Música Viva Presents New Sounds for a New Hall

Música Viva, the contemporary music ensemble based in the department of music at Utah State University, celebrates the opening of the Manon Caine Russell Kathryn Caine Wanlass Performance Hall with a concert titled “New Sounds for a New Hall.”

 

Highlights of the evening include guests and performers. A new work by composer Miguel del Aguila will be featured, along with guest trumpet soloist Michael Walk and a cast of music department faculty and students. Música Viva is under the direction of Sergio Bernal.

 

The concert event is Friday, Jan. 20, at The Performance Hall. There will be a pre-concert talk with Aguila on stage at 6:30 p.m. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. and general admission seats are $5. All USU students with current ID are admitted free. The event is sponsored by the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation and is part of activities provided by the Caine School of the Arts in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

 

The evening’s program features innovative compositions by Copland, Hindemith, Persichetti and Revueltas, Bernal said.

 

“We are looking forward to exploring the wonderful acoustic possibilities of The Performance Hall by performing works not only of contrasting character, but also written for ensembles of different sizes and instrumental combinations.”

 

Michael Walk will play as soloist in the central portion of the program, Bernal said. In that section, two of the works, Persichetti’s “The Hollow Men” and Hindemith’s “Sonata for Trumpet and Piano,” are landmarks of the 20th-century trumpet repertoire.

 

Among the evening’s highlights is Aguila’s specially commissioned work, “Ophelia in Seville.” The Logan performance marks the world premiere of this work and features the talents of USU faculty members Cindy Dewey, soprano, Cory Evans, tenor, members of the Fry Street Quartet and music department faculty members.

 

The composer’s Web site notes the critical acclaim his work has received.

 

“While he has great respect for the classical tradition, Aguila believes he must create the freshest, most spontaneous music he can.

 

“What results is a captivating interplay of classical balance and romantic excess,” the Web site states. “His highly dramatic style, in which musical ideas, always simple and recognizable, is pushed to extremes by propulsive rhythms and adventurous instrumentalism.”

 

The composer was born in Uruguay and moved to the United States in 1978. After graduating from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he traveled to Vienna to further his music studies. After a 10-year stay there, where he was active as a composer, pianist, conductor and music teacher, he returned in 1992 to live in southern California. Numerous premieres of his works followed, and in 1994, “Los Angeles Times” critics chose him “resident music man of the year” and later named him one of the West Coast’s most promising and enterprising young composers. He was honored with a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award in 1995 and several California Arts Council fellowships and residencies from 1996 to 2000.

 

Aguila’s catalog of more than 80 works includes opera, orchestral, choral, solo and chamber works, as well as incidental music for theater and film. International premieres of his works have been broadcast worldwide by radio and TV. To this date, his works have been recorded on 17 different CDs by major labels and artists.

 

Since 2000, Aguila commutes between New York and California and spends summers as resident composer at the Chautauqua Institution Summer Festival. Aguila is also composer in residence at New Mexico Symphony, Albuquerque, through a Meet The Composer's Extended Residences Grant.

 

The evening’s trumpet soloist, Michael Walk, is a native of San Diego, Calif. He is second trumpet with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, principal trumpet with the Tucson Pops Orchestra and is a member of the Heavy Metal Brass Quintet. During his career he has performed with a variety of ensembles, including The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Catalina Chamber Orchestra, San Diego Opera and Arizona Opera. Walk has been principal trumpet of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and has also served as a member of Westwind Brass, Music from Greer and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra.

 

He has performed as soloist with the Orchestra of San Diego, Arizona Symphonic Winds, the Sierra Vista Symphony and with the Tucson Pops Orchestra. He has also taught trumpet at New Mexico State University, the University of Oklahoma, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, the University of Rochester and San Diego State University.