New Music Festival Features Visiting Composers, Local Soprano

The music faculty at Sonoma State is expanding its annual Faculty Composers concert into a weeklong affair early next month that includes two performances and a guest composer residency.

The April 6-12 New Music Festival celebrates trends in jazz and classical composition, and features a rare performance of Schoenberg’s groundbreaking Transfigured Night in its original setting.

Guest composer Shawn Baltazor is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, though the drummer/composer moved to the east coast in 2003. A graduate of the Jazz Studies program at William Paterson University, he lives in New York City, and plays and tours with a wide range of musical groups.

Also featured will be soprano Jennifer Thuman. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music with from Sonoma State in 2011, where her voice teachers included Susan Witt-Butler and David Burnakus. She is a member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, under director Ragnar Bohlin.

The complete list of SSU's New Music Festival follows. Tickets are $10-$15 and available online at www.sonoma.edu/music/performances/.

Saturday, April 6, 4 p.m., Weill Hall
Sonoma Musica Viva: Transfigured Night

No piece captures the volcanic shift in chromaticism better than Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night). Songs by Schubert and his spiritual progeny, Alban Berg, will feature Jenny Thuman, soprano.

Wednesday, April 10, 1 p.m., GMC 1029
Jazz & Composer’s Forum: Shawn Baltazor

Drummer/composer Shawn Baltazor and bassist Kermit Driscoll truly represent the cutting edge of jazz in the new century. Catch them for a lively free discussion, then hear them perform on Friday's concert.

Friday, April 12, 7:30 p.m. Weill Hall
Faculty Composer’s Concert: Twinge
Shawn Baltazor, guest composer & Kermit Driscoll, guest bassist

This diverse program encompasses solo pieces for guitar and piano, a song cycle, and jazz works for combo and big band.

Premiere: The Road From Home for classical guitar by Brian S. Wilson, Eric Cabalo, guitar

Bay Area premiere:  I Dream of Debris for jazz big band by Doug Leibinger leading the SSU Jazz Orchestra.

To speak with a box office representative, phone 707-664-2353 weekdays between 2-5 p.m.

Weill Hall at the Green Music Center is located at the north campus entrance off Rohnert Park Expressway. Parking is $5 and is available in Lots O and L.