Dr. Michael Vercelli
Clinic/master class on West African Gyil Performance
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
2:00 – 3:00
Room B120
Dr. Michael B. Vercelli is the director of the World Music Performance Center at West Virginia University. Michael holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance with a minor in Ethnomusicology from the University of Arizona. While well versed in the classical percussion repertoire, Michael’s specialty lies in non-Western instruments. He has studied the traditional music of other countries and done fieldwork in Bali, Cuba, Brazil, and primarily, Ghana. Dr. Vercelli has received many awards for both his performance and study of indigenous music such including a WVU Faculty Senate Research Grant for his project – “Remembering the Hunters: Preservation through Performance of the Ritual Birifor Funeral Music of Ghana.” At WVU, Dr. Vercelli also directs summer study abroad courses to Ghana and Brazil, focusing on music, dance and cultural emersion. Dr. Vercelli is a contributing author to the World Percussion chapter in the third edition of Gary Cook’s Teaching Percussion. He is a participating member in the Society for Ethnomusicology and Percussive Arts Society where he serves on the World Percussion Committee. Michael has given lectures, performances and workshops, across the United States, Mexico, Brazil, China and Iceland, and is a founding member of the Zumbumba Percussion Trio.
Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez: Imagining Something Better: Punk, Tejano, La Bamba, and Other Rolas from My Border Hi-Fi
Unrepentant border crosser, writer, ex-dj, and academic. Santiago Vaquera-Vásquez is an Associate Professor of US Southwestern Literatures, and Creative Writing in the Department of Spanish, and Portuguese at the University of New Mexico.
Music from the Americas presents “Scaling the Wall”
“Scaling the Wall” is a project that promotes works for flute by Canadian, American and Mexican ex-patriate composers. It seeks to showcase how contemporary composers connected to those countries have successfully bridged the political, cultural and geographic borders crossing the western 100th meridian. Featured composers’ works vary in style, instrumentation and compositional approach, but also illustrate the universality of music, regardless of nationality.
Music from the Americas presents Iracema de Andrade, cello
Brazilian cellist Iracema de Andrade is strongly committed to the music of our time. Her repertory includes pieces for solo cello, cello and electronics, as well as multimedia and improvisation.