"THE NOW AND PRESENT FLUTE," A SEMINAR AND TWO RECITALS AT BARD COLLEGE Opening recital on June 11 features seminar director, flutist Patricia Spencer, with pianist Linda Hall, harpsichordist Frederick Hammond, flutist Melissa Sweet, and guitarist William

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.--From June 11 to June 15, flutist Patricia Spencer of Da Capo Chamber Players will lead the annual seminar "The Now and Present Flute," sponsored by the Music Program at Bard College. Two recitals will be held in conjunction with the seminar: the first on Tuesday, June 11, and the closing recital, on Saturday, June 15. Both recitals begin at 8:00 p.m. in Bard Hall and are free and open to the public.

The opening recital, titled "Then, Now, Forever," will include Bard professor Joan Tower?s Flute Concerto (flute and piano version by the composer), and works by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, François Couperin, Francis Thorne, Noel Da Costa, and Edison Denisov. Performers include seminar director and flutist Patricia Spencer, with pianist Linda Hall, harpsichordist Frederick Hammond, flutist Melissa Sweet, and guitarist William Zito.

The closing program, featuring the participants in the seminar will include performances of Richard Wilson's Touchstone, Messiaen's Le merle noir, Elliott Carter's Scrivo in vento, Andrew Schultze's Beachcombers, John Anthony Lennon's Echolalia, Jennifer Higdon's Rapid Fire, Robert Dick's Flying Lessons, Edgard Varèse's Density 21.5, Toro Takemitsu's Air, and Lee Gannon's Derelict.

The "The Now and Present Flute" seminar with Patricia Spencer is presented annually in June by the Bard College Music Program. Flutists from across the country and from diverse backgrounds (including college students, public school music teachers, adult amateurs, and active professionals) join together in present-day flute repertoire with Spencer, flutist with Da Capo Chamber Players and visiting associate professor of music at the College.

For further information about the recitals and flute seminar, call Bard College at 845-758-6822 or Alfred Sweet at 845-246-6195.

About the Artists:

Patricia Spencer has been praised by the American Record Guide for her "astounding ability to play late 20th-century music, with all its technical and musical demands, beautifully and intelligently." She received acclaim for the premieres of solo flute works by Louis Karchin and Eugene Lee at the 2001 Sonic Boom Festival and for the premiere of Shulamit Ran's flute concerto, Voices, at the 2000 National Flute Association Convention. As a soloist and flutist with the Da Capo Chamber Players, she has toured throughout the United States and abroad, including a solo performance at the 1999 International Computer Music Conference in Beijing. Spencer?s solo recitals draw from the growing repertoire of pieces written for her by such composers as Ge Gan-ru, Miriam Gideon, Peter Golub, Stephen Jaffe, Arthur Kreiger, Salvatore Martirano, Thea Musgrave, Judith Shatin, Harvey Sollberger, Louise Talma, Joan Tower, and Yehudi Wyner. Spencer's solo recordings include Joan Tower's Hexachords, Harvey Sollberger's Riding the Wind, Eleanor Cory's Epithalamium, Miriam Gideon's Eclogue, and Eric Chasalow's Over the Edge for flute and electronic sounds. She has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts recording program, the Mary Flagler Cary Trust, and the Copland Fund for her two solo recordings on Neuma Records. The first recording includes works by Boulez, Carter, Talma, Martirano, Jaffe, Kreiger, Korde, and Perle. The second recording, Narcissus and Kairos, was called "rapturous" by Fanfare Magazine and includes works by Judith Shatin and Thea Musgrave. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, where she was a student of Robert Willoughby, Spencer continued her studies with Marcel Moyse, John Wummer, and Josef Marx. She is a faculty member in the Music Program at Bard College and also teaches flute and chamber music at Hofstra University.

Pianist Linda Hall is assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera; in recent seasons she has prepared the casts for Corigliano's Ghosts of Versailles and Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, Death in Venice, and Billy Budd, among others. Hall recently appeared onstage at the Met, as the pianist in the party scene in the premiere and subsequent performances of John Harbison?s The Great Gatsby. She can be heard in recordings with cellist Jascha Silberstein on the Musical Heritage Society label, and with flutist Patricia Spencer. Hall pursued her undergraduate studies at Oberlin Conservatory and Salzburg Mozarteum; and received a graduate degree in piano performance from The Juilliard School. Hall coaches singers and performs with singers and instrumentalists throughout the United States and abroad.

Frederick Hammond, the Irma Brandeis Professor of Romance Culture and Music History at Bard, performs widely in Europe and the United States as solo organist and harpsichordist. He specializes in Baroque continuo playing and has performed as continuo harpsichordist in more than 30 operas. He was the keyboard continuo player for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has appeared with such conductors as Christopher Hogwood, Nicholas McGegan, Simon Rattle, Paul Hindemith, and Leon Botstein.

Melissa Sweet has been the principal flutist with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra for more than 20 years. She has been a member of various chamber music ensembles and performs with guitarist Gregory Dinger as the duo Cantilena. Sweet is a highly regarded flute teacher in the Hudson Valley. Her own teachers have included Murray Panitz, Claude Monteaux, John Solum, and Patricia Spencer.

Guitarist William Zito's formal debut was in 1975 in Alice Tully Hall, where he received critical acclaim. Soon after, he was chosen by High Fidelity magazine as one of the young artists of the year. In 1980, Zito was a prize winner in an Artist International Competition. He has received praise for both his solo and ensemble work and has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. In New York, he has performed at Merkin, Weill, and Alice Tully halls. In addition to the guitar, he performs on the Renaissance lute. He has performed in concert on radio stations WQXR, WNCN, WBAI, as well as National Public Radio. A native New Yorker, Zito began studying guitar at the age of 12. While enrolled at Nassau Community College and Hofstra University he studied with Stanley Solow. Upon graduation, he continued his studies of lute with Rodrigo DeZayas, guitar with Rey de la Toree, and composition with Julian Orbon. Zito is currently on the faculties of Hofstra University and Nassau Community College.

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(5.30.02)

This event was last updated on 06-06-2002

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