Herberger College School of Music honors top student composer and musicians

The Herberger College School of Music’s top student composer and musicians at perform with the ASU Symphony Orchestra for the annual Concert of Soloists. This year’s event is (Monday) Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Gammage Auditorium and showcases the winners of the 2001-2002 ASU Concert Competition and the winner of the 2001-2002 ASU Composition Contest.

The program includes the premiere of Mobile fantastique by doctoral student Kendra M. D’Ercole, the winner of the Composition Contest. The work, which the composer dedicated to her parents, Manuel and Margery Don, was inspired by an actual mobile suspended above D’Ercole’s crib as an infant. Her mother attached a number of unusual, dangling objects to stimulate the baby’s creativity. that dreamily floated in a circle to the accompaniment of a music box lullaby. D’Ercole remembers that the mobile was later “blamed” in jest for the her hyperactive disposition as a child, as well as her spirited aversion to boredom. Mobile fantastique features a lullaby theme, derived from some of the melodic gestures of Harry Belafonte’s Scarlet Ribbons, often sung by the composer’s father his daughters. This theme is followed by a series of objects – Boingy Things, Twirly Things, Sparkly Things and Brightly-colored Things. Within these sections, D’Ercole has hidden statements and fragments of the lullaby melody.

D’Ercole composes for a variety of ensemble types and her works have been performed in both the United States and Europe. She holds an M.M. in Composition from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Piano Emphasis from the University of California, where graduated summa cum laude. She studies with School of Music professors of music composition and theory Rodney Rogers and Randall Shinn. She is in the D.M.A. program in Composition and is a graduate teaching assistant in Music Theory. She is presently composing a children’s musical with award winning author Diane Stanley.

Each of the winners in the Concert Competition will perform during the program. Violinist Eva Liebhaber will perform the “Allegro moderato” from Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in D major, op. 35. Pianist Qing Jiang will play the “Andante – Allegro” from Prokofiev’s Concerto in Nov. 3 in C Major, op. 26. Oboist Annie will perform Concerto for Oboe by Eugene Goossens, Pianist Wei Xing will play “Allegro moderato” from Greig’s Concerto in a minor, op. 16.

Eva Liebhaber, a native of Costa Rica, was a prizewinner of the 1999 and 2000 Jovenes Soliastas Competition. As a member of Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, she has also performed in Indonesia, Taiwan and Germany. She currently is completing a Bachelor of Music degree as a student of Jonathan Swartz. Qing Jian, is a sophomore student of Regents’ Professor Caio Pagano. Born in 1983 in Zhenjiang, China, she began piano studies at age three. In 2000, she played a solo recital at ASU when she was a Chinese delegate in the Tempe Sister Cities’ exchange student program. Annie Henneke, a native of Houston, is a junior Music Performance major. She is a student of Martin Schuring. She is principal oboist in the ASU Symphony Orchestra, ASU Wind Symphony, and the Tres Equis woodwind trio. Wei Xing came from China in 2000 as the semi-finalist of the Southern Missouri International Piano Competition. She is a student of Regents Professor Caio Pagano and Professor of Piano Robert Hamilton. She is a freshman pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance.
Admission is free; no tickets are required. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Media Contact:
Mary Brennan
480-965-3587
mary.brennan@asu.edu