Goucher students Arreon Harley, Stephanie Barnes, and Michael Polonchak will be featured at the Goucher College Orchestra Concert on April 28th.
Although I perform concerts all year long, there’s always something special about those that take place in the spring. Teachers of all stripes know what I’m talking about. It’s the culmination of the academic year, a chance for outstanding students to shine, and a time to marvel at months (and sometimes years) of progress.
This year I am especially proud of three senior music majors at Goucher College who will be featured with the student orchestra at our Spring Concert on Wednesday, April 28th at 8 pm in Goucher’s Kraushaar Auditorium. My conducting student Arreon Harley will be leading Mozart’s Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, Michael Polonchak will be the featured soloist in Bruch’s Romance for Viola and Orchestra, Op. 85, and soprano Stephanie Barnes will performs arias by Mozart, Handel and Rossini. (Your faithful scribe will conduct Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 after the intermission.)
The week after the GCO concert I’m looking forward to conducting the Frederick Symphony’s spring subscription concert on Saturday, May 8th featuring flutist David LaVorgna in Robert Beaser’s Song of the Bells along with Debussy’s Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. But in the meantime, I’m playing the trumpet parts for Handel’s “Let the Bring Seraphim” on Stephanie Barnes’s senior recital at Goucher tonight and “The Trumpet Shall Sound” with Robert Cantrell at Grace Methodist tomorrow morning. Never a dull moment!
Elisa Koehler is Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Formerly the Director of the Center for Dance, Music, and Theatre at Goucher College and the Music Director and Conductor of the Frederick Symphony Orchestra, she is a professional conductor, trumpeter, and author. Dr. Koehler has performed on both modern and period instruments with the Bach Sinfonia, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Handel Choir of Baltimore, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Washington Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Baltimore’s Bach Concert Series, and as the leader of Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band. Her publications include two books: Fanfares and Finesse: A Performer’s Guide to Trumpet History and Literature (Indiana University Press) and A Dictionary for the Modern Trumpet Player (Rowman & Littlefield), numerous articles on historic brass for the ITG Journal, and new performing editions of the Haydn and Hummel trumpet concerti for Carl Fischer Music. She was named a Distinguished Alumna by the University of Tennessee in 2009 and elected to the Board of Directors of the International Trumpet Guild in 2017. In 2014 Dr. Koehler received Goucher College's highest faculty honor, the Caroline Doebler Bruckerl Award, which recognizes an exemplary faculty member in the areas of scholarship, teaching, and service. She earned a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Conservatory, a master’s degree in trumpet performance from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and bachelor’s degrees in both music education and performance from Peabody.
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One thought on “Spring Concerts”
the photo shoot turned out well! i want to see more!
thank you again for everything last night! people were raving about you. what a talented, wonderful lady you are.
the photo shoot turned out well! i want to see more!
thank you again for everything last night! people were raving about you. what a talented, wonderful lady you are.