April 24, 2024

UMW Music Well Represented at Root Signals Electronic Music Festival

Facets of Love JUThe University of Mary Washington was represented by Department of Music faculty, students and alumni at the 2015 Root Signals Electronic Music Festival at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville Florida. Root Signals is sponsored by the Division of Music at Jacksonville University, and the Department of Music at Georgia Southern University and featured guest percussionist Tony Steve for the three-day festival of electronic music and media art.

Mark Snyder, Assistant Professor of Music, performed his song cycle Facets of Love to close the festival on Saturday, September 12th. The performance featured Paige Naylor ’14: soprano, Becky Brown ’15: harp, Mark Snyder ’97: guitar, piano, synthesizer & electronics. The poems for Facets of Love were penned by Jeanine Casler, a faculty fellow at Hobart, Northwestern’s Women’s Residential College and the video was created by Anna Weisling, the Music Technology Specialist at The Juilliard School in New York. The first movement can be viewed below:

Junior Music major Austin O’Rourke performed his composition Hazel Colored Nebula during the Emerging Composers Concert on Thursday night, September 10th. His performance of this piece on UMW’s 2015 Undergraduate Research and Creativity Day can be viewed below:

 

Becky Brown (UMW Music graduate 2015) performed her multimedia self-portrait composed during her spring 2015 independent study, Hold Still for pencil, copper, and Arduino on paper, poetry and video in Max/MSP/Jitter on the Saturday September 12th afternoon concert. Her performance of this piece on UMW’s 2015 Undergraduate Research and Creativity Day can be viewed below:

Stephen Hennessey (UMW Music graduate 2014) performed his work for processed guitar and electronics composed during his spring 2014 independent study, Ausgang during the Emerging Composers Concert. His performance of this piece on September 9,2014 can be heard below:

Fredericksburg’s Stars Raise Funds for UMW Scholarship

Ten Fredericksburg-area community leaders will don dancing shoes on Saturday, August 17 to raise money for a performing arts scholarship at the University of Mary Washington. “Dancing with the Fredericksburg Stars” will begin at 7 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium, followed by an outdoor reception. “Dancing with the Fredericksburg Stars” is modeled after the popular ABC television series “Dancing with the Stars,” now in its 16th season. In the Fredericksburg version, the 10 regional “stars” will be paired with professional dancers from Strictly Ballroom Dance Studio in Fredericksburg to compete for the People’s Choice Award. The performance also will include two hosts and a panel of judges who will offer commentary following each dance. Proceeds from the performance will be used to endow the UMW Performing Arts in the Community Scholarship for regional students who excel in music, theatre or dance. Performers will include J. Martin Bass, retired lawyer and judge; Caressa Cameron-Jackson, Miss America 2010; Mary Katherine Greenlaw, mayor of the City of Fredericksburg; Richard V. Hurley, president of UMW; Ellen Killough, president and CEO of the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center; Richmond McDaniel, senior vice president of CBRE; Fred M. Rankin III, president and CEO of Mary Washington Healthcare; Susan Garnett Spears, president of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce; Deirdre Powell White, president and CEO of DPW Training & Associates, LLC; and Bill Young, CEO of Virginia Partners Bank. “I firmly believe that the exposure to the arts is a hallmark of a liberal arts education,” Rankin said. “We are blessed in this community to have a myriad of choices to enjoy, from the downtown galleries to the performing arts available at the University of Mary Washington.” Kevin Bartram, director of the UMW Philharmonic Orchestra, and Penny Wack, a disc jockey at country music radio station Thunder 104.5, will host the evening. Judges Dori Eglevsky, community volunteer, Patrick A’Hearn, associate artistic director of the Riverside Center and Corey Von Ginkel, member of the National Dance Council of America, will judge the performers and determine the “Best in Show.”  Audience members will be provided ballots to cast their votes for the People’s Choice Award winner. Tickets are on sale at http://fredericksburgstars.umw.edu for $75, plus a $5 processing fee, of which $65 is tax deductible. Seats are selected and reserved at the time of purchase. For more information, contact (540) 654-1065.