March 28, 2024

UMW Featured on WV Public Radio and Festival

Mark Snyder, assistant professor of music and Austin O’Rourke, junior music major, had their music broadcasted on West Virginia Public Radio at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

The songs played on the station included Snyder’s piece, titled “Facets of Love Mvt. 1 ‘Our house on the hill.’” The song was accompanied by alumnae Becky Brown ’15 on harp and Soprano Paige Naylor ‘14. O’Rourke’s song, titled “Hazel Colored Nebula”  was accompanied by Doug Gately, director of jazz studies, on the piano, Brown on the harp and alum Justin Carrico ’15 on bass guitar.

Snyder and O’Rourke had previously performed at the West Fork New Music Festival on Friday, Sept. 25 and Saturday, Sept. 26 at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, W.Va. A piece by Brown, called “Hold Still,” was also performed at the festival.

Other UMW musicians who performed at West Fork included Michael Morley, office manager of the UMW Music Department, on the oboe, Stephen Hennessey ’15 on guitar and electric guitar, senior Mary Paige Rodgers on electric guitar and banjo and junior Michael Prime on the euphonium. A complete list of the songs and compositions can be found here.

Snyder and O’Rourke’s songs were two out of four songs recorded at the festival that were chosen by WV Public Radio to air. The other two songs were “Deep Blue” by Mark Phillips, composer at Ohio State University and “Escape to Paradise” by Christian L. Thomas.

The radio station can be accessed here: http://wvpublic.org/listen-live.