The Music Department at Mary Baldwin University announces the last Sunday Recital of the 2018-19 season. On Sunday, April 28,the L+M Duo will perform an eclectic program that includes works of Nadia and Lili Boulanger, Cesar Franck, Jason Haney, and Jacob TV. The concert is at 3 p.m. in Francis Auditorium.
L+M Duo is a marimba and piano duo featuring Laurel Black, marimba, and Marianne Parker, piano. Their mission is to commission, perform, and interpret contemporary classical music, and re-imagine yesterday’s most compelling works. They have performed throughout the United States, including at the Contemporary Music Festival at James Madison University and at the Chicago Cultural Center, as part of New Music Chicago’s concert series. In June of 2019, they will present Illuminating Wrigley at the Wrigley Building’s plaza as a start to its centennial celebration. L+M Duo recently announced a Call for Scores for women composers in efforts to bolster the repertoire, and they will premiere the works in the 2019-20 season.
“We have some world premieres in store for the audience!” says marimbist Laurel Black. “Something Marianne and I love to do, in addition to commission new music, is adapt existing works for piano and marimba. We will present two new adaptations at our concert at Mary Baldwin: Franck’s gorgeous and iconic Sonata in A Major for violin and piano, and a set of pieces by Nadia and Lili Boulanger. We have searched for works by female composers for our instrumentation, and we have really come up empty-handed. So we want to build that repertoire, and our adaptations of Deux Morceaux: Nocturne-Cortege and Trois Morceaux for cello and piano, by Lili and Nadia respectively, are our first contributions to that aim.”
Also on the program is Jason Seed’s The Witching Hour Tango, along with a fascinating piece called Body of Your Dreams, by Dutch composer Jacob TV.
“Body of your Dreams actually uses an infomercial for an ab-slimming belt as the basis for its content. The piece is a sometimes comical and sometimes serious commentary on society’s obsession with body image, fitness, and vanity,” says Black.
Their program also features a new work by Jason Haney, who is professor of music at James Madison University.
Tickets for April 28 may be purchased at the door and are $5 for the general public and $4 for students and seniors (free for MBU students). For more information, visit https://go.marybaldwin.edu/arts/music/ or call 540-887-7294.
