Campus Connection

Performance is part of La Crosse New Music Festival

A Mexican-born composer who is on the Juilliard School of Music faculty is coming to speak and perform at UW-La Crosse. Samuel Zyman, a 2017 Visiting Artist of Color, will give a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3, in Annett Recital Hall, Center for the Arts, 333 N. 16th St. He will give a concert at 7:30, which will include an improvisation selection. The events, which close the 2017 La Crosse New Music Festival, are free and open to all. The concert will feature UWL faculty members Jonathan Borja on flute, Mary Tollefson on piano and Derek Clark on cello. Zyman has written extensively for flute and cello. He is known for combining neo-romantic harmonies, jazz, Latin rhythms and lyrical melodies. [caption id="attachment_50082" align="aligncenter" width="444"] UWL faculty performing with Zyman include, from left, Derek Clark, cello; Jonathan Borja, flute; and, Mary Tollefson, piano.[/caption] The concert will include Zyman’s “1st Sonata for Flute and Piano” composed in 1994, his “Fantasy for Cello and Piano” composed in 2004, and his 2016 “Suite de la Mancha for Flute, Cello, and Piano.” Zyman received early training in his native Mexico City and earned master’s and doctoral degrees from the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, where he began teaching in the late ’80s. Zyman’s music has been performed worldwide with artists such as tenor Plácido Domingo and cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Carlos Prieto; ensembles such as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, Paris Sinfonietta and the National Orchestra of Argentina; and all major orchestras in Mexico. The La Crosse New Music Festival begins Tuesday, Oct. 31, and runs through Friday, Nov. 3, with free performances at 7:30 p.m. daily in Annett Recital Hall. Along with the UWL Music Department, the event is sponsored by the UWL College of Liberal Studies and School of Arts and Communication, along with the Wisconsin Alliance for Composer, a non-profit, tax-exempt Wisconsin corporation founded in 1984 to encourage and support the composition and performance of new music by Wisconsin composers. More information about the festival can be found at www.uwlax.edu/music.