Department of Music presents final Faculty Recital Series concert March 27

March 18, 2008 -- The Department of Music at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro will present the final concert in the 2007-2008 Faculty Recital Series featuring Rob Alley, Joe Bonner, Matthew Carey, Lauren Schack Clark, Craig Collison, Derek Doyle, Ken Hatch, Julia Lansford, and Pat Qualls on Thursday, March 27, at 7:30 p.m. in Fowler Center’s Riceland Hall, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro.

The concert will include performances of “Three American Pieces for Flute and Piano“ by Lukas Foss, performed by Joe Bonner and Lauren Schack Clark, “Traditional Irish Songs” performed by Julia Lansford and Pat Qualls, “Five Long Songs” by Richard Strauss, performed by Matthew Carey and Lauren Schack Clark, “Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo” by Igor Stravinsky, performed by Ken Hatch, and “A Night in Tunisia” by Dizzy Gillespie, “After Bartok” by Rob Alley, and “The Pond” by Matthew Devine, performed by Rob Alley, Derek Doyle, and Craig Collison.

Trumpeter and composer Rob Alley was born and raised in Texas. His multi-faceted professional career began at the age of 13. From wind ensembles to symphony orchestras, from salsa to straight-ahead jazz, from soul to the avant-garde, he has covered the gamut of performing styles. He has had the good fortune to perform with Yo-Yo Ma, Marvin Stamm, Bill Watrous, Jon Faddis, Diane Schuure, John Mosca, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The O’Jays, Frankie Valli, and many others. While working toward a master of music degree in arranging at the University of Alabama, he began working regularly with heralded Alabama musicians such as Downright, the Matthew Devine Trio, the Chad Fisher Group, the New South Jazz Orchestra, the Tuscaloosa Horns, and the Muscle Shoals Soul Review. Although Alley continues to perform classically with symphony orchestras across the southeastern U.S., his commitment to jazz and improvised music continues to be his main passion. In Birmingham, Ala., he conceived of and led a two-horn, bass, and drums quartet, Mingusphere, in tribute to Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk, and leads the Rob Alley Conspiracy, a group of varying sizes and instrumentations, to explore his own compositions. In addition, he co-leads the improvisation collective Mean Smoker with keyboardist Matthew Devine and New York City-based drummer Jay Frederick. Alley currently lives in Jonesboro, Ark., where he leads the Rob Alley Trio, runs Rob Alley Musical Productions, and is adjunct professor of music at ASU. He performs with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra regularly in their Masterworks series concerts and as the jazz chair for the symphony’s Pops concerts and big band engagements. Alley was recently honored with the Arkansas Arts Council’s 2007 Individual Artist Fellowship Grant.

Flutist Joe Bonner, assistant professor of music at ASU, received his bachelor of arts from the University of Houston and his master of arts from Stephen F. Austin State University. His professional activities include the position of principal flutist of both the 2nd Air Force Field Band in Bossier City, La., and the 13th Air Force Band in the Philippine Islands. His teachers include Byron Hester, former principal flutist of the Houston Symphony, and Harold Bennett, former principal flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City.

A veteran of the concert and opera stage, Matthew Carey has been a member of the voice faculty at ASU since 1997. In addition to applied voice, he also teaches German and French diction, vocal pedagogy, song literature, music appreciation, and opera workshop. He is also the vocal director for the ASU Theater Department's fall musical. As a concert artist, Carey has performed with the symphony orchestras of Hamburg, Kotka (Finland), Santa Barbara, the NDR Orchester of Bremen, the Northeast Arkansas Symphony, and the University of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. He continues to perform recitals throughout the region, in which he performs a wide variety of repertoire, ranging  from the song cycles of Schubert and Schumann to popular standards of Gershwin, Kern, Berlin and Rogers. Carey completed his bachelor of music at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1982, and received his master of music degree in 1985 from the University of Michigan. He has done post-graduate study at the University of California at Santa Barbara and at Yale University. His former teachers include Richard Miller (Oberlin) and the late Martial Singher (Santa Barbara).

Lauren Schack Clark is assistant professor of piano and keyboard activities supervisor at ASU. She performs frequently as a soloist and collaborative artist. She was selected to perform at the 2005 Texas Christian University-Cliburn Institute Teachers Session in Fort Worth. Recent solo performances and master classes include those at the University of Central Arkansas and Henderson State University. She has performed with principle players of the Boston Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish National Symphony, the Slovenian Radio Symphony, the Cincinnati Orchestra, the Arkansas Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony, and with faculty members of the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, the Cincinnati-College Conservatory, Oberlin College, the University of Memphis, and Arkansas State University.  She concertized in Paris in 1997 in conjunction with the Institute for Advanced Vocal Study, and again at the 2001 French Piano Institute. With her husband, bassoonist Dr. Dale Clark, she has played at Florida State University, the University of Washington-Seattle, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Nebraska, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Boston Conservatory.  She has appeared with the Marian Anderson String Quartet and the Memphis Chamber Music Society, and was the pianist for Opera Memphis during the 1998-99 season. Her students have won first prizes in such competitions as the Tennessee Music Teachers Association Auditions and the Beethoven Club Competition. She is President of the Delta Music Teachers Association, chair of the Arkansas State Music Teachers Association Chamber Music and Young Artist Competitions, and has served as Secretary of the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association and the Greater Memphis Music Teachers Association. She is certified in piano and pedagogy through the Music Teachers National Association, and has published in Clavier Magazine. Dr. Clark taught at the University of Memphis and was Director of the Community Music School there. She holds a doctor of musical arts degree from Boston University, a master's degree in piano performance and pedagogy from Northwestern University, a graduate diploma from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass., and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt School of Music.

Craig Collison has been professor of percussion at ASU since 1998. Collison was a percussionist with the United States Air Force Concert Band, Washington, D.C. from 1985 to 1996.  He received his bachelor’s degree from Washington State University, his master’s degree from the University of North Texas, and completed his doctoral residency at the Eastman School of Music. He has studied with Alan Abel of the Philadelphia Orchestra, John Beck of the Eastman School of Music, and Dr. Robert Schietroma of the University of North Texas.

Derek Doyle is a senior exercise science major at ASU. He is originally from Poplar Bluff, Mo. Doyle has performed in the Rob Alley Trio for three years. Additionally, he performs each weekend with the Grant Garland Trio at the 501 Club.

Ken Hatch (assistant professor) teaches clarinet at ASU. In addition to studio teaching, he coaches chamber music, teaches instrumental technique classes for music education majors, and conducting. Prior to his appointment at ASU, Hatch held positions as band director and woodwinds specialist at public schools in Texas. He has performed as guest conductor with the ASU Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble. Hatch continues to be an active performer. He presently performs as clarinetist and saxophonist with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in Little Rock.  Hatch has appeared as soloist with bands and orchestras throughout the south, including performances for the Arkansas State Bandmasters Association and the College Band Directors National Association. Hatch performed with the Baylor University Alumni Clarinet Quartet at ClarFest '97 in Lubbock, Texas. In 1972, he was a finalist in what was then the National Clarinet Competition in Denver, Colorado. Always interested in expanding the repertoire for single reeds, Hatch has premiered pieces by Jared Spears, Tom O'Connor, Gay Spears, and Craig Wadley. Hatch is also the author of “The Clarinet Teacher’s CD Companion,” a multimedia text for use in the clarinet techniques classes. He also has written two books of tone, flexibility, and scale studies for both clarinet and saxophone, and these texts also offer companion practice CDs. Hatch holds the a bachelor of music degree in clarinet performance from the University of North Texas, and the master of music degree in xlarinet performance from Baylor University. He has done post-graduate work at Florida State University and Michigan State University. He has studied with Dr. Lee Gibson, Dr. Richard Shanley, Mr. Fred Ormand, and Dr. Frank Kowalsky.

Julia Lansford, associate professor of voice, will be retiring in May after 44 years of teaching at ASU. During her tenure, she has sung throughout the United States as a soloist with orchestras and in solo recitals. She was selected as “Outstanding Singer” of Arkansas and performed at the Kennedy Center. She has sung leading roles with various opera companies. She made her New York debut as composer Harold Farberman’s selection for the premier of his opera “The Losers” at Lincoln Center. During her study in Germany, she sang the role of Ariadne in “Ariadne auf Naxos” by Strauss and she also sang Dido in Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas.” Students in her studio have excelled not only in graduate work in universities such as the University of North Texas, the Cincinnati Conservatory, Arizona State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Michigan, but have sung professionally in opera and musical theater, while others have been outstanding choral directors. Many of Lansford’s former students have been winners in vocal competitions such as the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Beethoven Music Club, the Music Teachers National Association, the Metropolitan Opera auditions, and the Delta Symphony Concerto competition.

Harpist Patricia Qualls received her bachelor of science in education and her master of science in education from ASU. She taught choral music at Monette High School for 16 years.  After serving as mayor of Lake City for four years, she was appointed to the Arkansas Public Service Commission by then-governor Bill Clinton, a position she held for thirteen years. She has performed as a harpist with the Immanuel Baptist Church (Little Rock), the ASU Orchestra, and the Delta Symphony Orchestra. She was inducted into the Arkansas Music Educator’s Hall of Fame in 1991.

The program of Irish songs, arranged by Mary O’Hara, is the same program Lansford sang with harpist Patricia Qualls during the St. Patrick’s Day reception at the White House for President Clinton and the Taoiseach, or prime minister, of Ireland. Lansford and Qualls have also performed at the Christmas reception at the White House.

The audience is encouraged to visit the Fowler Center’s Bradbury Gallery during intermission. The current exhibition is “Selections: From the Collection of Claude M. Erwin.” The exhibition will include several works originally in the collection of Claude M. Erwin Jr. These featured works, by several internationally-known artists, were generously donated to the ASU Permanent Collection of Art and will be exhibited publicly for the first time.

The concert is free and open to the public. For more details, contact the ASU Department of Music at (870) 972-2094.

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