College Arts Events to Benefit Food Pantry Starting Nov. 16 with the Play Pterodactyls

Admission is free, but please do bring a Food Pantry donation!

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College departments of Drama and Music, together with the student-led Music Collegium, will feed both body and soul with a Festival of the Arts series of performances that will collect donations for the Kent County Food Pantry.

Leading off the Festival events is the drama production “Pterodactyls,” a dark comedy by Nicky Silver. The Music Department follows on December 2 with a joint concert by the Symphonic Band and the new Washington College Chorus, and closes the series two days later with a String Ensemble performance.  

“The events are are free,” notes Assistant Professor of Music Jon McCollum. “All we request is that you bring either a non-perishable food item or a cash donation to the food pantry. The faculty and students involved in the arts here at Washington College wanted to start a tradition of giving back to the community, to have the arts help provide for those in need.”

Donated items should be healthful, non-perishable foods un-opened and in their original non-breakable packaging (no glass).  Please check expiration dates before donating.  Among the most-requested items at the Food Pantry are canned meats such as tuna, stew and chili; canned vegetables, pasta and pasta sauce, beans, healthy cereals, peanut butter and jelly.

Following is a brief description of each event in the series:

Pterodactyls by Nicky  Silver

Directed by Nina Sharp ’13.

Friday, Nov. 16, and Saturday, Nov. 17

8 p.m., in Tawes Theatre

Playwright Nicky Silver.

First performed in 1993, Pterodactyls has been described as an “absurdist tragicomedy” for mature audiences. Human failings in extreme doses bring down members of the dysfunctional Duncan family in ways that seem to foretell the demise of the human species, itself.  TheaterWeek described the play as “clever, sharp, witty — it’s a play that takes aim at the main-streamed, moneyed, conventional American family and buries it under one satiric jibe after another.”

Nina Sharp, a senior from Centreville, Md. who won the 2012 Mary Martin Drama Scholarship, is directing Pterodactyls as her senior thesis.  The self-described “theater geek” has been involved in all levels of theater in the area, from early roles at Centreville Middle School to acting and directing in productions at Church Hill Theatre and Washington College.  

WC Chorus music
director Doug Byerly.

Washington College Symphonic Band/Chorus Concert

Sunday, Dec. 2

6:30 p.m., Decker Theatre

A mix of holiday favorites and classical music will be performed by the student musicians in the Washington College Concert Band, conducted by Keith Wharton, and the more than 50 voices of the campus chorus, led by 
Douglas Byerly.

Washington College String Ensemble

Tuesday, Dec. 4

8 p.m., Hotchkiss Recital Hall

 Kimberly McCollum.

The seventeen students in the Washington College String Ensemble will perform a variety of selections, including arrangements of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, “Greensleeves” by Ralph Vaughan-Williams, “Palladio” (“Diamond Music”) by Karl Jenkins, and “Three English Dances” by Joshua Missal.  In addition, student violinist Elizabeth Ransom will perform the first movement of the Concerto in A minor by J.S. Bach, and faculty members Grace Kim (piano) and Kimberly McCollum (violin) will perform Mozart’s Sonata in G Major, KV 301.

For more information on the Arts Festival, contact Dr. McCollum at jmccollum2@washcoll.edu.

Free “12@Hotchkiss” Concerts Continue Nov. 2 with the Naval Academy Clarinet Quartet

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Naval Academy Clarinet Quartet will perform at noon on Friday, November 2, in Hotchkiss Recital Hall, as part of the Washington College Music Department’s 12@Hotchkiss Noon Hour Concert Series.

The free performances in the series feature acclaimed musicians from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area and are hosted in Hotchkiss on the first Friday of every month during the academic year. All are welcome.

Members of the clarinet quartet have performed extensively as soloists and in chamber groups and orchestras across the country. They are part of the United States Naval Academy Band, “The Navy’s Oldest and Finest,” which has provided music for the Brigade of Midshipmen and the surrounding community since 1852. Located at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, the full band is comprised of 68 professional Navy musicians who have studied at some of the best music schools and conservatories in the country.

The November 2 performance by the clarinet quartet will feature arranged and original works by Bach, Alfred Uhl, Astor Piazzolla, and Mike Curtis.

Hotchkiss Recital Hall is located in the Gibson Center for the Arts on the Washington College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. For more information on the 12@Hotchkiss series, please visit the Music Department website at http://music.washcoll.edu, or contact series director Grace Eun Hae Kim at gkim2@washcoll.edu.

Gospel Choir to Benefit Hynson Scholarship Nov. 3

Chestertown, MD–The 100-Voice Choir and special musical guests will raise their voices and lift spirits in Decker Theatre on the Washington College campus Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 3 p.m. (doors open at 2:30 p.m.) to celebrate the life and example of the late Rev. Vincent Hynson. A 1987 alumnus of Washington College, Rev. Hynson was a dedicated and beloved teacher, coach, pastor and community leader in Kent County who died of cancer in 2004.  The gospel concert in his honor will benefit the Vincent Hynson ’87 Scholarship at the College. 

Special guest artists will include gospel comedian Michael Hynson, The Gospel Sheppards of Kent County, Serenity, and Washington College’s WACappela.  Vivian Garnett will serve as emcee.

Founded in 2005, the 100-Voice Choir is the vision of Sylvia Frazier, a gospel music producer and promoter who runs S&B Productions with her husband, Bill Frazier. The annual fundraising concert in honor of Vincent Hynson is co-sponsored by Washington College and the Kent County Arts Council and is organized by S & B Productions.

Tickets, at $7 a person, will be available at the door. Decker Theatre is located inside the Gibson Center for the Performing Arts on the campus, 300 Washington Avenue.

For more information, contact S & B Productions at 410-778-6006 or the Kent County Arts Council at 410-778-1149.

Sandbox Percussion Quartet performs October 5 for 12@Hotchkiss free concert series

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Sandbox Percussion Quartet will give the next performance of the Washington College Music Department’s “12@Hotchkiss” lunchtime concert series on Friday, October 5. The free public performances, hosted at noon in the Hotchkiss Recital Hall on the first Friday of each month, feature acclaimed musicians from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.

         Sandbox Percussion is comprised of Garret Arney, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum, and Adam Rosenblatt, classically trained musicians who studied at the Peabody Conservatory and the Yale School of Music. They bring a youthful energy to their performances, which range from traditional percussion works to experimental improvisations and new music. The quartet took part in the Summer 2012 Norfolk New Music Workshop in Norfolk, Conn., and made its New York City debut at the St. John’s Episcopal Church Concerts on the Slope series, earning an invitation to be the ensemble-in-residence for the Fall 2013 season. The quartet was a finalist in the New England Chamber Music Competition, held in Boston.

         The October 5 performance at Washington College will feature the work of composers Steve Reich, Jason Treuting and Paul Lansky.

Hotchkiss Recital Hall is located in the Gibson Center for the Arts at Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue. For more information on the 12@Hotchkiss series, please visit the Music Department website at http://music.washcoll.edu, or contact series director Grace Eun Hae Kim at gkim2@washcoll.edu.

         

Russian Trio Opens 61st Washington College Community Concert Series on Saturday, October 6

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Three young Russian-born musicians will open the 61st Season of the Washington College Community Concert Series on Saturday evening October 6 with a program of Haydn, Brahms and Shostakovich. The concert by The Russian Trio will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Decker Theatre, in the Gibson Center for the Arts on the Washington College campus, 300 Washington Avenue.

            The Trio consists of pianist Katherine Harris Rick, violinist Nikita Borisevich and cellist Dmitry Volkov, all of whom earned early recognition for their musical talents, winning prestigious awards and competitions. They met as graduate students at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and formed the trio in 2011. The following summer they earned both the Silver Medal and the Audience Choice Award at the 2012 Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition in Easton.

            Pianist Katherine Harris Rick made her debut at age 9 in her hometown of Yakutsk, Siberia, and never looked back. She earned honors and awards from the World Piano Competition, the Rachmaninoff Competition for Young Pianists, and the International Russian Music Piano Competition. Her musical education continued with a full scholarship to Azusa Pacific University at age 15 and a full graduate assistantship in accompanying at the Peabody Conservatory.

            Violinist Nikita Borisevich began studying the violin at age 5, first played with the Perm Opera Symphony Orchestra at 12, and won Russia’s “Magical Bow” national competition for violinists and cellists at 15. He was admitted on a full scholarship to the Moscow Conservatory.  An avid chamber musician as well as soloist, Nikita won a Grand Prix in the 2011 International Chamber Music Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, and this year made his debut at the Moscow Philharmonic Society.

            Cellist Dmitry Volkov has performed as a soloist with the National Symphony of Mexico, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the Samara Symphony Orchestra, the Togliatti Symphony, and the Naberezhyne Chelny Symphony.  He has won numerous scholarships and awards, including the Stephen Kates Memorial Scholarship in Cello and the First Act Heifetz Institute Scholarship.

The October 6 program will include Haydn’s Trio in C Major, No. 43, Brahms’ Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8 and Shostakovich’s Trio in E Minor, Op. 67.

Tickets to the single concert are priced at $15 per adult, $5 for youth ages 18 and under, and free for Washington College students with a valid ID.  Both individual and season tickets ($50 for all five concerts) can be purchased at the door. There are no reserved seats. To purchase tickets in advance or become a Concert Series patron ($75 and up), please call 410-778-7839 or e-mail concert series director Kate Bennett at kbennett2@washcoll.edu.

For more on the 2012-13 season, visit http://news.washcoll.edu/concertseries.php.