Celebrating Music received a fabulous review in the Long Beach Gazette. Jim Ruggirello wrote about Daphis et Chloe, “The winds in particular were phenomenal. I don’t usually review performances by individual students, but here let me give a shout-out to flutist Melissa Hulett, who knocked the famous solo out of the park.” And of the Mozart, “The fortissimo sections were thrillingly powerful, while the quieter passages were beautifully balanced and quite noticeably lovely. Talberg even managed somehow to create a nice reverberant echo in the Carpenter’s dry acoustic.”
Category Archives: Performances
Rolling Stones
The BCCM Choir’s performance with the Rolling Stones last night was deemed a “highlight” of the show by Yahoo Music. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” was the first encore at the SRO-Staples Center Opening of the 50 and Counting Tour.
You can watch a video of the tune here.
PST Headlines for the Oceanside Jazz Festival
Pacific Standard Time, directed by Christine Guter, was the headliner act for the Oceanside Jazz Festival last weekend at Mira Costa College. The festival has always engaged a professional ensemble to be the headliner, but this year PST was asked by the director of the festival to have the prime spot.
Noted jazz educator, Kelly Kunz, wrote, “I was sitting here today thinking again about your concert last night. It was with no doubt, the best vocal jazz choir I’ve ever heard. Great charts, strong rhythm section, great ensemble singing, really good sound, intonation and balance, tight, energetic and entertaining, the whole 9 yards. I’m not one to gush or heap praise all that much, but I’m left without too many other words. Your work, your group and those kids were so inspiring and have clearly become the model that others should be looking to. It was joyous for me to witness such a high level of musical and personal integrity.”
Select Graduating Vocalists to back up Rolling Stones
Select graduating vocalists will be singing with the Rolling Stones on May 3rd. The concert, at Staples Center, kicks of the Stones’ “50 & Counting Tour.” Dr. Jonathan Talberg will be conducting.
Sometimes you get what you want…
University Percussion Group takes First in California PAS
Congratulations to The University Percussion Group who placed first in the California PAS (Percussion Arts Society) College Percussion Ensemble Competition. They are pictured with a new Yamaha snare drum awarded to the first-place ensemble from Yamaha Percussion. Six ensembles competed from BCCM, CSU Sacramento, San Jose, Bob Allen Music, Fullerton, and Chapman.
Congratulations to Nick Gilroy as well, who placed second in the solo College Multi-Percussion Division. The University Percussion Group just completed their first tour, performing at the California Day of Percussion in Fresno on April 19.
Dr. Gerhart gave a presentation at the conference entitled “The 21st Century Percussionist: Today, Tomorrow, and the Future.”
North American Sax Alliance at BCCM
BCCM hosted the North American Sax Alliance conference last week. Among the highlights were the Alloy Wind Duo (James and Janelle Barrera) premiering Christopher Caliendo’s arrangement of Por Siempre Para Siempre for Flute, Saxophone, and Piano.
The BCCM Saxophone Quartet, which on the district and regional MTNA competition and competed at the nationals for best Woodwind Chamber Group, performed and the conference closed with a performance by the full BCCM Saxophone Ensemble.
National Trumpet Competition Video Posted
The Official National Trumpet Competition video of the BCCM Trumpet Ensemble has been posted. You can view it here:
CSULB’s Trumpet Ensemble Gains National Attention with Third Place Win
Everything Long Beach ran a terrific article about the BCCM Trumpet Ensemble’s Third Place showing in the National Trumpet Competition. Pictured to the left are Kurt Peregrine, Esther Hood, and Tony Belletti. They were joined by Devin Henderson, Jackson Niebrugge, Drew Ninmer, and soloist Casey Martin
“This weekend we showed the country what Long Beach music is all about. Nobody saw us coming, but we came and we conquered…It was so amazing to hear how much everyone enjoyed the music we played and how well they thought we did. Never have I been so proud to call myself a Long Beach trumpet player,” said Casey Martin in the article.
We have a lot to be proud of, and as Rob Frear stated, “Their training and professionalism was apparent throughout the weekend both in their level of performance and their wonderful demeanor. The piece they played, the Moffett-Klein Phenomenon, is a tour-de-force among trumpet ensemble compositions, and was by far the hardest piece presented this year, in my opinion. Casey Martin played the treacherous solo part with apparent ease.”
CJO On Tour
The BCCM Concert Jazz Orchestra, CJO, returns from tour today. They were in the Seattle (WA) area to perform several joint concerts with jazz bands from International School the Bellevue HS (Bellevue WA), Glacier Peak HS and Snohomish HS (Snohomish WA). Jarvis and members of the CJO will provide several clinics for students from the various schools. The tour will culminate with an invitation to perform at the Frontier Jazz Festival in Graham WA. The second half of the CJO’s festival program will feature trumpet sensation Byron Stripling (former lead trumpeter for Count Basie, and artistic director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra).
TED2013 Performance Video
The BCCM Chamber Choir sang for Grammy-winning composer Eric Whitacre’s final speech of TED2013, performing Cloudburst. The video is here.
Audience members included such luminaries as former Vice-President Al Gore, Actresses Goldie Hawn and Cameron Diaz, and entrepreneur Elon Musk. This first-of-its-kind collaboration between live choir and satellite (Skype) choir follows Whitacre’s ‘virtual choir’ videos—seen by more than 4 million people around the world.
BCCM undergraduates Beth Wightwick and Jake Tickner were selected by the composer to perform the solos. Stephen Salts, graduate choral assistant, prepared the ensemble for this performance of Cloudburst.