As COVID restrictions continue to loosen, more live music and performances are coming to Shippensburg University. The Shippensburg University Department of Music and Theatre Arts began its Spring 2022 Chapel Series Concerts on Sunday.
The first of the series featured the Mowbray-Webber Guitar Duo on Sunday. Candice Mowbray and Danny Webber are two guitarists who incorporate many musical stylings into their work, including modern jazz standards, Renaissance music and inventions by Bach.
Mowbray and Webber performed an electric guitar duet by Cam Millar and the two’s transcription of “Fleurette Africaine” by Duke Ellington. This piece was a part of the “Seven Tones Project,” which called for filmmakers and musicians to create short films inspired by Ellington.
Tenor Christyan Seay will perform in Old Main Chapel on Sunday, March 27 at 3 p.m. This vocal recital includes works by composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Richard Strauss and George Frederick Handel.
Coleridge-Taylor was a Black composer and conductor in the early 1900s whose contributions to music and vast output of compositions are being rediscovered by musicians and vocalists.
Seay’s program is also set to include Broadway selections from “West Side Story,” “Curtains” and “Chess” and jazz/gospel African American spirituals arranged by David Neff and Norah Duncan. Fred Dade, an SU professor, will accompany Seay.
The final Chapel Series concert highlights violinist Blanka Bednarz on Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. Bednarz has performed across the globe throughout Europe, China and North America.
Joined by Margaret Lucia, an SU professor, on piano, Bednarz’ program includes a sonata for violin and piano by César Franck.
Mark Hartman, an SU professor, will also join the stage to perform “Suite for Two Violins” by Moritz Moszkowski.
Bednarz will also perform with the Shippensburg University-Community Orchestra in their rendition of the “Butterfly Lovers Concerto” on Sunday, April 24 at 3 p.m. in the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center.
All concerts are free and will be held in the Old Main Chapel located on the second floor of the Old Main Administration Building.
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