Annual concert honors Glenn Glasow's memory and legacy of fostering great musical talents at CSUEB

May 14, 2010 12:30pm

Thursday evening, the Department of Music held the Glenn Glasow Memorial Concert, an annual event honoring the beloved former professor and showcasing the musical talents of Cal State East Bay. In 2009, Glasow’s family created the Glenn Glasow and Yoshiko Kakudo Endowment to support both the annual performance and students studying music (the news announcement).

The program featured several premiere pieces by students and faculty, including one by Ryan Rey, who was selected as the inaugural recipient of Glenn Glasow Fellowship in Composition last year (read about him in the Fall 2009 issue of Cal State East Bay Magazine).

In addition, the Glasow family sponsors an Undergraduate Composition Commission, which went this year to Stephanie Webster — who not only wrote the night’s dramatic opening “Agues” but also played the vibraphone and marimba parts herself.

Rey sat in the back row to watch his piece, “Shaped by a Burr Grinder,” for flute, oboe and clarinet, with horn and bassoon rounding out the quintet on the low end.

Graduate student Rolf Johnson premiered a spirited “Bagatelle for Violin and Viola,” and faculty member Allen Shearer debuted “Forthrights and Meanders” with violin, cello, and piano. The evening concluded with “Sempiternalicious” by music department chair Rafael Hernandez.

Hernandez also had the pleasure of announcing the 2010-11 Glasow award recipients. The graduate fellowship will go to Hilary Strain; the undergraduate commission goes to Kevin McGladdery. They will premiere their works at next spring’s Glasow Memorial Concert. Congratulations!