August, 31, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuscaloosa, AL – In preparation for the annual Concerto and Aria Competition Concert to be held in the spring, Huxford Symphony Orchestra Director Carlton McCreery has announced auditions to be held on December 2, 2009.

The auditions are open to all instrumentalists and vocalists who
are currently registered for credit in their applied discipline. Instrumentalists should prepare a complete concerto and vocalists should select a group of arias or another work with orchestral accompaniment. The Director of Orchestral Studies must approve all repertoire in advance if there is a question regarding the availability of an orchestral accompaniment. Entrants in the competition must perform from memory and provide their own accompanist.

For more information on the audition process please go to the following link:

http://music.ua.edu/ensembles/instrumental/huxford-orchestra-audition/

August 26, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuscaloosa, AL-The University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences School of Music presents its’ first faculty recital featuring Noel Engebretson, piano on Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building on the campus of The University of Alabama. He will perform “Aria from Sonata in A Minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach, ‘Variations in F Minor Hob. XVII:6” by Franz Josef Haydn, “Variations in E-flat, Op. 82” by Felix Mendelssohn, “Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79” by Johannes Brahms, and “Sonata in B Minor, Op. 58” by Frederic Chopin. The concert is FREE and open to the public.  For more information visit: www.music.ua.edu/calendar or call 348-7111.

Critics and audiences agree that pianist Noel Engebretson represents a bygone era in his playing—his is a dynamic pianism coupled with passionate and personal performances that are all too rare these days.  The Rochester (New York) Evening Times-Union wrote of him:  “In a pianistic age dominated by assembly-line musicianship —all those competition winners who sound pretty much alike—Noel Engebretson is a breed apart.”  The Tuscaloosa News stated:  “Power dominated Noel Engebretson’s robust interpretation (there were actually moments in which the piano overshadowed the orchestra)”.

In a strange twist to his playing career, Mr. Engebretson was diagnosed with focal dystonia in 1997.  This malady, which is still not understood fully by the medical profession, has ended the career of many an international artist.  Mr. Engebretson, however, was determined not to accept their fate as being his, and for five years sought to find some way to correct this ever-worsening situation.  Finally in 2001 he was able to find a specialist who was treating this problem, and underwent a regimen of long, painful and frustrating therapy.  By fall of 2002, he was on his way to recovery, and today Mr. Engebretson performs widely with no discernable symptoms, although due to the nature of the malady, it remains for a lifetime.  In essence, this therapy required a reconstruction of his playing from the ground up.  As a part of his recovery, Mr. Engebretson recently entered two international piano competitions and came away with 2nd and 4th places, a remarkable feat for someone who just a few years earlier was struggling to play even simple repertoire.

Mr. Engebretson is equally as passionate a teacher as a performer, and maintains an even balance of both disciplines.  His students have won local, regional, national, and international piano competitions.  He has given master classes throughout the United States and China, and was invited to lecture at the International Piano Pedagogy Conference in 2008, and in summer 2009, to perform and lecture in Serbia, and later to perform in Sicily.  He is also in heavy demand as an adjudicator, having served on juries of several international piano competitions.  He also serves on the advisory board of an international piano competition.

For information about the Organ Scholarship Competition, please download the PDF.

The 2010 University of Alabama Church Music Conference will be held January 29-30 2010 in the Moody Music Building on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

The conference will be preceded by the UA Organ Scholarship Competition on Thursday, January 28, 2010. More information can be found about the competition by clicking here.

On Friday, January 29, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. the Scholarship Competition 1st Place Winner along with Faythe Freese and the UA Music Faculty will perform Lifting Up Our Voices and Instruments in Song. The conference will conclude on Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 4:30 p.m. with the organ concert featuring Stephen Tharp with music by Jeanne Demessieux and others.

For a full brochure of information, you can download the PDF:

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Join us as we play, see and hear important organs in England. Our proposed itinerary includes organs at Salisbury, St. Paul’s, and Westminster Cathedrals.

August 19, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuscaloosa, AL-The University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences School of Music presents its’ first faculty recital featuring Charles “Skip” Snead, horn on Monday, August 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building on the campus of The University of Alabama.   This will definitely be a night of “Three by Three”. The program will include the “Trio, Op. 8” by Ludwig van Beethoven with Shelly Meggison and Brian Seaton, oboes; “Suite” by Barbara York with Demondrae Thurman, euphonium and Noel Engebretson, piano; and “Sonata” by Francis Poulenc with Eric Yates, trumpet and Jonathan Whitaker, trombone. The concert is FREE and open to the public.  For more information visit: www.music.ua.edu or call 348-7111.

Charles “Skip” Snead currently serves as Director of the School of Music and professor of horn at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where along with administrative duties, he teaches applied horn and brass pedagogy.  Skip performs widely as a soloist and chamber musician, with recent appearances including, solo performances at both the Southeast and Mid-West Regional Horn Workshops and the International Horn Society Summer Symposium.  He has also performed as guest soloist with many ensembles, including the State Orchestra of Romania, Monroe Symphony, Macon Symphony, Tuscaloosa Symphony, and Shreveport Summer Music Festival Orchestras.

In addition to the above named ensembles, Skip performs with the internationally recognized ensemble, The TransAtlantic Horn Quartet, with colleagues, Michael Thompson, Richard Watkins, and David Ohanian. The TAHQ has performed throughout the United States and Europe and tours extensively several times a year.  The TAHQ has been a featured ensemble at many important events and venues including the Britten-Pears Festival in Aldebrough, England, The Royal Wigmore Hall in London, England, and the International Horn Society Summer Symposium.

He has recorded with the TransAtlantic Horn Quartet, the Classic Brass, and the Kentuckiana Brass and Percussion Ensemble, and has a solo recording on compact disc issued by Centaur Records.

In addition to his work as a performer, he is internationally recognized as a teacher and clinician.  He has given master classes throughout the United States and Europe and serves on the executive board of The International Horn Competition of America. In March 2004, he was invited to be a Housewright Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair Holder at Florida State University and was recently appointed to the Fulbright Center for the International Exchange of Scholars Peer Review Committee. The University of Alabama awarded him The Burnam Distinguished Faculty Award in March 2005.

His principal teachers have included Merwin Crisman, Karen Thornton, and John Dressler, with additional studies with Dale Clevenger, Philip Farkas, and William Capps.