DENTON (UNT), Texas -- The University of North Texas Concert Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra will open the spring season with a joint concert — including a preview performance of the Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming concert at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio.
The Feb. 4 program includes conductor Clay Couturiaux leading the Concert Orchestra in Debussy’s Nocturnes, inspired by impressionist paintings. The Concert Orchestra will be joined by the sopranos and altos of the UNT Chamber Choir for the final movement. The Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Itkin, will perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 featuring Felix Olschofka, associate professor of violin; Strauss’s Don Juan, Op. 20; and Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine.
The concert will take place at 8 p.m. Feb. 4 (Saturday) in Winspear Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Center, located along the north side of Interstate 35E at North Texas Boulevard on the UNT campus. Tickets are $8 - $10 and will be on sale Jan. 23 (Monday). Call the Murchison box office at 940-369-7802 or visit www.theMPAC.com.
The Symphony Orchestra will present the same program at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 10 (Friday) in San Antonio at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention, which attracts more than 26,000 people from Texas and beyond. The state’s finest musicians are selected to perform at the TMEA convention, which is attended by music teachers from kindergarten through college and by students from across the state.
"This concert means a lot to us,” said James C. Scott, dean of the UNT College of Music. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to display the strengths of the UNT College of Music to the thousands of music students and teachers who will attend TMEA through featuring faculty violinist Felix Olschofka and programming virtuosic works such as Don Juan and Short Ride in a Fast Machine. It is also important, though, for us to demonstrate to our local constituencies that our Concert Orchestra, now in its third season, is a vital force in the college that can stand alongside our distinguished Symphony Orchestra as a second full-sized orchestra fully worthy of the public's attention."
About Felix Olschofka
Olschofka joined the UNT faculty in fall 2010 as associate professor of violin. He holds bachelor and master of music degrees from the Academy of Music "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, a performance diploma from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of California, San Diego.
After serving as the teaching assistant to Mauricio Fuks, Olschofka was appointed associate instructor of violin at Indiana University in 2002. From 2003 to 2010, he served on the faculty of the School of Music and Dance at San Diego State University. Olschofka was concertmaster of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra from 2000 to 2003 and assistant concertmaster of the Brandenburg Philharmonic in Potsdam, Germany, for its 1998-99 season. He has been the newly appointed concertmaster of the Ensemble du Monde and Festival Orchestra of the Saint-Georges International Music Festival since 2011.
Olschofka gives master classes at institutions such as Yale University, Eastman School of Music, Temple University, New York University, Florida International University, University of California Los Angeles, and more.
In 1993, Olschofka gave his international solo debut at the Seoul Arts Center with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra and he made his first recordings with the Seoul Symphony Orchestra for Korean television and radio. Since then he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in multiple concerts and festivals throughout Europe, South America, Mexico, South Korea, and the United States. His performances have been recorded and released by several radio and TV broadcasting stations such as NPR (USA), KBS (South-Korea), Megavision and ATB (South America), NRPR (Rumania), Deutsche Welle, ZDF, and WDR (Germany).
About the UNT College of Music
The highly comprehensive programs of the UNT College of Music enroll the largest number of music majors of any university in the country. The UNT College of Music is the choice of more than 1,600 music majors from all over the world who are pursuing a wide variety of specializations, including classical music performance, jazz studies, music education, composition, musicology, theory and ethnomusicology. The college provides a rich musical environment with 100 full-time faculty members, 200 adjuncts and graduate assistants, a vast music library, and more than 40 student ensembles. UNT music alumni populate every corner of the profession in this country and abroad.
What: The University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra and Concert Orchestra perform. David Itkin and Clay Couturiaux, conductors.
Program includes: Debussy’s Nocturnes; Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 featuring Felix Olschofka, associate professor of violin; Strauss’s Don Juan, Op. 20; and Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine.
When: 8 p.m. Feb. 4 (Saturday)
Where: Winspear Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Center, located along the north side of Interstate 35E at North Texas Boulevard on the UNT campus
Cost: $8/$10. Tickets go on sale Jan. 23 (Monday).