NEWS FROM THE COLLEGE Building Bridges with Beethoven This fall marks a milestone for the Building Bridges project, an initiative that violinist and Associate Professor of Violin Corinne Stillwell started three years ago, focusing on the complete string quartets of Beethoven. Over the course of nine off-campus concerts, she has performed these 16 works in collaboration with 46 advanced string students from FSU, encouraging them to use chamber music to connect with a wider community. Collaborating organizations for the project have included B-Sharps Jazz Cafe, Classical Revolution Tallahassee, Faith Presbyterian Church, Music For Food, Unitarian Universalist Church, and the Second Harvest of the Big Bend. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, she was able to complete the last three quartets this fall over Zoom for an audience at FSU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. What a great way to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, as well as showcase the wonderful string students at FSU!
A Celebration of African American Composers performers (left to right) Mikayla Rogers, Martha Murrane, Joseph Bowman, Lorenzo Johnson, Liliana Guerrero, Melissa Johnson, Levi Gerke, and Emilie O’Connor.
A Celebration of African American Composers In February, Professor of Voice Marcía Porter organized and presented the second annual Celebration of African American Composers featuring graduate student performances. Art songs and spirituals encompassing three centuries of vocal writing by African Americans showcased a richness of variety and expression.
Choral Activities
(Left to right) Kristin Pfeifer Yu, Laurel Yu, Adam Collins, Corinne Stillwell, Shelby Thompson, Jack Flores, and Marianna Brickle are all smiles before the first concert.
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Florida State University
The FSU Chamber Choir and University Singers joined forces with the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra in the premier of Jocelyn Hagen’s Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci in a February concert. The composer also spent the afternoon working with the choirs as they sang Hagen’s I Lift Up My Eyes and Hands as well. The choral area also hosted Minnesota composer and conductor, Jake Runestad, who worked with conducting students and led the Men’s Glee, Women’s Glee and University Singers in a performance of his works.
