On the first Friday of every month, faculty members from UW-Eau Claire gather to perform musical pieces by Carl Reineke, Connor Chee, Clémence de Grandval and Edouard Destenay at the Pablo Center at the Confluence to share their art with the Eau Claire community.
In February’s iteration of the First Fridays Faculty Series, “Trios from the Late-Romantic Era,” seven performers took to the stage: Lori Cruciani (piano), Christa Garvey (oboe), Alyssa Powell (clarinet), Tulio Rondón (cello), Corinne Vasquez (horn), Alex Wistrand (bassoon) and Alexander Woods (piano).
The performers were able to assemble this rich and polished concert in only a few rehearsals, some while dealing with illness, the start of the semester and busy schedules, according to Garvey.
The First Fridays Series is entirely volunteer based, and Garvey, the curator and coordinator this month, said it is love for music that drives the series, not only from the performers but also from the community.
Both Garvey and Powell said many audience members have helped make this into a monthly tradition. Garvey said accessible concerts like these are of great value to students and the greater community.
After the performance, a group of four clarinet students affirmed the technical brilliance of the recital and shared their personal love for romantic era music, lauding its range in terms of emotions and of sound.
Haley Herem, Hugh Gaston, Kaitlynn Moore and Micaela Huesemann said they attend regularly, and they are only one example of the excitement that such a program brings to the community. According to Powell, there are many audience members dedicated to attending every concert.
Because the community is so central to this performance, the music department and the curators of this series have taken active steps to ensure they are reflected in what is performed, according to Garvey.
Garvey said that back in 2012, Gretchen Peters, a professor of music in the department, and a student carried out a project in which they analyzed every program ever performed by the music department.
The results, Garvey said, were enlightening, with nearly all of the pieces being composed by white men, typically deceased.
Garvey said that in response to the findings, the musicians now make a conscious effort to look beyond the obvious to create a more representative portrait of musical history when curating a recital like “Trios from the Late-Romantic Era.”
This initiative was apparent in this concert, according to Garvey. She said that the second piece, “Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano,” was written by Connor Chee, a Navajo composer, only a few years ago. It was composed in the neo-Romantic style and celebrates that era while also providing a new perspective on timeless emotional themes.
In addition to being an important piece of such an initiative, this piece is also significant to the performers and to the Eau Claire community.Written into the program, “trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano” was the final piece performed at UW-Eau Claire by the late Trent Jacobs, a faculty member and bassoonist to whom the concert was dedicated.
Garvey said Jacobs was an accomplished performer full of “warmth and dedication,” which was never more apparent than in his “great passion for teaching.”
In this spirit of community and generosity, A new music scholarship funded by the UW-Eau Claire Foundation was announced at the event. The award is titled “Trent Jacobs Midwest Musical Imports Bassoonist Scholarship” and will be awarded to a bassoonist in the music department to help future musicians cultivate their creativity and innovation as Jacobs did.
In March, the First Fridays Series will continue with “Une soirée de musique française,” performed by Nathaniel Pierce on the cello and Nicholas Phillips on the piano.
Crist can be reached at cristes9272@uwec.edu.
