Norman Weinberg percussion concert

NEWS RELEASE: TWO WORLD PREMIERES AND OTHER NEW EVENT:
NORMAN WEINBERG, percussion, with TOMOKO UCHINO, piano, MARK RUSH, violin, and KELLAND THOMAS, saxophone
1999-2000 Faculty Artist Series
Presented by the School of Music and Dance in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona in Tucson

DATE/TIME:
Monday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m.

PLACE:
Crowder Hall, Music Building, UA Campus -- at the south end of the pedestrian underpass on Speedway Boulevard east of Park Avenue

TICKETS:
$10 general
$8 UA employee
$6 senior (55 and over)
$5 student (with valid student ID card)
Tickets are available through the UA Fine Arts Box Office, 621-1162.

CONTACTS:
Media -- Norman Weinberg, 621-7026
Public -- MusiCall, 621-2998

The concert, featuring percussionist Norman Weinberg, will include two world premieres and works for solo percussion and chamber pieces written within the last few years.

The first world premiere is by local composer Richard McCandless. Completed just last month, "Voyager" takes its inspiration from recent space explorations. It is scored for two cymbals, six tom-toms, two bass drums and pre-recorded tape.

The second world premiere, "Pursuing the Emerald Scintillate," by Michael Timpson is written for marimba, violin and alto saxophone. UA professors Mark Rush, violin, and Kelland Thomas, saxophone, join Weinberg for this exciting and exotic piece. With movements titled, Shinto, SUFI/Bharata Natyam, Rangoon and Shinawi-Pan'sori, world musical cultures are brought to mind in unique tonal paintings.

"Call of the Boromir," by Daniel McCarthy, features Weinberg on the marimba with Keith Johnson, UA professor of horn. Composed in 1996, the work is titled after J.R.R. Tolkien's character from "The Lord of the Rings." Another work inspired by literature, "Matre's Dance" by Ioanis Psathas, is also included in the concert. Here the musical vision comes from the well known science fiction novel, "Dune." Scored for multiple percussion and piano, Weinberg will be joined in its presentation by pianist Tomoko Uchino.

Nebojsa Zivkovic's "Les Violins Morts" for solo marimba is a moody work that is provocative and poignant. Eric Bikales' "Galactic Groove" closes the program. Written in a popular style, Weinberg performs the piece on a totally electronic percussion set-up called a DrumKat, which enables him to perform as a one-man band.

Weinberg, associate professor and director of percussion studies at the University of Arizona, has performed as the principal timpanist/principal percussionist with the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra and as principal timpanist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Evansville Philharmonic, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra and the Leonard Bernstein Festival Orchestra.
A prolific author, Weinberg also has been awarded grants to research the viability of using electronic percussion instruments as a teaching tool and has presented seminars at many regional, national and international conventions. He received the prestigious Performer's Certificate from Indiana University, where he received the Master of Music degree in percussion performance with honors and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree.