The Moravian University Music Department fall semester opens with a faculty recital with performances by Artist-Lecturers in Music clarinetist Elizabeth Brodt-Zimmer and French hornist Mark Syslo.<\/p>\n
Moravian University presents \u201cFaculty and Guests Concert,\u201d 4 p.m. Sept. 13, Peter Hall, Moravian University, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to be very purposeful in selecting mostly repertoire written by women composers,\u201d says Brodt-Zimmer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel women are largely underrepresented in the composition world, and their works deserve to be heard and enjoyed,\u201d Brodt-Zimmer says.<\/p>\n
\u201cRomanze in F major\u201d for clarinet and piano is a lyrical single movement work written in 1892 by German Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxe-Meiningen (1853-1923), who studied piano performance and composition.<\/p>\n
Inspired by scuba diving adventures, a contemporary work, \u201cSea Songs: California Coast for clarinet and piano,\u201d by American composer Jenni Brandon (b. 1977) comprises three movements: \u201cCalifornia Spiny Lobster,\u201d \u201cLeopard Shark\u201d and \u201cCalifornia Moray Eel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Composer B\u00e9la Kov\u00e1cs (1937-2021) was a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, Hungary, and was principal clarinetist of the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra.<\/p>\n
Brodt-Zimmer performs Kov\u00e1cs\u2019 \u201cHommage \u00e0 J.S. Bach,\u201d one movement of a collection of works Kov\u00e1cs composed to honor great composers and as assignments for his clarinet students.<\/p>\n
The difference between today\u2019s French horn and the instrument of the famous Austrian hornist and composer Franz Strauss (1822-1905) is significant. The modern instrument is a double-horn system merging two keys (F and B-flat) versus Strauss\u2019 horn which was a single-key instrument.<\/p>\n
Hornist Mark Syslo performs Strauss\u2019 \u201cFantasie, Op. 2\u201d for horn and piano (1851), based on Franz Schubert\u2019s \u201cSehnsuchtswalzer\u201d (1818).<\/p>\n
Syslo next performs Gina Gillie\u2019s \u201cSong for the Lost\u201d (2021; revised 2023).<\/p>\n
Says Gillie, \u201cI chose to write a lyrical piece … about unexpressed and unacknowledged grief for all the people, time, and things that we have lost personally and as a society as a result of this [COVID-19] pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel that despite half a million deaths, there has been no national reckoning with our loss. And this piece is meant to rectify that in a small way. And to be an expression for any who wish to put that acknowledgment into a musical performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
A student of Nadia Boulanger and Paul Dukas, Belgian composer, teacher and violinist Jane Vignery (1913-1974) wrote \u201cSonata for Horn and Piano, Op. 7\u201d (1942) for which she received a Royal Belgium Academy award. The three-movement work provides beautiful contrasts, including a rigorous and technically-demanding third movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am thrilled that Mark [Syslo] approached me about joining forces for a faculty recital,\u201d says Brodt-Zimmer, adding, \u201cWe have a great music faculty here at Moravian University and I am so thankful to be a part of this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Brodt-Zimmer began clarinet studies at an early age at the Nazareth Music Center. She received a Bachelor\u2019s in Music Education from Moravian University and a Master of Music in Music Education from Boston University.<\/p>\n
Mark Syslo is a French horn instructor at Moravian University. He performs in the Mainstreet Brass, co-founded the Lehigh Valley Horn Ensemble and recently performed with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra and Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra. He is a performing member of the Allentown Music Club and member of the International Horn Society.<\/p>\n
Syslo, a graduate of Mansfield University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University, recently retired as instrumental music teacher in Parkland School District.<\/p>\n
Bram Rader is a church and community pianist and pianist for The Salvation Army, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaculty and Guests Concert,\u201d 4 p.m. Sept. 13, Peter Hall, Moravian University, 342 Main St., Bethlehem. Tickets: at the door; https:\/\/www.moravian.edu\/music\/concert-schedule<\/p>\n
\u201cClassical View\u201d is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Brodt-Zimmer<\/p>\n
Mark Syslo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Moravian University Music Department fall semester opens with a faculty recital with performances by Artist-Lecturers in Music…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-280200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}