College of Fine Arts and Design

October 12, 2011

The University of Central Oklahoma School of Music will welcome three-time Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty to campus Oct. 16 - 18.  During his visit, Daugherty will conduct a series of master classes for students and will attend two UCO student and faculty concerts featuring performances of his award-winning compositions.

Central students will have the opportunity to rehearse Daugherty's compositions under the direction and critique of the composer himself, enabling them to perfect their practice prior to the performances on Oct. 17 and 18.

The UCO Pastiche Chamber Collective Concert will offer the opportunity for students to perform Daugherty's compositions at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 17 in the Radke Fine Arts Theater in UCO's Center for Transformative Learning.  Central students and faculty will perform various Daugherty chamber ensemble compositions including "Blue Like an Orange," "Firecracker," and "Dead Elvis."

The following evening, the UCO Wind Symphony and Chamber Orchestra will perform Daugherty's compositions in UCO's Mitchell Hall Theater at 7:30 p.m.  They will play Daugherty's "Bizarro," "Rosa Park Boulevard," "Strut," and "Lost Vegas."

"The opportunity to have any accomplished composer on our campus is a transformative experience for our students because of the interaction and dialogue about emotion and meaning in musical line, and because students feel a stronger connection to the music and an ownership in the performance process," said Brian Lamb, DMA, UCO director of bands.

"But, the opportunity to have a Grammy Award-winning composer like Michael Daugherty is even more significant, because there's no time lost in rapport building - the students respect the significance of the award and want the opportunity to learn from this caliber of musician."

Daugherty is one of the most commissioned, performed and recorded composers on the music scene today.  He is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan and a mentor to many of today's most talented young composers.  Over the past 15 years, he has been Composer-in-Residence for the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, among other orchestras, institutes and festivals.

Daugherty has received numerous awards, distinctions and fellowships for his music including a Fulbright Fellowship, the Kennedy Center Friedham Award and three Grammy Awards for "Best Classical Contemporary Composition," "Best Orchestral Performance," and "Best Engineered Album, Classical."

The Oct. 17 concert is free. Admission for the Oct. 18 concerts is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, UCO faculty and staff and non-UCO students and $4 for UCO students.

For tickets, call (405) 974-3375.  For a complete listing of UCO College of Fine Arts and Design performances and events, visit www.uco.edu/cfad/events.