Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner will visit SUNY Fredonia on Tuesday, Feb. 25 and Wednesday, Feb. 26 for two days of free public master classes, rehearsals and recitals as part Nusound III, the third annual on-campus symposium on contemporary music. Nusound III is the creation of the Ethos New Music Society, a student-organized group that is celebrating its 25th year of bringing new music to campus.
 
Dr. Schwantner will be the featured guest on Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the Williams Center for the seminar, "The Music of Joseph Schwantner." He will then participate in an open rehearsal at 1 p.m. in King Concert Hall, and a 7 p.m. preview of the evening's concert selection, "…And The Mountains Rising Nowhere", in Room 2018 of Mason Hall. The piece will be performed at 8 p.m. in Diers Recital Hall. On Wednesday, Dr. Schwantner will host a composition master class at 10 a.m. in the Williams Center and will hold another open rehearsal at 1 p.m. in King Concert Hall. He will preview the concert piece for the evening, "Dark Millennium," at 7 p.m. in Room 2018 of Mason Hall before the 8 p.m. concert in King Concert Hall. All of the events are open to the public. Admission is free.
 
A professor of composition at Yale University, Dr. Schwantner won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his orchestral piece, Aftertones of Infinity. Recordings of his works, Magabunda "Four Poems of Agueda Pizarro," and A Sudden Rainbow by the St. Louis Symphony received Grammy Award nominations in 1985 and 1987, respectively. His composition Music for Amber earned the Kennedy Center Friedheim Award in 1981.
 
Dr. Schwantner has commissioned pieces for such prestigious ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the San Diego Symphony as well as organizations such as the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center and AT & T, among many others. Luminaries like Leonard Slatkin, Sharon Isbin, Coretta Scott King and James Earl Jones have performed his compositions around the globe.
 
School of Music faculty member Donald Bohlen and several students founded Ethos in 1977 to showcase diverse, contemporary music. Ethos sponsors concerts and visiting composers in addition to hosting performances of music created by students and faculty members. The symposium, Nusound, was started three years ago. "Nusound is SUNY Fredonia's new music festival," said Jim Baynes, student president of Ethos. "It focuses on late 20th century composition because that kind of music doesn't get nearly as much performance as, say, the music of the late Romantic period."
 
In addition to Nusound III, upcoming Ethos events include Fantasia, "a concert blending musical technology with newly composed scores for television and film" on Friday, March 28 at 8 p.m. in Diers Recital Hall, and The President's Anniversary Concert on Thursday, April 17 at 8 p.m. in King Concert Hall.