March 11, 2005 5:00 pm
University of Iowa Museum of Art
with Peter Schickele, piano, Misha Rosenker, violin, Jonathan Chenoweth, cello & Genadi Zagor, piano
Schickele – Elegies for Clarinet and Piano [1974]
Schickele – New Goldberg Variations for Cello and Piano [1995]
Schickele – Quartet [1982]
Residency overview:
WCFSO receives national recognition
By Melody Parker
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
January 18, 2004
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony was recently selected as the recipient of a Music Alive Composer Residency Grant for the 2004-05 season. Music Alive is a residency program of Meet The Composer and the American Symphony Orchestra League. This prestigious grant was awarded to only nine orchestras nationwide that each had to meet strict guideline requirements.
The grant will allow the WCFSO to bring world-renowned American composer and Iowa native Peter Schickele [well known as P.D.Q. Bach] and his works will be featured on the January 2005 WCFSO Chamber Orchestra concert and the symphony’s March 2005 classical concert. Schickele will spend two weeks in residence. As the WCFSO’s composer-in-residence, Schickele will visit schools, colleges and clubs, be involved with pre-and post-concert talks, and will work with musicians, board members and administrative staff to engage and educate audiences.
WCFSO Music Director Jason Weinberger has a strong connection to American music and programmed the current 2003-04 season to feature one work by a living American composer on each program.
‘The ideal composer to aid us in continuing an American musical focus was an individual whose music is compelling and whose public persona makes performances of new music exciting, enjoyable, and approachable,’ Weinberger said. ‘Peter Schickele, a former small-town resident and frequent visitor to smaller Midwest communities, far exceeds that criteria. I approached Mr. Schickele with the idea of a residency with the WCFSO, and he was interested in the potential. I am convinced that the WCFSO’s residency with Mr. Schickele will be both educating and entertaining for our organization and our community,’ he says.
Inspired by the music of Spike Jones, as a teen-ager, Schickele also studied composition and music history at Juilliard. After graduating with a decorate in music history, he rewrote history by descorving works by Johann Sebastian Bach’s heretofore unknown 21st child, ‘last and by far the least,’ PDQ Bach. PDQ’s music had its first public performance in 1965, and lectures by ‘Professor Schickele’ have delighted audiences ever since. Although the first 10 PDQ Back albums on Vanguard hold his most inspired work, only his latest five albums [on Telarc] have earned him proper recognition, with four of the five winning Grammy award in comedy. In 1993, he stopped touring with PDQ Bach to devote himself more fully to composing and his radio show ‘Schickele Mix.’
Funding for Music Alive is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.
Note: All reviews are edited for length and spelling.