Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2009-02-24

Samford University faculty pianist Kathryn Fouse's March 3 recital, "An Evening of New Music," will have a definite Samford slant. Each piece on the program was written since 2000 by a composer who has some Samford connection: alumnus, faculty colleague or recent visitor to campus.

The public is invited to the 7:30 p.m. performance in Samford's Brock Recital Hall. Admission is free.

The opening work, Nocturne for Lauren Ansley (2005), is by Samford 2005 alumnus Joel Scott Davis, who wrote the piece for his fianc, also a Samford graduate.

Samford music professor James A. Jensen wrote Whitman Sampler (2009) for Fouse to premier at a Feb. 17, 2009, concert of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance.

Richard Faith wrote Le Mont-Saint-Michel (2008) for Fouse after hearing her perform while he was Samford's Composer-in-Residence in February, 2008.

"It is a beautifully lush piece that I think the audience will really enjoy," Fouse said of Faith's piece.

The second half of the program features piano music by Libby Larsen, who will be the Samford School of the Arts' 2009 Composer-in-Residence March 1-5.

Larsen will attend the concert to hear Fouse perform four of her recent works: Mephisto Rag: A Ragtime Fantasy on Mephisto Waltz (2000), Music Boxes: A family story by Meredith Alden (2004) for Five Hand Piano and Storyteller, in which Fouse will be joined by pianists Donald Sanders and Alexander Candelaria-Fouse, and narrator Arianna Candelaria-Fouse; Gavel Patter (2007) for Four Hand Piano, also with Sanders; and Penta Metrics (2004), Five Pieces for Solo Piano.

Fouse will repeat some of the pieces by Larsen at Samford's March 5 Davis Architects Guest Artists Series concert, which will feature a complete program of the composer's work.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.