Percussionist to perform Jan. 29 recital

Faculty Recital Series: Goshen College Associate Professor of Music Christopher Fashun, percussion
Date and Time: Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Rieth Recital Hall, Goshen College Music Center
Cost: $7 adults, $5 seniors/students, available at the door one hour before the recital. GC students are free with valid ID.

GOSHEN, Ind. – Goshen College Associate Professor of Music and percussionist Christopher Fashun will present a recital of 20^th century music on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Center's Rieth Recital Hall.

Performing on marimba and other tonal and atonal percussion instruments, Fashun will present a program entirely of 20^th century composers. The program will include works composed by Steve Reich, Ney Rosauro, Toshimitsu Tanaka, James Campbell, Keiko Abe and Paul Smadbeck.

Fashun will be joined by pianist Christine Larson Seitz in a performance of Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra by Brazilian composer Ney Rosauro, and Dustin George-Miller in a performance of Clapping Music by American minimalist composer Steve Reich.

Tickets are $7 adults, $5 seniors/students, available at the door one hour before the concert. GC students are free with ID.

An incredibly diverse and versatile conductor and performer, Fashun joined the Goshen College Department of Music in 2010. An accomplished percussionist and violist, he has several years of orchestral and chamber music experience and has enjoyed success in both areas as a soloist by winning three concerto competitions. During the past seven years, Fashun has concentrated his study of world percussion in Brazilian and Afro-Brazilian music and dance. Most notably, his teachers include Jorge Alabe, Michael Spiro, Mark Lamson, Curtis Pierre, Jorge Martins and Scott Kettner. He has also toured nationally and abroad as a jazz vibraphonist and has recorded albums with the Wisconsin Brass Quintet and the Jason Harms Quartet.

Fashun has conducted the University of Iowa Philharmonia and All-University Orchestras and was the music director of the St. Ambrose University Community Symphony Orchestra in Davenport, Iowa. Additionally, his conducting experience includes leading orchestras and wind bands at the high school and middle school levels and directing jazz ensembles, percussion ensembles and drumlines at the high school level. He is an active clinician with middle and high school orchestras, percussionists and jazz ensembles, and frequently serves as an adjudicator for large group music festivals.

Fashun holds a bachelor of music degree in music education from Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., where he studied conducting with Steven Amundson and Timothy Mahr and viola with Andrea Een. He received his master's of music degree in percussion performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied with Anthony DiSanza and continued his conducting studies with David E. Becker. Fashun is in the final stages of completing his doctor of musical arts in orchestral conducting from the University of Iowa, where he studies conducting with William LaRue Jones and viola with Christine Rutledge.

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, "Colleges of Distinction," "Making a Difference College Guide" and U.S.News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.