Professor captures winter melodies

Flautist+Sophia+Tegart+will+play+compositions+by+French+and+Russian+composers%2C+accompanied+by+pianist+Jeffrey+Savage+and+violinist+Casey+Bozell.

Flautist Sophia Tegart will play compositions by French and Russian composers, accompanied by pianist Jeffrey Savage and violinist Casey Bozell.

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The new clinical assistant professor of flute, Sophia Tegart, will perform in the recital, “Winter Spirits: Music for the Flute.”

Tegart said the collection of pieces for this program are intended to make you feel warm and bundled up despite the crisp winter outside.

“You know when you go to a classical music recital, the people who are the composers who are programmed are usually dead white guys?” Tegart said. “So, I wanted a recital that had a couple dead white guys in it; but the rest I wanted female composers.”

One of the six pieces Tegart will perform is a Native American-sounding piece called “Winter Spirits” by Katherine Hoover.

“For the flute, it’s very satisfying to play,” Tegart said. “It sounds really good in the hall because it’s so atmospheric in a sense, but it has really pretty melodies as well.”

In “Allegro Rustico” and “Sounds of the Forest” by Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, Tegart will be accompanied by pianist Jeffrey Savage, an assistant professor of music at WSU.

“‘Sounds of the Forest’ is very birdlike and mystical,” Tegart said. “The ‘Allegro Rustico’ sounds kind of like an army marching towards you. Because Gubaidulina is Russian, I imagine a 1917 army marching through cold fields.”

In addition to those works, Tegart and Savage will perform “They Move with No One Watching: Dances” by Nadine Dyskant-Miller. Each movement in the piece depicts a different scene, Tegart said.

The first movement illustrates a windy bus stop with wild leaves, and the second movement captures the image of someone sitting on a park bench, admiring the clear day, she said.

The third movement depicts the image of a hundred frogs splashing in the pond. The final movement calms down with the illustration of a fluffy cloud of seeds drifting in the breeze, Tegart explained.

In “Trio,” by Nino Rota, violinist Casey Bozell from the Portland Opera Company and Oregon Ballet Theater will accompany Savage and Tegart.

“There’s a lot of stuff in this piece that reminds me of background music that will build a mood for a movie scene,” Tegart said.

For their final work of the evening, Tegart and Savage will play “Sonata” by French composer Philippe Gaubert.

“(Philippe Gaubert) didn’t purposely write it to be nature-sounding,” Tegart said, “but the way it starts out, it sounds like crystal snowflakes falling, and you can see the glitter.”

“Winter Spirits: Music for the Flute” will be from 8 – 10 p.m. tonight in Bryan Hall Theatre. WSU students with an ID will be admitted for free. General admission is $10, and admission for senior citizens or non-WSU students is $5.