WSO to Pay Tribute to Retiring Music Professor Jack Gallagher
WOOSTER, Ohio – The Wooster Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Jeffrey Lindberg, will pay tribute to Jack Gallagher, the Olive Williams Kettering Professor of Music at Wooster who is retiring at the end of academic year, with two performances featuring Gunnar Hirthe (clarinet) and Kimberly Zaleski (flute) on Friday, Feb. 22, and Saturday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center (525 E. University St.).
Tchaikovsky’s “6th Symphony (Pathétique)” will highlight the performance that will also feature Gallagher’s “Diversions Overture.” Other works to be performed are Charles Griffes’ “Poem for Flute and Orchestra” featuring Zaleski, and Scott McAllister’s “X Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra” featuring Hirthe.
The recipient of a 2016 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for composition and a member of Wooster’s faculty since 1977, Gallagher has composed nearly 50 works for orchestra, chorus, symphonic band, chamber, ensembles, and solo instruments. In 2016, his “Vivat Crescat Floreat,” commissioned for The College’s 150th anniversary celebration and inauguration of President Sarah Bolton, was premiered by the Wooster Chorus directed by Lisa Wong.
Gallagher’s compositions have been included on 18 published albums and his works have been performed or recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra of Krakow, South African National Youth Orchestra, U.S. Air Force Band of Flight, and many others. His “Berceuse” has been broadcast more than 200 times by Colorado Public Radio and more than 50 times over Radio Stephansdom Klassiksender in Vienna, Austria. As a producer, his recording for TNC Records of Messiaen’s “Oiseaux Exotiques” with pianist Angelin Chang, conductor John McLaughlin Williams, and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, won a 2006 Grammy Award in the classical category, “Best Instrumental Soloist Performance with Orchestra.”
Zaleski, an adjunct professor of flute at Wooster, has dedicated her career to performing, composing, and teaching music. Presently, she is the co-founder and flutist in the flute and cello duo, IN2ATIVE and is a performing artist on the roster of the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning Agency. She studied at the Juilliard School before pursuing her bachelor of arts degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and she received her maters of arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Hirthe, an instructor of music at Wooster, is currently a doctoral candidate at Bowling Green State University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music education and performance from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree in music performance from The Ohio State University, and has a professional studies diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has performed with professional chamber, wind, orchestral, and faculty ensembles in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Vermont, and New York and in 2016, he joined as solo clarinetist, the No Exit New Music Ensemble in Cleveland.
Lindberg, professor of music at Wooster, is also the director of the highly acclaimed Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Chicago’s oldest professional jazz orchestra in continuous operation.
Tickets are $10 and are available at Buehler’s (Milltown and Towne Market), the Wilson Bookstore on campus, and at the door of the concert. All students are admitted free of charge, and C.O.W. faculty and staff may obtain complimentary tickets at the Wilson Bookstore.
Posted in Faculty, News on February 15, 2019.
