MEDIA CONTACT: Judy Moore at (847) 491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

April 20, 2004

Northwestern Faculty Concerts to Include Ned Rorem World Premiere

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Several Northwestern University School of Music faculty members are presenting recitals or concerts this spring.

All of the events listed below will be held at Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place, on the University’s Evanston campus.

James Giles, assistant professor of piano, will present a recital featuring the world premiere of Ned Rorem’s “Recalling” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 5. Also on the program are works by Schubert, Liszt, Ravel and Medtner.

Born in Indiana in 1923, Rorem is one of the most illustrious alumni of the Northwestern University School of Music. His orchestral suite “Air Music” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1976. Rorem has championed tonality throughout his career, and his music centers on the lyrical song. “Recalling,” which was commissioned for Giles by the School of Music, harkens back to Rorem’s Chicago childhood and years as a student at Northwestern.

Giles has earned a reputation as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. In recent seasons he has given solo recitals in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, Tulsa, Washington, London and Helsinki, and performed with New York’s Jupiter Symphony, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Kharkov Philharmonic in the Ukraine, and the Opera Orchestra of New York.

Sylvia Wang, coordinator of the School of Music piano program, will present a recital featuring Schumann’s Fantasy in C Major, Messiaen’s “Préludes” and a Haydn sonata at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 6. Wang has given solo and collaborative performances across the Americas, Asia and Europe and can be heard in recordings on Newport Classic, Boston Records and CRI. She has received awards in the United States and Europe and is active as an adjudicator, panelist and guest teacher, most recently in Australia.

During the Chamber Music for Winds and Piano concert at 8:30 p.m. Monday, May 17, Chicago Symphony Orchestra members -- flutist Richard Graef and oboist Michael Henoch -- will join fellow School of Music faculty bassoonist Robert Barris, horn player Gail Williams and pianist Elizabeth Buccheri for a performance of Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat, Riegger’s Concerto for Piano and Woodwind Quintet, and Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Winds.

Ticket prices for each of the faculty concerts are $8.50 for the general public, $7 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff, and $4 for students.

For more information or to order tickets, call the Pick-Staiger box office at (847) 467-4000.