Each season the School of Music presents the annual Signature Series featuring performances by world-renowned guest artists as well as special presentations featuring student and faculty musicians performing unique and exciting programs.
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"Hidden Treasures" featuring Song of Atlanta, Atlanta Vocal Project, SoundFX and Category 4
Signature Series: This special performance features Song of Atlanta and Atlanta Vocal Project along with SoundFX and Category 4 Quartet. These award-winning Atlanta-based a cappella vocal ensembles share their passion for harmony in their spring barbershop showcase.
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Signature Series: Andrés Cárdenes, violin with Elizabeth Pridgen, piano
Andrés Cárdenes, Elizabeth Pridgen, and Helen Kim
Grammy nominated violinist, conductor, and recording artist Andrés Cárdenes has garnered international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for his versatile career and masterful performances. In addition to serving as Concertmaster for the Pittsburgh Symphony for over 20 years, Cárdenes has performed as soloist with over 100 orchestras across four continents including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, and Bavarian Radio Orchestra. Presented in cooperation with the Atlanta Chamber Players, this performance will also feature pianist and Atlanta Chamber Players Artistic Director, Elizabeth Pridgen.
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Vega String Quartet
Elizabeth Fayette, Jessica Shuang Wu, Yinzi Kong, and Guang Wang
Acclaimed international virtuosi and Artists-in-Residence at Emory University perform works by Haydn, Stravinsky, and Beethoven.
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Collage 2018
Cody O'Shea, Karla Harris, Brian Reid, Helen Kim, John Warren, Judith Cole, Josh Hayward, Zachary Wilson, Brad Cannata, Justin Chesarek, Andrew Creech, Joe Donohue, Matthew Hodgetts, Jonathan Steltzer, Nathan Munson, Robert Henry, and Julie Coucheron
The KSU School of Music is proud to present the 12th Annual Collage Concert. An exciting highlight each season, Collage is the signature production of the School of Music and a major fundraising event for supporting scholarships for music students. This special performance features over 200 student and faculty performers and includes jazz, orchestra, choir, band, percussion, and opera selections for soloists, chamber groups, and ensembles. Special lighting effects and stage design combine with the diverse and exciting program presented as rapid-fire, flowing vignettes to create a truly unique performance.
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American Contemporary Music Ensemble
Ben Russell, Laura Lutzke, Isabel Hagen, Clarice Jensen, and Peter Dugan
The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) present a special performance at Kennesaw State as part of the School of Music's 2017-18 Signature Series. This performance will feature works inspired by the group’s debut portrait album, Thrive on Routine, which highlights ACME's make-up of performers who are also composers.
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Jun Märkl, Conductor and Giora Schmidt, violin
Giora Schmidt
Atlanta favorite Jun Märkl leads an evening of stunning French music packed with velvety-rich harmonies and exquisite orchestral craftsmanship. Opening the performance is Berlioz' dramatic and brilliantly rousing Overture to Benvenuto Cellini followed by Henri Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto No. 5 featuring Giora Schmidt in his Atlanta Symphony debut. The program closes with Ravel's Daphnis et Choloé, described by Beatles producer George Martin as "a swelling of sound that is just breathtaking" when placing the work at the top of his list of essentials on BBC's "Desert Island Discs."
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Elizabeth Koch Tiscione
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra returns to Kennesaw State University to tackle classical symphonies by two big personalities and feature KSU's own as soloist. The spirit of 18th-century composer Franz Joseph Haydn hovers over this concert led by conductor Carlo Rizzi. 20th century Russian Sergei Prokofiev pays homage to Haydn in his nimble and puckish "Classical" Symphony while Beethoven, a cantankerous student of Haydn, echoed the master in his sunny and explosively exuberant Symphony No. 2 one hundred years earlier. Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, ASO Principal Oboe and KSU Artist-in-Residence, solos in Mozart's Oboe Concerto.
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Allen Vizzutti, trumpet with KSU Jazz Ensembles
Allen Vizzutti
KSU School of Music presents Allen Vizzutti, trumpet with KSU Jazz Ensembles directed by Wes Funderburk and Sam Skelton. Allen Vizzutti, equally at home in a multitude of musical styles, has visited 40 countries and every state in the union to perform with a rainbow of artists and ensembles including Chick Corea, 'Doc' Severinsen, the NBC Tonight Show Band, the Airmen Of Note, the Army Blues and Army Symphony Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Woody Herman, Japan’s NHK Orchestra and the New Tokyo Philharmonic, the Budapest Radio Orchestra, and many more. Performing as a classical and a jazz artist, often in the same evening, he has appeared as guest soloist with symphony orchestras in Tokyo, Germany, St. Louis, Seattle, Rochester N.Y., Syracuse, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Phoenix, Croatia, Slovenia, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, and others.
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Collage Concert 2017
An exciting highlight each season, the School of Music is proud to present the 11th Annual Collage Concert. Collage, a major fundraising event for supporting scholarships for music students, is the signature production of the School of Music featuring soloists, chamber groups, and ensembles totaling almost 300 student and faculty performers. This special production features a rapid-fire program of diverse works presented as flowing vignette performances with unique lighting and stage design that combine to create a truly memorable and unique experience.
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Vasily Petrenko, Conductor and Stewart Goodyear, Piano
Stewart Goodyear
Kennesaw State University School of Music presents the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vasily Petrenko and featuring pianist Stewart Goodyear.
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Atlanta Pops Orchestra, "In the Spirit, A Celebration of the Holidays"
John Driskell Hopkins
Atlanta's premier Pops orchestra takes the stage with John Driskell Hopkins, founding member of the GRAMMY® award-winning Zac Brown Band, for an evening of holiday favorites.
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Street Corner Symphony
Jeremy Lister, Jonathan Lister, Kurt Zimmerman, Kaleb Jones, and Armand Hutton
Street Corner Symphony is an a cappella group based out of Nashville, Tennessee. They became internationally known in 2010 after becoming runners up on Season 2 of NBC's all vocal competition, The Sing-Off. Their music covers a wide range of style, appealing to young and old alike.
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Mirari Brass Quintet, "Renewed, Reused, Recycled"
Alex Noppe, Matt Vangjel, Jesse Thoman, Sarah Paradis, and Stephanie Frye
Performing a wide wariety of works from Renaissance music to Charles Mingus, the Mirari Brass Quintet delight and inspire with their engaging and eclectic style of performance and bring a spirit of joyful collaboration and innovation to music spanning many centuries and genres. The commissioners of multiple new works for brass, the group performs a spectacular tight-rope act balancing intensity with levity and refined virtuosity with pure fun.
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Peter & the Wolf and Friends
Andrew Puckett, Andrea Washington, and Jeffry C. Zwartjes
The Atlanta Symphoy Orchestra performs a special family program featuring Prokofiev’s classic children's symphony, Peter and the Wolf, and other fun songs! Kids will learn about the instruments of the orchestra in this family-friendly performance and puppeteers will join the orchestra to bring the characters to life!
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KSFNM: Faculty Chamber Players, "Soldier's and Devil's Tales"
John Warren, Andrew Brady, Doug Lindsey, Brian Hecht, John Lawless, Helen Kim, Joe McFadden double bass, and Harrison Long
This special performance of the 2017 Kennesaw State Festival of New Music (KSFNM) features KSU faculty performing Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat (The Soldier's Tale) followed by The Devil's Tale, James M. Stephenson's sequel to Stravinsky's esteemed work.
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"Songs Not Silenced: Music Forbidden in the Holocaust"
Jana Young, Oral Moses, Judy Cole, Laurence Sherr, and David Green
Kennesaw State University School of Music presents this special performance, "Songs Not Silenced: Music Forbidden in the Holocaust," featuring Jana Young, soprano, Oral Moses, bass-baritone, Judy Cole, piano, and commentary by program coordinator Dr. Laurence Sherr along with David Green.
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
David Coucheron and Elizabeth Pridgen
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Spano returns to KSU. The program opens with Scriabin's Symphony No. 5, "Prometheus, Poem of Fire," featuring pianist Elizabeth Pridgen. Following is Stravinsky's magical Firebird Suite. Concertmaster David Coucheron plays the romantic Violin Concerto No. 1 by Prokofiev.
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Kennesaw State Festival of New Music, Music of Origin
Lauren Goans and Daniel Goans
Kennesaw State Festival of New Music presents Music of Origins March 14-17, 2016.
The 2016 Music of Origins festival is a special presentation of the annual Kennesaw State Festival of New Music (KSFNM). This year’s festival focuses on music and composers from several specific cultural backgrounds that inform the musical traditions of these cultures and ethnic groups. Chinese ethnic and folk traditions will be highlighted in a special performance by Voice of Yunnan. American folk acoustic duo Lowland Hum explore folk traditions and the intersection of creative writing with music and lyrics. KSU Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble welcome guest composer Kamran Ince whose Turkish/American ancestry influences his music and highlights Turkish/Balkan traditions. In addition to performances, the festival will also feature various residency actitivies.
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Karen Gomyo
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Cristian Macelaru, conductor, and Karen Gomyo, violin
The ASO presents an evening of works from Russian composers featuring Stravinsky’s Petrushka, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto performed by violinist Karen Gomyo, and Sergei Lyapounov’s orchestral transcription of Balakirev’s Islamey.
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Pastiche Steel Ensemble on Tour
Mia Gormandy, Yuki Nakano, Mike Schwebke, Scott McConnell, Abe Breiling, Yuko Asada, and Jonny Gifford
Kennesaw State University School of Music presents Pastiche Steel Ensemble, a diverse group of pannists and musicians hailing from different countries around the world and transcends stereotypes surrounding the limitations of the steelpan while breaking boundaries of steelpan performance with original compositions, arrangements, and familiar music.
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10th Annual Collage Concert
Helen Kim, Robert Henry, Julie Coucheron, Emily Crisp, Camille Hathaway, Judy Cole, Leah Partridge, John Warren, and Doug Lindsey
An exciting highlight each season, the School of Music is proud to present the 10th Annual Collage Concert. Collage, a major fundraising event for supporting scholarships for music students, is the signature production of the School of Music featuring soloists, chamber groups, and ensembles totaling over 250 student and faculty performers. This special production features a rapid-fire program of diverse works presented as flowing vignette performances with unique lighting and stage design that combine to create a truly memorable and unique experience. The Collage Concert features a matinee at 5 p.m. and evening performance at 8 p.m.
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Family Holiday Concert
John Lemley
The Atlanta Symphony comes to KSU for the holidays! Enjoy music from The Nutcracker, join in a festive sing-along, and have a holly jolly Christmas with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the whole family in Morgan Concert Hall.
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård and Alexandre Tharaud
Conductor Thomas Søndergård leads the Atlanta Symphony in the orchestra’s final performance at Kennesaw State University during the 2015-16 season. Pianist Alexandre Tharaud plays Ravel’s Concerto in D Major for the Left Hand Alone, a remarkable synthesis of classical and jazz elements commissioned by pianist Paul Wittgenstein who lost his right arm during the First World War. Following is Ravel’s Rapsodie Espagnol, a magically orchestrated celebration of the beauties and mysteries of Spain with enticing melodies and rhythms. The program is bounded by a pair of works about the sea: Berlioz’s Overture to Le Corsaire inspired by Lord Byron’s tale of the seafaring hero and Debussy’s La Mer inspired by the composer’s lifelong passion for the sea.
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2015 Kennesaw State Festival of New Music
Sherri Barrett, Sam Skelton, John Lawless, Levi Lyman, Selena Sanchez, Sam Skelton, Douglas Lindsey, Nicola Baroni, and Massimiliano Messieri
KSU School of Music presents 2015 Kennesaw State Festival of New Music.
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Atlanta Symphony Orchestra featuring Jacomo Bairos, conductor and Miloš Karadaglić, guitar
Miloš Karadaglić
KSU School of Music presents the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra featuring Jacomo Bairos, conductor and Miloš Karadaglić, guitar.
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