Audiences for one of the upcoming Syracuse Vocal Ensemble performances of “Birds” will see a show that SUNY Oswego connections helped take flight.
The artistic director of the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble is Julie Pretzat, who is also dean of Oswego’s School of Communication, Media and the Arts. Pretzat drew on Oswego talent for the multimedia show celebrating feathered friends for the approach of spring.
The Feb. 29 and March 1 performances will feature a world-premiere commissioned work by Paul Leary of Oswego’s music faculty. Leary scored the Emily Dickinson’s poem “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” for chorus, piano, flute and marimba.
“I'm also playing the shakuhachi flute and doing some live electronics,” Leary said. “I'm providing some environmental soundscape sounds while I play the flute.”
Francisco Suarez of the communication studies faculty created bird videos that will appear throughout the concert. Artwork by art faculty member Amy Bartell and Marybeth DeGroot, director of design and print services, will appear at the March 1 concert in Cicero.
The concert also will feature a solo flute piece by SUNY Oswego alumnus Nick Gianopoulos.
Performances will take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 29, at Immanuel United Methodist Church, 303 Kasson Rd. in Camillus, and 3 p.m. Sunday, March 1, at the Cicero United Methodist Church, 8416 Brewerton Rd. in Cicero.
Baltimore Nature Center will offer youth activities on Saturday, while the Onondaga Audubon Society will offer a bird identification activity for all to enter a raffle both Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets cost $10 for adults, with students and children admitted free. Tickets are available online or at the door for these concerts.