University Musicians Extending Tours into Portland, Boston

Contact: Karen Cole, 581-1407; Curvin Farnham, 581-1254 or 581-4702

ORONO — University of Maine musicians are extending performance tours in 2009 to Southern Maine and Boston, all part of an initiative to extend the university’s cultural and artistic presence to wider audiences.

The University Singers and the UMaine Jazz Ensemble are scheduled to perform at Merrill Hall in Portland on March 19, and the 65-member Symphonic Band will perform at Boston Symphony Hall April 15.

It will be the second year UMaine has sent musicians to Merrill Auditorium and the first time to play Symphony Hall. Symphonic Band conductor and music professor Curvin Farnham says it’s important for the university to be more visible in Southern Maine, particularly after the success of last year’s performance by the Symphonic Band at Merrill. The concerts also are good for UMaine student musicians to experience some of the nicer concert halls.

“We had a very good crowd and there was a reception at the beginning of the concert with university alumni,” Farnham says. UMaine President Robert Kennedy, who also attended the concert and spoke to the audience, “liked the concept that the arts were really having an impact in Southern Maine,” according to Farnham.

The School of Performing Arts intends to continue with the Merrill performances, rotating ensembles from year to year. While the future of concerts in Boston is still under discussion, Farnham expects a good turnout from UMaine students, parents and UMaine alumni from Southern Maine, Southern New Hampshire and throughout the Boston area.

“Boston Symphony Hall is one of the finest concert halls in the world, without a doubt,” he says. “It’s the home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.”

Farnham will conduct the Symphony Band’s Boston concert, which will begin after a companion performance by the Timberlane (Plaistow, N.H.) High School wind ensemble. Music professor Dennis Cox will conduct the University Singers and music professor Jack Burt will conduct the Jazz Ensemble for the Merrill Auditorium concert. The public and University of Maine alumni are invited to both concerts.

Choral director Cox plans a diverse program, including Renaissance motets ranging from “Ave Maria” by Jean Mouton to W.A. Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum,” and also Vaughan Williams’ “Toward the Unknown Region,” “Gloria” by Randol Bass, “Water Night” by Eric Whitacre, in addition to a gospel tune, “John the Revelator” by Sean Ivory.

The University Singers is an auditioned ensemble, with as many as 100 students trying out for 65 choral seats each year. Cox and the Singers have toured Europe, Canada and the United States since the mid-1980s.

For the Jazz Ensemble performance, Burt has planned a varied selection of big band music, featuring music from the libraries of the big bands of Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton and Thad Jones. Also featured will be music transcribed for big band from the great fusion guitarist Pat Metheny.

The Jazz Ensemble is designed for students from all academic disciplines at UMaine. It, too, is a highly selective ensemble and admittance is by audition. The band performs on campus, throughout the state, and also presents a live two-hour radio broadcast from the studios of MPBN Radio every April.