A World of Music
Winter/Spring 2024
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The Lowell Chamber Orchestra, conducted by MCC faculty member Orlando Cela, will perform a variety of colorful works. Autumn Vistas by Martin Max Schreiner; Concerto for Marimba and Strings by Emmanuel Séjourné; Symphony for Violas and Basses by Julia Perry; and Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta by Béla Bartók will be performed. Nikki Huang will be the soloist for the marimba concerto as the winner of the 2023 LCO Concerto Competition.
Sunday, February 18 at 3:00 pm
Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, Theatre, Lowell Campus
A Chopin Celebration
Noted pianist Paul-André Bempéchat will perform an all-Chopin recital. Nocturnes in B Major and D flat Major, Ballade in A flat Major, and the Sonata in B Minor will be featured.
Sunday, March 3 at 3:00 pm
MCC Concert Hall, Bedford Campus
Recording of Sonata in B Minor, Opus 58 by Chopin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd5lQWKvQXE&t=4s
Duos and Trios for Oboe, Flute, and Piano
John Ferrillo, Principal Oboe of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Elizabeth Klein, Associate Principal Flute of the BSO, will join Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, piano, for a program of works for oboe/piano, flute/piano, and flute/oboe/piano by Benjamin Britten, Ludwig van Beethoven, Charles-Marie Widor, and Madeleine Dring. A short piano solo by Larry Bell will also be featured.
Friday, April 5 at 8:00 pm
MCC Concert Hall, Bedford Campus
Student Recital
MCC student singers and instrumentalists, along with works by music technology students.
Monday, April 22 at 12:30 pm
MCC Concert Hall, Bedford Campus
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The Lowell Chamber Orchestra will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem with The Boston Cecilia chorus and soloists.
Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 pm
Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, Theatre, Lowell Campus
Duo du Sud
Guitarists Raley Beggs (MCC faculty member) and Carl Straussner will present an eclectic concert featuring western classical music and works by South African composers inspired by traditional African music. Duo du Sud seeks to revitalize and expand the guitar repertoire, performing concerts that are equal parts virtuosic and vibrant. Works by Robert Johnson, Johannes Kapsberger, Ali Farka Touré, and David Hewitt will be performed.
Sunday, June 2 at 3:00 pm
MCC Concert Hall, Bedford Campus
All concerts are free and open to the public
For more information, contact Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, Director of A World of Music,
at 781-280-3923 or peraltac@middlesex.mass.edu
For directions:
MCC Concert Hall in Bedford
https://www.middlesex.mass.edu/transportation/directions/bdirect.aspx
Academic Arts Center in Lowell
https://www.middlesex.mass.edu/academicartscenter/directions.aspx
MCC Music Faculty At-Home and MCC Musical Connections performances
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOEBeNUAl_TcbcnCdB73wLA
Selected Performances from Fall 2023
Online Saturday Arts Concert featuring MCC Faculty and Alumnus
In a collaboration with Dracut Arts, MCC faculty members Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta,
pianist; Orlando Cela, flutist, and Raley Beggs, guitarist, with MCC alumnus Nathaniel
Abreu, cellist, performed a colorful program of music from Europe, the United States,
Latin America, and South Africa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVguZlmFChQ
Literature through Music
MCC faculty members Daniel Fridley, singer; Orlando Cela, flutist; Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta,
pianist; Raley Beggs, guitarist; Todd Brunel, clarinetist/bass clarinetist, and Karen
Oster, narrator, presented a lecture/concert featuring musical works inspired by literature
from many countries. English faculty member Tom Laughlin read his poem Jazz while Todd Brunel improvised. This event formed part of the 2023 Lowell City of Learning Festival.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaqEgjiGyMU
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The Hollow Men by Vincent Persichetti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hrXpJItcLE
Selected Live Performances from Spring 2023
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
Pasquale Tassone's Rhapsody for Flute and Strings performed by Orlando Cela
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M7LGuYKeTg
Aroma Duo
MCC faculty member Johnny Mok, cellist, and pianist Tianhong Yang performed a varied
program of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Franz Liszt,
and new works by Turkish composer Fazil Say, and Afghan composer Arson Fahim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq3kkVGOefY
Latin American Music Featuring the Cello
Noted Peruvian cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi joined MCC faculty members Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, pianist, and Orlando Cela, flutist, for a colorful program of music from Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil, as well as a piece by a Peruvian-American.
Heitor Villa-Lobos: O Canto do Cysne Negro (Song of the Black Swan) for cello and piano
https://youtu.be/7yFq7TF2_ZU
Gabriela Lena Frank: Hombre-Pájaro de Parácas for flute and cello
https://youtu.be/RwN_XiNA4Gw
Camargo Guarnieri: Ponteio e Dansa for cello and piano
https://youtu.be/oXHklKMW0fI
Selected live concerts from Fall 2022
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The winner of the LCO concerto competition, Roi Karni, bassett clarinet, performed
the Clarinet Concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk2pSQUi_8A
Raley Beggs, Guitarist
MCC faculty member and noted guitarist Raley Beggs performed a program of colorful music for solo guitar by Francesco da Milano, Francisco Guerau, Isaac Albéniz, Giulio Regondi, Maurice Ravel, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
Selected live concerts from Spring 2022
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The Lowell Chamber Orchestra, conducted by MCC faculty member Orlando Cela, presented works from the Baroque Era, combined with later pieces inspired by this era. The Double Concerto for Recorder and Traverso by Georg Philipp Telemann, featuring Aldo Abreu and Orlando Cela as soloists, and the Suite from Castor et Pollux by Jean-Philippe Rameau were performed. Suite Française après Gervaise by Francois Poulenc and the world premiere of Greyed Rainbow by Dana Kaufman reflected the influence of the Baroque.
Featuring MCC Music Faculty
MCC Music faculty members Todd Brunel, clarinetist; Orlando Cela, flutist; Johnny Mok, cellist; and Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, pianist performed works for various combinations of instruments by Gabriel Fauré, Mikhail Glinka, Manuel de Falla, Guillaume Connesson and Carlos Gardel. A piano solo by Larry Bell and Jazz improvisations for bass clarinet were also featured.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdkIo54lTd0
Selected live concert from Fall 2021
The Black Cat
Celebrate Halloween year round by experiencing The Black Cat by Larry Bell for cello, piano and narrator, based on the short story by Edgar Allan
Poe. Additional haunting music by Gabriela Lena Frank, Edvard Grieg and Camille Saint-Saëns
is featured. MCC faculty members Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, pianist, and Orlando Cela,
flutist, are joined by Sam Ou, cellist, and Larry Bell, composer/narrator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jsY7d_Qywg
Live Concert from Summer 2021
Rasa String Quartet performing a colorful and varied program by Florence Price, Amy Beach, Wei-Chieh Lin, José Elizondo, Felix Mendelssohn and some traditional Danish folk music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjWlp0HCPbE
Selected live recording performances from Spring 2021
Celebrating Black Composers from Europe, Africa, United States and South America
MCC faculty members Todd Brunel, clarinet/saxophone; Orlando Cela, flute; Eunghee Cho, cello; Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, piano and Marcus Santos, drums presented a colorful program illustrating a variety of styles from the 1700’s to the present. Works by Joseph Bologne (Le Chevalier de Saint Georges), Florence Price, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, “Blind Tom” Wiggins, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, and Jazz greats Geri Allen and Duke Ellington were featured. There was also a selection featuring Afro-Brazilian drumming with guest dancer Kaitlyn Jolly.
Lowell Chamber Orchestra: Miniature Universes
The Lowell Chamber Orchestra, conducted by MCC faculty member Orlando Cela, performed
Dance Preludes (third version) by Witold Lutosławski; Sinfonietta, Op. 1 by Benjamin
Britten, and Symphony No. 5 by Franz Schubert.
https://youtu.be/q0SS7O2byYU
Selected live recording performances from Fall 2020
Piano Recital of Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta
Works by J.S. Bach, Larry Bell, Beethoven, Debussy and Ginastera
Recorded by Bedford TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9njSegpDIC8&feature=youtu.be
Lowell Chamber Orchestra: Hidden Landscapes
The LCO, conducted by Orlando Cela, performed works by Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Evan Williams and Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.