Strings, horns, wind converge
The upcoming Performing Arts Series at Butler County Community College will feature the Butler Symphony Chamber Players, along with the Symphony Wind Quintet.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Succop Theater on campus.
Individual tickets cost $15 in advance and $17 at the door; students pay $10. Call 724-284-8505 or 888-826-2829 or order tickets online at www.bc3.edu.
The newly formed Chamber Players, which were featured in a story in July in the Butler Eagle, include members Jim Sanzotti, clarinet; Christie Kecskemethy, violin; Stephanie Maharg, viola; Christina Savannah, bassoon; Beth Weed, contra string bass; Roberta Wotus, French horn; Elisa Wick, violin, and Lynn Crytzer, cello.
For a full performance, the group will present Schubert's "Octet in F Major."
Beethoven's popular "Septet" led directly to this "Octet" by Schubert, said Sanzotti. Count Ferdinand Troyer asked Schubert to compose a piece "exactly like the Beethoven Septet" in 1824. Schubert produced a similar six-movement work that, at first glance, seems closely modeled on its distinguished predecessor.
The Symphony Wind Quintet also will perform at this BC3 concert. This group, which started in 1990 but has changed some membership since then, is made up of Mary Gibbons, bassoon; Denise Gamble, horn; Craig Johnson, flute; Gary Purifoy, oboe, and Charles Norton, clarinet.
Gamble is currently in her 19th year as a music educator at Kittanning Junior High School.
She graduated from Kiski High School in 1976, and attended Morehead State University in Kentucky, where she received a bachelor of music degree with teaching certification in 1980.She received a graduate assistantship to attend Kent State University from 1980 to 1982, where she received a master of music in French horn performance.
Shehas performed with the Lexington, Ky., Philharmonic, and currently plays principal horn with the Butler County Symphony, having performed with the group for 22 years.
Gibbons is retired from the Armstrong School District, where she taught general music, chorus, concert and marching bands, and strings. In addition to playing principal bassoon with the Butler County Symphony, she plays saxophone and bassoon in several community groups.
Along with her husband, Kevin Gibbons, and son Denny Stivanson, she leads the Gibbons Big Band, which plays in the Armstrong County area.
Johnson is the principal flutist with the Butler County Symphony Orchestra. He performed for almost 20 years with the Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and Gateway to Music Woodwind Quintet. He has also played as a substitute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
He was named executive director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra in November 2000, the full-time position he now holds.
He earned his bachelor's degree in music with Bernard Goldberg at Duquesne University and his master of fine arts degree under Martin Lerner and Jeffrey Khaner at Carnegie Mellon University.
Norton has been principal clarinet with the Butler County Symphony Orchestra since the orchestra's premier concert on April 17, 1950. He also is a member of the orchestra's board of directors. He holds degrees in music and music education from Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie-Mellon University.
He served for two years in military service with the 25th Infantry Division Band in Hawaii. He is retired from Mars National Bank after 50 years of service.
Purifoy is the principal oboist with the Butler County Symphony Orchestra, and a founding member of the Symphony Wind Quintet. He received a bachelor of music education degree from Morehead State University, and a master's degree in music education from the University of Wisconsin.
He is on the faculty of Slippery Rock University as a part-time instructor of double reeds (oboe and bassoon), and teaches private oboe lessons.
