Career of Donald Bohlen celebrated at April 14 concert
 Donald Bohlen Robert Siedentop photo. |
“Tally-Ho,” a concert celebrating the music and career of Dr. Donald Bohlen of the Fredonia School of Music, will be performed Saturday, April 14, in Rosch Recital Hall at 3 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. The new Rosch Recital Hall is located in Mason Hall, near the center of the Fredonia campus.
Ethos New Music Society, a student group at SUNY Fredonia, is sponsoring the concert in honor of Dr. Bohlen, who founded the group in 1977 and has been its advisor for 30 years. The concert will feature music by Dr. Bohlen as well as by some of his past and present students. Student composers to be featured are graduate student Kathryn Thompson of Dunkirk, N.Y., and undergraduate Joel Hunt, a senior from Rochester.
Dr. Bohlen will have two pieces premiered, Night Songs for six-part male chorus and piano, and Exordium, performed by pianist Nathan Hess, formerly of the Fredonia School of Music faculty. Also on the program is a set of variations based on a theme from Dr. Bohlen’s Recollections from Childhood, written and performed by his current students: Jamie Sampson, D.J. Brady, Phil Servati, Jeffrey Borowiec, Chris Sobolewski, Ms. Thompson, Mr. Hunt, Adam Shanley and Andrew Smith.
Alumni composers whose works will be featured are James Piorkowski, a member of the Fredonia School of Music guitar faculty, and Lisa Brigantino, a Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter.
Performers also include Mr. Piorkowski, Ms. Brigantino, faculty member Eric Wills, and students Mr. Hunt (alto saxophone), Mr. Borowiec (piano), Mr. Smith (clarinet), Mr. Sampson (bassoon) and Mr. Brady (piano).
Dr. Bohlen, a native of Saskatchewan, Canada, has spent most of his adult career in the United States. He has written for a wide variety of musical media including choral works, chamber music, compositions for solo piano, opera, and music for film. Autumn Variations, scored for piano, B-flat clarinet and bassoon, received its premiere performance by the Tremani Trio at SUNY Fredonia. He is currently at work on Crystal Gold, a four-movement concerto for piano and wind-percussion ensemble.
Dr. Bohlen has been a member of the Fredonia School of Music faculty since 1974, where he heads the composition program, now nationally recognized for the training of young composers. He founded the student-run Ethos New Music Society to promote 20th and 21st century music, and for 30 years the group has been performing and premiering both standard modern repertoire and compositions by students and faculty at SUNY Fredonia.
