HUNTSVILLE – Experience new music for a new year with the Constellation Concert Series presented by the University of Alabama in Huntsville Department of Music.
“We are excited to announce the spring 2025 series,” said Ron Guthrie, UAH performing arts operations coordinator. “All three events feature our own music faculty as solo artists and collaborators.”
The series opens Tuesday with a collaboration that draws from the literary sphere. Soprano Dr. Amalia Osuga, assistant professor of voice, and pianist Aimee Fincher present “Let the Dancing Drink Your Sorrow,” an exploration of the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Elinor Wylie. The concert also features UAH faculty artists Silvana Matthews, viola, and Sophia Suante, marimba.
Along with expressing her interest in art song through recitals, Osuga founded Her Art in Song, a grant-funded project to highlight the poetic and musical voices of women through performance, education and research.
One of contributors to the concert is Dr. Joshua Burel, chair of the UAH Department of Music, Theatre and Film. He, along with fellow composers Mary Howe, John Duke, Jodie Goble, William Bolcom, Julianna Hall, Judith Lang Zaimont and Eric Ewazen, set the Millay and Wylie poems to music.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Roberts Recital Hall, 1510 Ben Graves Drive, on the UAH campus.
For February and March, Constellation offers a new mini-series titled “New Music for New Ears,” Guthrie says. This project is supported by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
What Is Noise, a six-member New Music chamber ensemble, previews works from their upcoming album, “Temporal Echoes,” on Feb. 24, at The Speakeasy @ Campus 805, 2620 Clinton Ave. W., at 7:30 p.m. The house opens at 6:30, and guests are encouraged to arrive early if they’d like to order from the Straight to Ale menu.
Along with Burel on violin, members of the ensemble are Anastasia Christofakis, clarinet; Lindsey Goodman, flute; Keith Hendricks, percussion; Justin Page, cello, and Cholong Park, piano.
What Is Noise is set to perform at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium in May, so this exclusive concert gives local music lovers a chance to hear what’s going on with this innovative group.
Larose, acoustic and electric guitar and vocals – wraps up the Constellation Concert Series. (Phil Weaver contributed)
The Rule of Thirds wraps up the Constellation series March 27, at 7:30 p.m. back in Roberts Recital Hall. Comprising the trio are Phil Weaver, classical guitarist and UAH instructor; Gabe Larose, acoustic and electric guitar and vocals, and Joanna Moger, violin. The concert features electronics by Automattika’s Matthew Westmeyer, UAH studio facilities manager and lecturer in music technology.
Weaver promises variety, fun and seriously professional musicianship in a relaxed atmosphere.
“It’ll be kind of like a listening room with a lot of different styles and textures presented in a way that you’ve never really heard before,” he said. “Matt’s a real whiz with the electronics. Gabe is one of the most popular performers in town, and Joanna’s the go-to rock violinist in Huntsville.”
Weaver said his wife, pianist and UAH instructor Ingrid von Spakovsky Weaver, will bring the grand piano into the mix for a combination piece with him and Westmeyer.
Tickets to each Constellation Concert are $10 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors. Only debit or credit cards will be taken; no cash will be accepted at the door. The concerts will be livestreamed; access is $10.
For more information on the UAH Constellation Concert Series, visit uah.edu/music/events.
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