Department of Music to present second concert in Faculty Recital Series Jan. 29

Jan. 22, 2009 -- The Department of Music at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro will present the second concert in the 2008-2009 Faculty Recital Series featuring Lauren Schack Clark, Ellen Philpot, Rob Alley, Dale Clark, Robin Dauer, Ed Owen, Dan Ross, and special guests Karen Griebling and Jackie Lamar on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in Riceland Hall, Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. The performance is free of charge and open to the public.  This popular series of concerts began in 2004 as a venue to showcase the level of artistry of the music faculty at ASU.

The evening’s performance will begin with “Choralfantasie” by Jan Koetsier, featuring Ed Owen, tuba, and Ellen Philpot, organ. Next will be “Concerto for Trumpet and Bassoon” by Paul Hindemith, featuring Rob Alley, trumpet, Dale Clark, bassoon, and Lauren Schack Clark, piano.  “Trio” by Theodore Lalliet will then follow, featuring Dan Ross, oboe, Dale Clark, bassoon, and Lauren Schack Clark, piano. Following will be “Trio for Horn, Viola, and Piano” by Nancy Van de Vate, featuring Robin Dauer, horn, Karen Griebling, viola, and Lauren Schack Clark, piano. The final performance of the evening will be “Triglow Suite” by special guest Karen Griebling, featuring Jackie Lamar, saxophone, Robin Dauer, horn, and Karen Griebling, viola.

Dr. Lauren Schack Clark performs frequently as a soloist and collaborative artist. She was voted Teacher of the Year 2008 by the Arkansas State Music Teachers Association. Recent performances have included a recital at the University of Florida as part of the ASU Double Reed and Piano Trio, programs with violinist Stephen Sims at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Denison University, and solo recitals in Boston and Naples, Italy. She recorded a CD of solo piano music for Centaur Records, with music written by Boston composer Dr. Rosey Lee, faculty, Berklee College of Music. Her book, Keyboard Theory and Piano Technique, was recently published by Longbow Publishing.

Dr. Jackie Lamar is professor of music at the University of Central Arkansas, where she teaches saxophone and conducts jazz and saxophone ensembles. She holds the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance and Master of Music Education from the University of North Texas, and the Bachelor of Music Education form the University of Central Arkansas. Her principal teachers have been Debra Richtmeyer, Jim Riggs, and Homer Brown. Dr. Lamar has performed at four World Saxophone Congresses and at many regional and national conferences of the North American Saxophone Alliance. An active soloist, she has performed concertos with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Little Rock Wind Symphony, the UCA Wind Ensemble, and the University of Arkansas Fort Smith Symphonic Band.

Dr. Karen Griebling is professor of music at Hendrix College in Conway, where she has taught since the fall of 1987. She is professor of composition, theory, counterpoint, orchestration, and viola and conductor of the Hendrix Chamber Orchestra. She is also a violist with the Arkansas Symphony and the Pinnacle Players. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin 1986 where she held teaching assistantships in music theory and in orchestral studies and the Kent Kennan Scholarship in composition, a Master of Music degree from the University of Houston where she held the Daniel Dror Graduate String Quartet Fellowship 1982, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York 1980. Dr. Griebling has composed operas, ballet, choral music, song cycles, chamber, and orchestral works. Her textbook, Musicianship Skills for Beginners, (4th. ed., 1998, paper, Musicalligraphics) has been widely used in central Arkansas, Ohio and Singapore. A BMI composer, her music has been performed and warmly received throughout the United States, Southeast Asia, and in Europe.

Ellen Philpot is a native of Jonesboro and holds a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Music in Performance from Arkansas State University. While working as an adjunct instructor at ASU, Philpot accompanied various performing groups on piano, organ and harpsichord, including the Concert Choir, University Singers and Chamber Singers. She was the harpsichordist for the Christmas Madrigal Feasts and both rehearsal accompanist and keyboardist for a number of ASU Opera productions. She also played and programmed the ASU carillon bells.

Philpot has taught elementary and secondary vocal music at Senath-Hornersville, Mo., and is currently employed in Weiner, where she teaches elementary music, junior and senior high choir, and junior and senior high band. She has been an active member of the Treble Clef Music Club of Jonesboro and served for several years as secretary-treasurer and president. She has also served as a longtime church accompanist and is the organist and music director for Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church in Jonesboro.

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 southeast, his commitment to jazz and improvised music continues to be his main passion. As a band leader in Birmingham, Ala., he conceived of a two-horn, bass, and drums quartet in tribute to Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk named Mingusphere, and he 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. Rob currently lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas where he leads the Rob Alley Trio, runs Rob Alley Musical Productions, and is adjunct professor of music at Arkansas State University. He performs with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra regularly on both Masterworks 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.

Dr. Dale Clark is principal bassoon of the Delta Symphony Orchestra, a member of the North Arkansas Symphony, and has appeared as guest principal bassoon with the Memphis Symphony and Arkansas Symphony Orchestras.  He has appeared as guest artist and master class teacher at the Cork School of Music in Cork, Ireland, and Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., among many others. In 2003, he was principal bassoon of the Sewanee Festival Orchestra and bassoon instructor at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. He is a former member of the Memphis Woodwind Quintet.

Dr. Robin Dauer is professor of horn at Arkansas State University. He received the Bachelor of Arts from Miami University and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He is currently a member of the ASU Brass Quintet and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Dauer’s recordings include Horn Americana, works for horn and piano by American composers, Souvenir, French pieces for horn and piano, both available from Mark Recordings, and the recently released Alan Hovhaness: Music for Horn, Voice, and Strings on Centaur Records.  At Arkansas State, he conducts the horn ensemble, student chamber ensembles, and teaches music appreciation.

Dr. Ed Owen is associate professor of Music at Arkansas State University where he serves as coordinator of graduate studies, teaches applied tuba and euphonium, and conducts the ASU Tuba and Euphonium Ensemble and Brass Choir.  He currently performs as principal tuba of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Brass Quintet, the Delta Symphony Orchestra, and the ASU Brass Quintet. He received the Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Arkansas Tech University (summa cum laude), the Master of Music in Tuba Performance, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Daniel Ross received his Bachelor of Music Education degree at Arkansas State University and his Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Mississippi. Dr. Ross is well-known throughout the double-reed world for his important research, design, and construction of reed gouging machines. He performs regularly as soloist with the Forum Sinfonia of Krakow, Poland, in the United States, Poland, and throughout central Europe. He has performed and presented classes at numerous International Double Reed Society conventions and also teaches and presents master classes at major music schools throughout the United States.

The audience is encouraged to visit the Bradbury Gallery during intermission.  The current exhibition is the 2009 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition, which is comprised of a variety of prints from traditional to experimental, minimal to intricate, and realistic to abstract. The 2009 exhibition was selected by Siri Engberg, specialist in contemporary prints and a curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minn. The concert is free and open to the public. For more details, please call the Department of Music at (870) 972-2094.
           

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