FHSU University Relations

A new musical production from the Fort Hays State University Department of Music and Theatre will begin in November with the New Music Festival, “An Evening of Music by Living Composers,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center in Sheridan Hall on the FHSU campus.

Complimentary tickets will be available in the lobby 30 minutes prior to the concert or in advance at the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The New Music Festival, under artistic director Dr. Kristin Pisano, associate professor of music and theatre at FHSU, will introduce the recently formed New Music Ensemble – FHSU music faculty who share a passion for the music of living composers.

“One aim of the annual New Music Festival is to engage, educate and inform our community about new music,” said Pisano.

“Another primary goal,” she said, “is to commission a composer to write a work for the New Music Ensemble, which will be premiered at each festival.”

At the time of the premiere, the composer will be invited to the FHSU campus, where he or she will serve as composer in residence, work with music students, and perform and present at the evening concert.

For the inaugural festival on Nov. 4, “Works will be performed that are unlike anything Hays-area audiences have heard before. It will be an evening of diverse, exciting, and new music,” she said, with special emphasis on “new.”

“It will introduce audiences to a truly unique musical experience,” she said.

The program:

“Light is Calling”
Music for cello, electronics and film by Michael Gordon. The cellist will be Ben Cline, chair of the Department of Music and Theatre at FHSU.

“Barn Dances”
Music for flute, clarinet and piano by Libby Larsen. The performers will be Hilary Shepard, instructor of music and theatre, flutist; Pisano, clarinetist; and Dr. Irena Ravitskaya, associate professor, pianist.

“Vent Nocturne”
Music for viola and electronics by Kaija Saariaho. Performers will be Shah Sadikov, assistant professor, violist; and Dr. Timothy Rolls, associate professor, electronics.

“Duo Sonata”
Music for alto saxophone and clarinet by Gregory Wannamaker. Performers will be Jim Pisano, instructor, saxophonist; and Kristin Pisano, clarinetist.

“Warning! Gustnadoes Ahead”
Music for flute and electronics by Derek Charke. Shepard will be the flutist.

“Orbit”
Music for electronics composed by Rolls.

Pisano said that planning has already begun for the 2018 New Music Festival.

“We are excited that Dr. Paul Rudy, curators’ professor and coordinator of composition at the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory, will serve as composer in residence for the 2018 festival,” she said.