×
×
homepage logo

Dr. Rob Tudor recital planned

By Staff | Oct 5, 2012

Dr. Rob Tudor, the new chair of the Department of Music and director of vocal activities at Shepherd University, will present a recital with pianist Dr. Yu-Hsuan Liao on Thursday, October 11 at 8 p.m. in the Frank Center’s W. H. Shipley Recital Hall.

Tudor stated that he is excited to share this music with the Shepherdstown community and remarked, “The music community here is very sophisticated, so I’ve programmed a recital that features music of several cultures, is provocative, challenging, and deeply personal.”

The program opens with songs by Italian composer, ethnomusicologist and music publisher Alberto Hemsi. According to Tudor, the pieces are ambitiously pianistic and full of lush and technically challenging passages for the voice and piano. Hemsi became interested in the traditional music of Sephardi Jewry starting in 1920 and collected material around the eastern Mediterranean. These songs about royalty, love and lust come from his “Coplas sefardes” and are sung in a dialect of Spanish.

The recital continues with three lieder by German composer Hans Pfitzner, a journey with a mad man in the song cycle “Don Quichotte Dulcine” by Maurice Ravel, and a collection of songs by American composer Ben Moore-a favorite of Tudor’s -centered around Tudor’s introspective passage into middle-aged life. The recital will end with a collection of music theater standards and newer songs that explore personal relationships. During the recital, photographs, sculpture and paintings related to the poetry of the text will be projected.

“I am thrilled to be collaborating with Dr. Yu-Hsuan Liao,” Tudor stated. “She has a wide range of gifts and is a brilliant and sensitive artist. I have some beautiful photographs to share with the Hemsi selections. If the audience comes to the evening open to experiencing the joys of love and gains, the tragedy of loss, and the intensity of life voiced in poetry and set to music and beautiful imagery, this is sure to be a great evening for them.”

Admission is free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For additional information, contact the Department of Music at 304-876-5555.