Whether you’re into classical or jazz or even something else, you’ve got an opportunity to be entertained. It’s the opening of music season, and there are three chances to hear different groups from the University of West Florida perform live during the next week.
The first opportunity to hear a performance is presented by the Runge Strings Orchestra and String Quintet. They will showcase works by Mozart, Vivaldi and Holst.
UWF’s Dr. Leonid Yanovskiy will conduct during the concert.
“Audiences can hear beautiful, gorgeous music from different eras. We are doing Baroque music by Vivaldi, and classical music by Mozart, and the 20th century piece by Gustav Holst,” he said.
The performance is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6 in the Music Hall at the Center for Fine and Performing Arts, Building 82 on the UWF Pensacola campus.
Your second chance to catch a live performance at UWF comes when the University Singers and Chamber Choir perform their season-opening concert called “Collaborations.” Their special guests will be the University of South Alabama Chorale.
Dr. Peter Steenblik, director of choral activities at UWF, said the structure of the show varies.
“So we’re combining with the University of South Alabama on this one, so we wanted to do a double choir piece. We’re opening the concert with … Psalm 100 in German, set for two choirs. So, it will be an us sing, they sing, us sing, they sing back and forth.”
Audiences can expect to hear a wide range of music at the concert.
“We are doing songs from Venezuela,” Steenblik said. “We’re doing some Renaissance pieces from England, Spain, Germany and Italy. We’re doing a piece from the Bahamas. We’re doing an American 21st century piece. We’re just exploring Western music in this concert, including North and South America.”
One student from the University Singers group, Donovan Black, said audiences can experience “a color palette of music that just moves the soul.”
“There will be a lot of different languages, but in all there is this humanism throughout the lyrics, throughout what we do and the expressions that we do. The audience needs to come and expect a beautiful concert with an idea of coming together and becoming one,” Black continued.
“Collaborations” starts at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 10 in the Music Hall located in the Center for the Fine and Performing Arts, Building 82, on the University of West Florida’s Pensacola Campus.
The third opportunity to hear a UWF musical group happens when the Jazz Ensemble plays a concert.
The evening focuses on instrumental jazz, and the group will present works by Miles Davis, Chick Corea and Benny Carter as well as pieces made famous by the Stan Kenton Orchestra and the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra and more.
The show begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11. It is in the Great Hall of the Commons, which is Building 22 on the Pensacola campus of UWF.
This article is part of a collaboration between WUWF and the UWF Center for Research and Economic Opportunity.