Professional Activities

Jose Manuel Lezcano (Chair, Professor of Music) performed as soloist on Nov. 11 in the world premiere of his newly revised and completed guitar concerto in three movements, “Concierto Cubanero,” in New York City, with the Grammy-nominated North-South Consonance Orchestra directed by Max Lifchitz. The concert was part of the 8th Annual Latin American Cultural Week, a celebration of Latin American culture in venues through New York City. A previous two-movement version of this concerto was premiered at Keene State College with Music Dept. colleagues in 2011-12, and also in Quito and New York. Also, Dr. Lezcano’s suite for solo guitar, “Tres Apuntes Cubanos,” recently received its premiere recording on a new CD by the acclaimed guitarist William Feasley, entitled “Panamerica,” and featuring new music for guitar from the Americas. Both of these original compositions are an homage to Cuban dance styles of the 40s and 50s, especially the sounds of Bolero, Salsa, and Orquesta Tipica.

Kate Tirabassi (English) presented on November 22 with Christina Ortmeier-Hooper (English, University of New Hampshire) at the 2013 National Council of Teachers of English Conference in Boston, MA. Their session, entitled, “Redefining ‘Informational Texts’ for the 21st Century: Innovative Ways to Get All Student Writers to be Hands-on, Rhetorically Savvy, and Into the Community,” asked participants, ranging from secondary school English teachers to college composition professors, to re-envision what the Common Core calls “informational texts” for all student writers through hands-on learning, field-based investigations, and professional workplace and community genres. The session’s focus on inclusive writing pedagogy included an argument regarding why workplace and community texts should be considered “informational texts,” as defined by the Common Core, an activity illustrating the importance of teaching students to analyze and write such texts, a curriculum unit on workplace and community writing, and opportunities for discussion about ways to incorporate this type of curriculum in secondary and college-level classes.

A.L. Rydant and Christopher Cusack (Geography), presented “Student Perceptions of Fieldwork Utility across Three International Field Courses” at the New England-St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society Annual Conference in Worcester, MA, in October.