Internationally Acclaimed Trombonist To Present Recital At University Of Arkansas, April 14

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Internationally acclaimed trombonist Abbie Conant will present a solo recital at the University of Arkansas on Sunday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m., in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall. General admission is $5 and $2 for students and seniors.

Conant, professor of trombone at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany, is completing a two-month tour of 17 cities in the southeastern United States. Included in the tour are appearances at the Universities of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.

The theme for Conant's tour is "The Wired Goddess and Her Trombone." This project involved working with composers to create computer and trombone-based works on the theme of the Goddess. To date, 28 works have been written or are in progress, and she has already premiered 14.

"I wanted to initiate a new direction for the trombone," Conant said. "The instrument has so much bad literature that I simply cannot identify with. I wanted a completely original approach and a completely different feeling that I simply hadn't yet found in this world."

Conant encourages composers to be varied and imaginative in their approach to the Goddess theme.

"Works can include a wide range of earthly avatars of the Goddess such as Rosa Parks, Maria Callas, Mother Theresa, Anne Frank, Etty Hillesum, Chief Seattle and anonymous bag ladies," Conant said.

In Europe, Conant recently performed Goddess concerts in Stuttgart, Vienna and Münster. She travels on both continents in a van with a 600-pound quadrophonic sound system. Perfection of sound reproduction and surround sound spatialization are hallmarks of her work in performance art and computer music.

Conant served as principal trombone of the Munich Philharmonic under the legendary Sergiu Celibidache from 1980-1993, and she struggled for her equal rights as a woman, morally as well as financially. When the conductor learned that a female had won the screened audition, he moved her down to second chair. Litagation ensued, which she ultimately won, but it took the better part of a decade. This helps explain why she not only wants a new palette of sounds for the trombone but also a new world of the imagination.

Some of the works included in Conant's Fayetteville concert, April 14, are "The Elderberry Goddess" by Elizabeth Hoffman, "What Is A Modern Goddess?" by Richard Belcastro, "Hysteria" by Cindy Cox, "Landmine" by Anna Rubin, "Love Song Without Words" by Nancy Dowlin and "Music for the End of Time" by William Osborne.

Conant will also present a free master class from 5:30-7 p.m. on Monday, April 15, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.

Questions concerning her appearance can be addressed to UA music professor Gerald Sloan at (479) 575-6302.

- 30 -