Dan Locklair’s A Pilgrim’s Lot will be performed by the Piedmont Wind Symphony (Robert Simon, Artistic Director) as part of A Celebration of Winston-Salem on Tuesday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. at Brendle Recital Hall. Locklair is composer-in-residence and professor of music at Wake Forest.

“A Pilgrim’s Lot (A Concert Piece for Band) was composed for my Wake Forest University colleague, Kevin Bowen, and the Wake Forest University Band Program,” Locklair said of the piece that was written in 2000. “In one movement, the composition is based on a melody entitled, A Pilgrim’s Lot, from the early American shape-note hymnal, The Sacred Harp, 1860.”

Conducted by Jeff Whitsett, the concert will also feature Bowen as a guest conductor Bowen and a performance by the Winston-Salem Youth Chorus, directed by Barbara Beattie.

For tickets and information about the May 8 concert, call 336-722-9328 or visit http://www.piedmontwindsymphony.com/.

For more information about Locklair, including a bio, list of works, discography and much more, please visit http://www.locklair.com.

Rosemary Harris (left) and Pamela Howland

Pamela Howland, a pianist and part-time assistant professor of music, has just completed her first film, a one-hour documentary called “Remembering Frederic — The Genius of Chopin.”  It will be screened at the RiverRun International Film Festival on Tuesday, April 17, at 3 p.m. at the Hanesbrands Theatre.

Below is Ken Keuffel’s review for Best Bets in Relish (Winston-Salem Journal, April 12):

“Pamela Howland, a pianist who teaches at Wake Forest University, specializes in introducing Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) and his music to the masses. This is a worthwhile effort, and “Remembering Frederic” shows just how adept she has become at explaining Chopin’s music in accessible terms. The film, Howland’s first, gives us an often-vivid sense of the many forces that shaped Chopin’s genius. This derives from new footage of Chopin’s Polish and French worlds, all shot by an able team of local filmmakers that she assembled for the project. It also comes from European and American experts speaking knowledgeably on several subjects, from Chopin’s illnesses to his relationship with George Sand, the famed writer. “Remembering Frederic” makes spare-but-effective use of excerpts from “Notorious Woman,” a Masterpiece Theatre series that won Rosemary Harris of Winston-Salem an Emmy for her portrayal of Sand in 1976. Howland plays Chopin’s music beautifully throughout the film.”

Read the full story about Howland in the Journal »

On May 5 at 7:30 p.m., a screening will be held in Brendle Recital Hall (followed by a Q&A with Howland). Tickets are available to the public for $10, but are free for WFU faculty/staff/students with ID.

Dan Locklair’s PHOENIX for orchestra will be performed by the Winston-Salem Symphony (Robert Moody, Music Director) with special guests the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Symphony (conducted by Matthew Troy) on Saturday, March 17, at 2 p.m. at Wait Chapel. This will be part of the Concert for Community, presented in celebration of the Symphony’s 65th anniversary.

Locklair is composer-in-residence and professor of music at Wake Forest.

This concert is free and open to the public. Although tickets are not required, if you would like to reserve a seat, please visit http://wssymphony.org/4community. You can also go to http://wssymphony.org/news/2012-concert-for-community/ for more event information. Continue reading »

Two movements of Dan Locklair’s Rubrics for solo organ were performed by John Scott on February 27 at Musashino Civic Cultural Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Other composers on the program include J.S. Bach.

Rubrics is a liturgical suite in five movements, inspired by the instructions (rubrics) in the Book of Common Prayer. The five movements are 1) “‘Hallelujah,’ has been restored…” 2) “Silence may be kept” 3) “…and thanksgivings may follow” 4) “The Peace may be exchanged” and 5) “The people respond – Amen!”

Locklair is composer-in-residence and professor of music at Wake Forest. For information about Locklair, including a bio, list of works, discography and more, visit http://www.locklair.com.

The Provost and the Undergraduate Admissions Office invite faculty and staff to Thursdays at Porter B. Byrum Hall (the Welcome and Admissions Center) on March 8.

A wine and cheese reception will run from 4-4:30 p.m., followed by a program from 4:30-5:15 p.m. that will feature David Lubin, Peter Kairoff and Morna O’Neill and Allison Slaby. The event also will serve as a kickoff for the Arts Council campaign kickoff, so there will be remarks by David Finn, WFU campaign chair and professor of art; Nathan Hatch, WFU president; Leon Porter (’78), campaign chair; and Milton Rhodes, president and CEO of The Arts Council.

Lubin, Charlotte C. Weber professor of art, will discuss an essay he’s writing on oil money and oil painting for an exhibition co-organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art to mark the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination.

Kairoff, professor of music, will discuss and perform The Keyboard Suites of J.S. Bach.

Morna O’Neill, assistant professor of art history, and Allison Slaby, managing curator, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, will discuss their collaboration on the current exhibition, “Domestic Bliss: Art at Home in Britain and America, 1780-1840.”

See a list of employees joining and leaving the University in January 2012: Continue reading »

Dan Locklair’s Rubrics for solo organ was performed by David Ball on Wednesday, Jan. 25, in The Juilliard School’s Paul Hall in Manhattan, as part of the organ department’s annual recital. Locklair is the composer-in-residence and a professor of music at Wake Forest.

Rubrics is a liturgical suite in five movements, inspired by the instructions (rubrics) in the Book of Common Prayer. The five movements are 1) “‘Hallelujah,’ has been restored…” 2) “Silence may be kept” 3) “…and thanksgivings may follow” 4) The Peace may be exchanged” and 5) The people respond – Amen!” Continue reading »

The next performance in the Secrest Artists Series will take place Thursday. The Rose Ensemble will be performing “Cantigas from the Land of Three Faiths: Voices of Ancient Mediterranean Jews, Christians, and Muslims” at 7:30 p.m. in Wait Chapel. Tickets are free to students, staff and faculty at the Benson Ticket Office.

Two other events on Thursday are associated with the Secrest event. At 4 p.m. in the ZSR Library Auditorium, Neal Walls and students will speak about their trip to Israel during the winter break in a Library Lecture called “Communities of Faith: Wake Forest’s Interfaith Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.”

Secrest Signature, a pre-performance talk by Brian Gorelick, choral director, and Imam Khalid Griggs, associate chaplain for Muslim life, will take place at 6:40 p.m. in the Balcony Room of Wait Chapel. (Participants in the talk are guaranteed prime seats in a reserved section of the balcony.)

A very old ensemble is moving in new directions.

That’s the message that Eileen Young is sending as she prepares to lead the Salem Band in her first concert as the group’s music director. The presentation, which is Dec. 20 in Home Moravian Church, is the group’s annual holiday concert. It will feature everything from holiday swing music to renditions of traditional, sing-along carols.

Young, 47, who teaches clarinetists and saxophonists at Wake Forest, started rehearsals with the Salem Band in September after replacing Jeff Whitsett, who retired. She is excited about the possibilities.

Read more from the Winston-Salem Journal »

WINTER (from the forgottens), a four-movement choral cycle for SATB, SSAA and TTBB choruses and piano written by Wake Forest composer-in-residence Dan Locklair, was premiered by the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society on Dec. 3 at Sanders Theater on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The piece was commissioned by the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society (Andrew Clark, Conductor).

Locklair writes, “WINTER (from the forgottens) is based on poetry from four 19th century and early 20th century American poets whose work has been undeservedly forgotten. While the theme of the choral cycle is the season of Winter, hues of the December holiday spirit permeate each piece.” Other composers on the program include Brahms, Morales, Praetorius, Rachmaninov and more, and audience sing-alongs of traditional holiday carols. Continue reading »