FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (1/04)
Contact: Hurley School of Music, 318-869-5235, or Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

New Friends of Music Concert Set for Feb. 8 at Centenary College to Feature 'Grooves and Vamps'

SHREVEPORT, LA —Thomas Hundemer's "Grooves and Vamps" for flute, viola and cello will be featured Sunday, Feb. 8 when the New Friends Chamber Players appear in concert at Centenary College. The concert will be held at 3 p.m. in the Anderson Auditorium of the Hurley Music Building. It is a part of this year’s Friends of Music Concert Series.

Hundemer is instructor of music composition at Centenary and principal horn of the Shreveport Symphony.

"From performing in the pit for a number of musical shows over the years, I've developed a fascination for vamps (also called safeties) -- generally musically unimportant, but often catchy, musical passages repeating a few seconds of a usually rhythmic idea over and over until the scene change is done, or the actors are in place, etc.,” Hundemer said. “The feeling of suspension of the musical (dramatic) action or standing in place for a time is one of the generating ideas for 'Grooves and Vamps.' Each piece in this set has a particular feel, or groove, and also lapses from time to time into vamps, or vamp-like moments, before continuing on with the flow of the music.”

This idea is carried to its fullest in the final movement, which is nothing but a series of vamps. The 'grooves' are borrowed in general more from the jazz or rock and roll world than the 'classical,' although three of the movements' grooves are mini-homages to specific composers (Tchaikovsky, Chick Corea and Gyorgy Ligeti).

“And there are numerous nods in all of the pieces to various composers and styles,” he said. “The overall mood and intent of the music is to give the listener a diversion -- as a divertimento, which was one of my initial decisions about 'Grooves and Vamps.'"

Also on the program

Also on the program will be Trio in A Minor for oboe, horn, and piano, Op. 188 by Carl Reinecke; Songpath from Movements for Clarinet by Curt Veeneman; Lullaby for clarinet and cello by Howard Skempton; and Trio in B Flat Major for clarinet, cello, and piano, Op. 11 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Hundemer and cellist Ruth Drummond are leaders of the New Friends group. Other members are Sally Horak, flute; Theresa Zale Bridges, oboe; Borys Smolaga, viola; Thomas Phillips, clarinet; and Gay Grosz, piano.

Admission

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for non-Centenary students. It is free to Centenary faculty, staff and students with Centenary IDs. For further information, contact Centenary’s Hurley School of Music at 318-869-5235.

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