March 15 2023

Dear Friends,

From now until the end of April, Emory is going to be full of music! There are so many student recitals being given in the next few weeks, that there will be another newsletter coming out next week to cover performances later in the month and early next month. I realize that very few of you will be able to attend all of the many student recitals being given, but I encourage you to read the biographies of the students and the sentences they have written about their recitals. We are very fortunate to have such multi-talented students at Emory. One major strength of Emory is the outstanding music program embedded in a world-class college that encourages students to excel in more than one area. For the listed recitals, the name of the performer and the time and location is a clickable link that opens the Arts Calendar listing for the recital. In most cases that calendar entry will have a link to the program for the recital. When that program is currently online, I provide a separate link to the program so you can see what the student will be performing.

In addition to the student recitals, there is a concert by Davor Vincze, who is this year’s Arts Fellow in Music, on March 22 and you can read more about that concert below.

As one more example of the outstanding music environment for students, there is a master class on March 16 with Lawrence Brownlee who is part of the 2022–2023 Schwartz Artist-in-Residence Program. The public can attend this masterclass, but attendance is limited, and prior registration is required. See below for more information.

Note that all of the musical events below are free and open to the public, with no tickets required. 

With best wishes,

Gray

Freedom Collective is the title of Davor Vincze's portrait concert, borrowed from the title of his upcoming opera. Dr. Vincze is this year's Arts Fellow in Music. The concert will present pieces for voice, percussion, violoncello, and electronics, displaying a wide range of Vincze's compositional interests. As an artist, Vincze is fascinated by meta-reality and musical mosaicking, as well as technology and science fiction. He searches for hidden acoustic spaces or ways to blur the real and the imaginary, often using electronics and AI tools. In this get-to-know-the-artist performance, we will hear Vincze talk about the fluid approach to sounds that allow for non-binary, ambiguous, or "androgynous" interpretations of his work. Special guest appearance by Dr. Joel Rust and his work "Fossils in G". Guest performers include Charlotte Mundy, Khesner Oliveira, Paul Stevens and Solomon Kim.

Click here for the Arts Calendar listing.

Lucienne “LuLu” Scully (soprano)

12pm PAS

Lucienne “LuLu” Scully, 20, of Denver, Colorado, is a third year double major in Music on the vocal performance track and Philosophy, Politics, and Law. She is a Robert Woodruff Music Scholar. She studies voice under Professor Bradley Howard and has been taking voice lessons for nine years. At Emory, she is Co-Vice President of Emory Concert Choir and is a Soprano 2. She is the Co-President of BridgeEmory while also being a member of Mu Phi Epsilon and the Emory Pre-law Fraternity. Additionally, she was published in the Journal of Society, Politics, and Ethics and served on the editorial board. Scully was a finalist in the 2022 Concerto Aria Competition. Outside of Emory, she has worked as an investigative intern at the Colorado Public Defenders Office, and she currently works as a staff singer at All Saints Episcopal Church and as an Intake Intern at the Georgia Innocence Project. 

About the program: 

Lucienne "LuLu" Scully, soprano, will be performing a full recital featuring sixty minutes of music from a variety of different composers. Accompanied by Patricia Dinkins-Matthews on piano, Nathaniel Lechtzin on piccolo trumpet, and Andrew Choi playing the cello. The recital will feature works written by Handel, Debussy, and Bellini. While primarily a classical recital, some musical-theatre works will be performed.

Athena Grasso (piano)

2pm Schwartz Center

Athena Grasso is a third-year student at Emory University double majoring in biology and music performance on the pre-med track. She began studying piano at age five at the Cleveland Institute of Music under Judson Billings and she continued her studies with Sean Schulze. Grasso has many on-campus involvements including chamber music, Emory Composer’s Society, and the Music Advisory Board. She has a passion for mentorship, serving as a learning assistant for introductory-level biology courses at the college as well as teaching piano lessons. Outside of academics, Grasso additionally works in Dr. Anna Woodbury’s lab at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center and volunteers at the Winship Cancer Institute.

About the program:

Athena's program encompasses works from all major eras of classical music. The music she will be performing is the culmination of repertoire she has been studying throughout this school year. Athena would like to thank the Friends of Music for their generosity in supporting her music education.

The program can be seen by clicking here.

Vivian Zhao (piano)

5pm Schwartz Center

Vivian Zhao, 20, is a junior pursuing a double major in neuroscience and music at Emory University. Originally from Chandler, Arizona, Zhao has had a passion for music since she was young and studied piano for 14 years. Previously a student from the New Century Conservatory, she participated in numerous regional and national competitions. She currently studies under Elena Cholakova, director of piano studies at Emory. Zhao strives for a collaborative environment in music performance. She actively acts as the keyboardist for the Emory University Symphony Orchestra, performs original compositions for the Emory Composer’s Society, and participates in chamber music alongside other student musicians. Furthermore, she ties her musical life back to her goals to give back to the community, where she provides music therapy for patients at Symponia Hospice as a volunteer, using music as a universal language to connect with people. In her free time, Zhao enjoys maintaining an active lifestyle, cooking for friends, and playing with her cat Wolfie, named after Mozart.

The program can be seen by clicking here.

Satvik Elayavalli (piano) / Haorui "Davy" Song (tenor)

12pm PAS

Satvik Elayavalli is a sophomore at Emory College, majoring in Applied Mathematics and Statistics as well as Music Performance. He has been studying piano since he was ten. He originally started playing when he lived in Bangalore, India, under Rebecca Thomas Colaco. During his first year at Emory, Satvik studied under Dr. William Ransom. He now studies under Dr. Elena Cholakova. Satvik holds a leadership position in Emory Composer’s Society. He also works backstage at the Schwartz Center. 

Haorui (Davy) Song is a senior at Emory College, majoring in Biology and Music. Davy’s music journey extended from playing the flute in his elementary-school wind ensemble and performing at Carnegie Hall with his middle-school chorus, to singing for Emory Concert Choir, working with Professor Teresa Hopkin, and currently studying with Dr. Bethany Grace Mamola. Hailing from Shenzhen, China, he hopes to weave his Chinese music heritage into folk and classical Western sonorities. At Emory, Davy is also a president (of Emory Bike Social), a supervisor (at SAAC), a treasurer (of Mu Phi Epsilon music fraternity), a researcher (at Winship Cancer Institute investigating cancer immunology), and finally, a proud member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

About the program:

Our recital will feature the famous “Largo from Xerxes” aria by Handel, Liszt's masterwork Années de pèlerinage, a Beethoven sonata, pensive Chinese art songs, a buoyant Kazakh folk tune, Philip Glass's étude, soulful and ethereal German Lieder, and finally, a poignant 9/11 memorial piece by Jake Heggie.

Satvik and Davy would like to thank Friends of Music at Emory for their generosity and enduring support!

Thomas Sarsfield (violin)

2pm Schwartz Center

Tommy Sarsfield, 22, from Lawrenceville, New Jersey, is a violinist studying business and music at Emory University. He has been playing violin for 15 years and currently studies under Jessica Wu. Sarsfield has served as the assistant principal second violin in the Emory University Symphony Orchestra (EUSO) and as principal second in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Outside of performing he has led Continuo, Emory’s premier musical volunteer organization that teaches and performs at underserved elementary schools in the metro-Atlanta area. In addition, he founded the Emory University Young People’s Concert Ensemble, which has brought educational classical concerts to schools throughout Atlanta. In his free time, Sarsfield enjoys playing chess and disc golf. He would like to thank his parents for their constant support; his past teachers, Ileana Ciumac and Marc Rovetti, for their encouragement; and his friends for coming to the EUSO concerts.

The program can be seen by clicking here.

Eric Zhang (piano/violin)

5pm Schwartz Center

Eric Zhang, 21, from Knoxville, Tennessee, is a senior majoring in physics/astronomy and also studies music research at Emory University. He has played violin for 17 years and piano for 18 years. He studies violin with Jessica Wu and piano with Erika Tazawa. Zhang plays within the Emory University Symphony Orchestra and has been a participant in many different chamber groups throughout his time at Emory. Zhang’s music research in the ethnomusicology discipline is focused on examining the cultural and historical contextualization of music. While he doesn’t like to limit himself to one genre or time, he has done extensive research on classical, jazz, and rock music. During his senior year, Zhang has studied with Meredith Schweig to analyze the historical significance of traditional, modern, and jazz Chinese music from the 1900s until present.

He also produced an album of his own, playing traditional Chinese folk songs with extensive notes on the cultural contexts of each piece. Zhang is currently researching the inner workings and structure of musical institutes across the Atlanta region with Paul Bhasin, director of orchestral studies at Emory. Outside of music, Zhang conducts research with Merida Batiste in her BRAVE lab and simulates the dynamics of galaxies. Since he was in high school, Zhang has been researching with Michael Scott Smith at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and conducting nova nucleosynthesis simulations with comparison to meteoritic observations. Zhang is also the director of outreach for the Emory Tibet Science Initiative Peer Mentoring Program and tutors Tibetan monks and nuns in introductory physics. In his free time, Zhang likes to play ultimate frisbee on the Emory Men’s Ultimate Club team, Juice. Zhang would like to thank his parents for all their support, his past teachers and mentors, and his friends for their unwavering support.

About the Program:

Eric Zhang will be performing Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-Flat Major, Op. 81a. by Ludwig van Beethoven. After a brief intermission, he will also be performing Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky with his piano teacher Erika Tazawa. 

The entire program can be seen by clicking here.

Free, space is limited | RSVP required

As part of the 2022–2023 Schwartz Artist-in-Residence Program, Lawrence Brownlee will work with select students from the Emory University Department of Music and the Atlanta Music Project in this vocal master class. 

The master class is open to the general public to observe; however, space is limited as seating is on the concert hall stage.

Click here for the Arts Calendar listing with a Sign Up link.

A big Thank You to those who contributed in the 2021-2022 year, and especially to those of you who have even increased your level of support or are new supporters! There is no way to thank you enough. It was the strong level of giving last year than enabled us to substantially increase our grants to music students and faculty for this year.

Much of our support for students and faculty is through grants to provide scholarships for students to help pay for required music fees, to help fund undergraduate research projects, and to provide enhancements for classes. You can see the grants we have awarded for this school year by clicking here.

A special thanks to those of you who are sustaining members, either through payroll deduction, or a continuing contribution on your credit card. After two years of asking, our donations page is finally updated to make it easy to choose to give a one-time gift or a monthly gift.

You can see the list of our donors by clicking the following link. Those whose names are listed with a @ or ### have made contributions during this academic year, beginning last summer. If you have not yet contributed in this academic year, we would greatly appreciate your support, particularly in the next month or two, as the amount we are able to fund for grants to students and faculty for the next academic year are determined by our fundraising through early spring of this year.

The list of members can be seen by clicking here.

Please Note: It is surprisingly difficult to generate a list of members who are current in their giving. We measure our giving year from the start of our annual campaign, which is usually in July of each year. Some members give through payroll deduction or give more than one gift per year (thank you to both!) and we want to make sure we correctly acknowledge the level of giving. We don't have a set format for how names are listed and depend on member's preference. Sometimes we make mistakes. Please let us know if you find any errors in the list of members above. You can just reply to this newsletter and we will be glad to correct any mistakes. The date that the list was updated is given at the bottom. Among other problems, we are finding that it can take several weeks for us to get news of gifts.

You can make a contribution online by clicking here.

There is literally nothing like attending live music performances! Many of us are so grateful that we can once again hear so many outstanding performances at Emory and around Atlanta. One of the unanticipated consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is that when it was not safe to gather in concert halls to hear music, music organizations spent much time and resources to make music performances available online. Those resources are continuing to be used in many cases to make livestream and recorded performances available to those who are not able to attend the performances in person.

Who are those who can benefit from livestream/recorded performances? I would say most, if not all of us can benefit. There are certainly instances in which we have wanted to attend a concert but were unable to because of various conflicts. As we age, it can become more difficult to attend concerts at night, or drive long distances. The livestream/recorded option also gives us the option of hearing music performed in distant venues.

This last point is particularly important in the Emory context. Our Emory music students come not only from all over the United States, but from many other countries as well. Their parents, friends, and relatives would certainly love to be able to hear these students perform in person, but for most of them, it is not possible to be able to come to Atlanta to hear these performances. For them, the livestream/recorded option is the only way to hear the students' performances.

It is important to understand that even with enhanced recording equipment in place, there is a significant cost in providing livestream/recordings of performances due to the resources of staff, etc., involved. Because of the excellence of the Emory performances and the benefit to the friends and supporters of Emory music, the Friends of Music is doing all we can to encourage livestream/recorded options for Emory events.



How best to view Livestream/Recorded Music

One note about these performances: One generally accesses the programs via a computer. It is likely that many of us have been watching more movies at home during the pandemic, and it is generally preferable to watch those movies on our TVs rather than on some type of mobile device. Similarly, it is much preferable to watch music programs on a large screen with good sound. The most reliable way to connect your device to a TV is via an HDMI cable (perhaps with an adapter) if both your device and the TV supports such a connection. Another method is to mirror your device screen onto your TV. There are many ways to do that. Clicking on this link will take you to an article that describes various ways to do that screen mirroring.

The Schwartz Center is the hub of most musical performances at Emory. Emerson Hall in particular has greatly enhanced capabilities for livestreaming and recording. However, the decision on what performances will be livestreamed or recorded is made individually for each performance.

Schwartz Center Virtual Stage

The Schwartz Center Virtual Stage is then entry point for livestream/recorded performances at the Schwartz Center. The WATCH AGAIN link on the page leads to a listing of recorded events that were not ticketed. At this point, it is not clear how many events during the coming year will be on this page.

Another link on the Virtual Stage link leads to a login for paid ticketed events. This includes the concerts for the Atlanta Master Chorale (see below); it is not clear what others will be included in this option.

The following organizations all have strong Emory affiliations. Their programs will generally not be listed in this newsletter, but most of them, with the exception of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, are listed in the Music at EmoryCalendar.

I assume that all of our readers are familiar with ECMSA, whose Artistic Director is Professor William Ransom. ECMSA is celebrating its 30th season this year and all of their concerts are free. I am listing them separately because ECMSA has a variety of music series, only some of which are at the Schwartz Center. The full array of their concerts can be seen on the ECMSA website.

Notes about two of the series:

Most of the Bach's Lunch Series are part of the Concerts@First series held in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. These concerts are livestreamed and are usually available for listening later.

The Masterclass Series, is back this year and is an incredible gift for our students. These masterclasses feature outstanding musicians who will teach Emory students in these classes. Moreover, our members are invited to attend these masterclasses. There are twelve masterclasses planned for this year, with an impressive array of artists involved.

The Artistic Director of the Atlanta Master Chorale is Professor of Music Eric Nelson, and the chorale is one of the finest in the country. All of their local performances are in the Schwartz Center, and there is a livestream option for concert tickets.  All purchased tickets include a link to the livestream recording for one week after the concert.  I usually view the recording at least once after attending the concert, surely a form of having one's cake and eating it too! 

Not only is the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra a great orchestra, but our students benefit greatly from the ASO, as many of the Music Department Artist Affiliates are ASO musicians.

The ASO responded to the pandemic in a very creative way, beginning a series of "Behind the Curtain" performances featuring musicians playing without an audience. The "Behind the Curtain" series has continued, featuring a selection of recorded performances from previous weeks.  

The entire ASO concert series is detailed on the ASO website. There is a lot of excitement this year as the ASO welcomes its new Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann.  Information about virtual memberships for the "Behind the Curtain" series will also soon be on the website.