Darkwood Consort Lights Up Lunch Hour
Music at Noon performance is Thursday, February 7
Darkwood Consort, the world’s only touring viola and bass clarinet duo, brings an impressive repertoire spanning ten centuries of music to its February performance at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.
Darkwood’s concert takes place at noon on Thursday, February 7, in the McGarvey Commons of the college’s Reed Union Building. The performance is sponsored by Music at Noon: The Logan Series and admission is free to the public.
Drawing music from lands as exotic as Iceland, Greece and Idaho, Darkwood Consort promises to “soothe the soul and invigorate the spirit while maintaining a fabulous sense of humor and living up to our educational mission of converting concert halls to classrooms and classrooms to concert halls.” The Boise-based duo’s Music at Noon program selection ranges from a traditional 13th century Breton work to “Tag, You’re It,” a commission from contemporary American composer Jim Cockey.
“I believe that our audience will be impressed with the versatility of Darkwood Consort,” series director Gary Viebranz, the college’s director of instrumental music, said. “I’m always amazed by the wide musical palette that can be explored by two creative instrumentalists.”
Darkwood Consort is Aage Nielsen, one of a handful of bass clarinet specialists worldwide, and violist Jennifer Drake. After several years of serious study as an oboist, Nielsen gravitated back to his true voice, culminating in a recent performance at the first World Bass Clarinet Conference in The Netherlands. He has been the bass clarinetist with the Boise Philharmonic since 1988, and since 1998 with the internationally acclaimed Sun Valley Summer Symphony under the direction of Alasdair Neale.
Drake is principal violist with Boise Baroque and a section violist in the Boise Philharmonic. In addition, she maintains an active freelance schedule as a performer and adjudicator, and tours as a performer with her husband, Christian pop artist Chad Marvin.
Music at Noon, an innovative program to introduce classical music in an informal atmosphere rather than an intimidating concert hall, was founded at Penn State Behrend in 1989 by Warren philanthropist and arts advocate Kay Logan. Its unique music outreach efforts were honored with an Adventurous Programming Award given by Chamber Music America and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. The series receives major support from the Kay Logan Trust and additional funding from the Penn State Behrend Student Activity Fee, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts and the Erie Arts Endowment of the Arts Council of Erie.
For more information about The Logan Series or Darkwood Consort’s appearance, e-mail Gary Viebranz or phone him at 814-898-6289.
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