MUsic Mondays – “The B List”

The Marshall University School of Music will continue its lecture series, MUsic Mondays, at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27, at the Cellar Door, 905 3rd Ave. in Huntington. The 2019-2020 series, titled “The B List,” is exploring composers whose surnames begin with “B,” culminating in the fall of 2020 with an all-Beethoven series to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

The first lecture of the spring, “Setting the Scene: Vincenzo Bellini and the Bel Canto Aria,” will focus on the 19th-century opera composer Vincenzo Bellini and his beautiful melodies. Lead presenter Dr. Vicki Stroeher, professor of music history at Marshall, said Bellini was the quintessential composer of Italian bel canto opera.

“His long, flowing melodies possess a rarity of beauty that simultaneously displays the singer’s virtuosity and captures the character’s psychological mood,” Stroeher said. “But, the particular design of the scene within the opera also plays an important role in staging the aria’s emotional effect. We will look at the elements of bel canto melodies and the so-called ‘scene with aria.’”

In addition, Stroeher said, Yohan Yi, bass member of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, will attend the lecture.

“I am excited that our Joan C. Edwards Distinguished Professor in the Arts, Yohan Yi, bass, of the Metropolitan Opera will be with us,” she said. “Perhaps we can entice him to sing an aria.”

The spring lecture series will continue at the same time and place on the following Mondays:
• Feb. 17, “Seven Speakers on Love: Bernstein’s Serenade after Plato’s Symposium”
• March 16, “Dance ‘til you’re Baroque: Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2”
• April 20, “The Historiographical/Progressive Brahms: Listening Closely to His Symphony no. 4 in E minor, Mvt. IV.”

Seating is limited. Participants are invited to arrive early to enjoy conversation and purchase refreshments. Donations of $10, payable at the door, are welcomed and go to support student travel and research in the music program. Checks should be made payable to Marshall University.

For more information about MUsic Mondays, call the School of Music at 304-696-3117.