Award-winning Percussionist In Guest Recital Jan. 21

by Richard Veit

Blake Wilkins, director of percussion studies and assistant professor of music at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music and former percussionist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, will present a guest recital at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, in Meadows Recital Hall.
The program will open with the Sonata for Solo Marimba by Pierre Jalbert, composer-in residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra who now serves as associate professor of composition and music theory at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.
Wilkins will also play Rebonds (B), written in 1989 by Greek composer Iannis Xenakis, and Interzones, a work from 1996 by Bruce Hamilton, assistant professor of music theory and electroacoustic music at Western Washington University.
After intermission, Wilkins will present two other works dating from 1989--Nancy by Emmanuel Séjourné, head of the percussion department of the Strasbourg Conservatory, and Northern Lights by Eric Ewazen, composer-in-residence of the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble in New York City.
A strong advocate for the performance of new music, Wilkins has performed regularly with the University of Southern California's Contemporary Music Ensemble and the University of Oklahoma's New Century Ensemble, and he also co-founded El Dos, an experimental improvisation duo, with bassist Michael Lee.
Under his leadership, the Moores School Percussion Ensemble won the 2003 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition, and in 2004 the ensemble recorded its first compact disc, slated for commercial release this spring.
This guest recital is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at (254) 710-3991.