Department of Music faculty recital set for Nov. 17

Four members of the Bemidji State University Department of Music faculty will present a free recital on Saturday, Nov. 17.

The recital will feature soprano Linda Wagner, flutist Susan Nelson, and percussionist Eric Sundeen, all adjunct faculty in music, and Dr. Erika Svanoe, assistant professor of music. Wayne Hoff will accompany on piano. The recital will begin at 3 p.m. in the Thompson Recital Hall of the Bangsberg Fine Arts Complex; admission is free.

The program features unusual combinations, like flute and marimba, and works for voice with instruments, and will include works by both contemporary American and British composers and traditional 19th-century pieces.

Linda Wagner will perform “La Regata Veneziana,” a set of songs in Venetian dialect by Italian opera composer Gioacchino Rossini; Franz Schubert’s “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock” for soprano, clarinet and piano; and “From the Song of Songs,” by the contemporary British composer Richard Blackford.

Susan Nelson will play “Andante pastoral et Scherzettino” by French composer Paul Taffanel and two works by American composers – “Five Short Pieces” for flute and piano by Bernard Heiden and “Duo” for flute and marimba by Seymour Barab.

About Linda Wagner
Linda Wagner, an adjunct instructor of voice, is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and Bemidji State, a retired elementary music teacher and the choir director at the Bemidji United Methodist Church. She has performed throughout Minnesota and internationally, and is a former winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. She also won the title of Ms. Senior America, 2007.

About Susan Nelson
Since coming to Bemidji in 1987, Susan Nelson has been a flute teacher, performer in faculty chamber music recitals and with the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra and an instructor in programs for the Region 2 Arts Council, the Five Wings Arts Council and the Bemidji State University MusiCamp. She has been an adjunct instructor of flute at Bemidji State since 1994 and has authored several articles and a book on historical flute recordings.

About Dr. Erika Svanoe
Dr. Erika Svanoe, Bemidji State’s director of bands, is originally from Whitewater, Wis. She earned her doctorate in conducting from the Ohio State University, where she served as the doctoral teaching associate for OSU Bands. She also has been the director of athletic bands at the University of New Hampshire where she directed the UNH Wildcat Marching Band and Pep Band.

About Eric Sundeen
Eric Sundeen is an adjunct professor of percussion at Bemidji State and also serves as percussion coordinator at both Grand Rapids High School and Bemidji High School. Eric has performed internationally and has been a member of the Minneapolis-based percussion ensemble CRASH since 1997. In addition to his teaching duties, he teaches various classes and clinics and plays in the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra and in two bands. He earned his undergraduate degree from St. Cloud State University.

For more information, visit the Department of Music, (218) 755-2915.