Trans-Nebraska Players take to the Kimball Recital Hall stage Saturday
calendar icon24 Sep 2013
The Trans-Nebraska Players, a 5-piece chamber ensemble from three different Nebraska collegiate institutions, performs at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 in Kimball Recital Hall. The performers are Franziska Brech, flute, and Noah Rogoff, cello, from UNK; David C. Neely, violin, and Clark Potter, viola, from UNL; and pianist James Margetts from Chadron State University.
To be performed are: Baroque composer Johann Gottlieb Janitsch's Quartet in G minor, David Diamond's Quintet in B minor, the Nebraska premiere of Haunted Houses of the Vieux Carre, a piece commissioned by the group from California composer and violinist, Maria Newman, and My Elephant Cloud, by Oliver Caplan.
“We didn't set out to form an ensemble that would be hold a banner for the idea of different state institutions working together, but we certainly are that,” Potter said. "We got together eventually out of our love for chamber music, but it all started with Franziska driving to Lincoln for her sons' violin lessons with David. Then they asked me if I would be willing to go to Kearney to play a trio on Franzi's recital with David, and of course, I was interested. Then we found ourselves trying to figure out how to continue making music together, which over time, meant adding Noah and Jim."
Though the ensemble has been together for more than two years, this performance marks their first full-length performance in Lincoln. Cost of the event is General Admission $5; Students/Seniors $3. The group had a very busy summer of 2013 performing at two national festivals. In June, they performed a recital of music of women composers at the Canadian National Flute Association convention in Toronto, and in August, they played the world premiere of Haunted Houses of the Vieux Carre at the American Flute Association convention in New Orleans.
Maria Newman, composer of Haunted Houses…, is a friend of Potter's and is the youngest child of the renowned 9-time Academy Award winning Hollywood composer and music director, Alfred Newman, and the cousin of the equally-famous Randy Newman. Schooled in violin and composition at the Eastman School and Yale University, Maria is terrific composer in her own right and the winner of 15 consecutive ASCAP awards. Haunted Houses of the Vieux Carre is a three-movement work, with each movement inspired by a particular haunted house in the New Orleans French Quarter. (New Orleans is widely considered to be the 'most haunted' city in the nation!) The Trans-Nebraska Players visited each of the houses (at night, no less!) featured in the piece during their recent trip to New Orleans to perform the work.