Several music students competed in January at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) West Central division competition. The William T. White String Quartet took first place in the Chamber Music String Division. The group, consisting of Ryan Hardcastle (viola), Matthew Price (cello), Xiao Hu and Yajing Zhang (violin), will perform at the MTNA national competition in New York City from March 24-26.

Hardcastle, who studies with Dr. Amy Muchnick, also received first place in the Young Artist String division and will compete as a national finalist in that category. In addition, pianist Jia Hui Wong, a junior piano performance major who studies with Dr. Wei-Han Su, received second place in the Young Artist Piano division. The West Central division competition took place Jan. 13-15 at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo., and featured schools from eight states.

“It is significant that our students won their divisions containing eight states in which a number of Division I music schools entered,” Dr. David Hays, music department professor and one of the quartet’s coaches, says. “Our students demonstrated excellent teamwork.”

The White String Quartet, which was featured in the Fall 2011 issue of Expressions, is one of many student ensembles in the music department. It is named after William T. White, late alumnus of the department. The group is coached by the full-time string faculty, including Hays, Muchnick, and Dr. Michael A. Murray.

“It feels surreal to be a national finalist in both the Young Artist and Chamber divisions,” Hardcastle says. “I wouldn’t stand where I am today without the brilliant string faculty here at MSU, along with my friends and family. The White String Quartet and myself are very privileged to get to work alongside such dedicated faculty.” Hardcastle cites Muchnick as an influence on his musical study, and Price says that Murray and cello teacher Elaine Clifton impacted his cello performance.

“To be a national finalist is truly amazing. I am very honored to be a national finalist and represent my state in New York City,” Price adds. “Music permeates all aspects of my life; even though I am a political science/pre-law major at Missouri State University, I always enjoy and am interested in learning and playing music.”

Violinists Yajing Zhang and Xiao Hu, both from the University’s China campus in Qingdao, are in their second year here. Zhang, who has played instruments since childhood, says that advancing to the national finals has given her more confidence in her musical ability.

“My professors and classmates have influenced me a lot,” Zhang says. “Whether studying solo performance or playing in groups with friends and different instruments, I learned the importance of how to listen to myself, others, and the significance of the cooperation.”

Xiao Hu, who cites her dad as her biggest inspiration, adds, “I appreciate the honor very much. I am very proud and it makes me want to work even harder.”

Benoit Pilon, considered one of Canada’s top young filmmakers, will attend a screening of his feature film The Necessities of Life (Ce qu’il faut pour vivre), at the Plaster Student Union theater on Friday, Feb. 24 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Parking is available in Bear Park North, with regular BearLine shuttles going to Plaster Student Union, or Lot 24 near National and Grand Ave. The screening will start at 7:00 p.m. Following the screening, Pilon will answer questions from the public. Pilon will also participate in master class sessions for students on Feb. 23-24.

The Necessities of Life tells the story of an Inuit hunter, Tivii (Natar Ungalaaq), who contracts tuberculosis during a massive epidemic in the 1950s, one that forced many Inuit to seek treatment in cities. Relocated by the government to a sanatorium in Quebec, Tivii suffers from culture shock and gradually becomes despondent. When he befriends a young orphan boy named Kaki, he begins to rediscover his energy and pride. The Necessities of Life has won several awards, including Special Grand Prize of the Jury at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival, Best Achievement in Directing at the 2008 Genie Awards, and Best Picture at the Jutra Awards in 2009.

This event in the master filmmaker series is sponsored by the departments of media, journalism and film and modern and classical languages. The Quebec government office in Chicago has provided additional support. You may contact Mark Biggs, department head of media, journalism and film, at MarkBiggs@missouristate.edu or (417) 836-5218 for more information.

Download the event flyer from media, journalism and film.

Video of Benoit Pilon and Natar Ungalaaq on Canadian channel QTV is embedded below. Quebec’s government portal has also posted a news release about the visit.

This year’s program includes student choreography and faculty works by Ruth Barnes (“Slippages”), Darryl Clark (“Ponderings Upon a Pear With Prickly Heat”) and Carla Williams (“The Transformative Properties of Grief”). Three of the student pieces — Jason Ngo’s “Reverie,” Martin Almaraz’s “Reconciliation,” and Abigail Lind’s “Memories of a Tent” — will be presented at the upcoming ACFDA Central region conference, which will take place on campus from March 21-24.

Proceeds from the Vandivort shows will cover travel expenses for Inertia to attend a special performance with Northwestern University’s Tonik Tap ensemble in Chicago in May 2012. In addition to these performances, Inertia has also planned a show for Friday, March 16 at the West Plains campus.

Susan LaBarr, a music department alumna, has been named the 2012 Missouri Composer Laureate. She is composing music for the Verses and Voices Festival on March 6, 2012 at the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City. Choirs from across the state will combine to sing LaBarr’s piece “The Dream Ship,” a setting to music of Missouri poet Eugene Field’s classic poem. LaBarr is also setting to music a poem from Storm Country, an anthology of literary works published to benefit Joplin school libraries; the Joplin High School choir will perform this piece at the festival.

“The Missouri Composer Laureate appointment is the biggest honor that I have received thus far as a composer,” LaBarr says. “It is just the beginning of my career, and I’m excited to see where it goes next!”

LaBarr received her Bachelor of Arts in Music and Master of Music in Music Theory from Missouri State University. She studied under Dr. Peter Collins in piano and Dr. John Prescott in music theory and credits both with helping her establish her career in music. She also cites dance teacher Ruth Barnes and choral director Dr. Guy Webb as inspirations.

LaBarr performed with the Concert Chorale from 2000 to 2007, taking part in several European tours, and also wrote music for the group. LaBarr was also a member of A Cub Bella, the University’s female a cappella group, from 2002 to 2007, and is working on an arrangement for the group’s ten-year reunion. She explains that her student organization involvement enhanced her school experience.

“Finding a student organization that relates to one’s major field of study is extremely important and creates an overall school experience that is much more rich,” LaBarr says.

LaBarr and her husband currently live in Tennessee, where she is the Composer in Residence for the Chattanooga Girls Chorus. In July 2011, she received the Missouri Choral Director’s Association Opus Award for her composition Songs of Love Lost, commissioned by the Chamber Choir of Parkway South High School in St. Louis County. Six of her compositions have been published by the Santa Barbara Music Company. In addition, she served as a resident assistant for the Missouri Fine Arts Academy for three years and RA director for one year.

“I owe so much of my success to the education that I received at Missouri State University,” LaBarr says.  “For the past few years my husband, Cameron, and I have chosen to skip giving each other Christmas presents and give back to the University instead. We have chosen to support the Missouri Fine Arts Academy and the Missouri State University Concert Chorale in the hopes that we can give some students the same incredible opportunities that we were given during our time there.”

“I hope that others will find the groups, departments, or activities that shaped them and find a way to give back,” she adds.

Verses and Voices is an initiative to expand creative activity in the state of Missouri. Its goals include involving Missouri citizens in the state’s creative voice and encouraging creative collaboration between composers, poets, artists and choirs. LaBarr is the third Composer Laureate selected by the Verses and Voices program.

Tyler Durham, a student in music composition and electronic arts from Nixa, Mo., was selected as a winner of the 2011 national Young Composers Challenge contest. Durham’s symphony, “The New Frontier,” was one of three winners in the full orchestra category and one of seven overall winners. In addition to receiving a professional recording and a $1000 cash award, Durham traveled to Orlando, Fla. on Nov. 13 to hear his work performed live by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.

“The experience was absolutely incredible,” Durham says about the concert. “Being able to hear all the immense detail of sound from each instrument and watching it all take place only a few feet away was just surreal.”

“If there was any doubt in my mind about pursuing composition as a career, it has been eradicated,” Durham adds.

Durham received the 2011 Claude T. Smith Composition Contest Scholarship, sponsored by the music department, for his “Piece for Piano, Marimba and Cello.” Durham performs vocals, violin and piano, and says that his interest in piano inspired him to write music. His primary goal is to write music for television and film.

You can read a spotlight article about Tyler Durham on the University website. The spotlight article, written by new media specialist Jessica Clements, appeared in the Springfield News-Leader on Oct. 31. You can also listen to The New Frontier online at the Young Composers Challenge website.

Billyo O’Donnell, a 1980 graduate in art and design, will receive the Missouri Arts Council’s Individual Artist Award for 2012. This award is the highest honor the state can confer to an artist. O’Donnell will receive the award on Feb. 8, 2012 in a 2:00 p.m. ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City, Mo.

O’Donnell says that Art and Design professors Bill Armstrong, Jerry Hatch, Dwaine Crigger, John Careggio and Maury Cooper contributed to his development as an artist. He practices the plein air style, in which artists paint outside to be closer to their subjects. It was in this style that he depicted scenes from Missouri’s counties in a 2009 book, Painting Missouri: The Counties en Plein Air, which he published with author Karen Glines. The book received a 2009 Missouri Humanities Award. O’Donnell toured the state with a “Painting Missouri” exhibit, which the University’s Art and Design Gallery featured in September 2009. Governor Jay Nixon, who will participate in the award ceremony, visited Springfield to view the exhibit.

The Missouri Arts Council, a division of the Department of Economic Development, provides grants to nonprofit organizations to stimulate arts participation, art-related economic development, and education through the arts. The council established the Missouri Arts Awards in 1983 to honor individuals and organizations who have contributed to Missouri’s arts culture.

O’Donnell was profiled in the Fall 2009 issue of Expressions. Visit his artist page at http://www.billyoart.com to learn more about his life and work.

Volume 6, Issue 1 of Expressions, the biannual newsletter of the College of Arts and Letters, has been posted online. Highlights of this issue include:

• The Center for Dispute Resolution and its programs, including restorative justice, community outreach, and education
• A letter from Dean Carey Adams and the holiday wishlist
• Dr. Kurt Heinlein’s role as Provost Fellow for the 2012 Public Affairs Conference
• Student groups that have increased recognition with the help of Arts and Letters Student Achievement Funding Awards
• Stories from Arts and Letters students, faculty and staff who contributed to Joplin relief efforts
• Successes of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy and its Joplin outreach
• The Ozarks Writing Project and its impact on writing pedagogy
• Events on the horizon for Spring 2012

Read the newsletter online and share your thoughts in the comments.

From May 24-June 2, 2012, you can tour with the Concert Chorale and their family and friends as they visit Germany and Paris, performing six concerts along the way. This wonderful tour continues the tradition of the Concert Chorale performing internationally every even-numbered year, regaling audiences abroad and making new connections. In 2010, the Concert Chorale visited Austria, and in 2008, they toured Italy.

“The MSU Concert Chorale has toured nine times with Concept Tours in New York City, and always the tour is first class,” Dr. Guy Webb, Concert Chorale director, states. “Fine tour guides, city guides, and well-thought itineraries.”

The tour leaves the United States from JFK International Airport on Thursday, May 24, and arrives at Frankfort International Airport on May 25. You’ll visit the Hannover region and Rhine River Valley (including a Rhine cruise) in Germany, then spend four days in Paris. Other sites in Germany include Mainz, a sightseeing tour of Hamelin (the village known for the famous “Pied Piper” story) and Limburg. In Paris, you’ll see the Champs-Elysees, Place de la Concord, Versailles, the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, and the Louvre. In addition, you will hear the Concert Chorale entertain audiences at several venues including Minden-Hanover, Limburg, the Abbey at Lorch, La Madeleine Church in Paris, and Chartres Cathedral.

Download the reservation form or contact Concept Tours directly by calling (800) 300-8841 or emailing info@concept-tours.com. Group size is limited — sign up now to confirm your seat on the group flights from New York City. December 20 is the deadline for registration and first payment. You may also contact Webb, choral director, for more information about the trip by emailing GuyWebb@missouristate.edu or calling (417) 836-5182.

“We have had so many memorable experiences on these tours abroad,” Webb adds. “It would be hard to duplicate the experience of touring alongside the Concert Chorale, with beautiful concerts and venues. Come and join us!”

Download the Concert Chorale tour itinerary to learn more about places visited on the tour.

Download the Concert Chorale tour information sheet to learn more about tour amenities and fee schedules.

The English Department hosts the Fall 2011 Moon City Student Invitational Reading on Friday, Dec. 2 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Plaster Student Union theater. This event is free and open to the public.

Held once each semester, the student invitational reading highlights student writing in the areas of fiction and poetry. Katherine Botts, Matthew Stewart and Matt Whitaker will read fiction, and Allys Page, Kat Kelly and Hannah Nobrega will read poetry. You may contact Jennifer Edwards, instructor in english, at (417) 836-5107 or JEdwards@missouristate.edu to learn more about the student invitational reading.

The Concert Chorale once again joins the University Chamber Singers and Collegiate Singers for the 46th Annual Elizabethan Christmas Dinners. Held in the Plaster Student Union Ballroom from 6:15 to 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 30 through Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, the dinners feature tantalizing entertainment and a delicious array of Olde English style food.

At 6:15 each evening, guests assemble in the third floor lobby of the Plaster Student Union, where revelry and serenading passes the time until the Grande Dining Hall opens at 7:00. The Chamber Singers serve as the royal court for the event, the Collegiate Singers sing and serve the meals, and the Concert Chorale performs the formal concert at the end of each dinner. The following is a description of the menu:

“This year’s menu features the King’s Butternut Squash Soup with Creme Fraiche and Chives, Salad of Winter Greens and Root Vegetables with Sherry Vinaigrette Dressing, the King’s Fowl stuffed with Cheese of the Goat, Fresh Spinach with a Cranberry Glaze, Potatoes Baked a Second Time, Green Beans, and a scrumptious new dessert for the Elizabethan Dinner menu – a Ginger Bread Trifle with Citrus Custard. All of this will be accompanied by an abundance of beverages! Vegetarian or an alternate entree selection may be indicated on ticket requests.”

Tickets are $25 for students, $30 for adults, and $27.50 each for groups of ten or more. Tickets can be purchased online. Hurry to reserve your seat at the table!