The March 29 Thursday Scholarship Series performance will celebrate Women’s History Month.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, the faculty, students and alumni of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music bring to the stage Woman to Woman, the next performance in the Thursday Scholarship Series March 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall.
“Women’s history will come alive in this concert,” said faculty member and harpist Monica Hargrave, who decided last year she wanted to present a concert during Women’s History Month that would showcase UGA faculty and students. “These women play a vital role in our lives with their contributions, dreams and accomplishments.”
In addition to Hargrave, the evening will feature performances by The Yargo Trio, featuring faculty members Angela Jones-Reus, flute; Connie Frigo, saxophone; and Liza Stepanova, piano. Other faculty performers include Amy Pollard, bassoon; Maggie Snyder, viola; Jean Martin-Williams, horn; Martha Thomas, piano; Kathryn Wright, voice; and Catherine Kilroe-Smith, horn.
Alongside the faculty, several HHSOM students also will perform, including Taylor Lents, marimba; Serena Schibelli, violin; Alissa Benkoski, soprano; and Vivian Doublestein, piano. Also performing will be Kitchen Sync, a faculty-student trio composed of Kilroe-Smith and students Akiko Iguchi on piano and Katherine Emeneth on the flute.
The program will explore various pieces, both old and new, all written by female composers. One of the contemporary pieces was written by UGA’s own assistant professor of composition Emily Koh. Joining Koh’s bass playing in the performance of her composition will be Serena Schibelli on violin and Maggie Snyder on viola. Logos was commissioned by the Boston Athanaeum after the restoration of their seven-volume copy of Primus Liber.
Hargrave is featured as the soloist in Dance, a piece commissioned for her and composed by UGA alumna Sharon J. Willis. Movement IV from the larger work has Hargrave accompanied by a chamber group made up of mezzo soprano, flute and clarinet.
“Set in five short movements, the composer paints a ‘cool’ ballet and each movement embraces some unique Afro-centric idiomatic expression that uplifts,” said Hargrave.
Keeping with the evening’s theme, Jean Kidula, ethnomusicology professor and co-director of the Athens Music Project, will lead a drumming piece titled “A Play on Atsia and Kpanlogo” with several of her students. Atsia is a type of dance-drumming dialogue where women are the speakers, composers and choreographers.
Tickets for the concert are $20 for adults and $6 for students and can be purchased online at pac.uga.edu or by phone at 706-542-4400. For those unable to attend this event, the concert will be streamed at music.uga.edu/streaming.