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RICHARD LAVENDA TO PREMIERE TWO NEWLY WRITTEN PIECES
Office of News and Media Relations
Ellen Chang
Media Relations Specialist
713-348-6777
Email: ellenc@rice.edu
When Richard Lavenda composed his two most recent pieces, he had the added benefit of working with three highly acclaimed performers who gave him feedback.
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Their insight proved to be invaluable, said Lavenda, professor of composition and theory at the Shepherd School of Music. It's their advice that helps hone and polish a piece and helps avoid awkward and unnecessary technical difficulties. "[Their assistance was] very helpful and satisfying," Lavenda said. "It's a really nice aspect of being on this faculty." His piece, "Flight of Fancy," will premiere at 8 p.m. Oct. 15 in Duncan Recital Hall, Alice Pratt Brown Hall. The piece will be performed by William Ver Meulen, associate professor of horn, and Jon Kimura Parker, professor of piano.
Ver Meulen commissioned Lavenda to write the piece last spring. Lavenda composed the piece during the summer and wrote it to fit Ver Meulen's style. He also customized the piece with Ver Meulen's input and insight.
"That sort of insight is really valuable to a composer," Lavenda said. "It makes the piece better. It's satisfying and gratifying to have the performance faculty interested in what we do. Those are world-class performers. I know it's going to be great."
The seven-minute piece is comprised of one movement. It is rhythmically charged and is a piece that exudes high energy, he said. The piece will also be performed at a SYZYGY concert, New Music at Rice, Oct. 28 in Duncan Recital Hall. Lavenda's second premiere, "The Language Between Us," is an a cappella piece the Shepherd Singers will perform at a concert Oct. 25 in Stude Concert Hall. He composed the piece after reading several poems written by poet Steve Klepetar. Since most of Klepetar's poems are rather lengthy, Lavenda chose a couple of lines from three poems that he found to be striking and created his own "poem."
"They seemed to go together well for me, and Steve liked what I did," he said. The language of the poems was "very direct and simple," Lavenda said. The words lent themselves to the mood, creating an introspective mood that is expressed in the music. The five-minute piece has a lyrical texture and sound.
He also worked with Thomas Jaber, associate professor of music and director of the choral ensembles at Rice, who gave him suggestions that would help make the piece even more effective.
"I think it's a beautiful song," Lavenda said. "It's very different from the horn and piano piece, but I think people who hear them will recognize that the same person wrote them both."
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