The Valley City State University Music Department is pleased to announce two upcoming concerts at the Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts.

The Spring Instrumental Concert will take place on Friday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m., and the  Percussion Ensemble Spring Concert is Tuesday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. Both concerts are free of charge and open to the public. They will be held in the Performance Hall at the VCSU Center for the Arts.

For those unable to attend, the concerts will be live-streamed on YouTube on the Valley City State University Music account.

Spring Instrumental Concert

The Spring Instrumental Concert on April 4 showcases the talents of more than 40 students and staff performing in the VCSU Brass Ensemble, Woodwind Ensemble, and Concert Band.

The Brass Ensemble, led by Dr. Ken Jimenez, will perform two pieces to open the night including “Panoramic Landscapes” by Tyler S. Grant. The Woodwind Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Katrina Clements, is performing three pieces which include a suite titled Romanian Folk Dances by Bela Bartok.

The Concert Band will wrap up the night, performing four pieces under the direction of assistant professor Jerrold Heide. The finale is “Music for a Darkened Theater” by Danny Elfman. Five of Elfman’s most notable film scores are included in this arrangement: “Tales from the Crypt”, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Edward Scissorhands”, “Beetlejuice”, and “Spider-Man”.

Percussion Ensemble Concert

The VCSU Percussion Ensemble is featured in concert on Tuesday, April 8, highlighting some of the university’s standout percussion students. With the theme of “Roots & Resonances” the concert will present work for small percussion chamber ensembles.

The program will open with “Elements” by Chad Heiny, a series of duets for marimba and electronics which is “a programmatic piece representing natural elements through musical devices such as texture, phrasing, style, and tonality…” The world premiere of Matt Sargent’s “Flower & Branch” follows, a sparse, quiet work for two performers bowing and striking one glockenspiel. It will also include “Sequoia” by Yaz Lancaster, a work inspired by the massive Redwood trees of Northern California. “Sequoia” features flower pots played as musical instruments in a variety of ways and field recordings of nature made by students. The concert concludes with Emma O’Halloran’s “Shell”, a groove-based piece for four performers playing around a single “reverb-drenched marimba.”

VCSU Percussion Ensemble is under the direction of Dr. Taylor Long, VCSU’s percussion professor. Students in Percussion Ensemble are music majors, music minors, and non-major participants.

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