{"id":144359,"date":"2018-12-10T08:09:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T13:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=144359"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:03:24","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:03:24","slug":"uconn-symphony-premieres-african-american-composers-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/12\/uconn-symphony-premieres-african-american-composers-work\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Symphony Premieres African-American Composer’s Work"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The UConn Symphony Orchestra performance on Dec. 6 featured the two student winners of the Concerto Competition, the East Coast premiere of Scott Joplin's 'Overture to Treemonisha,' and the premiere of Margaret Bonds' 'The Montgomery Variations.' (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_9302<\/div>
The UConn Symphony Orchestra performance on Dec. 6 featured the two student winners of the Concerto Competition, the East Coast premiere of Scott Joplin's 'Overture to Treemonisha,' and the premiere of Margaret Bonds' 'The Montgomery Variations.' (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Eric<\/a>
Eric Rice, head of the music department, offers words of encouragement to the orchestra before their performance on Dec. 6. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_8798<\/div>
Eric Rice, head of the music department, offers words of encouragement to the orchestra before their performance on Dec. 6. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"James<\/a>
James He \u201921 (CLAS), a molecular and cell biology major, warms up before the concert. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_8806<\/div>
James He \u201921 (CLAS), a molecular and cell biology major, warms up before the concert. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Trombonist<\/a>
Trombonist Nick Stanton \u201921 (SFA) practices before going onstage. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_8817<\/div>
Trombonist Nick Stanton \u201921 (SFA) practices before going onstage. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Paul<\/a>
Paul McSchee, director of orchestral studies, conducts the orchestra in a performance of 'Overture to Treemonisha' by Scott Joplin. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_8883<\/div>
Paul McSchee, director of orchestral studies, conducts the orchestra in a performance of 'Overture to Treemonisha' by Scott Joplin. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Brian<\/a>
Brian Roach, leader of the first violin section, helps orchestra members tune their instruments before they begin their next piece \u2026 (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_8943<\/div>
Brian Roach, leader of the first violin section, helps orchestra members tune their instruments before they begin their next piece \u2026 (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"\u2026<\/a>
\u2026 which was the first movement of 'Violin Concerto in D Minor' by Jean Sibelius, with soloist Andy Peng, a graduate student pursuing a doctorate of fine arts in violin performance, who was this year's Concerto Award recipient. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_8970<\/div>
\u2026 which was the first movement of 'Violin Concerto in D Minor' by Jean Sibelius, with soloist Andy Peng, a graduate student pursuing a doctorate of fine arts in violin performance, who was this year's Concerto Award recipient. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Andy<\/a>
Andy Peng receives a standing ovation after his performance and flowers from his family. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_9085<\/div>
Andy Peng receives a standing ovation after his performance and flowers from his family. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Aria<\/a>
Aria Award recipient Teryn Kuzma '19 (SFA), a music performance major and critically acclaimed soprano vocalist, sang 'O w\u00e4r ich schon' from Beethoven\u2019s 'Fidelio' and 'Una donna a quindici anni' from Mozart\u2019s 'Cosi fan Tutte.' (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_9152<\/div>
Aria Award recipient Teryn Kuzma '19 (SFA), a music performance major and critically acclaimed soprano vocalist, sang 'O w\u00e4r ich schon' from Beethoven\u2019s 'Fidelio' and 'Una donna a quindici anni' from Mozart\u2019s 'Cosi fan Tutte.' (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Teryn<\/a>
Teryn Kuzma, a senior pursuing a bachelor of fine arts in music performance and a critically acclaimed soprano vocalist, was the recipient of the Aria Award. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_9230<\/div>
Teryn Kuzma, a senior pursuing a bachelor of fine arts in music performance and a critically acclaimed soprano vocalist, was the recipient of the Aria Award. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"Conductor<\/a>
Conductor Paul McShee recounts a history of Margaret Bonds, a composer and activist who wrote during the 1950s and \u201860s, and whose composition \u201cMontgomery Variations\u201d was debuted on Dec. 6. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div>
Music_P2A_9280<\/div>
Conductor Paul McShee recounts a history of Margaret Bonds, a composer and activist who wrote during the 1950s and \u201860s, and whose composition \u201cMontgomery Variations\u201d was debuted on Dec. 6. (Lucas Voghell \u201920 (CLAS)\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The UConn Symphony Orchestra premiered the performance of a previously unknown composition by the pioneering African-American composer Margaret Bonds as part of its 2018 Aria\/Concerto Competition Winners program on Thursday, Dec. 6 at von der Mehden Recital Hall.<\/p>\n

Bonds wrote \u201cThe Montgomery Variations\u201d as a tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. but never heard the work performed. The score was among Bonds\u2019 estate items following her death and was discovered among materials in the Bonds archives at Georgetown University Library.<\/p>\n

A musical prodigy, in 1933 Bonds became the first African American soloist to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra when she was 20 years old and later played a key role in the development of 20th-century classical and musical theater.<\/p>\n

The program also featured the East Coast premiere of Scott Joplin\u2019s \u201cOverture to Treemonisha,\u201d as well as the two winners of this year\u2019s Concerto Competition.<\/p>\n

Doctoral candidate Andy Peng played the first movement of the \u201cSibelius Violin Concerto,\u201d and senior music major Teryn Kuzma sang \u201cO w\u00e4r ich schon\u201d from Beethoven\u2019s \u201cFidelio\u201d and \u201cUna donna a quindici anni\u201d from Mozart\u2019s \u201cCosi fan Tutte.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Symphony Orchestra Aria\/Concerto performance was part of UConn\u2019s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the African American Cultural Center.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The evening also highlighted the two student winners of this year’s Concerto Competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":144363,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1711,69,1914,2225,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1918],"class_list":["post-144359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-gallery","category-sfa","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 07:16:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144359"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144362,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144359\/revisions\/144362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/144363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144359"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=144359"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=144359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}