A concert featuring original works by composer and associate professor of music at Whittier College Teresa LeVelle will be given at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City at 8p.m. on Wednesday, January 30, 2008. Tickets are $25 for orchestra or balcony seating, and may be obtained by contacting the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 212.247.7800.
Preceding the New York event, the concert, “Music from The Shadowlands,” will preview at Whittier College in Whittier and at Pepperdine University in Malibu, on January 26 and January 27, respectively. At Whittier, LeVelle will also offer a pre-concert lecture, “From Nature to Manuscript,” discussing her creative process.
The musical program will feature several selections from LeVelle’s critically acclaimed debut CD, The Shadowlands (Innova Records, 2007), including three new works for violin and piano, for flute, and for piano. Musicians performing in the trio of concerts will be three-time Grammy-winning flautist Danilo Lozano and pianist Stephen Cook - two of LeVelle’s colleagues from the Whittier College Department of Music. Additionally, six members of the Texas Tech University School of Music will round out the ensemble: saxophonist David Dees; violinists John Gilbert, Kirsten Yon and Stephanie Ezerman; violist Renée Moore-Skerik; and cellist Alexander Ezerman.
“As a child of the prairie, my music has developed with a sense of proportion and silence influenced by a primordial connection to the land,” says LeVelle, describing the inspiration for her latest creative works, which have been called “inventive,” “bright” and “atmospherically effective” by critics.
“One cannot live on and from the land without acknowledging the many moods from fiercely violent to gently calm -the wind creates on the prairie. My musical ‘voice’ is that of the land. My interpretation of music unfolding through time comes from this experience.”
The concert at Whittier College will take place at 8p.m. on Saturday, January 26, in the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts, and will be preceded by a lecture by LeVelle at 7:30p.m. Tickets are $15 general, $10 seniors/students, and may be purchased by calling the box office at 562.907.4203. The Shannon Center is located at 6760 Painter Ave. in Whittier.
The concert at Pepperdine University will take place at 2p.m. on Sunday, January 27, at the Raitt Recital Hall, located at 24255 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Ticket information may be obtained by calling the Pepperdine Fine Arts Division, 310.506.4462.
About Teresa LeVelle
Teresa LeVelle holds a doctor of music degree from Indiana University in composition, a master of music degree from Bowling Green State University, and a bachelor of music degree from Southwestern College in Kansas. While at these institutions, her principal composition studies were with Claude Baker, Frederick Fox, and Marilyn Shrude. She was the 1996 winner of the Indiana University Dean's Prize for Composition with her work, Concerto for Violin and Chamber Orchestra, commissioned by New Zealand violinist Mark Menzies. Today, LeVelle’s music is performed throughout the United States and internationally.
LeVelle actively pursues collaboration with emerging performers. She values the opportunity to work closely with performers during each stage of the creative process (commission, composing, premiere and beyond). Through this approach, she has received various commissions, including The Shadowlands: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and String Quartet, for David Dees (World Premiere at the XII World Saxophone Congress in Montreal, Canada), and Kanza (flute, soprano saxophone, and cello) for Lisa Garner (World Premiere at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall). Community and audience outreach is an important part of her musical philosophy. She has been a featured composer on the Toledo New Music Festival, Mid West Composers Symposium, Crossroads of Traditions: The Second Inter-American Composition Workshop, and The Yellow Barn Festival (Composition Intensive) in Putney, Vermont. She has taught at Interlochen Arts Camp, Texas Tech University and currently teaches at Whittier College. Called a “promising debut chamber-music collection” by critic Ken Smith of Gramophone, LeVelle’s debut CD, The Shadowlands, has received outstanding reviews since its release earlier this year.
Founded by Quakers in 1887, Whittier College is an independent, four-year college offering a traditional liberal arts program integrated with both professional and pre-professional courses of study. With an emphasis on diversity, community, and curricular innovation, the College’s primary mission is to endow students with the education, skills, and values appropriate for global leadership and service. Whittier College is a designated Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).
Whittier Law School, which is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools, is located on a separate campus in Orange County.
