Chamber music recital features CSC and UW professors

CSC faculty member Brooks Hafey and guest artists James Przygocki and Blake McGee walked in to applause from students, faculty and community members Saturday evening in the Sandoz Center Chicoine Atrium. 

Przygocki is Professor of Music and Chair of the String Area at the University of Wyoming where he teaches viola, violin, and music education and pedagogy courses. He also serves as Principle Violist in the Cheyenne Symphony, teaches at the String Academy of Wyoming and is the Director of the University of Wyoming.  Przygocki has performed in Europe, China, Brazil and Canada as well as in the U.S. He has recorded several CDs as well as contributing to “Teaching Music Through Performance” and “The American String Teacher” journal. Przygocki is President of the Rocky Mountain chapter of the American Viola Society. 

McGee is Associate Professor of Clarinet and Music History at the University of Wyoming and the principle clarinet of the Wyoming Symphony. McGee is a passionate reed-maker and researcher, discovering new ways to evaluate clarinet reeds based on design parameters. He also wrote and published “ReedWorks: A Guide to Single Reed Adjustment.” McGee annually tours the U.S. as a recitalist. 

Brooks Hafey is the Assistant Professor of Music at Chadron State College and is a chamber musician, collaborative artist and conductor. He has performed around the U.S. as well as in France, Italy and Norway. 

With Hafey on piano, Przygocki on violin and McGee on clarinet, chamber music flooded the space as the trio preformed a series of pieces from “Eight Pieces” by Max Bruch, “Kegelstatt” by W.A. Mozart and Lowell Lieberman’s Op. 128.

The pieces ranged from Liebermann’s Op. 128’s “Largo” a piece Hafey compared to an “elephant heartbeat,” to the lively, jumping “Allegro Vivace, Ma Non Troppo” from “Eight Pieces.” 

Midway through Liebermann’s “Movendo Limpido” several deer ran past outside, but the trio was not distracted. The night concluded with Liebermann’s “Allegro,” an energetic tune preparing the audience for the brisk temperatures outside.  

The next event on the music department’s schedule will be March 18. and will feature students from Gordon and Rushville will perform in the Student Center.