FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2005

CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu

DRAKE TO HOST FLUTE FESTIVAL, MASTER CLASSES SATURDAY

Drake University will host the 2005 Iowa Flute Festival, which includes a guest recital and master class, on Saturday, April 23.

Guest artist Marina Piccinini, who is widely recognized as one of the world's leading flute virtuosos, will perform with Drake music professor Chiu-Ling Lin, piano, at 4:45 p.m. on the Jordan Stage in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main, 25th Street and University Avenue.

Piccinini combines flawless technical command, profound interpretive instincts and a charismatic stage presence. Since making her acclaimed debuts in New York’s Town Hall, London’s Southbank Centre and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Piccinini has been in demand both as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras in the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.

She recently performed the Ibert Flute Concerto under Maximiano Valdes and the Phoenix Symphony and the Berg Chamber Concerto with Mitsuko Uchida conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen in the opening months of New York’s new Zankel Hall.

Tickets for the recital, which will be available at the door, are $10 for the general public and $5 with a Drake ID. In addition to the recital, Piccinini will conduct a master class for Drake students from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 23, in Sheslow Auditorium. The master class is free and open to the public.

For more information about the festival, contact Erika Leake, assistant professor of flute, at (515) 271-2808 or leakyflute@aol.com.
Also on Saturday, April 23, Vincent Cichowicz, professor of trumpet at Northwestern University and a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 23 years, will conduct a master class for Drake students from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 23, at the Mainstay, 25th Street and Forest Avenue. The general public is invited to observe the class.

Cichowicz has been a faculty member at Northwestern University since 1959, and professor of trumpet since 1974. He began his musical career at age17 in the Houston Symphony Orchestra. After a brief period of m bilitary service, he became a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1952 and played under the direction of Rafael Kubelik, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon and George Solti. He is regarded as one of North America's foremost experts in brass pedagogy.

For more information about the master class, contact Andrew Classen, associate professor of trumpet and director of jazz studies at Drake, at (515) 271-3785 or andrew.classen@drake.edu.

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