NATCHITOCHES – A tribute concert to composer Luciano Berio will be presented at Northwestern State University on Thursday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Attendance is limited to 85 NSU faculty, students and staff. Social distancing and masks are required. The event will be livestreamed at capa.nsula.edu/livestream.
According to NSU Associate Professor of Music Theory and Low Strings Paul Christopher, Berio is widely considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. In his large output the 14 “sequenzas” composed between 1958 and 2002 hold a special place. This cycle of pieces, each for a different solo instrument or voice, chronicle the many spiritual, technical and musical dimensions of Berio’s compositional style, blending avant-garde techniques with an Italian warmth of expression. Christopher says they are intensely demanding works for all but the most fearless virtuoso musicians.
The program will consist of four of these seminal works performed by Christopher on cello along with fellow faculty Paul Forsyth on soprano saxophone, Dr. Adam Hudlow on trumpet, Malena McLaren on clarinet and Justin Kujawski on double bass.
Christopher is an associate professor of music theory and low strings at Northwestern State. Christopher 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.
Equally adept at both the classical and jazz repertoire, Forsyth has performed and taught at numerous concert halls, universities, and conferences around the world. Forsyth has been featured as a soloist and chamber musician at North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences, World Saxophone Congresses, John Donald Robb Composer Symposiums and International Saxophone Symposiums. He has been instrumental in commissioning numerous new works for solo saxophone, saxophone quartet and saxophone/oboe duo. As a chamber musician, Forsyth is a member of two renowned ensembles, the Three Reeds Duo and the Iridium Quartet.
Hudlow began serving as Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Northwestern State in the fall of 2016. He teaches music theory, aural skills, form and arranging at the graduate and undergraduate levels. He also serves as the staff music arranger for the Spirit of Northwestern marching band. Hudlow holds a Ph.D. in music theory from Louisiana State University, where he served as graduate teaching fellow in music theory from 2009-2012. He also holds a Master of Music in music theory from the University of Houston and a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance from Northwestern State.
Kujawski was appointed principal double bass of the Shreveport Symphony in 2019. Before coming to Louisiana, he served as acting assistant principal with the Alabama Symphony. He has also performed with the Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin symphony orchestras as well as the Dallas Opera Orchestra and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Kujawski is a founding member of the Denton, Texas, based ensemble collective Nu Atmospheres, a group dedicated to the performance of newly commissioned works. He is an adjunct instructor of double bass at NSU.
McLaren is professor of clarinet at Northwestern State. She has studied with Keith Lemmons at the University of New Mexico and James Gillespie at the University of North Texas, where she received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Clarinet Performance. She has performed in orchestras throughout Mexico and the United Kingdom. As a member of Trio de Llano McLaren has performed throughout the U.S., Slovakia, the Czech Republic, England and Spain. She also a core member of the Rapides Symphony Orchestra.
For more information call (318) 357-5802
