Gunther Schuller turns 88 next week, and so UTA is holding a celebration of this composer who has led an extraordinary life. A sideman for Miles Davis on his Birth of the Cool album, Schuller gave up performing soon afterward for careers as a teacher, author, and composer who advocated what he called the “Third Stream” of music, bringing both his classical training and his experience as a jazz musician to bear on his works. On Saturday night, Schuller will attend a UTA Wind Symphony concert of his works conducted by Douglas Stotter, so you can celebrate the body of work of this Pulitzer Prize-winning composer.
UNT A Cappella Choir marks its 75th season on Tuesday with two pieces that also mark anniversaries. Herbert Howells’ Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing is a motet commissioned for the funeral of John F. Kennedy, but the English composer also poured into the work his grief over the death of his own son from polio some 28 years prior. Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb is a more joyful choral work, a musical setting of an 18th-century religious poem written by Christopher Smart during his temporary stay in an insane asylum, which famously includes a 74-line celebration of the poet’s cat. The work will be performed three days before the 100th anniversary of Britten’s birth, so Britten fans will want to gather in Denton.
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UTA Wind Symphony plays at 7:30pm Sat at Irons Recital Hall, 700 Greek Row Dr, Arlington. Admission is free. Call 817-272-2526. • UNT A Cappella Choir performs at 8pm Tue at Winspear Hall, 2100 I-35E, Denton. Tickets are $8-10. Call 940-369-7802.
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