Department of Music Blog

Read Burkhardt Reiter’s preview of our Sunday concert featuring Franz Lehar Composer-in-Residence Betsy Jolas in today’s Post-Gazette.

You can purchase tickets in advance through ProArts Tickets.

Bell Yung’s new book The Last of China’s Literati: The Music, Poetry and Life of Tsar Teh-yun has just been published by the Hong Kong University Press. Its North American distributor is The University of Washington Press. The following is an excerpt from the publisher’s description of Professor Yung’s book.

“In this biography of Tsar Teh-yun, centenarian poet, calligrapher, and qin master, Bell Yung tells the story of a life steeped in the refined arts, and faithful to the traditional way of the Chinese literati. Set in Shanghai and Hong Kong, this book recounts the experiences of an individual who lived through war, displacement, exile, and unrequited longing for home and for a style of living now lost . Yet Mme Tsar sustained, as one of its last exemplars, much of that style of living despite being a woman in the largely male world of the refined arts.”

You can learn more about The Last of China’s Literati: The Music, Poetry and Life of Tsar Teh-yun by visiting the University of Washington Press on the Web.

Doctoral candidate in musicology Dan Grimminger is director of the Mount Union College Department of Music’s  Church Music Symposium. This year’s symposium takes place on October 25 and focuses on Bach the Theologian. Several members of Pitt’s music department will give talks at the symposium, including Professor of musicology Don Franklin, doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology Dorcinda Knauth, and alumni Mark Peters (PhD ‘03) and Ann Labounsky (PhD ‘91).

For more information you can contact

Dr. Daniel J. Grimminger, Obl.O.S.B.
Mount Union College
330.309.3303 cell
grimminger@aol.com

Deadline for registrations is October 13.

Starting next Friday there are enough outstanding events taking place in the span of five days that any one could easily get lost in the shuffle, so here’s a summary of what’s on deck.

Friday October 10: Pitt Night at the Symphony
$12-$25 depending on seating area for Pitt students, faculty and staff

Our friends at Pitt Arts are sponsoring this opportunity to hear violinist Sarah Chang give the world premiere of Theofanidis’ soaring Violin Concerto then meet her after the concert for a dessert reception. The program also features music by John Adams and Rachmaninoff.

Order tickets by October 9 at 2 p.m. at the PITT ARTS office (929 William Pitt Union) or on-line.

Saturday, October 11
Indonesian Pop Superstar Rhoma Irama and his band Soneta
Bellefield Hall Auditorium at 8 p.m. FREE!

Sunday, October 12
The Heinz Chapel Choir presents a cappella music from around the world
Heinz Chapel, 3 p.m. FREE!

Tuesday, October 14
The Music on the Edge Chamber Orchestra
John Adams will give a pre-concert talk for this program featuring his music as well as music by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) and Pitt faculty composers Amy Williams and Roger Zahab

Bellefield Hall Auditorium, 8p.m.
Tickets available through ProArts and at the door.

The City Paper features the music department’s new Assistant professor in ethnomusicology Adriana Helbig  in this week’s edition.

Helbig’s dissertation involved an Everything Is Illuminated-style journey to the Ukraine to study how the Roma culture was coping with both the collapse of the USSR and Soros-funded grants flowing into regional NGOs. Roaming with a guitar from village to village, “I integrated myself with people who were the poorest and had fallen through the cracks,” she says. “With festivals happening, there was a revival of the culture, but only [among] a closed circuit of people, which led to corruption and a restructuring of the Gypsy society.”

You can read the full article here.

Don’t miss the Dangdut Cowboys at Larryville’s trendiest coffee shop, Your Inner Vagabond. The Cowboys include music department faculty Andrew Weintraub, (guitar and vocals) and Mathew Rosenblum (soprano sax) along with Kavin Paulraj, bass; Ben Pachter, gendang; and Ben Rainey, lead guitar. The Cowboys will open for Rhoma Irama and Soneta this Saturday night at Bellefield Hall Auditorium.