Three concerts will be part of NMSU’s “Research and Creativity Week ” next week, which also features a packed schedule of speakers, discussion groups, research presentations, literary readings, dance concerts, science events, and numerous learning opportunities for people of all ages at venues on campus and around the city.
NMSU music faculty members Dr. Michael Mapp, Dr. Madelyn Moore, and Dr. Angela Winter came to talk about creativity and the concerts with Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin on Zoom.
“Creativity – we think of it a lot of times as this spontaneous, beautiful thing, which it is,” explained Angela Winter, who is the new horn professor at NMSU. “But it also is a lot of hard work.” Winter noted that “the students have seen us prepare as faculty – the faculty Brass Quintet and the faculty Woodwind Quartet” all semester. “We rehearse every week, sometimes multiple times a week, long rehearsals, and we prepare on our own, and that’s heard in the hallways,” giving students a chance to see and hear the faculty at work.
The first concert of the week takes place on Monday night, when Director of Bands Michael Mapp and his colleague Steven Smyth will conduct the NMSU Wind Symphony in a program called “Modern Legacy.” “We’re presenting a pretty diverse program of new music with more diverse composers,” Mapp said, with inspiration drawing from a hymn text, Buddhism, Hinduism, and natural disasters, but also “the inner storms of humanity.” The program includes works by David Biedenbender, Joni Greene, Gustav Holst, and Catherine Likhuta.
Tuesday night features the NMSU Brass Quintet offering a “Tour of Latin America,” with works from Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Cuba, and Mexico, as a way of honoring NMSU as a Hispanic-serving institution. In addition to more familiar tunes, the program includes music by Gilberto Gil, Enrique Crespo, Jose Ursicino da Silva “Duda,” and some popular tunes.
On Thursday night, the newly-formed NMSU Faculty Woodwind Quintet will present works by Beethoven, Ibert, Malcolm Arnold, William Grant Still, Valerie Coleman, and others. “For those of us in the performing arts, our version of research and creativity is performance,” said clarinet professor Madelyn Moore. “And that can mean new pieces. It can also mean revisiting old warhorses that we all know and love. But it’s also learning and demonstrating musicianship continuously in our department.”
All concerts are in the Atkinson Recital Hall on the NMSU campus at 7:30 p.m. and are free.
Musical clips used in the interview come from:
1.) “Hammersmith Prelude and Scherzo,” by Gustav Holst, performed by North Texas Wind Symphony, Eugene Corporon conducting (Klavier 11070)
2.) “La Virgen de Macarena,” performed by La Internacional Sonora Show (FTCD #44003)
3.) “Adolorido” from “Miniatures,” by William Grant Still, performed by The Powers Woodwind Quintet (White Pine #216)
4.) “Umoja,” by Valerie Coleman, performed by Imani Winds (Koch 7661).
