the Skidmore Music Faculty Celebration Concert, which begins at 8 p.m. in Zankel's Ladd Concert Hall.

In addition to the premier of Flute Poetic, the concert program also features classical and contemporary music by faculty members Anne Zwick Turner, soprano, Richard Hihn, pianist, Michael Emery, violin, Joel Brown, guitar, Ann Alton, cello, Evan Mack, piano, John Nazarenko, piano, and Mark Vinci, alto saxophonist, who will present the premier of his own composition, titled Hey!! A pre-performance question and answer session by Higdon will begin at 7 p.m. For program details and information on obtaining free tickets to the performance, please click here. 

The concert is the culmination of a short residency by Higdon in the Skidmore Music Department. While on campus, Higdon will also give two master classes. On Friday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. she will work with music students performing her works, and on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 10:30 a.m., she will work with composition students. Both classes will take place in Zankel's Elisabeth Luce Moore Recital Hall (room 117) and are open to the public.

This has been a remarkable year for Higdon. Last spring the 47-year-old composer received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto. The Pulitzer committee called the work a "deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity." Hailed by TheWashington Post as a "savvy, sensitive composer with a keen ear, an innate sense of form and a generous dash of pure esprit," Higdon also won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in January 2010 for her Percussion Concerto.  

Higdon is a prolific contemporary composer who writes five to 10 major pieces each year. Recent commissions have included the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as the Tokyo String Quartet and the President's Own Marine Band. She currently holds the Milton L. Rock Chair in Composition Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Jan Vinci's connection to Higdon is longstanding. Vinci was Higdon's flute teacher when the composer was in high school. In addition, Vinci and Higdon both studied flute with Judith Bentley while attending Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

The premiere of Flute Poetic comes to Skidmore through a commission from the Skidmore President's Discretionary Fund, the Skidmore College Music Department, the Brannen-Cooper Fund, and John and Judith Bentley.

Tickets are available online or by calling 1-888-71-TICKETS. Tickets are free but required.  For more information, please click here.

About Flute Poetic (2010)

A three-movement duet for flute and piano, Flute Poetic is filled with lyricism and vitality. The piece is also, according to Baytelman and Vinci, very virtuosic and rhythmically complex. The first movement was dedicated to Vinci. The lyrical second movement and the finale were first written for violin and piano, but changed for flute and piano for the commission of this sonata.

"The flute part is soulful and very powerful because it was written in the higher register," says Vinci.   

Of special interest in the piano part is the use of stopped or muted strings. "It's really a fascinating effect," says Baytelman. "It sounds magical, but also very lyrical and unusual. It's mysterious, almost other-worldly," she said.

Vinci and Baytelman first received the piece in July 2009, and met Higdon in Philadelphia at the end of August 2010 for a rehearsal. They practiced their parts regularly on their own, taping their rehearsals. Since the fall semester started, they have met once a week to rehearse together. After the premiere of Flute Poetic, the two will record the piece in 2012.

Vinci said the concert is "a celebration of our new home at Skidmore." The Ladd Concert Hall is "so inspirational for musicians. The sound of the hall feeds the ears and souls of the musicians.   We wanted to have a concert to celebrate," she added.