Pianist Hans Lüdemann is returning to Swarthmore College to hold two performances in December. Previously, Lüdemann taught at Swarthmore as a Cornell Visiting Professor during two academic years: 2009-2010 and 2015-2016. In his first year at Swarthmore, Lüdemann taught “Jazz Today” and “African Music,” while in his second year, he taught “Improvisation” and “Jazz History.” One of the reasons why Lüdemann was invited to teach at Swarthmore was his connections to other artists.

“I was able to invite several of the artists I collaborate with to Swarthmore for concerts and workshops such as the TRIO IVOIRE with Aly Keita, singer Chiwoniso, violinist Mark Feldman and the trio ROOMS,” Lüdemann said. “The final performance was a collaboration between the TRIO IVOIRE, saxophonist Andrew Neu, and the College Jazz Ensemble.”

Currently, Lüdemann is not teaching regularly, except for occasional guest lectures and workshops. Instead, he is touring as a solo pianist in China, playing concerts in four cities—Shenzhen, Ruijin, Guangzhou, and Beijing. Furthermore, Lüdemann is associated with an artist with the record labels BMC and Intuition, and with publisher Schott (the original publisher of Beethoven). He is expecting two new releases next year. For 2019-2020, Lüdemann will be very busy working on solo recitals, touring South Africa, and composing an opera to premiere in 2020.

Although Lüdemann is currently stacked with various projects, his main desire in music has never changed. “My main interest always was, and still is, to invent and to create original music and to follow an artistic path of my own,” Lüdemann said. “I have also always been interested in exploring different musical sources and to draw from those sources.”

On Wednesday, December 5th at 12:30pm in Parrish Parlors, the Department of Music and Dance with the Departments of German and Media Studies will present a special lunch hour concert featuring Lüdemann and saxophonist Andrew Neu, who is also director of the Swarthmore College Jazz Ensemble.

Neu is looking forward to reconnecting with Lüdemann and anticipates a spontaneous concert. “We performed together several times during his tenure here, and we always had very natural chemistry,” Neu said. “We haven’t planned what we’re going to do yet, but that’s not unusual for jazz artists.”

For Lüdemann, he does not know what to expect for his upcoming performance because he never performs twice in the same way.

“There will be improvisation with emotional and atmospheric depth and there will be composed pieces and parts that are very melodic and concentrated,” Lüdemann said. “At times the music can be meditative and introspective, in other moments very lively and expressive.”

“It certainly should be an intense, fun, entertaining, and hopefully also moving experience, and the concert will also depend on the communication between artists and public, that plays an essential part in the creative process,” Lüdemann continued.

In addition to the lunch hour concert, Lüdemann will have a performance incorporating Swarthmore student monologues on Thursday, December 6th from 7:00-8:00 pm at Parrish Parlors. This performance originates from a collaborative project between Lüdemann and German writer Antje Ravic-Strubel. “The intention is to develop ideas in a workshop situation that combine the declamation of texts with musical concepts,” Lüdemann said. “It is a new project initiated by German professor Ute Bettray, and I am very curious myself if it will evolve into something very precise and composed, or if the formats we develop will be more of an improvised nature.”

“I always found that Swarthmore was an inspiring place to be, and a great place to develop and sharpen one’s senses and skills, while being embedded in a very cooperative and social environment. I hope Swarthmore still is and will continue to be this kind of a place, and I am glad to become part of that again, even if it is just for some days this time,” Lüdemann concluded.

David Chan ’19

As the end of the fall semester approaches, the Swarthmore College Orchestra is preparing for its fall concert, featuring renowned cellist Amy Barston. Barston is one of the Department of Music and Dance’s Featured Artists for the 2018-19 year.

Barston is an incredible musician who has played as a soloist with a number of prestigious orchestras, including a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of seventeen. She’s also a Juilliard graduate and a cello teacher for the Juilliard Pre-College program, and held a master class for musicians at Swarthmore earlier this month.

The Swarthmore College Orchestra will be playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto with Barston. “When Amy Barston agreed to be one of our Featured Artists this season, we started to talk about what concerto she might play with the orchestra,” recounts orchestra director Andrew Hauze ‘04. “The Dvorak was at the top of both of our lists: not only is it an exquisitely beautiful piece, but it is really symphonic in conception, with a breadth and variety in the instrumental writing that shows Dvorak at his most orchestrally inventive.”

Dvorak was noted to have been originally reluctant to write a concerto for cello, arguing that the cello’s range was utterly unsuited for solo playing with orchestral accompaniment. However, it is now hailed as perhaps one of the greatest concertos of all time, full of beautiful melodic interplay and compelling themes.

Hauze explained his thought process for why he found the Dvorak particularly well-suited for the Swarthmore College Orchestra.

“In an academic setting it’s always best if we can find concerti that will be fulfilling for the orchestra to rehearse alone (without the soloist) for most of the semester, and, in my opinion, the Dvorak has one of the most interesting orchestral parts of any concerto in the standard repertoire. The first movement is on a grand and dramatic scale; the second movement is almost like a wind serenade, filled with prayers, laments, tender beauty, and a funeral march; and the last movement seems to evoke Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, eventually melting into a ‘long goodbye’ when Dvorak lands in B Major and seems to just want to linger, finding new and ever more beautiful ways to reaffirm our ‘home’ key.”

The other feature for the fall concert is Schumann’s Symphony no. 3. However, this was not the original plan for the fall semester.

“For most of the summer I had planned to pair the Franck D Minor Symphony with the Dvorak concerto,” said Hauze. “I was all set to program it until we had some changes in our personnel: fewer low brass players and not quite as many woodwinds, but lots of new string players! The Franck was no longer as good a fit for our instrumental makeup, and so I decided just before our first rehearsal to substitute Schumann’s Third Symphony.”

Schumann’s Third is a personal favorite of his. “It has magnificent passages for each section of the orchestra. It is also a tremendously life affirming piece and, despite being at times very tiring for the orchestra (as Schumann loves for lots of people to be playing at once), its extraordinary energy and variety of moods make it a deeply satisfying musical experience for player and listener alike. I particularly love the solemn and somewhat creepy fourth movement (a memory of a religious procession outside the majestic Köln Cathedral) that is answered by a jolly and bubbling Finale.”

The Swarthmore College Orchestra’s fall concert is December 1st, at 8:00 pm in Lang Concert Hall.

Andy Zhang ’22

On Sunday, November 18, Swarthmore College’s Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo will perform various music from famous composers like trumpeter Clifford Brown, the band War, pianist and organist Count Basie, Aaron Copland, pianist George Gershwin, and Henry Mancini. It is the wish of Andrew Neu, director of the Jazz Ensemble and one of the college’s Associates in Performance, that the concert will showcase “jazz standards” (like music by Clifford Brown) and music from “legendary big bands” (like music by Count Basie and War) while also highlighting the musical “strength and personality of the band.”

This concert is particularly unique because two of the pieces that will be performed include vocals to be sung by Swarthmore students, a rare occurrence according to Neu. The students who will be singing are Veronica Yabloko, Shelby Billups, Ben Warren, and Omar Camps-Kamrin.

Billups says she is “ immensely excited to not only be singing in a quartet with other talented singers, but to be singing alongside such a large band. This will be my first time singing jazz with a full band and in such a large setting, and I’m so lucky to get to do this with such a talented group of musicians.” Warren also expresses similar enthusiasm, excited for this “ rare opportunity to get to perform with a big band.” He says, “The voice program here [Swarthmore] deals mostly with classical music, and while I love it, it’s always nice to broaden my horizons as a performer.”

In addition to jazz standards and classics like “I’ll Remember Clifford,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” and “Basie Straight Ahead,” the ensemble will also perform “TSC Blues,” “Fanfare for the Common Man,” “The World is a Ghetto,” pieces that were written “written exclusively for jazz ensembles.” “TSC Blues” is an original composed by Brain Pastor, a Philly locale and principal trombonist of the Philly Pops. “Fanfare for the Common Man,” arranged by Aaron Copland, is a creative, somewhat “unusual” interpretation of music originally purposed for brass and percussion. “The World is a Ghetto” is Andrew Neu’s own arrangement, which, he feels is “nothing like the original.” While the original music leans more towards being R&B, Neu’s arrangement is more “idiomatic towards a jazz ensemble,” almost resembling a jazz waltz.

The full program lineup is: “Basie Straight Ahead,” “TSC Blues,” “I Remember Clifford,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “Love Beams,” “And What if I Don’t,” “Look to the Sky,” “Fanfare for the Common Man,” “Come Rain or Shine,” “Dreamsville,” “Riverscape,” and “the World is a Ghetto.” “And What if I Don’t” and “Look to the Sky” will be performed by the Jazz Combo, a separate and smaller ensemble of students supported by the Elizabeth Pollard Fetter Chamber Music Program, and the pieces that will include vocals are “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” and “Come Rain or Shine.”

The event will start at 7:30 P.M. in the Lang Concert Hall, and it will be live streamed.

Maria Consuelo de Dios ’21

The Swarthmore College Wind Ensemble is holding its annual fall program on Saturday, November 17th at 8:00 pm, located at the Lang Concert Hall.

The Wind Ensemble is a Tri-College group, welcoming student musicians from both Haverford College and Bryn Mawr College. The ensemble is directed by Professor Andrew Hauze ‘04.

The repertoire for this concert will feature songs originating from different places around the world. The songs include Percy Grainger’s Irish Tune from County Derry and Shepherd’s Hey, Chen Yi’s Suite from China West, Frank Ticheli’s arrangement of Shenandoah, and Darius Milhaud’s classic Suite Française.

When Hauze plans for each Wind Ensemble concert, he must take into consideration student enrichment, audience reception, and performance cohesiveness.

“Each semester in Wind Ensemble, I try to pick pieces across a range of styles, moods, and technical challenges that will be enriching to work on for the whole semester, but also make a satisfying concert experience for the audience,” Hauze said.

For this fall’s repertoire, Hauze put together an eclectic group of pieces that share a common origin in traditional folk music.

“I had been looking at a number of these pieces for awhile, and I realized that it would be fun to program them all together, as they are all settings or reinterpretations of traditional folk songs (from, respectively, Ireland, England, China, America, and France),” Hauze said. “Though they’re all based on tunes that would be sung in everyday situations over hundreds of years, the ways that these tunes are approached by each composer are remarkably different!”

Out of the repertoire, Hauze is excited to explore one specific piece due to its challenging nature.

“I am particularly excited for the audience to hear Chen Yi’s Suite from China West, a relatively recent piece (written in 2005) by the distinguished Chinese American composer Chen Yi,” Hauze said. “It has been a huge challenge to put together, but the group is sounding great, and the sounds that Dr. Chen finds in this piece are extraordinary.”

The decision to include Chen Yi’s Suite from China West is partly influenced by the big presence of traditional Chinese music on Swarthmore’s campus. Hauze attributes this presence to the Swarthmore College Chinese Music Ensemble, which is led by colleague Professor Lei Ouyang Bryant.

This year’s Wind Ensemble is a bit larger than previous years, composed of thirty-nine members. Additionally, six professional musicians will be joining the student musicians during the concert.

“Working with the Wind Ensemble is always a joy, and this semester has been particularly fun because we’ve had a larger group than normal and the energy has been so lively and positive,” Hauze said. “The students have worked extremely hard to prepare a challenging program, and we’re really excited to share it with everyone.”

David Chan ’19