As you read this column, the college spring semesters are quickly drawing to a close here in the Twin Ports. If I tried to list the band, chorus, solo recital, and stage play events taking place between now and May 7 at the four Twin Ports Colleges (UWS, UMD, CSS, LSC), it would cover more than two pages in The Reader. Try to sample some of the offerings because the range of talent stretches from fully professional to the best of what our brilliant faculty can supervise. Check listings here in The Reader, as well as through the various websites.
       
Art songs, folk songs, and Broadway abound

Meanwhile, I stopped Tuesday evening to watch and listen as Vicki Fingalson and Jeffrey Madison shared a faculty voice recital at Webb Recital Hall on the UWS campus. Beth Gilbert sat at the piano, and oboist Laurie Van Brunt brought her oboe for one particular collection of Ralph Vaughan Williams songs based on the poetry of William Blake. Fingalson sang these six songs, as well as a cycle of Songs About Spring, by Minnesota composer Dominick Argento. Madison shared five of the many folk songs arranged by Benjamin Britten, then the two of them sang several songs from four of the musicals created by Stephen Sondheim. From somewhat obscure to quite popular, the songs shared in this recital provided something of interest to most everyone in the auditorium.

New music with lots of colorful sounds

Over at Weber Music Hall on the UMD campus, band faculty Daniel Eaton and Mark Whitlock led the Concert Band and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble through a hefty two-hour concert this past Sunday afternoon. The wide variety of instrumental sounds and colors in a concert band always pleases me. In particular, a new piece called Taking Flight, composed by UMD sophomore William Brueggemann, gave each separate instrument a chance to play alone, then combine with another to create an amazing blend of tonal colors.

For a total splash on the afternoon, trombone faculty Derek Bromme played the solo part in Trombonico, a collection of three moods for trombone and concert band, by Massachusetts composer Gregory Fritze. From gentle melodies to rapid-fire passages with complex rhythms bouncing off the walls, Bromme made it clear that he can work a lot of magic with his lungs and one gleaming trombone.

Upcoming from The Playhouse and the UMD Opera Studio

As this issue of The Reader appears around the Twin Ports, The Duluth Playhouse will be opening its next musical, 42nd Street, which runs from April 21 through May 8 at The Playhouse. This 1933 movie/musical was turned into a Broadway hit in 1980 that won Tony Awards for best musical and best choreography. When it was revived on Broadway in 2001, it won another Tony for best revival. Plan to come see the young Peggy Sawyer learn about show business and trusting relationships. Michael Matthew Ferrell directs this Twin Ports spectacular.

Finally, for the opera lovers in the audience, UMD presents Stargait: an Interstellar Journey! The opera studio, directed by Alice Pierce, will stage scenes from seventeen different operas dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. This season finale will be on stage at Weber Music Hall on Thursday and Friday evenings, April 28/29, beginning at 7:30pm.

The excitement of young performers in the process of developing and maturing never gets old. Here in the Twin Ports the next few generations of residents need have no fear about a shortage of good music and drama. I urge you to support these performances with your smiling, and applauding, attendance.