Texarkana College Department of Music revisits old favorites Saturday with the kickoff recital for its fall 2017 music series.
This semester's series has a "Friends and Family" theme to it, so it's appropriate that a young couple will perform. John Riesen, tenor, and Gillian Lynn Cotter, mezzo-soprano, will be joined by TC's Mary Scott Goode on piano starting at 5 p.m. in the Stilwell Humanities Music Hall.
Riesen and Cotter will sing a repertoire of classical songs, opera arias and Broadway tunes during the recital. The songs were crafted by composers like Aaron Copland, Francis Poulenc and Robert Schumann. For opera, Rossini and Puccini, two masters, will be sung. And with Broadway, expect to hear Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen.
The duo will present a wide range of selections, from "L'invitation au voyage" to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Heart, we will forget him" to "Maria."
"I asked them specifically to do a program that would feature great, foundational, traditional repertoire that perhaps our students could be learning," said Goode, a TC music professor. She describes it as "a plate full of desserts" with a little of this and that. She hopes inspires the TC voice students.
With the song repertoire, opera and Broadway, the three categories of voice music that all singers study are represented, Goode said.
"I would say that they are beautiful settings of the text, first of all," she said about what makes them successful. What makes a great song, she said, is a good setting where the meaning comes through.
"The words are enhanced by the music," Goode said, noting all the parts work together: the vocal line, the piano line, the words themselves. They come together to "create this beautiful work of art."
Both Cotter and Riesen have performed at TC before as part of the Shreveport Opera's community outreach arm, SOX, and Goode said Riesen, who also performed earlier this year with the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra for their "A Night at the Opera" show, has a bit of a following here now.
The series continues next week on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.) at the Music Hall with a performance by the Happy Dog Duo. Happy Dog? That's the name for the pairing of Eric Tran and Nathan Cheung, winners as duo pianists for the National Federation of Music Clubs 2017 Ellis Competition. Admission is free for this event co-sponsored by the AR-TX Music Connection.
Several generations of the Richardson family come together to present "How Merrily We Live: Madrigals and More," a recital on Sept 21 (7:30 p.m.) at the Music Hall. Admission is $5.
The Texarkana Regional Chorale presents an outdoor concert at the CHRISTUS Imaging Center on Oct. 3 (5:30 p.m.). "We're literally going to perform outdoors," Goode said.
Violinist Kiril Laskarov, cellist Brett Andrews and Goode on piano present "An Afternoon of Brahms" on Oct. 15 (4 p.m.) at the Music Hall. Admission is $5.
TC presents its student recital on Oct. 24 (12:30 p.m.) in the Music Hall for free, then follows that up with a presentation about the Gregorian chant by Lowell David from the St. Basil School of Gregorian Chant at the same location on Oct. 27 (4 p.m.). It's also free to attend this learning experience.
The James Herrin Piano Festival free guest artist recital is presented by Dr. Hee-Kyung Juhn and Dr. Lei Cai, another married couple performing. That's a co-sponsored show with the Texarkana Music Teachers Association on Nov. 9 (7 p.m.) at the Stilwell Humanities Music Hall.
"They're going to do a program that has some solos and some duets on it," Goode said.
The TRC presents its "American Sounds" free concert at the Truman Arnold Student Center Great Room on Nov. 14 (6:30 p.m.). That's a night of American, patriotic music.
For the Christmas holiday, TC's music department presents "Yulefest" again, an annual tradition, at the Great Room. The TC music department students are joined by school choirs from Texas High, Arkansas High, Liberty-Eylau High and Veritas Academy, all under the direction of Marc-André Bougie on Dec. 1 (7 p.m.). Admission is $5.
To round out the season, TC presents another free student recital in the music hall Dec. 5 (11 a.m.).
"All are welcome," Goode said about these concerts. "We're trying to put the community in community college here."
(Admission: $5. For more information, contact Mary Scott Goode at 903-823-3371 or [email protected] or Dee Dee Harrison at 903-823-3360 or [email protected].)