Free Recital Set for Sept. 16
Guest artists Ryan Gardner, trumpet, and Rebecca Wilt, piano, will perform a free afternoon recital at 4 p.m. Sept. 16 in the Ophelia Parrish Performance Hall.
Gardner is the associate professor of trumpet at Oklahoma State University. Originally from Santa Monica, Cali., he received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music with highest distinction, his master’s degree from Rice University - Shepherd School of Music and his D.M.A. from the Manhattan School of Music.
As an orchestral performer, Gardner has played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Honolulu Symphony, the Charleston Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic, among others. He is a featured recitalist and his debut CD “On Track” has received critical acclaim. An avid chamber musician and a champion of new music, he has played with Alarm Will Sound and Crash Ensemble. Additionally, he is a Bach performing artist and clinician and has recorded with Naxos, Mark Records and BX Entertainment.
Along with a performing career, Gardner enjoys impressive teaching successes. His students have gone on to distinguished careers, graduate programs and elite summer festivals, and have achieved success at the international, national and regional levels, most notably at International Trumpet Guild Conferences and National Trumpet Competitions. Gardner serves as artist coordinator for Music for Autism and was named their 2010 Spotlight Artist of Year Award.
Wilt has received national and international recognition as a virtuoso collaborative pianist and coach. She has worked with many of the world’s prominent wind instrument performers, as well as some of the country’s foremost vocalists, and has performed in many of the world’s greatest venues in North America, Europe and Asia.
Having studied with John Wustman, “dean of American accompanists” and pianist for Luciano Pavorotti, as well as Jon Spong and Jessica Paul, Wilt has also served as pianist and vocal coach for several opera productions, including, “La Boheme,” “La Traviata,” “Cosi fan Tutte,” “Die Fledermaus,” “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “Romeo et Juliette,” “Albert Herring” and “Susannah,” among others. In addition to degrees in vocal coaching/accompanying, she hss two degrees in vocal performance.
Wilt has performed in collaboration with members of the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the National Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She frequently gives workshops and master classes at universities and colleges all over the country on topics involving vocal coaching, instrumental chamber music, rehearsing with a pianist, and the competition road.
Currently on the faculty at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Wilt is also on the summer faculty for the Center for Advanced Musical Studies in Enfield, New Hampshire, the AIMS opera festival in Graz, Austria, and has appeared as a guest artist at various festivals all over the world.
Gardner and Wilt will be offering master classes from 2-3 p.m. Sept. 16. Gardner’s master class will take place in Ophelia Parrish 2340 and Wilt’s will be in Ophelia Parrish 2350.
