The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Performances featured on campus Jan. 31-Feb. 2
MIDDLETOWN — Three unique performances are scheduled for this weekend through Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts, Memorial Chapel and the Russell House on the school campus. Full ticket information is available by calling 860-685-3355 or www.wesleyan.edu/cfa
Golden Hornet’s “The Sound of Science” featuring Jeffrey Zeigler begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday, in Memorial Chapel, 221 High St. Tickets are $28 general public; $26 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, nonWesleyan students; $6 Wesleyan students, youth under 18.
Cellist Jeffrey Zeigler has performed as part of the Kronos Quartet, as well as with Laurie Anderson, Roomful of Teeth, and Vijay Iyer. Co-curated with Austin, Texas-based bandleader and composer Graham Reynolds, “The Sound of Science” (2018) features works by seven composers, who chose eight influential scientists and created pieces inspired by their life and research. The Connecticut premiere will feature Pastaza, which reflects on the work of Wesleyan's Robert Schumann Professor of Environmental Studies, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Biology, Chair of the Environmental Studies Program, and Director of the College of the Environment Barry Chernoff. His research focuses on freshwater fish of the Neotropical
region.
Listen to a conversation with Jeffrey Zeigler, Graham Reynolds, Barry Chernoff, and Wesleyan Professor of Music Ron Kuivila about Golden Hornet’s “The Sound of Science” on the Center for the Arts Radio Hour podcast on SoundCloud. Limited podcast series made possible by WESU Middletown.
Some of the other remarkable composer-scientist pairs include Foday Musa Suso, an internationally recognized musician and Mandingo griot, who composed a piece about George Washington Carver; Yuka C. Honda of the band Cibo Matto, who was inspired by Katherine Johnson, the
NASA mathematician who computed Apollo 11’s route to the moon; and Graham Reynolds' piece inspired by Kristen Harris, Professor of Neuroscience at University of Texas, who studies the cell biology of learning and memory. Presented in partnership with Wesleyan’s College of the Environment.
On Saturday at 6 p.m., following a lecture by adjunct assistant professor of music Jin Hi Kim discussing the compositional concept of “Living Tones,” she will present a performance on the electric komungo (Korean stringed instrument). adjunct assistant professor of music Nadya Potemkina (viola) and graduate student Aliya Ultan (cello) will also perform “Kee Maek,” one of the scores in the collection. The event will be held in the Smith Reading Room, Olin Library, 252 Church St. There is no admission charge.
A two-part celebration of the Music Library’s recent acquisition of Kim’s scores for Living Tones will also explore the sonic recesses and performative possibilities within the stacks of Olin Library during Hidden Volumes from 12-6 p.m.
Sunday at 3 p.m., the Fred Simmons Duo performs at the Russell House. There is no admission charge.
Pianist and private lessons teacher Fred Simmons returns to the Russell House with professor of Music and African American Studies Jay Hoggard on vibraphone, for an afternoon of original compositions, as well as highlights by other jazz composers, from Duke Ellington and John Coltrane to Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis.