New works from two Glenn Korff School of Music alumni will be featured in “A Celebration of Music and Milestones, N150” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
The event will bring together 175 artists for an evening of live performance and multimedia entertainment celebrating the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s 150th anniversary.
Garrett Hope and David von Kampen have each been commissioned for a new work for the event.
Von Kampen has composed “Welcome Pioneers,” which will be performed by the University Singers and University Orchestra. The piece was commissioned by the Lied Center for Performing Arts and the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.
Doane University adjunct theatre faculty member Becky Boesen wrote the poem for the piece, which reflects the unique grit of Nebraskans and honors the legacy of future generations of Huskers.
“Being able to contribute to this piece of university history in lasting words is one of the greatest honors I’ve experienced,” Boesen said. “As a person who both attended the university and started my career as an artist at the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, this is truly the culmination of a journey and a reminder that UNL is a great place for creators to pursue their passions.”
Von Kampen, lecturer of music theory and literature in the Glenn Korff School of Music and director of the UNL Vocal Jazz Ensemble, says he’s honored to be a part of the celebration.
“It is a great opportunity and really exciting,” he said. “So many orchestras play old music, which is great, but for any orchestra to perform works by living composers and collaborate in that way is really special.”
Hope, also a lecturer of music theory and literature in the Glenn Korff School of Music, has composed a four-minute piece titled “Redlands” to accompany a dance choreographed by Associate Professor of Dance Susan Ourada. The piece is composed to represent the prairie landscape with sounds of emerging and settling loops.
Ourada’s dance is titled “Sea of Red” and will feature performers from her professional dance company sloDance, which includes dance alumni Bree Gibbs, Katie Heckman, Beth Jensen, Jordan Patt and Kathryn Hibbard Voight and former faculty member Noelle Bohaty.
“I am proud to be both a graduate and a faculty member here,” Hope said. “It’s an honor to be asked to be part of the celebration. Involving students gets me really excited. Some of the players are students who are in my classes right now and some are students that I’ve had in the past, so I feel like there are many connections throughout.”
Tickets for the event are $30 and are available for purchase on the Lied Center website, by phone at 402-472-4747 or at the Lied Center box office, 301 N. 12th St.
Students can purchase tickets at a 50 percent discount with a valid NCard, and children ages 18 and younger are also eligible for half-price tickets. A limited number of free Arts for All tickets are also available.
