Children’s concert, tenor’s recital to take center stage

The return of an internationally acclaimed tenor is one of the highlights of the Music Department’s fall concert schedule.

Raul Melo, MM ’92, will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 9, at the Osterhout Concert Theater. He will be accompanied by pianist Michael Recchiuti. The “Reunion Recital” is co-sponsored by the Music Department and Alumni Association and also will be part of Homecoming 2010.

“(Melo) has gone on to a very successful career,” said Timothy Perry, professor and chair of the Music Department. “He hasn’t been heard in the area for a number of years.”

Melo made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in the 2005-06 season as the Duke in Rigoletto. Besides the Met, he has performed with companies such as the Hamburg State Opera, Zurich State Opera and the Washington Opera. Melo also has been featured on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.

It is important for current students and the community to see the growth of artists for whom the University laid the foundation, Perry said.

“As more of our alumni achieve success in the national and international field, we want to bring them back and allow people to hear them and see what has happened to them,” he said. “We can blow our horn a little bit.”

October will also see the return of the University Symphony Orchestra’s Children’s Concert. The “All Creatures” concert will be performed for school groups at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 15, at the Osterhout Concert Theater and for the general public at 2 p.m. Oct. 16, at the same location. The orchestra will use the folk tale Peter and the Wolf to demonstrate how fish and fowl find musical movement.

The biennial concert, which Perry established when he arrived on campus in 1986, provides some elementary-school children with their first experience with an orchestra. Students get to hear individual instruments, learn how music communicates information and then get tips for what to listen for in the showcase piece.

“We try to establish listening skills for young people that will help them put music in context,” Perry said.

This year’s concert will incorporate children’s artwork in the show and possibly on promotional posters and in the hallways of the concert site.

The season will kick off at 8 p.m. Sept. 30, at FA-Casadesus, with a Friedheim Memorial Lecture/Recital Series performance. The event will focus on Charles Ives’ The Alcotts. The third movement of Ives’ famous piano sonata will feature speaker Chilton Foley-Reynolds and pianist Stephen Zank. A second Friedheim series event is scheduled for 8 p.m. Nov. 18.

The 90-minute talk and concert offers background about the piece and information about the composer to go with the performance.

“It’s a way for people to find out about the piece and what musicians do when they perform a piece,” Perry said. “It’s an opportunity to establish a framework for a deeper and fuller enjoyment of great music.”

The discussion component has been such a success that Perry said he may expand talks to events such as University Orchestra concerts.

“We’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from people who have said how enjoyable (the Friedheim series) is and how they were able to take away a richer experience from that kind of event,” he said.

For more information about the Music Department season, go to music.binghamton.edu.