Stones River Chamber Players seek ‘Connections’ with online audience in opening concert

image from 2020-21 concert seasaon poster for MTSU’s Stones River Chamber Players, the faculty ensemble-in-residence for the university’s School of Music, with both the SRCP and School of Music logos

MTSU’s Stones River Chamber Players will make new “Connections” when their 2020-21 season-opening concert premieres Monday, Oct. 26, on the School of Music’s YouTube channel.

2020-21 concert seasaon poster for MTSU’s Stones River Chamber Players, the faculty ensemble-in-residence for the university’s School of Music

Click on the poster to see a larger version

The renowned faculty ensemble-in-residence’s performance from the Hinton Hall stage inside MTSU’s Wright Music Building begins at 8 p.m. Central Oct. 26 at this site.

The free concert’s program features:

• Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Songs of Travel,” performed by tenor Will Perkins and pianist Joseph Walker.

• Composer Roshanne Etezady’s “Hot Water/Burn Baby,” performed by SRCP members Deanna Little on flute and Russell Wharton on marimba.

• Composer Jean Marie-Leclair’s Sonata No. 5 for two violins in E minor, Op. 3, performed by violinists Andrea Dawson and Sarah Wilfong Joblin.

• Composer and SRCP member Brian Mueller‘s “Becoming,” performed by Chris Combest on tuba and Mueller on vibraphone.

MTSU’s School of Music is presenting all its fall 2020 concerts, including student and faculty recitals, online to keep the performers, audience and staff safer during the pandemic and to allow the musicians to continue their performance schedules.

Links to videos from this fall’s past performances are available here on the music calendar. Viewers also can visit the http://mtsu.edu/musiclivestream channel to watch the archived concerts anytime.

This MTSU Arts concert performance season, with a theme of “Encounters,” will continue Monday, Feb. 22, when the Stones River Chamber Players will present an 8 p.m. concert, “Convergence.” The season will conclude Monday, March 29, at 8 p.m., with “Commonality,” an 8 p.m. performance.

Conditions permitting, those spring 2021 concerts will be open to the public in MTSU’s Wright Music Building, located at 1439 Faulkinberry Drive in Murfreesboro.

Along with Combest, Dawson, Joblin, Little, Mueller, Perkins, Walker and Wharton, the Stones River Chamber Players’ membership includes pianists Adam Clark, Eunbyol Ko and Arun Nadgir; oboist David Cyzak; horn player Angela DeBoer; bassoonist Leigh Muñoz; vocalist H. Stephen Smith; and clarinetist Todd Waldecker.

Combest, Dawson and cellist Christine Kim serve as the group’s co-directors this season, and Joseph Morgan is the artistic adviser. Mueller is joined as faculty composer by School of Music professors Cedric Dent and Paul Osterfield.

More information on the Stones River Chamber Players is available at www.mtsu.edu/music/srcp.php. For details on more MTSU School of Music performances, call 615-898-2493 or visit the Concert Calendar online.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)