From Bebop to Shostakovich

GAMBIER, Ohio (November 1, 2007) Two Kenyon ensembles will showcase student musical talent in the weeks before Thanksgiving break.

The Kenyon College Jazz Ensemble will perform on Tuesday, November 6, at 7:00 p.m. in Rosse Hall. Under the direction of Theodore Buehrer, associate professor of music, the eight-member group will present pieces in styles ranging from swing, to bossa nova, to bebop, to funk.

Among the composers to be featured in the concert are Charlie Parker, Horace Silver, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Herbie Hancock. The group will also pay tribute to the late Josef Zawinul with a piece arranged by Buehrer.

The Kenyon College Symphonic Wind Ensemble will present its fall concert on Sunday, November 11, at 3:00 p.m. in Rosse Hall. Nearly sixty students along with several members of the faculty and administration play in the wind ensemble, which is directed by Dane Heuchemer, the James D. and Cornelia W. Ireland Associate Professor Music.

The program will range from Dmitri Shostakovich's Festive Overture to contemporary composer Vaclav Nelhybel's Trittico. One highlight will be another contemporary piece, Of Sailors and Whales, by W. Francis McBeth. The five-movement work evokes characters and the emotional intensity of the novel Moby Dick. The performance will be accompanied by excerpts from the novel, recited by Fred Baumann, the Harry M. Clor Professor of Political Science.