Centenary's Hurley School of Music presents cello concert April 3
March 29, 2017
SHREVEPORT, LA — Cellist Christopher Hutton will perform at Centenary College as part of his “Reflecting BACH” recital project on Monday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium. The concert at Centenary’s Hurley School of Music is part of an extensive tour that includes eight states and several engagements in Hutton’s native New Zealand. The event is free and open to the public.
“Reflecting BACH” is a recital project created by Hutton that combines Johann Sebastian Bach’s music, especially his beloved Six Suites for Unaccompanied Violoncello, with more recent works. When Bach wrote his cello suites almost 300 years ago, he was not yet widely known as a composer and the pieces were not often performed. By the 20th century, the suites had become some of the most important and treasured works written for solo cello and had also begun to inspire modern composers such as Max Reger, Benjamin Britten, John Harbison, and William Bolcom.
“We are so pleased to have the opportunity to present this program,” says Dr. Gale Odom, Dean of the Hurley School of Music. “The construction of this concert represents the best kind of liberal arts thinking. Hutton’s program teaches us to draw connections between music of the past and present in a way that will illuminate both repertoires.”
In addition to his “Reflecting BACH” performance, Hutton will work with young cellists in the Centenary Suzuki School during a master class on the afternoon of April 3.
Hutton is the cellist of the Poinsett Piano Trio and is Associate Professor of Violoncello at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. He has performed in solo and chamber music recitals throughout Europe, the United States, and his home country of New Zealand, and has also performed with orchestras in both New Zealand and the United States. Hutton studied at Boston University and earned Master of Music and Doctor of Music Arts degrees at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the University of Delaware, and the Eastern Music Festival before joining the faculty at Furman in 2003.
Hutton’s “Reflecting BACH” program in Shreveport includes a “Suite Sampler” with selections from each of Bach’s Six Suites, as well as 20th century pieces from Reger and Britten. More information about Hutton and the “Reflecting BACH” project is available at reflectingbach.com.