Music professor to perform selections from new CD April 18

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Sunderman Conservatory of Music and Africana Studies professor Paul Austerlitz will celebrate the release of his latest CD with a concert April 18 at Gettysburg College.

The 8 p.m. program will take place in Schmucker Hall's Paul Recital Hall located along North Washington Street. Produced by Innova Records, American Composers' Forum and Gettysburg College, "Journey" features original compositions. A highlight of the concert will be Austerlitz's solo performance of a Jimi Hendrix-tinged "wah-wah" version of the "Star Spangled Banner" on electrified bass clarinet. He will be joined by guest percussionist Ray "El Chino" Díaz, spoken-word poet Regie Gibson and the Unified Jazz Ensemble. A reception will follow the concert which is open to the public at no charge. The event is sponsored by Gettysburg College's Department of Africana Studies.

An ethnomusicologist and author of two books, "Merengue: Dominican Music" and "Jazz Consciousness," Austerlitz combines jazz, Afro-Caribbean and Indian raga in his music. As an instrumentalist, Austerlitz has mastered the bass and contrabass clarinets, and also plays Bb clarinet and tenor saxophone. He is also active as a jazz composer and musician and completed residencies at the Yaddo and Omi artist's colonies. In 2005, Austerlitz was the recipient the MacColl Johnson Fellowship for Music Composition from the Rhode Island Foundation, which supported the production of "Journey."

Díaz is a master of the tambora and conga drums. The Boston-based "rock-star" of spoken-word poetry, Gibson will weave language arts with Austerlitz's music. Based in Maryland, the Unified Jazz Ensemble consists of Mike Noonan on piano, vibraphone, melodica and trombone, John Pineda on bass and Dominic Smith on the drums.

The Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College combines Gettysburg's superb music tradition and its strengths as one of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges. Established in 2005 through a $15.7 million gift from 1919 graduate Dr. F. William Sunderman Sr., the conservatory offers three degrees -- bachelor of music in performance, bachelor of arts in music, and bachelor of science in music education -- as well as a minor in music.

Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with approximately 2,600 students. It is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832.

 

Issued: 4/11/08

By: Justin Brower, class of 2010