Director's Debut in KSC Guitar Orchestra Features Renaissance Duets and Originals
KEENE, N.H. 10/25/06 - Frank Wallace’s first concert as stand-in director of the Keene State College Guitar Orchestra will feature medieval and Renaissance pieces, as well as Wallace’s original compositions on Tues., Nov. 14. The concert, which will also include works by Franz Schubert, Atanas Ourkouzounov, and Andrew York, starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth age 17 or younger. Call the box office at 603-358-2168.
The first part of the program is comprised of both lively and sacred medieval and Renaissance duets from the 12th to 15th centuries. Among the pieces being performed are Nobilis Humilis, Benedicamus Domin, and Francesco Landini’s Ecco la Primavera.
In the second half, the KSC Guitar Orchestra will perform some of Wallace’s original pieces, such as Betty Botter, Earth, and Triptych. Wallace is directing the KSC Guitar Orchestra while José Lezcano is on sabbatical.
Also on the program are the classical Seligkeit, by Franz Schubert; Horo, by the contemporary Bulgarian-born Atanas Ourkouzounov; Pacific Coast Highway, by guitar virtuoso Andrew York; and the 1959 hit Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach.
Wallace has distinguished himself not only as a dynamic soloist and accompanist on classical and romantic guitars, but also as a leading player of the lute and the vihuela de mano (shaped like a small guitar and considered “the king of instruments” in the courts of 16th-century Spain). He has performed at many of the leading early music festivals and has also performed, lectured, and taught at a number of Lute Society of America seminars. Wallace currently performs with soprano Nancy Knowles as Duo LiveOak, and he occasionally performs as a soloist.
The KSC Guitar Orchestra concert provides music students with an opportunity for public performance that is essential to graduation from Keene State with a degree in music. Students interested in music may opt for one of four programs: bachelor of music in music education; bachelor of music in music performance; or bachelor of arts in composition, history and literature, music for elementary teachers, music technology, or theory.
