Two free, public performances are being offered by the
Music Department at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Tracelyn Gesteland, a 1994 alumna and a mezzo-soprano
active on the opera and concert stage, will present a concert of German and
American music on Sunday, Oct. 6, at 3 p.m. in the Michelsen Hall in the Noel
Fine Arts Center. She will be accompanied on piano by Mara Beckman.
Gesteland has performed in several world premiere
productions in the United States and Canada and currently serves on the music
faculty of the University of South Dakota. She also is president of the South
Dakota chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and
has given numerous presentations at national music education conferences.
A recital and lecture on Czeck folk songs will be held
at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14, as a collaboration between Matthew Markham,
assistant music professor at UW-Stevens Point, and Timothy Cheek, a pianist,
vocal coach and University of Michigan professor. The presentation will include
folk songs arranged by Czech composer Petr Eben as well as part of a video
documentary and stories from Markham’s extensive research in a region near the
Czech/Poland border. Cheek will also lead a master class at UW-Stevens Point
and coach 11 vocal students on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
Markham came to UW-Stevens Point in 2012 and teaches applied voice, vocal pedagogy and opera workshop. He
is a baritone on the operatic, concert and recital stages, and has won several
vocal and research honors. Active in NATS, he is a Wisconsin board member. He
also teaches at a music festival in Prague, Czech Republic, each summer and at
a festival in New York City each winter.