Becker to perform world premiere at upcoming recital
calendar icon07 Jan 2015
LINCOLN, Neb.— Glenn Korff School of Music Professor of Cello Karen Becker and guest pianist Jay Mauchley will perform the world premiere of Laurence Sherr’s Sonata for Cello and Piano: Mir zaynen do! as part of her recital on Thursday, January 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall.
Sherr will give a brief talk about his new work and UNL’s Associate Professor of Voice/Area Head for Voice Kate Butler will perform three Yiddish songs that were Sherr’s inspiration for the Sonata. Becker and Mauchley will also perform Richard Strauss’ Sonata for Cello and Piano.
The performance will be live webcast: https://arts.unl.edu/music/webcasts
Becker is an active soloist and avid chamber player, having performed throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Mexico and Puerto Rico. She is faculty artist with the Red Lodge Music Festival and has served as faculty artist with Ameropa Chamber Music Festival in Praque. In Prague she performed in a series of concerts in various venues throughout the city such as the prestigious Suk Hall at the Rudolfinum, Martinu Hall at the Academy of Music, and the Hall of Mirrors at the Klementinum.
Sherr is Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta. Sherr is active as a composer of Holocaust memorial music, and lecturer on music and the Holocaust. His composition Flame Language, based on poetry by survivor and Nobel laureate Nelly Sachs, was a top prizewinner in the 2010 Classical Lounge competition.
Renowned as a brilliant soloist and chamber musician, Mauchley has played hundreds of recitals to critical acclaim throughout the United States and Europe including numerous duo-piano concerts with his wife, Sandy. Dr. Mauchley earned the Master and Doctor of Music degrees in piano performance with “High Distinction” from Indiana University, where he studied with Professors Karen Shaw and Menahem Pressler. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Piano at the University of Idaho.