A new musical work will be the high point of School of Music Associate Professor Joe Dan Harper鈥檚 sabbatical, which will revolve around a variety of professional development activities including practice, coaching with experts in the field, repertoire development, auditions, performing, and study of the French language, vocal pedagogy and lyric diction for singers.
Mr. Harper will also be working with award-winning composer Kurt Rohde on the creation of a contemporary musical re-imagining of Miquel de Cervantes鈥 鈥淓l ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha鈥 (Don Quixote). Mr. Rohde has composed an evening-length mono-dramatic setting based upon the work, which will be premiered on Friday, April 28 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall.
Performers will include Andrew Seigel (clarinet), Dr. Wildy Zumwalt (saxophone), Dr. Roderick MacDonald (trumpet), SUNY Distinguished Professor Kay Stonefelt (percussion), Dr. Anne Kissel (piano) David Rose (viola), Kieran Hanlon (doubl茅 bass) and tenor Harper.
Harper noted, 鈥淢y first introduction to this novel came while preparing to sing the songs by Maurice Ravel. For over 20 years now I鈥檝e been captivated by this story and have imagined it as the inspiration for a new dramatic musical work. My motivation to move forward with this project now comes from the collaboration I began about a year ago with composer Kurt Rohde. While performing the premier of his operatic setting of 鈥淒eath With Interruptions鈥 last spring, it became clear that his was the compositional voice for this project.鈥
The project has also been awarded a Carnahan Jackson Humanities Fund grant through the Fredonia College Foundation. Harper noted, 鈥淲ith great potential for cross-disciplinary collaboration, this project will add to the rich cultural life of the Fredonia community. It will highlight our outstanding faculty, bringing new creative ideas and energy through the work itself as well as Kurt Rohde鈥檚 residency.鈥
Rohde will be in residence for several days prior to the performance, engaging with students, faculty and the community about his work as a performer, composer and collaborator.
