Category: Performances

Hilary Jones, assistant professor of flute, and Dean Roush, professor of music theory and composition, will be featured in the first concert of the season by the WSU Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21 in Miller Concert Hall. The program will be led by Mark Laycock.

Jones, principal flute of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, will perform “Carmen Fantasy” by Francois Borne. Beginning her first full year on the WSU faculty, Jones maintains an active career performing and teaching throughout the US.

Roush’s composition “Ars Poetica” dates from 2011 and is based upon a poem by Tom Andrews, a cousin of the composer. Retiring at the end of this academic year, Roush is area coordinator of musicology and composition.

The concert also includes Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. Composed in 1937, ostensibly as an apology to Soviet authorities for his controversial opera “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,” the work remains an unrepentant and bold testimony of an artist’s courage in the face of oppression and censure.

As an orchestral musician, Jones also holds the position of second flute with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and regularly performs with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Riverside Symphony’s Lincoln Center series, New England Symphonic Ensemble’s residency at Carnegie Hall, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra and she is a substitute musician for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and New Haven Symphony. She was twice a fellow at the National Orchestral Institute and was also awarded a fellowship with the Talis Festival in Switzerland.

Roush earned his BFA from Ohio University, his MM from Bowling Green State University and his DMA from Ohio State University. Roush is a former National Science Foundation research associate in computer music and a former instructor of theory and composition at Bowling Green State University. He has several published research articles, compositions and arrangements. His works for solo harp have been performed throughout the United States, Europe and Israel and are recorded on the Orion label. A compact disc of his “The Dove Descending” for flute and organ has been released on the Summit Records label.

Tickets are available online at the Fine Arts Box Office or by calling 316- 978-3233.

The Rie Bloomfield Organ Series 2023-24 season presents its first distinguished guest artist at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19 in Wiedemann Hall on the great Marcussen organ.

Bradley Hunter Welch from Dallas will present an eclectic program including audience favorites and will participate in the popular “Conversation with the Artist” immediately following the intermission, an onstage interview with Lynne Davis, professor and series producer.

Tickets, with special student rates, can be purchased online, and the event will be livestreamed on the School of Music’s Facebook page.

The first Wednesdays in Wiedemann with Lynne Davis organ recital in the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series 23-24 season is scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6 in Wiedemann Hall.

Performing on the great Marcussen organ in Wiedemann Hall, Davis will present a program of works by J.S. Bach: “Back to Bach”.  Admission is free and the event will be livestreamed on the WSU School of Music Facebook page.

The School of Performing Arts’ dance program will presents the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theatre (WCDT) concert at the Wilner Auditorium at the following times and dates:

• 7:30 p.m.: Friday, April 28-April 29
• 2 p.m.: Sunday, April 30

Tickets are available at no additional charge to Wichita State students with a Shocker ID, $18 for seniors, military and WSU faculty and staff, $20 for adults, and $10 for children and students.

WCDT’s repertoire concert includes the works of faculty members Cheyla Clawson Chandler, Denise Celestin, Nick Johnson, Sabrina Vasquez and international guest artist Charlotte Boye-Christensen. Chandler will restage the work, “Logged in and Buffering,” an abstraction of the challenges of relationship and community-building in the age of social media and technology. Johnson will present his mime ensemble, “Angels Rising,” that explores the often lethal competitive nature of humanity from the beginning of times until after death in “Angel’s Rising.” Celestin’s work, “Prelude,” is a poetic and heartfelt tribute to her late mother Lynn Celestin. Vasquez will present her new work, “seenUnseen,” an abstract exploration of being seen by others and oneself. Charlotte Boye-Christensen’s dance film, “The Wanderer,” was inspired by poetic and sometime strange visits to Prairie pines and Field of Screams. “The Wanderer” is in collaboration with Shocker Studios and musician Dr. Kevin Harrison.

Come one and all to hear the great Marcussen organ at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, May 3 in Wiedemann Hall.

In addition to solo organ works by Widor and Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, there will be a jazz band of students from Skiatook, Oklahoma High School performing the selections: “Girl from Ipanema,” “Feelin’ Good” and “In the Stone.”

WSU alums, Keysto Stotz and Bobby Kitchen will be directing the trombones, trumpets, saxophones drums, organ and piano.

Admission is available at no additional charge, and the event is livestreamed on the WSU School of Music Facebook page.

Musical selections by Anton Bruckner and John Williams highlight the annual Oratorio Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 30 in Miller Concert Hall. The program, featuring Concert Chorale, WSU Choir, Shocker Choir and the WSU Symphony Orchestra, will be led by Mark Laycock.

Composed in 1884, Bruckner’s “Te Deum” is a song of praise featuring an ancient Latin text. Bruckner labored for three years on the piece, eventually completing his sixth and seventh symphonies before finishing the choral work. In the dozen remaining years of Bruckner’s lifetime, the piece received nearly 30 performances.

The program will also include four selections by renowned film composer John Williams: “Flight to Neverland” from Hook, “Call of the Champions” from the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, “Hymn to the Fallen” from Saving Private Ryan and “Duel of the Fates” from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Experience “All Our Thoughts: A Dance Performance” by the WSU Dance Program’s DANC 305 Choreography 1 class at 2 p.m. Monday April 17 in the Polk/Wilson Gallery in the Ulrich Museum of Art.

The performance will be an opportunity for the group to present their work in collaboration with the exhibition, “Transmissions: XXIV Faculty Biennial” featuring works by faculty in the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries.

The immersive event encourages the audience to contemplate the similarities between the languages of dance and visual art, focusing their attention on line and design, movement in art regardless of form, and offering a fresh look at artistic intent.

Join the College of Fine Arts in person or via livestream on the School of Music Facebook page for the final Distinguished Guest Artist in the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 in Wiedemann Hall.

Tate Addis, a Wichita State alum, will perform works by Ager, Bossi, Barié, Isoir and Widor on the great Marcussen organ. Tickets are available online and at the door. And don’t miss the conversation with the artist immediately following the intermission.

Join the College of Fine Arts in person or via livestream on the School of Music Facebook page for the final Distinguished Guest Artist in the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 in Wiedemann Hall.

Tate Addis, a Wichita State alum, will perform works by Ager, Bossi, Barié, Isoir and Widor on the great Marcussen organ. Tickets are available online and at the door. And don’t miss the conversation with the artist immediately following the intermission.

Join the College of Fine Arts in person or via livestream on the School of Music Facebook page for the final Distinguished Guest Artist in the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 in Wiedemann Hall.

Tate Addis, a Wichita State alum, will perform works by Ager, Bossi, Barié, Isoir and Widor on the great Marcussen organ. Tickets are available online and at the door. And don’t miss the conversation with the artist immediately following the intermission.