UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra will present its final concert of the fall 2016 semester at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, in Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus. The program includes a performance of Prokofiev's final symphony and Maurice Ravel's orchestration of "Alborada del Gracioso," dedicated to his friend and music critic Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi. Highlighting the program is a double concerto for viola and alto saxophone written by Israeli-born composer Tamar Muskal titled "Walk the Labyrinth." Commissioned by the Williamsport Symphony and premiered in February 2016, the two-movement composition features Penn State faculty violist Timothy Deighton and guest saxophonist Carrie Koffman, a faculty member at the Hartt School, University of Hartford.The orchestra is conducted by Gerardo Edelstein.
Tickets are $12 for the general public, $4 for students. Tickets bought in advance for School of Music concerts in Eisenhower Auditorium are sold at a 40 percent discount. There is no limit on the number. Purchases made the the day of the concert are not eligible. Tickets are available at any Arts Ticket Center location, by phone at 814-863-0255 or 1-800-ARTS-TIX, or online at Penn State Arts Ticket Center.
This concert is available on livestream at Penn State School of Music.
Program
Alborada del Gracioso ("Morning Song of the Jester") - Maurice Ravel
Walk the Labyrinth - Tamar Muskal (Timothy Deighton, viola; Carrie Koffman, alto saxophone)
Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131 - Sergei Prokofiev
- Moderato
- Allegretto
- Andante expressive
- Vivace
Timothy Deighton is professor of viola at Penn State, where he teaches viola, chamber music, viola literature and pedagogy, and orchestral excerpts classes, and directs the Penn State Viola Ensemble. He also serves as the coordinator of the Professional Performance Certificate (PPC) program and is the faculty advisor of the Penn State Viola Society.
A committed teacher, Deighton has received several teaching awards, including the Pennsylvania-Delaware String Teachers Association’s String Teacher of the Year, and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State. He was honored to receive the American Viola Society’s 2016 Maurice W. Riley Award. His former students hold positions in professional orchestras and on the faculties of music schools in the United States and overseas. Recent teaching engagements include master classes throughout the United States, Europe, and in South and Central America. His articles have appeared in such publications as "Strings," the "American String Teacher," "Journal of the American Viola Society," the "New York Violist," and the "Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Viola Society." He is a board member of New York Viola Society and formerly served on the board of the American Viola Society. “ViolaFest,” an event he directed at Penn State, involved more than 200 violists from across North America and abroad. The Penn State Viola Ensemble, which he directs, performs on and off campus, and has been regularly featured on New York Viola Society concerts, where they have presented several world premieres.
Deighton enjoys a wide variety of performance opportunities. He has appeared at four International Viola Congresses as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra, and as master class presenter and panelist. In 2014, he presented the prestigious William Primrose Memorial Concert at Brigham Young University. Having long held a fascination for new music, he has performed premieres of more than fifty new works for viola, most of which were commissioned by or written for him. His solo CD, Viola Aotearoa, featuring music for viola by New Zealand composers, was released in 2002 on the Atoll label.
Carrie Koffman is in her 14th year of teaching on the faculty of the Hartt School at the University of Hartford. She is also on the faculty of Yale University. Prior to this, she held faculty positions at Penn State, the University of New Mexico, and Boston University.
She performs with violist Tim Deighton in the contemporary chamber music duo “The Irrelevants” and has commissioned and premiered numerous works by celebrated composers Gunther Schuller and Augusta Read Thomas among others. Recent recording projects include her CD "Carillon Sky," The Irrelevants’ "Dialogues," and "Dragon Rhyme," a recording of works by Chen Yi, Kurt Weill, and Jennifer Higdon. Koffman also records and performs in an ongoing series called “Pink Ink,” which is dedicated to promoting the music of living women composers.
Koffman’s students have placed in more than 90 performance competitions and have won 18 concerto competitions at four different universities. She is a founding faculty member of the American Saxophone Academy, an annual educational program designed for advanced college students and those with even more experience. Koffman graduated with high honors and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Donald Sinta, and earned a master’s degree from the University of North Texas, where she studied with James Riggs and Eric Nestler.
The 90-member Philharmonic presents five to six full concerts per academic year. Off campus, the Philharmonic has performed throughout the northeastern United States, including concerts at New York City's Carnegie Hall, Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and the MENC Eastern Division Conference in Baltimore. In March 2006, the orchestra participated by invitation in the Sixth International Orchestra Festival in Zaragoza, Spain. The Philharmonic’s repertoire from recent years has included works by Brahms, Debussy, Dvorak, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninoff, and Wagner. Enrollment, open to all University Park students, is by audition at the beginning of each semester.