There’s nothing like music

WSC Music Department will present three events in the coming weeks

Sami Taylor, Lifestyles Editor

The Wayne State College Music Department will host three events in the next two weeks.

 

The first event held is the second Annual Piano Day for students on Friday, Feb. 19, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

Piano Day gives junior high and high school students the opportunity to experience the excitement of music at WSC through hands-on activities with college faculty and students.

 

All students ages 11 to 18 are welcome to participate.

 

Participation in the event is free. The registration deadline is Feb. 12. To register or for more information, please contact WSC Professor of Piano and Technology Dr. Angela Miller-Niles at (402) 375-7514 or e-mail [email protected].

 

“A Touch of Brass” performs its 2016 concert series “Sea Shanties” in Ley Theatre in the Brandenburg Education Building on Sunday, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m.

 

“A Touch of Brass” has been an active brass quintet in Northeast Nebraska for 30 years, performing a range of repertoire from classical to jazz to modern transcriptions in a variety of settings.

 

Keith Krueger, the group’s founder, is a WSC graduate and currently lives in Wakefield where he operates his family farm. Krueger performed with the Air Force bands for 10 years and plays the trumpet in “A Touch of Brass.” Other members of the quintet include David Bohnert, trumpet, Director of Bands at WSC; Gary Reeves, horn, Professor of Music at the University of South Dakota (USD); Randy Neuharth, trombone, Director of Instrumental Music at Northeast Community College (retired); and Josh Calkin, tuba, Assistant Director of Bands at WSC.

 

Highlights of the concert include the “Overture to H.M.S. Pinafore” by Sir Arthur Sillivan, “Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” featuring Calkin as tuba soloist, “Beyond the Sea” as recorded by Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boy favorite “Sloop John B.” and a tribute to the U.S. Navy.

 

For more information about this event, please contact Dr. Calkin at (402) 375-7599 or e-mail [email protected].

 

Lastly, the Choirs Concert performance “Forever Music” on Monday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Wayne.

 

The Choirs Concert will feature the WSC Concert Choir, WSC Chorale and WSC Madrigal Singers performing timeless classic choral works by Haydn, Bach, Mozart, Britten, Faure, with a closing piece entitled “Forever Music” by Mark Hayes. The concert will also include a premiere performance of “Kyrie” by Dr. Matthew Haakenson, music theory professor at Wayne State College.

 

The WSC Concert Choir and the WSC Madrigal Singers are both led by Director of Choral Activities Dr. Maggie Owens, and the WSC Chorale is directed by Staff Accompanist Philip Pfaltzgraff.

 

Haakenson will accompany the Madrigal Singers and Chorale on the organ.

 

The concert is free and open to the public.

 

For more information, please contact the WSC Music Department at (402) 375-7359.