NATCHITOCHES – Cellist Paul Christopher of Northwestern State University will present a recital on Thursday, Jan. 27 at 5:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. University COVID protocols will be in effect. Those attending are asked to wear a mask. A livestream of the concert will be available at capa.nsula.edu/livestream.
Christopher will be assisted by cellist Milovan Paz and flutist Kelsey Wright McDonald. The concert will feature music by J.S. Bach, Gubaidulina, Offenbach, Pousseur and a new work for flute and cello by composer Dr. Greg Robin of Lafayette.
Christopher is an associate professor of music theory and low strings at Northwestern State. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, and Panamá. He has also performed guest artist recitals in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, and South Korea. He has presented and performed at conferences in Alabama, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Ohio.
Christopher’s articles have been published in the Jacques Offenbach Society Newsletter, Strings, American String Teacher and Bass World. He has on appeared numerous recordings as a former member of the Nashville String Machine. In addition, Christopher has recorded music by contemporary composers Don Freund, Dinos Constantinides and Mark Lee, as well as seven recordings devoted to the cello music of Jacques Offenbach.
Paz began attending Northwestern State in the fall of 2010 and was taught by Christopher. He graduated in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in music performance and earned a master’s degree in music performance from NSU in 2016. Paz performs with the symphony orchestras throughout the ArkLaTex and works in the Natchitoches School Board String Program.
McDonald is adjunct instructor of flute at Northwestern State. She is an active performer, teacher and clinician in the ArkLaTex and she has performed with the Texarkana Symphony, Rapides Symphony, Marshall Symphony, Northeast Texas Symphony and East Texas Symphonic Band. An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, McDonald has premiered works for the Southeastern Composers League Forum and the late World Harp Congress director Carrol McLaughlin. International performances include the 2019 World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles conference in Buñol, Spain. McDonald has maintained thriving woodwind studios in Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana for over 20 years. She holds the degrees of Master of Music in Performance from Northwestern State and Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Arizona. She is the founder of Primavera Winds, a Northwestern State-based wind quintet established in 2018. Primary teachers include Dr. Brian A. Luce, Dr. Dennette McDermott and Dr. Renée Bond.
Robin is a composer and music educator. He leads a varied musical career as a composer, music theorist and guitarist. As a composer, his music has been selected for performance at the Electroacoustic Juke Joint Festival, Central Missouri Festival of New Music, New Music on the Bayou Festival, Versipel Concert Series: Home Grown New Music Festival, Vexations Project by the Generous Ensemble and the Futureplace Festival in Porto, Portugal. His work as a music theorist has also been performed at universities and concerts across the United States. His composition for flute, violin, and piano is available on the Beauport Record label. Gregory’s music explores timbre, rhythmic partitioning of motivic elements, and the juxtaposition of dynamic contrast and musical interruption. Through a tightly controlled yet intuitive process, motivic elements of pitch, rhythm, and timbre meld together to form a cohesive and organic whole.
