The Geldrich-Lowe-Pifer Trio will present a recital of works for clarinet, bassoon, and piano on Monday, October 7, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. in Holsclaw Hall. The recital is titled “All Combinations” and features a potpourri of pieces that showcase the trio’s members in multiple instrumental combinations.
The program opens with the three members performing Mikhail Glinka’s Trio Pathetique for clarinet, bassoon, and piano. Written in an operatic style that clearly confirm the influences of Glinka’s Italian contemporaries such as Donizetti, the four movement work is a dramatic showpiece for the three instruments. At the conclusion of the opening work, the members will then break off into combinations that couple the piano with the bassoon and clarinet, respectively. Lowe will perform Sicilienne et Allegro giocoso for bassoon and piano by Gabriel Grovlez and Geldrich will perform Bohuslav Martinů’s effervescent Sonatina for clarinet and piano
After a brief intermission, Lowe and Geldrich will perform Three Dialogues for clarinet and bassoon by the Norwegian composer Øistein Sommerfeldt. The work features both playful and pensive interchanges between the two instruments. Following the Sommerfeldt, Pifer will perform Alexander Tcherepnin’s evocative 10 Bagatelles, Op. 5 for solo piano. The recital will excitingly conclude with the trio coming back together one last time to perform Felix Mendelssohn’s Concert Piece No. 2 for clarinet, bassoon, and piano
About the Performers:
Peter Geldrich is Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Valdosta State University and serves as principal clarinet of the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra and the Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Mr. Geldrich plays 3rd/bass clarinet with Sinfonia Gulf Coast (FL) and the Charlotte Symphony (FL) and has served as guest principal clarinet with the Orquesta Sinfonica UANL in Monterrey, Mexico. As a featured soloist, Mr. Geldrich has appeared with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, the Montclair Symphony Orchestra (NJ), the VSU Wind Ensemble, and the Carolina Master Chorale.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Geldrich has performed in various regional, national, and international conferences as a member of the Geldrich-Lowe Duo, Scirocco Quartet, the Raging Reeds Wind Quartet, and the UF Wind Trio. As a member of the American Chamber Winds, Mr. Geldrich performed at the 2017 WASBE Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands and toured Italy during the summer of 2015. An advocate of new music, he has performed at the 2015 Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, the 2014 University of Florida Contemporary Music Festival, and has given world premieres of works by James M. David, Reed Hannah, Michael Pollo, and David Springfield.
Mr. Geldrich has studied with renowned orchestral clarinetists Loren Kitt, Mitchell Estrin, and Karl Leister. Mr. Geldrich received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Maryland, his Master of Music degree from the University of Florida, and is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Carolina where he studied with Joseph Eller.
Dr. Shannon Lowe is the Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Florida. Previously, she served as Associate Professor of Bassoon at Valdosta State University. She received her DMA degree in Bassoon Performance from SUNY Stony Brook, where she studied with Dr. Frank Morelli. She received her BM in Music Education degree with a Performer’s Certificate as well as her MM in Bassoon Performance degree from the University of Florida, under Dr. Arnold Irchai and Dr. Kim Woolly.
Currently, Dr. Lowe is the principal bassoonist of the Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with preeminent orchestras in the southeast such as the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. For six seasons, she was principal bassoonist of the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra and for eight seasons served as principal bassoonist in the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Lowe frequently performs at International Double Reed Society Conferences, and in July 2019 performed in two recitals at the IDRS Conference held in Tampa, Florida. She has participated in the Sarasota Music Festival and International Music Festival (Burgos, Spain), as well as performed at the prestigious Campos do Jordão International Music Festival (Brazil). Additionally, Dr. Lowe was a featured soloist with the both the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra and Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra on Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for winds and orchestra, and Michael Daugherty’s Dead Elvis, respectively.
On a side note, she is one of the few, if not only one, to have performed the exposition of Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto for the captain (over speakerphone), crew, and passengers at over 30,000 feet on a late night Southwestern Airlines flight from NY to Florida.
Dr. Joshua Pifer is Assistant Professor of Piano and Keyboard Area Head at Valdosta State University. During the summer months, he serves as piano faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Festival. Prior coming to Valdosta State University, Dr. Pifer served at Auburn University, Florida State University, Wittenberg University, and the Orfeo Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy. Dr. Pifer’s major teachers were Antoinette Perry, Robert Thomas, and Robert Howat.
Praised for his “sensitivity,” “color,” and “depth” in performance, Dr. Pifer has appeared in concert in countries on three continents as well as 25 U.S. states. His first CD, “Alexander Tcherepnin My Favorite Piano Works” (released by Puros Records and co-produced with Chandler Bridges, a Grammy award winning recording engineer) was praised as “full of intensity and commitment” and “brilliant and original.” Dr. Pifer is the founding member of several chamber music ensembles: Plains2 with Dr. Matthew Wood, trombone; The Duo Echo with Jennifer Pifer, oboe; and The Oto Trio with Eleanor Pifer, violin, and Chikuen Kato, Japanese artist.
Dr. Pifer currently serves as President for the Alabama Music Teachers Association and is a strong advocate for increasing professional music opportunities for collegiate students. Dr. Pifer regularly presents lectures, clinics, and performances at professional conferences; his favorite presentations include “The Piano Music of Alexander Tcherepnin,” “Arm Usage and Injury Prevention in Piano Playing,” and “Teaching Jazz Improvisation, It’s Not That Scary.” As a pedagogue and performer, Dr. Pifer believes that music is a tool for inspiration.
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