Dr. Jocelyn Sanders, professor of music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, recently announced a series of musical performances through Dec. 1, which will feature students and faculty of the UTC Department of Music.
The first three are consecutive nights beginning Friday, Nov. 10, in the UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St. All three performances are free.
Sanders invites the public to "hear, instead of see, the Northern Lights" or lose themselves in Ukrainian folk tunes.
UTC Chamber Singers and Chattanooga Singers present "Northern Lights"
» When: 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 10
"Northern Lights," a concert featuring music from the Baltic states, will spotlight music by Estonian composer Veljo Tormis; Latvian composers Rihards Dubras, Pteris Vasks and Andrejs Jansons; Norwegian composers Kim André Arnesen, Trond Kverno and Knut Nystedt; Finnish composers Edvard Grieg, Harri Wessman and Einojuhani Rautavaara; and Swedish composers Carl-Bertil Agnestig, Jan Sandström and Gustaf Nordqvist.
An underlying theme of this concert is peace.
Student soloists will be Jessica Adams, Kristen Vradenburgh, Taylor Hamilton, Brandon Middlebrooks, Jacob Hoverman and Morgan Ferrel. Both choruses are directed by Kevin Ford and accompanied by David Friberg. They will be assisted by student conductors Vradenburgh and Hamilton.
UTC Faculty Jazz Quintet presents American standards
» When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11
The UTC Faculty Jazz Quintet features saxophonist Clint Schmitt, guitarist Stephen Brannen, pianist David Walters, bassist Eric Hanson and drummer Monte Coulter.
The quintet will perform a contrasting and entertaining mix of American jazz standards. The whimsical 1930s tune, "Louisiana Fairytale," was first made popular by the legendary Fats Waller, but is better known to modern audiences as the theme to the long-running PBS series, "This Old House."
The quintet will present an unusual jazz waltz treatment of the Leon Russell classic, "This Masquerade," a song made popular by guitarist and vocalist George Benson. The genius of Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist and composer, will be displayed in the quirky, swinging tune, "Well You Needn't."
UTC Symphony Orchestra presents 'Tchaikovsky and More'
» When: 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 12
Conducted by Sandy Morris, this 65-member college/community orchestra includes music majors and nonmajors from UTC and Chattanooga State Community College, UTC music faculty members, area music educators and other talented amateur and professional musicians from the region.
The concert will feature Peter Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2, in which he incorporated several Ukrainian folk tunes.
Also on the program is the overture to Giuseppe Verdi's "Nabucco," his first widely acclaimed opera chronicling the exile of the Jews from their homeland by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II.
A hauntingly beautiful work, "Longing for Your Return" by Steven Amundson, professor of music theory and conducting at St. Olaf College, will provides a respite between these powerful works.