FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- 7/21/98 | Contact: Diana Smith, 719-389-6138  

COLORADO SPRINGS -- The Colorado College Summer Arts Festival will present performances of new music compositions at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 2, in Packard Hall.

 Eight composers will participate in an afternoon question and answer session, a preview of pieces from the evening concert, and a discussion with the audience about contemporary music. Moderated by Jonathan Lee, professor of philosophy at CC and a specialist on the aesthetic questions of contemporary music, the discussion will center around music at the end of the millenium and the century. All works will be performed by the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival.

The guest of honor will be George Crumb, winner of the 1968 Pulitzer Prize, whose music pushes the boundaries of modern composition, employing new sounds and instruments and finding new ways to play traditional ones. His piece Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) is written for three masked players.

Ofer Ben-Amots, assistant professor for composition and music theory at Colorado College, submitted Cantillations for clarinet and cello, which is based on the short melodic patterns used in the ritual chanting of the Torah according to German Jewish tradition. The piece was commissioned from the Voice of Ashkenaz (Voice of Germany) international conference and premiered last November in New York City.

Carlton Gamer, professor emeritus of music at CC, will premier Duetude for flute and clarinet. Gamer rewrote the original 1960s version especially for the concert. Leonard Rhodes, director of Colorado Composers youth competitions, also will premier Persuasions for trio, and Louis Gonzales, professor of music composition at CU Boulder, will premier Las Lunas de Enero for flute, cello and piano in two movements. Charles Eakin's Fantasy for cello and John Drumheller's Where the Planes End - Western Sketches for piano solo will be played. Eakin is an emeritus professor of music composition and Drumheller is a professor of music composition and technology, both at CU Boulder.

The evening concert will feature clarinetist Michael Norsworthy, pianist Blair McMillan, cellist Lisa McCormick, and composer and flutist Ned McGowan, who is the only musician performing his own piece, Moonrise.

Both the discussion and the concert are free and open to the public. For more information on the Summer Arts Festival, call (719) 389-6656.

###   OFFICE OF COLLEGE RELATIONS 14 East Cache La Poudre Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903-3298 719-389-6602 tel  719-389-6256 fax