Alumni Tribute Recital at Utah State University

Two successful graduates of Utah State University’s music department return to Logan for a concert that celebrates the completion of the Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall and the contributions and support of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation. Featured performers include Tamara Mumford and Adam Nielsen.

The Alumni Tribute Recital with Mumford and Nielsen is Thursday, Feb. 2. The recital begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall.

 

Tickets for the concert are available in advance through the UMTA Northern Ticket Office, (801) 380-0830, and at the door. Admission is free for USU students with valid ID. Student tickets should be picked up in the Music Department Student Service Center, room 102 of the Chase Fine Arts Center. General admission tickets are $10.

 

“It is wonderful to have this opportunity to see and hear USU graduates who are successful at a high, high level,” said music student and concert coordinator Stephanie Rhodes. “Tamara and Adam have left Utah State University, but their talent took root here with the teachers and programs in the music department. Members of the community have an opportunity to hear these fabulous performers. The Performance Hall will bring world-class performers to Logan, and many of them may be USU graduates.”

 

The performance will include a wide variety of music, including vocal works by Rossini, Elgar and Schubert, and piano works by Rachmaninoff and Chopin. Mumford’s recent performance in Carnegie Hall with pianist Richard Goode included a collection of songs that she will also perform in Logan.

 

“The Alumni Tribute Recital program will be a nice blend,” Rhodes said. “Since it is not a straight vocal or straight piano recital, there will be a mix and that will make an interesting blend.”

 

The concert is a tribute to Kathryn Wanlass and Manon Russell and all the donors who make the music department’s many programs possible, Rhodes said.

 

Mumford is a mezzo soprano, and was raised in Sandy, Utah. She joined the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2004-05 season. She is a master’s of music candidate at Yale University, and obtained her bachelor’s of music from USU in spring 2003. Her awards include the Arthur E. Walters Memorial Award at the 2005 Opera Index Competition, second place in the advanced division at the 2005 Palm Beach Opera Competition and awards in the 2005 Sullivan Foundation Competition, the 2005 Connecticut Opera Guild Competition and the 2004 Joyce Dutka Foundation Competition.

 

Mumford’s Carnegie Hall debut took place in 2005 as part of the Richard Goode and Friends concert series in Zankel Hall. She is scheduled to perform in the Musicians from Marlboro 2006 concert tour and will make her European concert debut this summer singing in a series of concerts with the Orchestra Sinfornica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano in Italy. She will make her Metropolitan Opera debut during the 2005-06 season as Laura in Luisa Miller, and will sing Eine Altsimme in Parsifal.

 

During her time in Cache Valley, Mumford performed with USU Opera Theatre on several occasions, performing in Suor Angelica and The Gondoliers, among others. She soloed with the USU Symphony Orchestra and recently performed the title role in the Utah Festival Opera’s Cenerentola.

 

The evening’s pianist, Adam Nielsen, is a native of Salt Lake City and has played piano since age 6. His principal teacher is Gary Amano, head of the piano program in USU’s Department of Music.

 

As a youth Nielsen took first prize at the Albertson College Young Artists Competition, second prize in the Wayne Nadeau Competition for Young Performers of the West, and winner of the Utah Symphony Young Artists Auditions. He made his debut with the Utah Symphony Orchestra at age 15 under conductor Joseph Silverstein. He has also been a soloist with the Montrose Symphony in Colorado, and a repeated guest soloist with the USU Symphony Orchestra.

 

 In 2000, Nielsen was named the first place prize winner at the inaugural Steinway Collegiate Artists National Competition and was the recipient of its grand prize — a Steinway grand piano.

 

Nielsen was a National Presser Scholar and Rigby Scholar at USU, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in music. He now holds the Golden and Fizdale Memorial Scholarship at the Juilliard School, where he is pursuing a master’s degree, studying with Jerome Lowenthal.

 

As a collaborative artist, Nielsen will record an album of songs for Centricity Records this spring with Metropolitan Opera baritone Patrick Carfizzi.

 

“These are two alumni from USU who are doing amazing things,” Rhodes said. “We hope students and community members turn out to share this wonderful concert opportunity.”

 

The Utah Music Teachers Association northern chapter is a co-sponsor with the department of music for this event.