USM School of Music Faculty Present Series of October Performance Events

Thu, 10/05/2023 - 01:45pm | By: Mike Lopinto

The month of October brings a lot of exciting events to the School of Music at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), including a variety of performances by our very own talented faculty members.

This month Dr. Nicholas Ciraldo, guitar; Dr. Galit Kaunitz, oboe; Dr. Barbara Dietlinger, music historian; and Dr. Ellen Elder, piano will be delighting audiences with a wide range of musical offerings. All events are on the Southern Miss Hattiesburg campus and are free and open to the public.

On Oct. 8, at 6 p.m. in Marsh Auditorium, Dr. Ciraldo presents “Not Much Has Changed.” Performing on guitar, the recital is a unique blend of music that highlights storytelling and connections.

“I will be performing a diverse set of compositions that I feel fit within a spectrum of ‘minimalist’ compositional styles,” said Ciraldo. “I will also include music that has some personal meaning - something written for me, something that made an impact on me, and so on.”

On Oct. 17, at 6 p.m. in Marsh Auditorium, audiences are invited to experience the fascinating story of Jewish composer Elizabeth Gyring in “Out of the Shadows: The Life and Work of Elizabeth Gyring,” a lecture-recital hosted by Dr. Dietlinger and Dr. Kaunitz. They will be joined by special guest Dr. Michael Bunchman, piano, bringing to life the music of Gyring. After years of obscurity, she hopes this lecture-recital will put Gyring into the limelight.

“Gyring was a prolific Jewish composer from Vienna, Austria, who was forced to flee the Nazi regime in 1939,” noted Dietlinger. “Armed with glowing references from musicians and peers in Vienna, Gyring tried to restart her compositional career in the United States.”

On Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Marsh Auditorium, delight in the musical talents of Dr. Elder on piano. The virtuosic program includes masterworks from renowned composers including Bach, Haydn, Liszt, Zaninelli, Ives, and Schoenberg.

The Southern Miss School of Music presents more than 300 concerts annually, most of which are free and open to the public. The world-class faculty are not only teachers, but artist performers and scholars, presenting all around the world, yet calling Hattiesburg home. We are thrilled to share these events with our community and invite you to these and many more. For more events, visit calendar.usm.edu and follow usmmusic on social media.