Event Title
Bentley Roses by Jennifer Higdon
Performer / Ensemble
Rebecca St. Goar (Voice), Ronda Ford (Flute), Lynn Worcester Jones (Piano)
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Concert
Abstract / Program Notes
Bentley Roses was written for mezzo-soprano, flute, and piano and dedicated to the composer’s former teacher, Judith Bentley. It was commissioned by Bentley’s current and former students and presented in a surprise retirement concert in 2002. The performers will present the second and third movements, The Rose and To The Roses. The Rose presents rhythmic and flowing lines in the piano and flute parts that lull the listener into a hypnotic state while featuring the beauty of the text in the vocal melody. To The Roses features shifting harmonies, lilting rhythms that obscure the sense of pulse, and fluid interplay between the voice, flute and pianist’s left hand. The texts are poems written by James Whitcomb Riley, one of Judith Bentley’s favorite poets. Jennifer Higdon chose poems that focus on roses as a metaphor to represent Bentley’s students presenting her with a bouquet of new music composed and performed in her honor.
Biography
Dr. Lynn Worcester Jones, NCTM serves as Assistant Professor, Keyboard Area Coordinator at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. At UTC she teaches applied piano, survey of piano repertoire, piano pedagogy, piano ensemble and musicianship lab. She is a dedicated performer-scholar and has won numerous national awards and prizes and has performed with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and in numerous international summer festivals including the Atlantic Music Festival, Vienna International Piano Academy, and the Vienna Music Seminar at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, in addition to solo and collaborative recitals throughout the United States. Dr. Jones publishes a wide range of academic writings in American Music Teacher, Piano Pedagogy Forum, and The Piano Magazine. Active as a performer, presenter, and educator, she continues to be invited to present workshops at state, regional and national conferences, give masterclasses and adjudicate competitions and festivals. She has presented sessions at the Music Teachers National Association Conference, National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, MTNA Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum, MusicEdConnect, College Music Society, and state conferences for the Georgia MTA, Iowa MTA, Tennessee MTA, and California Association of Professional Music Teachers. She earned the DMA from the University of Oklahoma, MM from Baylor University, and MM and BM from California State University, Fullerton.
Dr. Rebecca Tate St. Goar, UC Foundation Professor, teaches at the University of Tennessee of Chattanooga. With the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, she has performed Siebel in Faust, Cherubino in Marriage of Figaro and the mezzo solo in Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky. Dr. St. Goar was a Fellow at the Bach Aria Institute in New York. Twentieth century music endeavors have included Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children, a premiere of both Peter Temko’s Still Voices and Jan Swafford’s Iphigenia. Dr. St. Goar has twice been a national finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Auditions. She is a former winner of the Palmai-Tenser Competition of the Mobile Opera, placed second in the Mu Phi Epsilon International Competition, and has twice been a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.
Dr. Ronda Benson Ford is currently instructor of flute at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, instructor of flute and piano at Dalton State College, and flute and recorder teacher at Cadek Conservatory. Ronda is the principal flutist with the UTC Community Orchestra and previously performed with the Topeka Symphony. She has toured internationally with the International Flute Orchestra to Japan, Italy, and Hungary. Ronda has had articles published in the Flutist Quarterly journal and Flute Talk magazine. She has served on the faculties of Lee University, Western State Colorado University, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, National American University, Truman State University, Park University, Missouri Western State University, Kansas City Kansas Community College, and Parkland College.
Keywords
Mezzo-soprano, flute, piano, Judith Bentley
Description
10-minute showcase performance
Bentley Roses by Jennifer Higdon
Bentley Roses was written for mezzo-soprano, flute, and piano and dedicated to the composer’s former teacher, Judith Bentley. It was commissioned by Bentley’s current and former students and presented in a surprise retirement concert in 2002. The performers will present the second and third movements, The Rose and To The Roses. The Rose presents rhythmic and flowing lines in the piano and flute parts that lull the listener into a hypnotic state while featuring the beauty of the text in the vocal melody. To The Roses features shifting harmonies, lilting rhythms that obscure the sense of pulse, and fluid interplay between the voice, flute and pianist’s left hand. The texts are poems written by James Whitcomb Riley, one of Judith Bentley’s favorite poets. Jennifer Higdon chose poems that focus on roses as a metaphor to represent Bentley’s students presenting her with a bouquet of new music composed and performed in her honor.