Dan Locklair’s INITIAL MEMORIES to Receive World Premiere

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) College of Fine Arts and the Department of Music will present the world premiere of Dan Locklair’s INITIAL MEMORIES: A Divertimento for Organ and Wind Quintet on Saturday, November 7, at 3 p.m. A pre-concert presentation by the composer will be given at 2:15 p.m. The pre-concert event and the performance, both of which are free and open to the public, will take place in the DiCicco Rehearsal Hall, Cogswell Music Building at IUP, located in Indiana, Pa., 60 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. All are invited to a reception following the concert.

INITIAL MEMORIES will be presented by members of the IUP music faculty including: Dr. Joseph Baunoch, bass; Dr. Rosemary Brumbelow, clarinet; Dr. Stephanie Caulder, oboe; Dr. Christine Clewell, organ; Dr. Mary Logan Hastings, soprano; Dr. Heidi Lucas, horn; Dr. See-Yin Lo, tenor; Dr. Therese Wacker, flute; Dr. Jason Worzbyt, bassoon; and Brianna Brickner, alto (IUP Class of ’13).

A four-movement divertimento, INITIAL MEMORIES was conceived to highlight the unique tonal aesthetic of the Ronald G. Pogorzelski and Lester D. Yankee Pipe Organ, built by R. J. Brunner & Company of Silver Spring, Pa. The composition was commissioned by IUP in honor of the newly installed organ which is being used by special arrangement with the American Guild of Organists (AGO).

Named the 1996 AGO Distinguished Composer of the Year, Dan Locklair is Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His compositional catalog, influenced by a wide variety of traditions, includes internationally performed symphonic works, a ballet, an opera, and numerous solo, chamber, vocal, organ, and choral compositions.

In addition to the Locklair premiere, the concert will include organ solo and ensemble works that showcase the Pogorzelski and Yankee Organ. Representative composers include J. S. Bach, PDQ Bach, Gladys Fisher, Libby Larsen, John Knowles Paine, and Wayne Bernard Sanders.

On the eve of the premiere, Friday, November 6, there will be a “Meet-the-Composer” presentation featuring Dan Locklair. This program will be facilitated by IUP Assistant Professor of Theory and Composition Dr. John Levey. Beginning at 5 p.m. in the DiCicco Rehearsal Hall, Cogswell Music Building, this event is also free and open to the general public.

For more information contact Christine Clewell