A World of Music
FALL 2021
We are very excited to return to live concerts this fall season!
For everyone's safety, the performers and speakers have voluntarily agreed to be fully
vaccinated. In addition, singers will test negative before each concert. Middlesex
Community College requires that audience members wear masks at all times.
Setting Kerouac
In collaboration with the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival and the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, this event will feature a panel discussion on Jack Kerouac’s works and how to craft musical meaning when setting his text to music. Three new compositions by MCC faculty member Aaron Rosenberg, former MCC faculty member Mark Berger, and Karl Henning, set to selected texts by Jack Kerouac, will be premiered. Performers will include members of the Lowell Chamber Orchestra with soprano Rose Hegele and MCC faculty members Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta and Aaron Rosenberg playing the piano on different selections. To conclude the program, President Phil Sisson will read a Kerouac poem while MCC faculty member Todd Brunel, bass clarinetist, will improvise a Jazz solo.
Thursday, October 7 at 7:30 pm
Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, Recital Hall, Lowell
The Black Cat
Celebrate Halloween early 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 will be featured. MCC faculty members Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, pianist, and Orlando Cela, flutist, will be joined by Sam Ou, cellist, and Larry Bell, composer/narrator.
Friday, October 29 at 8:00 pm
Concert Hall, Bedford Campus
Opera: As One
This ground-breaking opera, featuring baritone Rahzé Cheatham and mezzo-soprano Tona Brown with string quartet, portrays the challenges, joys, and fears of the trans experience. The string players are members of the Lowell Chamber Orchestra, with MCC faculty member Orlando Cela conducting. Music & concept: Laura Kaminsky - Libretto: Mark Campbell & Kimberly Reed - Film: Kimberly Reed
Saturday, November 20 at 7:30 pm
Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, Theatre, Lowell
Student Recital
MCC student singers and instrumentalists
Monday, December 13 at 12:30 pm
Concert Hall, Bedford Campus and additional performances online
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
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.