Crane Orchestra Concert Includes Concerto Premiere, Alongside Guest Saxophonist Christopher Creviston

SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music Welcomes Guest Composer Carter Pann and Guest Artist Christopher Creviston for Orchestra Concert on May 5

Potsdam, NY (04/26/2022) — Orchestral groups at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music will present a newly commissioned work alongside a renowned guest artist during an upcoming concert on Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m., in the Helen M. Hosmer Concert Hall.

The free performance will feature both the Crane Symphony Orchestra and the Crane Chamber Orchestra, and will stream live online via YouTube, at www.potsdam.edu/cranelive.

The concert will open with Johann Stamitz's "Mannheim Sinfonia in G-Major," followed by the "Kaiser-Waltzer" by Johann Strass II.

The evening's highlight will be the New York premiere of the "Soprano Saxophone Concerto" by Carter Pann, commissioned by the Crane Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will perform alongside one of the world's top saxophone artists, Dr. Christopher Creviston, a former Crane faculty member himself. The composer wrote the piece for Creviston, saying that the work "does what it can to show the many sides of my favorite musicians on the planet, making use of a varied orchestral palette."

"We are honored to work with these two high-profile musicians and grateful for their presence this coming week," said Dr. Ching-Chun Lai, director of orchestras.

Dr. Casey Grev, an associate professor of saxophone, will join Creviston and the orchestra to perform the lovely duet, "Andante and Rondo" by Franz Doppler, to close out the concert.

Directed by Dr. Ching-Chun Lai, the Crane Symphony Orchestra is a premier, 60-member performing ensemble at The Crane School of Music. The Crane Symphony Orchestra is the second oldest college orchestra in the United States, and in its long legacy, students at Crane have worked with legendary conductors and musicians, such as Nadia Boulanger, Sarah Caldwell, Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, Gunther Schuller and Robert Shaw, to name a few. The Crane Symphony Orchestra has performed in Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center and in Carnegie Hall, among other prestigious venues.

Also conducted by Dr. Lai, the 22-member Crane Chamber Orchestra concentrates on the study and performance of repertoire written for this orchestration, ranging from baroque to contemporary music.

About the composer and guest artist:

Composer/pianist Carter Pann has written for and worked with musicians around the world, with performances by the London Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony, the Tchaikovsky Symphony in Moscow, many radio symphonies around Europe, the Seattle Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, the youth orchestras of New York and Chicago, and countless wind ensembles. He has worked with Richard Stoltzman, the Antares Ensemble, the Capitol Saxophone Quartet, the West Coast Wind Quintet, the River Oaks Chamber Ensemble, the Takacs Quartet and many concert pianists. Awards include a Charles Ives Fellowship, a Masterprize seat in London and five ASCAP awards over the years. His numerous albums encompass solo, vocal, chamber, orchestral and wind music, and have received two Grammy nominations to date. Pann was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2016. He currently teaches at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Hailed as "one of the world's top saxophone artists" (Audiophile Audition) with "the personality and fingers of a first rate soloist" (American Record Guide), "subtle, perceptive phrasing, and flawless control of vibrato" (Fanfare Magazine), Yamaha Artist Christopher Creviston has played venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to Paisley Park and the Apollo Theater. As soloist and with the Capitol Quartet, Creviston has been featured with bands and orchestras across the U.S. As a recitalist and clinician, he performs regularly with the Capitol Quartet, and in duos with pianist Hannah Gruber Creviston and guitarist Oren Fader. In addition to several established recordings with these ensembles, Creviston's most recent releases are the premiere recording of the "Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Band" by William Bolcom, with conductor Gary Hill and the Arizona State University Wind Orchestra, and a Creviston Duo album called "Breaking," presenting works commissioned (or co-commissioned) by the duo from composers Stacy Garrop, Mark Lanz Weiser, Katherine Hoover and John Fitz Rogers. Now on the faculty at Arizona State University, Creviston has held positions at The Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam), the Greenwich House of Arts (NYC), the University of Windsor (Canada), and the University of Michigan. He is president of the North American Saxophone Alliance.

This performance will be broadcast live on the Crane School of Music YouTube channel at the concert time. To view the program and see other upcoming streaming performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/cranelive.

About The Crane School of Music:

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution and was one of the first Yamaha Institutions of Excellence. For more information, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

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