Lone Star College-CyFair’s 4th Annual Contemporary Music Festival this April features guest artists of Loop38 performing works by student and faculty composers.
Loop38 is a boundary-pushing, artist-driven new music ensemble based in Houston that collaborates and performs a wide range of works by local composers, young and upcoming voices, and globally established artists.
“Bringing the caliber of performers such as Loop38 raises the bar for music department projects and inspires students to excellence,” said Dr. Brian Herrington, LSC-CyFair music faculty and composer. “It puts our students and campus community into direct contact with world-class music-making.”
The musical program includes five guest ensemble players on the oboe, French horn, harp, viola and the double bass performing student works from LSC-CyFair’s Elias Nguyen and Ryan Patch as well as Love Bennett of LSC-Montgomery, and Natcha Phuong of CFISD.
“As a young composer and songwriter, I never thought I would have an opportunity for professional musicians to play a piece I wrote,” said Patch, a percussionist who loves the typical orchestral percussion instruments, particularly the marimba, and will graduate LSC-CyFair this May with plans to continue studying music at the University of Houston. “Loop38 performing my piece is surreal.”
With plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in music and teach the piano, Nguyen said “I love how the piano sounds and how deeply I can connect with music when I play. Expressing myself through the piano is my favorite part of my day. I am excited to teach the next generations how beautiful music can be.”
Even though Nguyen will not be performing on stage, as the performance day approaches there are feelings of nervousness as well as more and more excitedness to hear how professional musicians perform this pianist’s music.
The audience will also hear Loop38’s premiere of a new collaborative work titled "There Came a Flood" which Dr. Herrington wrote especially for the ensemble. This faculty project highlights the folk culture and ecology of the Big Thicket region of eastern Texas with music based on a local folk song rooted in very old English and Celtic traditions, said Dr. Herrington.
In addition, there will be a Student Composer Reading Session where members of Loop38 give students feedback about writing effectively for their instruments after performing their compositions.
“We are excited about this opportunity as it is usually afforded to students at 4-year institutions and it will give our students a competitive edge in their portfolios,” said Dr. Herrington.
For information on this free festival, set for 7 p.m. April 14 in the Recital Hall (ART 102), and other upcoming concerts in LSC-CyFair’s Center for the Arts, go to LoneStar.edu/Boxoffice.
Registration is now open for May mini-mester classes that begin May 15, summer sessions starting June 5 and July 13 or the fall semester which begins Aug. 28. For information, go to LoneStar.edu/cf-mini-mester or LoneStar.edu/regcyfair.
