March 23, 2015
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In 2015, The Catholic University of America Benjamin T. Rome School of Music presents the 50th Anniversary Celebration of its elevation to school status. As part of its yearlong anniversary celebration, the School of Music has numerous special performances planned. On Sunday, April 12, at 8 p.m., the music school returns to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall to present a full orchestral and choral program that includes current students as well as alumni, and features the world premiere of an orchestral fanfare by CUA undergraduate student Matthew Yost. The program also includes Carmina Burana and selections from West Side Story and Rodeo . The Music School has a long history of performing at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, having been one of the first universities to perform there beginning in 1972 soon after the Center opened.
Yost's composition Ut Sol, Ut Luna opens the program. A music student hailing from Salt Lake City, Yost spent the previous fall semester studying in Rome and was chosen in a blind competition as the winning composer out of a pool of applicants ranging from current students to alumni from the early 1960s. The program continues with Aaron Copland's "Saturday Night Waltz" and "Hoe-Down" from Rodeo ; Leonard Bernstein's "I Feel Pretty," "Jet Song," "America," and "Tonight Quintet" from West Side Story Concert Suite No. 2; and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana . The program is conducted by Simeone Tartaglione, music director of the CUA Symphony Orchestra; and Thomas Pedersen, head of the Musical Theatre Division, and student conducting major Dimitar Nicolov.
Considered the pre-eminent center for music study and performance in U.S. Catholic higher education, Catholic University has long been committed to educating musicians, scholars, and composers. More than 3,000 CUA music alumni currently maintain high professional visibility on six continents as performers, music educators, composers, liturgical musicians, and scholars.
Tickets for the 50th Anniversary Gala at the Kennedy Center are orchestra: $30 for adults, $15 for students, seniors, military; 1st and 2nd tiers: center $15, sides $10; and are available at the Kennedy Center box office, online at kennedy-center.org or by calling 202-467-4600. For more information or to reserve tickets, visit CUA's website music.cua.edu or call 202-319-5414.
Sunday, April 12, 8 p.m. Benjamin T. Rome School of Music Gala Kennedy Center Concert Hall 2700 F St., N.W., Washington, D.C.kennedy-center.org or 202-467-4600Matthew Yost Fanfare, Ut Sol, Ut Luna (2014) Aaron Copland, Rodeo Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story Concert Suite No. 2 Carl Orff, Carmina Burana
PRESS CONTACTS: CUA School of Music 50th Anniversary CelebrationPatty Laing, press representative703-298-4453 or pattylaing@verizon.net
CUA Office of Public AffairsKatie Lee, director of communications202-319-6975 or leect@cua.edu