Westmont Offers November Concerts
Westmont student musicians and composers show off their talents at four free concerts this month, all of which are at Deane Chapel, located on Westmont’s lower campus. For more information, please contact the music department at (805) 565-6040.
The Composer’s Concert, featuring Westmont’s own student composers led by Steve Butler, is Friday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m.
The Vocal Chamber Concert, under the direction of Grey Brothers, is Sunday, Nov. 12, at 4 p.m. The Vocal Chamber Concert will feature the Westmont Chamber Singers in an unusual collaboration with South Coast composer Evan Sponseller. Sponseller has composed imaginative a cappella recompositions of music by rock bands such as Bad Religion, Thrice, Circa Survive, AFI and Underoath. The Chamber Singers will also perform music of the ages, including works by Thomas Tallis, Alessandro Scarlatti, Alice Parker and Ola Gjeilo.
The Jazz Concert, directed by John Douglas, is Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 8 p.m. The ensemble features vocalists Nina Fox, Daniel Prykhitko and Zion Shih singing classics, such as “Crazy He Calls Me,” “The Way You Look Tonight” and “Cry Me a River,” as well as George Shearing’s jazz classic, “Lullaby of Birdland,” and Sergio Mendes’ sultry bossa nova, “So Many Stars.” The instrumentalists in the ensemble include Erik Fauss (violin), Chris Fedderson (clarinet and saxophones), Nick Jensen (tenor sax), Taylor Jennings (guitar), Jay Real (piano), Jada Fox (bass) and John Butler (drums). Vocalist/actress Nina Fox is also featured singing a pair of songs composed by John Douglas in the theater program’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui,” running through Saturday, Oct. 28.
Finally, the String Chamber Concert, directed by Han Kim, is Friday Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. This concert will feature Westmont’s top string musicians joined by several woodwind and piano musicians. The program will include works by Beethoven, Grieg, Debussy and Weber. Guest artists Constantine Finehouse and Sang Yhee from Boston and New York will join Han Kim in a piano trio performance.