Jazz Great John Pizzarelli Headlines 50th Anniversary of Jazz Festival at APSU
April 3, 2011
Clarksville, TN – This spring marks the 50th anniversary of the Austin Peay State University Mid-South Jazz Festival, and to honor this milestone, APSU is bringing in one of the foremost jazz musicians working today as its featured performer.
John Pizzarelli and the Swing 7, a staple at world-renowned jazz clubs such as New York City’s Birdland, will perform their take on some of the genre’s standards by Duke Ellington and Count Basie at 7:30pm, April 8th, in the APSU Music/Mass Communication Building’s Concert Hall. Tickets are $25.00. [Read more]
Gateway Chamber Ensemble Finishes Season with Works and Influences of Schoenberg
April 1, 2011
Clarksville, TN – In 2008, a group of Austin Peay State University music faculty members set themselves a challenge. They intended to perform Arnold Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony, Opus Nine, for 15 Soloists – one of the most important, yet challenging, compositions from the 20th century.
“It’s daunting. The demands on individual players are great,” Dr. Gregory Wolynec, associate professor of music, said.
APSU's Gateway Chamber Ensemble
APSU Percussion Ensemble Performs Free Spring Concert on March 31st
March 30, 2011
Clarksville, TN – Anyone familiar with Austin Peay State University music professor David Steinquest’s annual Percussion Ensemble Halloween Concerts, with their strange mixture of music and mayhem, won’t be surprised to learn that even the traditional spring performances he organizes are marked by a wild originality.
Audience members attending the free percussion ensemble concert at 7:30pm on March 31st in the Music/Mass Communication Building’s Concert Hall will be treated to everything from sisters playing part of the score to “Schindler’s List” to an orchestra performing the Pizzicato Polka using only plastic tubes known as boom-wackers. [Read more]
Poetry Out Loud State Championship Comes to APSU
February 28, 2011
Clarksville, TN – Christopher Burawa, an award-winning poet and director of the Austin Peay State University Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, has a theory on how poems should be received. Works printed on a page are nice, but the true experience of poetry comes from hearing someone speak the words.
“Poetry is meant to be spoken aloud,” he said. “That’s when the power of the words – the music and rhythms – come alive and other levels of meaning arise.” [Read more]
Virtuoso Guitarist Ana Vidovic in Concert
February 24, 2011
The Clarksville Community Concert Association Concert Series
Clarksville, TN – One of the youngest and most talented virtuoso guitarists in the world, Ana Vidovic, will appear in concert Monday, February 28th at 7:30pm at the Concert Hall in the Music/Mass Communication Building of Austin Peay State University.
She started playing at age 5 and was performing internationally at age 11. Ana has won an impressive number of prizes and international competitions. Critics laud her captivating performances for the unmatched phrasing ability, pure artistry, technique and understanding the soul of the music.
Ana Vidovic
Internationally known tenor soloist and teacher Ware to visit APSU next month as Acuff Chair
February 24, 2011
Clarksville, TN – Dr. Clifton Ware, an internationally known vocal pedagogue, master teacher, tenor soloist and author, will spend two weeks at Austin Peay State University between March 21st and April 1st as one of this year’s holders of the Acuff Chair of Excellence.
Established in 1985, the chair brings regionally and nationally acclaimed artists to campus to work with students and the community in a dynamic atmosphere of unrestricted experimentation. [Read more]
Grammy-nominated Gateway Chamber Ensemble to Perform Tonight at APSU
February 21, 2011
Clarksville, TN – To say that the Gateway Chamber Ensemble’s first CD, “Wind Serenades,” was a success is a bit of an understatement. Late last year, the group founded by several Austin Peay State University music faculty members learned their album was being considered for Grammy nominations in several categories – including producer of the year, engineered sound and best small ensemble performance.
“(They) have managed to assemble a top-notch performing ensemble that now enters the big leagues with the national and international release of its new super audio CD,” music critic Steven Ritter wrote last year in Fanfare Magazine, the leading classical music publication in the country.
Gateway Chamber Ensemble
Annual GuitarFest Brings International Players to APSU
February 14, 2011
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University will once again hold its annual GuitarFest, February 28th-March 3rd, bringing an exciting line-up of international guitar virtuosi to the campus. The performance line-up this year includes Croatian guitarist Ana Vidovic, Chilean guitarist Carlos Perez and the Douglas James-Pasquale Rucco guitar duo.
Vidovic, already a widely travelled international performer, recording artist and recipient of multiple international awards, will perform a program of classics by Bach, Tarrega, Albeniz, Lauro, Barrios and Castelnuovo-Tedseco at 7.30pm on Monday, February 28th in the Music/Mass Communication Building Concert Hall. Tickets for this performance, which is co-sponsored by the Clarksville Concert Artists Association and APSU’s Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, may be purchased online at www.clarksvillemusic.org or by calling the APSU Music Office at 931-221-7818. [Read more]
Fisk Jubilee Singers to perform at APSU
January 22, 2011
Clarksville, TN – As part of the celebration for the 20-year anniversary of the Wilbur N. Daniel African American Cultural Center (AACC) at Austin Peay State University, a performance by the Fisk Jubilee Singers will be at 7:30pm, Saturday, January 29th in the Music/Mass Communication Building Concert Hall.
The concert is a collaboration between the AACC and the Clarksville Community Concert Association.
The public is invited to attend the performance. To purchase tickets, go to www.clarksvillemusic.org/.
Annual portrait of the Fisk Jubilee Singers with Paul Kwame, director, in front of the Fisk Chapel.
Classical composer Schoenfield visits APSU as Acuff Chair of Excellence
January 12, 2011
Clarksville, TN – The classical composer Paul Schoenfield is known for his daring combinations of musical forms. It isn’t unusual for works to be infused with jazz or ragtime, alongside more cultivated and conventional elements. It’s what causes his compositions to be considered so wildly original and accessible, and has lead Schoenfield to be called one of the finest American composers working today.
On January 18th, Schoenfield will come to Austin Peay State University for a weeklong visit as one of this year’s Acuff Chairs of Excellence for the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts. His visit will culminate in a free concert of his work, “The Music of Paul Schoenfield,” at 7:30pm on January 24th, in the Music/Mass Communication Building’s Concert Hall. The event will be part of APSU’s Dimension’s Concert Series. [Read more]
