The next event in the Music Department series of live streaming concerts will feature a performance on February 4^th, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall by the Truman State University Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Sam McClure, professor of music and director of orchestras.  Dr. Ilia Radoslavov, assistant professor of piano, will join the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major.  This concerto is one of Beethoven’s greatest works for the piano and a favorite of audiences everywhere.  The orchestra will also perform Toccata Concertante, a rarely heard work by the American composer Irving Fine.  Fine, who died at the age of 46 in 1962, was one of the most promising American composers of the last century. The Toccata is an energetic and brilliant showpiece for the orchestra. The concert will also include Petite Suite by Claude Debussy.

Truman State alumni Dominic Armstrong, tenor and Rachel AuBuchon, pianist, along with special guest Susanna Phillips, soprano, will be presenting a recital on Sunday, February 5 at 3:00 p.m. in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall to benefit the Truman Opera Theatre.

Since being selected as a Grand Finalist in the 2008 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Dominic Armstrong has maintained a busy performing schedule appearing in the U.S. with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, The Wolf Trap Opera, New York City Opera, Loren Maazel’s Castleton Festival, Opera Memphis, Kansas City Symphony, and the National Symphony.  In Europe he has performed at the Wexford Festival, Deutche Oper Berlin, and Opera Regio Torino.

Alabama native Susanna Phillips, recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award, recently sang in the opening concert and Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of the Mostly Mozart Festival under the baton of Louis Langree. She began the 2011/12 season as the title character in Lucia di Lammermoor in a new production with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, directed by Catherine Malfitano. She will make her European debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, followed by Contessa Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at the Opera National de Bordeaux. Other operatic highlights include Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor with Minnesota Opera. Concert engagements of the 2011/12 season include debuts with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the St. Louis Symphony, and a concert performance of Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Ravinia Music Festival where she will sing the role of Ilia.

Donations to benefit the Truman Opera Theatre will be accepted at the door.

An original orchestral composition by Warren Gooch, professor of music, has been named a winner in the Missouri Composers Orchestra Project. The composition, entitled “Menuet Macabre,” will be performed in Columbia by the Columbia Civic Orchestra at 7 p.m. March 10 in Launer Auditorium.  Dr. Gooch will participate in an open rehearsal session with the orchestra that afternoon.

Expanded capabilities recently installed in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall are giving the Music Department the ability to reach a worldwide audience and have made Truman an innovator among Missouri universities. Live streaming video and audio of concerts in the performance hall are now available after three years of collaboration between Truman IT Services and music faculty members. The feature debuted Dec. 1 when the Wind Symphony I concert was streamed live. Parents, alumni, friends and prospective students of the University were able to log on and watch the concert, with viewers coming from as far away as Japan.

The concept of streaming concerts from Ophelia Parrish is a natural progression of the facility’s capabilities. When it was renovated in 2003, Ophelia Parrish was designed with a recording area. While video was not originally part of the plan, by adding that feature the Music Department now has the ability to document and assess student performances in addition to streaming concerts to a much wider audience than the 500-seat venue can hold. Truman is the first university in Missouri to offer live streaming concerts.

Jay Bulen, chair of the Department of Music, said plans are currently underway to determine what events taking place in the performance hall will be streamed live, but between concerts, student recitals and performance master classes, he anticipates the system being used several times each week. Keeping costs low was not the only advantage of using in-house staff to upgrade Ophelia Parrish. Three of the IT Services staff members who worked on the project were also Truman music alumni. “I was aware of the department’s desire to stream these events and, as a former trombone player at Truman, I knew it could be very valuable for a prospective music student, or a music student wanting to share with family who could not attend,” web developer Greg Marshall said.

The ability to live stream events is the first step in a series of improvements planned for Ophelia Parrish. Bulen said the existing sound quality of live-streamed events is excellent, and should only get better with the installation of high-quality hanging microphones. Also, a control room is being built and will feature a custom console for the mixing board, audio recording computer and video recording system. While the current video capture system is low-resolution, eventually the plan is to include a high-resolution system to be used for archiving performances and for preparation of audition recordings. Live stream performances are available through the Truman Music Department webpage at music.truman.edu/livestream.asp.

The 2011 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois featured Truman trumpet professor Dr. Gregory Jones who presented two clinics at the prestigious event that attracts 15,000 attendees in the third week of December. As a featured clinician, Dr. Jones joins an impressive history of trumpet presenters at the clinic including Rafael Mendez, Wynton Marsalis, The Canadian Brass, and leading players and teachers from symphony orchestras, music conservatories, and jazz organizations. In his presentations, Dr. Jones focused on expression in brass playing by demonstrating musical examples and offering teaching advice.

An original composition by Warren Gooch, Professor of Music, was performed at the 2011 National College Music Society conference on Oct. 21 in Richmond, VA. The composition, entitled TE DEUM, was performed by the Old Dominion University Concert Choir and Symphony Orchestra under the direction of professor Nancy Klein. TE DEUM was one of eight compositions selected for the concert via a juried international call for scores.

Nick Nichols, a graduate in trumpet performance from the Truman music program recently won a position in the U.S. Army Fife and Drum Corps, an ensemble in Washington, DC that regularly performs for the President and visiting dignitaries. This group also widely travels throughout the U.S. and abroad, performing about 500 concerts each year.

Truman’s New Musical Festival concerts will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 27 and at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 in Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall.  Christopher Biggs, the winner of the 2011 Truman State-MACRO Composition Competition, will be featured throughout the festival as guest composer. Biggs is a widely recognized composer of multimedia and acoustic music.  The festival will consist of two concerts of new music. Both concerts will feature performances of new work from Briggs, Truman composers and other contemporary composers. The first concert will also feature the University’s Wind Symphony I’s premiere performance of Biggs new piece, “Object Metamorphosis II.”  Biggs will also speak about his music throughout the festival.  Truman’s Music Department, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Sigma Alpha Iota and the Mostly Live Composers Society will sponsor the festival.  Both events are free of admission and open to the public. Additional information on Biggs can be found at www.christopherbiggsmusic.com. For more information regarding the festival, contact Warren Gooch at wgooch@truman.edu.

Music professors Steven Seward and Gregory Jones joined the Kansas City Symphony in performing for the grand opening of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. The star studded event featured jazz pianist and vocalist Diana Krall, operatic tenor Placido Domingo, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and many others who joined the symphony in presenting the spectacular performance venue to a sold out black tie audience. Mr. Seward is the principal tubist of the KC Symphony and Dr. Jones regularly joins them as an extra trumpet player.