Lyceum Concert Series Features World-Renowned Flutist and University of Michigan Professor
by Devany Severin, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805
The Baylor University School of Music will continue the Lyceum Concert Series with performances and a symposium by Mariana Piccinini, world-renowned flutist, and H. Robert Reynolds, conductor and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan.
"The focus of the Lyceum Concert Series is on education," said Richard Veit, concert and promotions manager for the Baylor School of Music. The concert series is funded annually through the Meadows Foundation of Dallas and all events are free and open to the public.
Marina Piccinini, widely recognized as one of the world's leading flute virtuosos, will present three master classes as part of the Lyceum Concert Series from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, and from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 6, in the Meadows Recital Hall in Roxy Grove on Baylor's campus.
"Piccinini is a world-class performer with musicality that the audience will undoubtedly enjoy," said Veit.
Piccinini serves as professor of flute at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Piccinini made her debut as a performer when she won first prize in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Young Performers Competition, and a year later, first prize in New York's Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Since then, Piccinini has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony.
Piccinini also performs recitals world-wide and has received numerous awards and grants, including the National Endowments of the Arts Solo Recitalist Grant and the Avery Fisher Career Grant from the Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts.
Piccinini received her bachelor's of music and master's of music degrees from the Juilliard School where she studied with the legendary flutist Julius Baker.
H. Robert Reynolds, with more than 20 years of experience in conducting and teaching, will present a conducting symposium from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building on Baylor's campus. Reynolds will also appear as guest conductor during the Baylor Wind Ensemble concert at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 28, in Jones Concert Hall.
Reynolds is principal conductor of the wind ensemble at the University of Southern California. This appointment followed his retirement from 26 years of teaching at the University of Michigan, where he served as the Henry F. Thurnau professor of music, director of university bands and director of the division of instrumental studies.
Reynolds has conducted international recordings for Koch International, Pro Arte, Caprice and Deutsche Grammophon. In the United States, he has conducted at numerous halls, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center (New York), Orchestra Hall (Chicago) and Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.). In Europe, he conducted the premiere of an opera for La Scala Opera (Milan), and concerts at the Maggio Musicale (Florence), the Tonhalle (Zurich), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) as part of the Holland Festival, and at the 750th anniversary of the city of Berlin.
Reynolds is past president of the College Band Directors' National Association and the Big Ten Band Directors' Association. He has received numerous awards from organizations including Phi Mu Alpha, Kappa Kappa Psi, the National Band Association, the American School Band Directors' Association and the American Society of Composers. Currently he is one of three members serving on the National Awards Panel for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
For more information about the Lyceum Concert Series, call the Baylor School of Music at (254) 710-3991.