USM Faculty Concert Series season closes with “Among Friends: Music for Strings and Winds”

The University of Southern Maine School of Music presents an evening of string and wind chamber music as the final Faculty Concert Series of the Spring semester. The concert, 'Among Friends: Music for Strings and Winds, ' will feature USM faculty Robert Lehmann, on violin, and Thomas Parchman, on clarinet, as well as special guests, and takes place Friday, April 5, 8:00 p.m., at Corthell Concert Hall on the USM Gorham Campus.

Joining Lehmann and Parchman will be Julia Eitens, viola; Kimberly Lehmann, viola; Eliza Meyer, cello; Ferdinand Liva, violin; William Rounds, cello; Judy Saiki, harp; and Krysia Tripp, flute.

The program will include Ravel's 'Introduction and Allegro,' Ibert's 'Deux Interludes,' Paul Reade's 'The Victorian Kitchen Garden,' and Brahms' 'Sextet, Op. 18.'

Ravel's 'Introduction and Allegro' for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet showcases the harp in exquisite interplay with this varied ensemble. The addition of a second viola and cello to the 'standard' string quartet allows for an almost orchestral sonority to overlay the intimacy of Brahms 'Sextet' in B-flat. It would be difficult to find a work more richly varied and luscious than this masterpiece.

Robert Lehmann, is professor of music and director of strings studies and orchestral activities at the University of Southern Maine School of Music where he conducts the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra and the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his duties at USM, he is music director of the North Shore Philharmonic Orchestra, and the White Mountain Bach Festival in New Hampshire. He holds degrees in violin performance from the University of the Pacific, the Eastman School and Boston University and has been a fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Festival and at the Conductors Institute at Bard College. Dr. Lehmann has concertized as violinist and conductor, in his native Mexico, throughout the US, Puerto Rico and in Europe and Ukraine. He has been of frequent guest conductor with the Portland Symphony, Portland Ballet, and has conducted All-State and Festival Orchestras from Maine to California and Hawaii. He has also been an adjudicator the National Orchestra Festival at the ASTA National Convention.

Prior to his appointment at USM, he was music director of the Mozart Society Orchestra at Harvard, and on the conducting staff of the Greater Boston and the Empire State Youth Orchestras. He is first violinist of the Meliora Quartet and concertmaster of the Opera Maine and the Choral Art Society. He is in demand as a performer, conductor, teacher and adjudicator and is listed in Who's Who in American Music. His CD, 'Chamber Music for String by Manuel M. Ponce' was issued by Centaur Records in 2009. He has given numerous world premieres including Elliot Schwartz's' 'Concerto VI: Mr. Jefferson' and Portland Ballet's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'. His 2012 performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 3, was named the top performance event of the Portland concert season by the Portland Press Herald. Recently, he conducted the Portland Ballet's Victorian Nutcracker, made his guest conducting debut with the Greensboro Symphony and led two performances of Stravinsky's seminal Histoire du Soldat with Venti Cordi. This season includes a return engagement to conduct the Portland Symphony Orchestra and Portland Ballet. A recently completed sabbatical resulted in numerous performances and orchestral workshops in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico as well as in Mainz, Köln-Portz, Ramstein, Leipzig-Polenz, Germany, and Paris, France. Dr. Lehmann primarily plays a 2014 Benjamin Ruth (Swampscott, MA) violin and resides in Scarborough, Maine with his wife Kim, a violist with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, and their two sons, Eric and Alex.

Thomas Parchman, clarinetist, came to Maine in 1984 as a result of a joint search between the University of Southern Maine and the Portland Symphony Orchestra. He holds the rank of professor at USM, and has been the principal clarinetist with the orchestra since his arrival. Parchman holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California, a Master of Music from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor's degree in both music education and performance from Southern Methodist University. His principal teachers have been Clark Brody (Chicago Symphony), Larry Combs(Chicago Symphony) Robert Marcellus (Cleveland Orchestra), and Mitchell Lurie (Chicago Symphony and soloist). Dr. Parchman regularly performs as a member of the Portland Symphony and the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and performs recitals throughout New England.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and USM alumni, and $5 for students. Purchase tickets online at www.usm.maine.edu/music/boxoffice, or by calling 207-780-5555.

Those needing special accommodations to participate fully in this program, contact Lori Arsenault, [phone], [e-mail]. Hearing impaired: call USM's telex / TDD number [phone].