The Cal Poly Pomona Department of Music’s Spring 2019 series of events includes concerts, master classes taught by virtuosos and a musical theater workshop of Lin Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights.”
The series will feature exceptional student performances and appearances by renowned guest artists. For a complete listing of events, times and ticket prices, click here or visit the department’s Facebook page.
Some key performances this season include the following:
Performances of note this semester include the following:
- March 4: – Sandbox Percussion, a leading proponent in this generation of contemporary percussion chamber music, will perform. Brought together by their love of chamber music and the simple joy of playing together, Sandbox Percussion’s Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum and Terry Sweeney captivate audiences with performances that are both visually and aurally stunning.
- March 14 – The Villiers Quartet, the quartet-in-residence at the University of Oxford and Nottingham High School, will give a master class by day and a concert by night. Hailed as one of the most charismatic and “adventurous” quartets of the British chamber music scene, the Villiers Quartet have developed an international reputation as exceptional interpreters of English composers including Elgar, Delius, Fricker, Bush. The quartet formed in 2010.
- March 28-30 – Cal Poly Pomona Music Theatre Workshop presents “In The Heights.” The 2008 Tony Award winner for best musical, best score, best choreography and best orchestrations, is based on a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. It is directed by Susan Ali, with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood – a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind.
- April 12 – Distinguished alumnus Joe Klein will give a composition workshop. Klein is a composer of solo, chamber, and large ensemble works, including instrumental, vocal, electroacoustic, and intermedia compositions. His music reflects an ongoing interest in processes drawn from such sources as fractal geometry, chaos, and systems theory, often inspired by natural phenomena. His works frequently incorporate theatrical elements, whether as a component of the extra-musical references or as an organicoutgrowth of the musical narrative itself. Literature is another important influence on Klein’s work, with recent compositions based on the writings of Franz Kafka, Elias Canetti, Alice Fulton, W.S. Merwin, Milan Kundera, and John Ashbery.