Recital to showcase collaborations by professors

By KIMBERLINA ROCHA / The Collegian

Close your eyes and let the music tell a story.

That’s the message behind Trumpet Project 2005, a recital led by trumpet professor Michael Caldwell in collaboration with his colleagues from the music department. The event will be held today at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall.

The ensemble will perform songs from different musical genres, portraying moods that vary from aggressive to passive.

“It’s not about chords, scales and rhythms,” Caldwell said of the music. “It’s more about colors, moods and shapes.”

The music swings to emotional depths with Paul Hindemith’s “Sonate,” a piece Caldwell will perform with music professor Natasha Kislenko on piano, or soar with the free-spirited and out of control duo with music department chair and professor Matt Darling on percussion.

Some of the music ranges from picturesque to humorous, like the concerto for the trumpet and the alto saxophone played by music professor Alan Durst.

“All the pieces have tremendous shifts in emotion,” Caldwell said. “So come with your car in neutral and let the music work on you.”

Even though the recital is titled the Trumpet Project, the concept is about working with other instruments and hearing the trumpet in different settings, Caldwell said.

In previous recitals, Caldwell has worked with one or two other people. He said his wife, Pamela, usually played all the accompaniments. This will be his first recital where different musicians perform every piece.

“We decided to branch out and do things with other people,” Caldwell said.

One of those things is a duet with Pamela and Kislenko on piano, performing the piano-four hands.

Caldwell said it’s rare to have pieces done by two pianists on one piano because there is not a lot of music written for two people.

Caldwell said working with his colleagues has made him feel more motivated and they each bring a unique quality to the ensemble.

“They’re all exceptional artists,” he said. “They have made me feel more enamored in what’s happening.”

Music professor Hope Munro-Smith found performing in the group a learning experience.

“They’re excellent musicians and I‘ve learned a lot of new things,” said Munro-Smith.

Munro-Smith will play the steel pan with music professor Corey Whitehead on the guitar and with Caldwell, in the group’s rendition of the Gypsy Kings’ “Los Peces en el Rio,” or “The Fish in the River.”

The song is a traditional Spanish Christmas carol.

This piece is folk-inspired and is the least formal of the music genres on the program, Caldwell said.

“We’re not trying to make this like a performance where everything’s perfect and cultured,” Caldwell said. “This is going to be very folk-like and informal.”

The music from the Trumpet Project may not be the kind of popular music most people listen to on the radio, but Caldwell said they should experience something outside their everyday routine.

“There is no pop culture to sell,” Caldwell said. “In a way, that is an attractive element to some people.

When you hear something so different than from what you’re used to, it changes you, in a way.”