Guest Artists Perform at Utah Clarinet Festival

Two guest performers are included on the schedule at the Utah Clarinet Festival, hosted this year by Utah State University. Donald Oehler is featured Friday, March 9, and Ted Calcara offers a performance Saturday, March 10.

The Utah Clarinet Festival began in 2011 as a way to support the professional, amateur and student clarinet community in Utah. The first festival was hosted by Madeline Johnson, a clarinet professor at Snow College. The festival will continue its rotation among the state’s colleges and universities in subsequent years. The two-day festival features guest artists, master classes, student performers, clinic sessions and exhibits.

“The Utah Clarinet Festival is an opportunity for clarinet students of all levels to work with outstanding guest artists and teachers,” said Nicholas Morrison, USU clarinet professor and host of the 2012 festival.

Oehler, professor of clarinet at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, offers the first solo recital, “Nocturne: An Evening with Clarinetist Donald Oehler.” Concert time is 7:30 p.m. at the USU Performance Hall on the USU Logan campus. Tickets for the concert are $10 general admission, $8 seniors and youth, $5 for USU faculty and staff and free for USU students with ID.

Oehler said his repertoire for the festival includes 20th and 21st century works that reflect formal concert music for the clarinet and piano.

Calcara, principal clarinetist for the Utah Symphony Orchestra, is featured in an afternoon event, “Don’t Be That Way: A Tribute to the Clarinet Kings of the Swing,” March 10 at 4 p.m. at the Performance Hall. The concert includes both performance and discussion about the importance of the clarinet in popular music and culture during the 1930s and ‘40s. Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 seniors and youth, $8 USU faculty and staff and $5 for USU students with ID.

Tickets are available at the Caine College of the Arts Box Office at USU, room 139-B of the Chase Fine Arts Center, online through the college website or by calling (435) 797-8022.

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Writer: Rachelle Nielson, 435-797-9203, rachelle.nielson@usu.edu

Contact: Denise Albiston, 435-797-1500, denise.albiston@usu.edu