GKSOM students Niimori, Firkins recitals to be live webcast

calendar icon14 Nov 2018    

LINCOLN, Neb.— The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music has added two Student Showcase Recitals to the webcast schedule.

First on Sunday, November 18 at 5 p.m. from Kimball Recital Hall will be Wataru Niimori. Niimori presents various styles of music: jazz (duo for oboe and piano), classical music (string quartet), dance music (electronic music) collaboration with two dancers, and film scoring. All of the music is composed by Niimori.

Niimori actively works as a composer, arranger, pianist and educator in the U.S. and Japan. He is currently a doctoral candidate at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he studies composition for film and media with Professor Thomas Larson. His works include scores for a documentary, “Nebraska Stories: VIETNAM,” produced by Nebraska Educational Telecommunication (NET) and a short film selected by Omaha Film Festival 2018, “Central Incompetence.” His other works include arrangements for concert music, jazz, dance, and rock including “String Quartet No.1 in G Major,” “Piano Sonata for Two Pianos No.1,” “Emily Dickinson Song Cycle for Soprano voice, Alto saxophone and Piano,” “Song for Jessica (for the jazz big band),” and “Dance Project 2018.” Recently, he worked on strings arrangement for a rock band called Marc Neibauer, whose album will be released in Fall 2018.

Then on Tuesday, November 20 at 7 p.m. from Westbrook Recital Hall will be Drew Firkins.

”My recital consists of eight pieces I've written throughout my three and a half years of undergrad thus far,” Firkins said. ”Selections include a vocal solo, piano sonata, two choral pieces, two chamber pieces, a work for percussion ensemble, and an electronic piece. Imagery and emotion both tend to drive my compositional style, akin to Romantic era character pieces and programmatic music, so expect to hear lots of bright and contrasting colors throughout the program.”

Firkins is a freelance composer/arranger based out of Lincoln, NE. He is currently finishing his senior year at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he is majoring in in Music Education and Composition, with a minor in Music Technology. He is currently a director with the UNL Bathtub Dogs a cappella group and UNL Big Red Singers show choir, in addition to being a member of the Cornhusker Marching Band, Chamber Singers, and Symphonic Band. Drew studies composition with Dr. Greg Simon, and although he favors writing for large choral and instrumental ensembles, he enjoys composing electronic music and for small chamber ensembles as well. He also enjoys being an active arranger in the show choir world, arranging for over twenty high schools throughout the country.

Visit music.unl.edu the day of the performance for the live webcast link.