Pomona College Music Department’s Fall 2022 Series Brings Guests and More to Campus
All Concerts Are Free and Open to the Public
Pomona College’s Department of Music announces the 2022 fall series that combines guest artists—internationally renowned guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan and acclaimed period instrument ensemble Ciaramella—along with faculty and guest performers and student ensembles in an array of chamber music recitals and concerts.
“We are excited to be able to offer our fullest concert series since the pandemic and pleased that it will include music from a wide range of times and places representing many cultures, musical languages, and musical approaches. We welcome people from all over the region to our concerts, as well as members of our own student body,” shares Alfred Cramer, chair of the music department.
Celliola and Friends^ opens the season on Sept. 11 with music by faculty composer Tom Flaherty, who is the John P. and Magdalena R. Dexter Professor of Music. The program features new love songs and works of political satire. Performers include Celliola members Tom Flaherty, cello; and Cynthia Fogg, viola; joined by faculty friends Genevieve Feiwen Lee, piano; Melissa Givens, soprano; and Joti Rockwell, mandola; and guests Scott Graff, baritone; Rachel V. Huang, violin; Peter Yates, guitar; and Yuri Inoo, percussion.
On Sept. 18, the department’s Fête musicale returns. The concert unites several performance faculty members in a series of mini performances. The program will include music by Henry Cowell, Oliver Messiaen, Edgard Varèse, Florent Schmitt and others performed by Rachel Rudich, flute; Francisco Castillo, oboe; Kay Nevin, clarinet; Carolyn Beck, bassoon; Alison Bjorkedal, harp; Maggie Parkins, cello; and Gayle Blankenburg, piano.
Closing out the September schedule on Sept. 24, cellist and Harry S. and Madge Rice Thatcher Professor of Music Eric Lindholm brings together faculty pianist Genevieve Feiwen Lee and guests Sakura Tsai, violin; and Kira Blumberg, viola; to perform the music of Frank Bridge, Gernot Wolfgang and Gabriel Fauré in a special Chamber Music recital.
On Oct. 2, Grammy®-nominated pianist Genevieve Feiwen Lee, the Everett S. Olive Professor of Music, welcomes Melissa Givens, soprano; Jennie Jung, piano; Sarah Thornblade, violin; and Maggie Parkins, cello in a program that includes the music of Margaret Bonds, George Walker and Errollyn Wallen. On Oct. 21, soprano Melissa Givens shares the stage with pianist/mathematician Eugenia Cheng in Robert Schumann’s Frauenlieben und – leben but with a newly-created English text by Cheng. It updates the originally-set 1830 poem cycle by Adelbert von Chamisso to a text that “is fitting for a contemporary strong woman,” according to Cheng. On Oct. 23, early music ensemble Ciaramella makes their Pomona College premiere in a program that features period instruments entitled Lovers and Labyrinths: Renaissance Songs, Dances and Improvisations of Love, Death, and Rebirth. The ensemble is comprised of new faculty member Malachai Bandy and performance faculty member Jason Yoshida, among others. On Oct. 30, emeritus faculty member William Peterson returns to the organ console to present an all-Bach program in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Hill Memorial organ’s inaugural concert. Built by C. B. Fisk as Opus 117, the organ has three-manuals, 66 ranks and over 3500 pipes.
Throughout the semester, the department’s student ensembles—the Pomona College Orchestra, Choir, Band, Jazz Ensemble, Balinese Gamelan and West African Music Ensemble—will present concerts with music by Leonard Bernstein, Gabriela Lena Frank, Astor Piazzolla, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Oliver Dubon ’20 and others.
The fall 2022 concert season calendar is now available online at www.pomona.edu/music-calendar and can be picked up in Thatcher Music Building on the campus of Pomona College or read more online on our concert calendar website.
All the department’s concerts are free and open to the public.
Safety protocols will be followed at all concerts. Go to pomona.edu/music-concert-safety-information for details.
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