Terrier Volume 75, Number 1 - Spring 2011 | Page 14

Concerts At Half-Past Twelve Celebrates
10 Years of Lunch Hour Culture
From baroque to bluegrass, and Beethoven to Bernstein, several times every academic year, beautiful
music fills Founders Hall at lunch time.

R

nature. Between the concert and
are opportunities at any
reception afterward, students
price; these concerts,
have a chance to discover what is
whether classical, jazz,
unique about these opportunispiritual, opera or pop, just
ties, particularly, as explained by
happen to be free.
flutist April Clayton, the way
Ten years ago, Dr. Suzanne
performers and audiences are
Forsberg , professor of Fine Arts,
able to interact more personally.
initiated the series, Concerts at
“In this setting, there is a more
Half-Past Twelve. Since then,
The Voxare String Quartet performing at Carnegie Hall.
immediate sense that the
students, administrators, faculty
audience appreciates what they
and the community have experi“ xposure to a string quartet performance will
E
are hearing,” said Ms. Clayton
enced more than 50 concerts of
who teaches at Brigham Young
the caliber enjoyed by audiences at
hopefully pique students’ interest in a particular
University in Provo, Utah, and is
fine music venues worldwide.
ensemble and they may be more willing to explore
director of chamber music for the
Several commemorative
other opportunities to listen to classical music and European American Musical
concerts have taken place as part
Alliance. “The audience feels
of the series, including those
the string quartet.”
different—more like it’s made of
honoring the work of Mozart and — Emily Ondracek-Peterson, first violinist for the Voxare String Quartet

individuals and less like a crowd.”
Bach, and one performed by
Her feelings were echoed by student Jeannette Raymond ’14,
pianist Jeffrey Swann to commemorate the bicentennial of composers
Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann.
who has enjoyed several performances. “The concerts give students
“These gifted and generous musicians fulfill the promise of a liberal a chance to hear and meet performers who are in a class all their
arts education for our students,” said Dr. Forsberg. “It’s very gratifyown,” she said.
ing to see that over time our audience—composed of students, faculty
Concerts at Half-Past Twelve for the upcoming 2011-12 academic
and the Brooklyn Heights community—has grown steadily and
year will include performances by pianist Paul-André Bempecht and
regularly to where we’ve outgrown our original performance space in
violinist Gregory Fulkerson, and a commemorative concert for the
the Fine Arts classroom and moved the concerts to Founders Hall.”
bicentennial of composer Franz Liszt by pianist Andreas Klein,
Despite the move to a larger space, students and musicians alike
among others. The entire schedule will be available on the College’s
acknowledge that these performances have maintained an intimate
website in September; please visit www.stfranciscollege.edu/Events.

SFC Professor Provides a Critic’s
View of Concerts at Half-Past Twelve

April Clayton, considered a leading flutist of her generation, recently performed
at SFC accompanied by Jihea Hong-Park on piano. They presented a series of
pieces spanning more than 300 years, including Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in A Major,
BWV 1032, Schubert’s Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree), arranged for flute,
and rapid◊fire from contemporary Brooklyn-born composer Jennifer Higdon,
recipient of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for her violin concerto.
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“Dr. Forsberg delivers topflight concerts for the St. Francis
community. It will be years, probably, before students recognize
the level of talent and performance to which they had privileged
access,” says Dr. Scott Weiss, professor of Communication Arts,
who writes reviews for Concerts at Half-Past Twelve performances.
“Faculty who are music fans and patrons of New York City music life,
including at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Metropolitan Opera,
agree that the talent we experience in Founders Hall is no less.”
Read his reviews at www.stfranciscollege.edu/terrier