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ABERDEEN, S.D. - Members of the Aberdeen University-Civic Symphony (AUCS) string section will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. on April 19 in the Northern State University Krikac Auditorium.

The program will feature students from the studio of Dr. Robert Vodnoy, as well as community members of the orchestra. The program will feature the music of Beethoven, Handel, Eccles, Gebauer, Telemann and an original composition by freshman music major Isaac Seaton.

Opening the concert will be the “Concerto for Four Violins” by George Philip Telemann, with violinists Xin Wang, An Qi, Leandro Fernandez Moutin and Vodnoy performing. Wang and Qi are graduate students and graduate assistants at NSU. Fernandez Moutin is a senior music major. All are students of Vodnoy.

“Our program is a celebration of spring, which has almost started here in South Dakota!,” Vodnoy said. “These lovely works are from the Baroque, Classical and contemporary repertoire, and include a premiere of a new work by Aberdeen native Isaac Seaton.”

Telemann was one of the most prolific composers of all time, writing more than 3,000 compositions in his lifetime. Unfortunately, more than half of them have been lost. During his lifetime, he was more popular than his contemporary, J. S. Bach. The “Concerto for Four Unaccompanied Violins” is a splendid example of his work, opening with a stately adagio, followed by an allegro with inventive dialogue between the four instruments. The other movements consist of another slow movement and a fugal finale.

Other students featured on the program include Lucas Fredrick, who will perform two movements of Henry Eccles’ “Sonata in G Minor on Double Bass;” Quincy Rudolph, performing “March from Scipio” by Handel on double bass; and Gregory Lyon and Qi, performing “Scherzo-Caprice” by Michel-Joseph Gebauer.

Fernandez Moutin will perform Max Bruch’s “Kol Nidre.” Bruch composed the work originally for cello, based on two melodies. The first is the traditional melody sung at the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur service. The second is based on a melody used by Isaac Nathan for the song “O Weep for those who wept at Babel’s stream.”

Concluding the program will be two works performed by a college-community string quartet whose members include Beth Neitzert, Wang, Seaton and Stuart Davidson. Neitzert is the concertmaster of AUCS. Davidson is the principal cellist of the orchestra. The quartet will perform the first movement of “Beethoven’s String Quartet, Opus 18, No. 1 in F Major” and Seaton’s “As She Too Stilly Slept.”

Beethoven’s “String Quartet Opus 18, No. 1 in F major” was composed between 1798 and 1800, dedicated to Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz. In these early works, Beethoven began to develop as a composer, and, in fact, the quartet was heavily revised between the first version and the one that was sent to the publisher a year later.

Seaton composed “As She Too Stilly Slept” this year. According to Seaton, “I dedicated this work to my mother Susan Seaton, who passed away five years ago. The piece is about grieving and moving on in life. It is through-composed, F major and features pentatonic scales.”

This recital is presented by the NSU music department. It is free and open to the public.

Krikac Auditorium is located on the second floor of the Krikac Administration building. Due to construction on the new NSU Regional Science Center, parking is encouraged in the Barnett Center parking lot on State Street, conveniently located near the Administration building.

About Northern State University

Northern State University is a regional university that offers outstanding academics and exceptional extracurricular activities at an affordable price on a safe, welcoming campus. Northern State recently announced its Educational Impact Campaign, with a goal of raising $45 million for a new South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, new athletic and recreation fields, and an on-campus regional sports complex. Once the campaign is complete, NSU will be the recipient of more than $100 million in privately funded building projects and scholarships within a decade. To learn more, visit NSU Admissions.