Red Cedar Chamber Music to perform Strum & Jam in Fayette April 20
The Red Cedar Chamber Music will be performing at the Fayette Opera House on April 20. Two UIU professors were successful in securing the group for a rural outreach concert called "Strum and Jam." Red Cedar Chamber includes (back row) John Dowdall, guitar; Miera Kim, violin; (front row) Carey Bostian, cello and Jan Boland, flute. Photo by Len Struttmann
FAYETTE, Iowa (April 10, 2012) -- Red Cedar Chamber Music, in collaboration with the Fayette Opera House, brings Strum & Jam, a rural outreach concert for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and guitar, to the Fayette Opera House at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 20.
Flutist Jan Boland, guitarist John Dowdall, violinist Miera Kim, clarinetist Maurita Murphy Mead and cellist Carey Bostian join forces to perform an engaging and soulful quintet and then break into trio configurations for 18th and 19th -century pieces by Haydn, Mozart and Kreutzer.
This is a free concert. For information call 563-425-5236.
Red Cedar Chamber Music's Rural Outreach concerts are sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts, the James & Norma Jean Rosborough Foundation and The Iowa Arts Council with additional support from Alliant Energy. The Fayette performance of Strum & Jam is supported by the Fayette Opera House, located at Main and Clark streets.
Dr. Roland Vazquez, UIU associate professor of social science and anthropology, and his wife, Magdalena, who teaches Spanish as a member of the UIU adjunct faculty, helped bring the concert to Fayette. Vazquez noted that the concert is named after the quintet Strum & Jam written in 1993 by Oregon composer Bryan Johanson.
"Johanson's piece is fueled by high energy strumming in the guitar and also by reflective moments where peaceful melodies are passed among the instruments," he added. "Strum & Jam is designed to give every instrument the chance to 'jam' and it closes with the violinist playing a lively Irish-style jig."
The concert also brings soaring melodies and infectious rhythms straight from the streets of Rio de Janeiro as clarinetist Maurita Murphy Mead performs her renditions of the Brazilian choro, according to Vazquez.
Flutist Jan Boland, Executive Director of Red Cedar Chamber Music, holds a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Iowa. Guitarist John Dowdall, Artistic Director of Red Cedar Chamber Music, holds a Master's degree in musicology from the University of Iowa. Boland and Dowdall began performing as a duo in 1979 and formed Red Cedar Chamber Music 1997 to explore chamber music for flute, guitar and other instruments. They have each been awarded a Solo Recitalist Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts and together have appeared in concert at festivals in the U.S., Europe and Canada. Miera Kim is associate principal second violin of Orchestra Iowa and Instructor of Violin at Cornell College. She studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Iowa. Carey Bostian, principal cellist of Orchestra Iowa and conductor of the Iowa City Community String Orchestra, has a DMA in cello performance and an MFA in orchestral conducting from the University of Iowa. Maurita Murphy Mead is Professor of Clarinet at the University of Iowa. She performs Brazilian music throughout the world and her compact disc recordings Red Hot & Brazilian and Over the Fence (Walking Frog Records) have won international critical acclaim. Dr. Mead is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Michigan State University.
"This is a rare opportunity for the community to hear and enjoy this beautifully performed music," Vazquez added. "We invite everyone to attend."
For more information about all Strum & Jam performances visit www.redcedar.org or www.culturalcorridor.org or call 319/377-8028.
About Upper Iowa University
Founded in 1857, Upper Iowa University is a private, not-for-profit university providing undergraduate and graduate degree programs and leadership development opportunities to over 6,800 students—nationally and internationally—at its Fayette campus and learning centers worldwide. Upper Iowa University is a recognized innovator in offering accredited, quality programs through flexible, multiple delivery systems, including online and independent study.
Contact:
Monica Bayer Heaton
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
Phone: 563-425-5773
Cell: 515-291-2070
heatonm@uiu.edu