Stones River Chamber Players take ‘flights’ in April 10 concert finale

MTSU’s faculty ensemble-in-residence, the Stones River Chamber Players, will end their 2016-17 season with “Flights of Fancy,” a free public concert, Monday, April 10.

The ensemble members, all of whom teach in MTSU’s School of Music, will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 10 in Hinton Music Hall inside MTSU’s Wright Music Building. A printable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap.

The classical concert will feature music from composers Alberto Ginastera, Claude Debussy and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

“The Argentine composer Ginastera wrote his ‘Duo for Flute and Oboe’ in 1945,” said Dr. Arunesh Nadgir, coordinator of keyboard studies at MTSU and co-director of SRCP.

“Comprising three individual movements, Ginastera brings a wide spectrum of shades and nuance to the music to make a very vibrant and colorful work.”

Dr. Arunesh Nadgir

Flutist Celine Thackson and oboist Laura Ann Ross will perform the work.

Pianist Nadgir and cellist Felix Wang will present Debussy’s “Cello Sonata,” a hallmark of the cello repertoire. Written in 1915, it was the first of what was to be a series of six sonatas for various instrumentations; Debussy completed only three before he died in 1918.

“Debussy masterfully combines musical elements typically associated with the Baroque period along with modern cello techniques such as left-hand pizzicato, ponticello and false harmonics,” said Nadgir. “Because of this, he’s able to create a fresh, colorful and varied musical landscape.”

Mozart’s “Quintet for Piano and Winds” will be the final work on the April 10 program. The composer wrote to his father that “I myself consider it to be the best thing I have written in my life.”

Ross and Nadgir will be joined in the quintet by clarinetist Todd Waldecker, bassoonist Gil Perel and Angela DeBoer on the horn.

“It’s a staple of chamber music for winds and piano, and this quintet overflows with Mozart’s charming, poignant and witty melodies,” said Waldecker. “It’s like a fully staged opera for five instrumentalists.”