UTSA’s Music Department is in the midst of its 2016 Faculty Artist Recital Series, designed to give students the opportunity to enjoy performances by faculty in the UTSA Recital Hall.  

The series kicked off on Monday, Sept. 12 with the violin recital titled “Majoring in Minor” featuring Mary Ellen Goree. Accompanied on piano by Robert Brewer, Goree performed pieces by Mozart, Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, Fritz Kreisler and Johannes Brahms.

Dr. Patty Fagan Miller performed a bassoon recital  on Monday, Sept. 19 with accompaniment  by Amy Pikler on recorder and Robert Brewer on harpsichord in Vivaldi’s “Sonata in A minor”; Rita Linard on flute in “Songs and Dances” by Bill Douglas and pieces by Schumann and Camille Saint-Saens accompanied on piano by Robert Brewer.

Baritone Scott Flanagan performed in the first vocal recital of the Faculty Artist Series on Tuesday, Sept. 20 with an evening of British songs by composers Purcell, Butterworth, Britten and Finzi. Flanagan’s performance was sung in English with Rita Linard accompanying on piccolo and Robert Brewer on piano.

Scott Flanagan teaches class voice and vocal techniques for instrumentalists. He has been a professor at UTSA for four years, returning to his alma mater even though he is a native Louisianan. He prides himself on being a musician who is passionate, sincere, charismatic and full of positive energy.

He began singing at the small age of 5 in children’s choir, and his passion  has grown into what it is now throughout the years. He once aspired to be a country singer before deciding on the next best thing: becoming a professor at UTSA. This practically begged the question “are you an artist first or a professor?”

“A professor first” he said. “But I have developed into an artist.”

Flanagan the artist and Flanagan the professor are not so different. He says he aims to incorporate into his performing the same positive energy and charisma he exudes in his teaching. Flanagan believes that every artist has a journey, and he is headed to his peak with no anticipation of slowing down anytime soon.

“Performing is for the performer–you have to have fun and do it for yourself,” said Flanagan. You can also catch Flanagan performing his Butterworth Cycle on a live radio broadcast on Friday, Nov. 11,  and at a music conference at UTSA on March 7.

On Sunday, Sept. 25, flutist Dr. Rita Linard and soprano Professor Linda Poetschke collaborated on a recital titled “Folk Music from Around the World” with Anna Hakobyan on piano.

Dr. Kasandra Keeling performed a solo piano recital consisting of compositions by Mozart, Granados, Liszt, Ginastera and Muczynskion on Monday, Sept. 26.
The series continues with the Faculty Chamber Ensemble recital on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

Andrew Bergmann and Eleven will perform a brand new piece composed by Bergmann titled ”Five and a Half Among the Planets Visited With Maxwell.” The Eleven include musicians Morgan King, Richard Oppenheim and Rene Saenz on saxophones and flute; Adrian Ruiz on trumpet and flugelhorn; Chris Villanueva, Aaron Prado and Brett Cline on piano and keyboards; Jacqueline Sotelo on vocals; Andrew Bergmann on electric and upright bass; and Joe Caploe, John Fernandez and Mike Mixtacki on drums and percussion.

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, Dr. Susan Olson will cap off the series by performing a solo vocal recital featuring works from musical theater and contemporary composers, and conducting an audience participation on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”