Event Details

Sunday, November 13, Dolan Hall, The Annunciation Center, Saint Elizabeth University, 2 Convent Road, Morristown, New Jersey

Robert W. Butts - The Amiable Consort - World Premiere, in collaboration with internationally renowned choreographer Kimani Fowlin, Director of Drew University's Dance Department and Chloe Martins, Drew Dance Alumni.  Included in this landmark collaboration are The Arts and Culture Collaborative, and Drew University.  The Amiable Consort composition was commissioned by Judith Gibson.  Dancers include: Courtney Fee, Olivia Smedley, Sabine Reedy (Drew alumni), Ashley Abreu, Michelle Lombardi, and Jarry Fall.

Leopold Kozeluch - Concerto for Piano 4 Hands

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony #41 - Jupiter 

Special Guest Artists: International piano duo Madalina Danila and Hugh Sung

Madalina-Claudia Danila is a Romanian born pianist who is currently pursuing her Doctoral Studies in Piano Performance at Temple University in Philadelphia where she was awarded a full scholarship.  Madalina entered the Bucharest Conservatory in 2009 under the guidance of Prof. Univ.Dr. Șerban-Dimitrie Soreanu and Prof. Univ. Dr. Sandu Sandrin.  Madalina has competed in several competitions and won several national and international prizes and scholarships, including 1st Prize, Special Prize at the ”George Enescu Competition” for best performance of a Romanian work and Special Prize ”Maria Fotino” for the best performance of a classical work at the 2015 ”Mihail Jora” International Competition in Bucharest. Between 2006 and 2009 Mădălina was awarded three scholarships by the Bucharest District Rotary Club. After her first year at Temple University Mădălina was awarded the “Marcia Korn” scholarship for outstanding academic results. She has since performed solo, concerto, and chamber music concerts extensively in the USA and abroad, most recently in Paris in collaboration with the New York Classical Music Society. Mădălina actively champions the works of Romanian and contemporary composers, and was invited three times to perform in the International ”Meridian” Festival, dedicated exclusively to Contemporary Music in Bucharest.

Hugh Sung has been hailed as one of the finest collaborative pianists of his generation. Hugh has performed and recorded with the likes of violinists Aaron Rosand, Hilary Hahn, and Leila Josefowicz; flutists Julius Baker, Jeffrey Khaner, Jasmine Choi, and Gary Schocker; and composers Jennifer Higdon, Robert Maggio, and Harold Boatrite. He has also worked extensively with the Philadelphia and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. Hugh served on the faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia for 19 years as its Director of Student Recitals and Instrumental Accompaniment.  In 2008, Hugh co-founded AirTurn, a company that creates hands-free page-turning pedals for digital sheet music. Hugh continues to perform around the world, and currently serves as the Director of Institutional Solutions for Cunningham Piano, representing Yamaha.

Kimani Fowlin is a dancer, choreographer, Assistant Professor of Dance and the Director of the Dance Department at Drew University. She has been on the dance faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University for over 20 years. She was recently awarded the New York State Dance Education Association’s Outstanding Dance Educator Award. Work includes performing and teaching in Russia as part of an International Festival of Dance on the Volga; performing in Ghana for Panafest; and performing in Greece with funk band Milo Z. She co-founded Boom!Beep!Bop!, a children’s dance class rooted in African Diasporic culture. Kimani is currently collaborating with actor Chuk Obasi in The Actual Dance as choreographer and director. In January 2020 she co-organized an immersion at the University of Utah on Dancing Around Race: Whiteness in Higher Education. In July 2022, Kimani taught at Bates Dance Festival for the three week intensive Pre Professional Program. In May she led a group of college students on an educational and immersive experience to Ireland. 

"There is no set program for The Amiable Consort," Maestro Butts explained when discussing his composition. "The title came to me while talking with Judith Gibson who had commissioned the work.  It is in four movements.  The story can be interpreted many ways and does nor refer to any linear narrative.  The first movement is called "Prologue/Awakenings" and is meant to be a sense of beginning, of starting on life, on a journey, on a project, on anything.  The second movement, "Relationships" is also not specific and reflects the many kinds of relationships we experience in life, on a joruney, or though a new adventure.  The third movement is called 'Fugal Explorations."  "Fugal" refers to the musical form which is by and large a traditional fugue. Just as a fugue sort of follows a parth or trail or journey and encounters many new ideas, adventures, facets, and variations, so does the music.  The finale is "Being/Living" and in this I tried to capture the idea of accepting and enjoying and letting what happens thrill and excite us and keep us enjoying life and every moment.  I am thrilled to have my music interpreted as well through dance by these incredible artists."