A World of Music
Fall 2023
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The Lowell Chamber Orchestra, conducted by MCC faculty member Orlando Cela, will present a concert featuring miniature symphonies. Works by Yoko Nakatani, Brittney Benton, Vincent Persichetti, and Arnold Schoenberg will be performed.
Saturday, September 16 at 7:30 pm
Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, Recital Hall, Lowell Campus
The Guitar Music of South African Composer David Hewitt
MCC faculty member Raley Beggs, guitarist, will give a lecture recital featuring the
music of David Hewitt, whose compositions blend his European roots with influences
from the Zulu Maskanda style of music from South Africa. Several of his works for
solo guitar will be performed.
This event is co-sponsored by the MCC Honors Program
Tuesday, October 3 at 11 am
MCC Concert Hall, Bedford Campus
Literature through Music
MCC faculty members Daniel Fridley, singer; Orlando Cela, flutist; Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta,
pianist; Raley Beggs, guitarist; Todd Brunel, clarinetist/bass clarinetist, and Karen
Oster, narrator, will present a lecture/concert featuring musical works inspired by
literature from many countries. Works by Franz Schubert, Girard de Beaulieu, Vincent
Persichetti, Pamela Marshall, Samuel Zyman, and Lori Ardovino will be featured. English
faculty member Tom Laughlin will also read his poem Jazz while Todd Brunel improvises.
This event forms part of the 2023 Lowell City of Learning Festival
Saturday, October 14 at 11 am
Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, Recital Hall, Lowell Campus
Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band
The internationally acclaimed Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band brings passion, virtuosity, and contagious energy to every performance. The Wheels improvise with the intimacy of chamber music and the intensity of a rowdy dance band. Their engaging contemporary interpretation of Jewish music is irresistible to audiences.
Sunday, October 22 at 3 pm
Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, Recital Hall, Lowell Campus
Online Saturday Arts Concert featuring MCC Faculty and Alumnus
In a collaboration with Dracut Arts, MCC faculty members Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, pianist; Orlando Cela, flutist, and Raley Beggs, guitarist, with MCC alumnus Nathaniel Abreu, cellist, will perform a colorful program of music from Europe, the United States, Latin America, and South Africa. Works by Cecil Chaminade, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Vincent Persichetti, Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philippe Emanuel Bach, David Popper, Astor Piazzolla, and Samuel Coleridge Taylor will be featured.
Saturday, November 11 at 4 pm
Closer to the date a link will be provided.
Student Recital
MCC student singers and instrumentalists, along with works by music technology students
Monday, December 4 at 12:30 pm
MCC Concert Hall, Bedford Campus
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The Lowell Chamber Orchestra will perform a concert entitled Reflections and Remembrances. Works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Charles Ives, CoryBrodack, and the world premiere of La Balena by Betsy Schramm will be performed.
Saturday, December 9 at 7:30 pm
Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, Theatre, Lowell Campus
All concerts are free and open to the public
For more information, contact Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, Director of A World of Music,
at 781-280-3923 or peraltac@middlesex.mass.edu
For directions:
MCC Concert Hall in Bedford
https://www.middlesex.mass.edu/transportation/directions/bdirect.aspx
Academic Arts Center in Lowell
https://www.middlesex.mass.edu/academicartscenter/directions.aspx
MCC Music Faculty At-Home and MCC Musical Connections performances
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOEBeNUAl_TcbcnCdB73wLA
Selected Live Performances from Spring 2023
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
Pasquale Tassone's Rhapsody for Flute and Strings performed by Orlando Cela
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M7LGuYKeTg
Aroma Duo
MCC faculty member Johnny Mok, cellist, and pianist Tianhong Yang performed a varied
program of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Franz Liszt,
and new works by Turkish composer Fazil Say, and Afghan composer Arson Fahim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq3kkVGOefY
Latin American Music Featuring the Cello
Noted Peruvian cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi joined MCC faculty members Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, pianist, and Orlando Cela, flutist, for a colorful program of music from Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Brazil, as well as a piece by a Peruvian-American.
Heitor Villa-Lobos: O Canto do Cysne Negro (Song of the Black Swan) for cello and piano
https://youtu.be/7yFq7TF2_ZU
Gabriela Lena Frank: Hombre-Pájaro de Parácas for flute and cello
https://youtu.be/RwN_XiNA4Gw
Camargo Guarnieri: Ponteio e Dansa for cello and piano
https://youtu.be/oXHklKMW0fI
Selected live concerts from Fall 2022
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The winner of the LCO concerto competition, Roi Karni, bassett clarinet, performed
the Clarinet Concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk2pSQUi_8A
Raley Beggs, Guitarist
MCC faculty member and noted guitarist Raley Beggs performed a program of colorful music for solo guitar by Francesco da Milano, Francisco Guerau, Isaac Albéniz, Giulio Regondi, Maurice Ravel, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
Selected live concerts from Spring 2022
Lowell Chamber Orchestra
The Lowell Chamber Orchestra, conducted by MCC faculty member Orlando Cela, presented works from the Baroque Era, combined with later pieces inspired by this era. The Double Concerto for Recorder and Traverso by Georg Philipp Telemann, featuring Aldo Abreu and Orlando Cela as soloists, and the Suite from Castor et Pollux by Jean-Philippe Rameau were performed. Suite Française après Gervaise by Francois Poulenc and the world premiere of Greyed Rainbow by Dana Kaufman reflected the influence of the Baroque.
Featuring MCC Music Faculty
MCC Music faculty members Todd Brunel, clarinetist; Orlando Cela, flutist; Johnny Mok, cellist; and Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, pianist performed works for various combinations of instruments by Gabriel Fauré, Mikhail Glinka, Manuel de Falla, Guillaume Connesson and Carlos Gardel. A piano solo by Larry Bell and Jazz improvisations for bass clarinet were also featured.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdkIo54lTd0
Selected live concert from Fall 2021
The Black Cat
Celebrate Halloween year round by experiencing The Black Cat by Larry Bell for cello, piano and narrator, based on the short story by Edgar Allan
Poe. Additional haunting music by Gabriela Lena Frank, Edvard Grieg and Camille Saint-Saëns
is featured. MCC faculty members Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, pianist, and Orlando Cela,
flutist, are joined by Sam Ou, cellist, and Larry Bell, composer/narrator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jsY7d_Qywg
Live Concert from Summer 2021
Rasa String Quartet performing a colorful and varied program by Florence Price, Amy Beach, Wei-Chieh Lin, José Elizondo, Felix Mendelssohn and some traditional Danish folk music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjWlp0HCPbE
Selected live recording performances from Spring 2021
Celebrating Black Composers from Europe, Africa, United States and South America
MCC faculty members Todd Brunel, clarinet/saxophone; Orlando Cela, flute; Eunghee Cho, cello; Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta, piano and Marcus Santos, drums presented a colorful program illustrating a variety of styles from the 1700’s to the present. Works by Joseph Bologne (Le Chevalier de Saint Georges), Florence Price, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, “Blind Tom” Wiggins, Bongani Ndodana-Breen, and Jazz greats Geri Allen and Duke Ellington were featured. There was also a selection featuring Afro-Brazilian drumming with guest dancer Kaitlyn Jolly.
Lowell Chamber Orchestra: Miniature Universes
The Lowell Chamber Orchestra, conducted by MCC faculty member Orlando Cela, performed
Dance Preludes (third version) by Witold Lutosławski; Sinfonietta, Op. 1 by Benjamin
Britten, and Symphony No. 5 by Franz Schubert.
https://youtu.be/q0SS7O2byYU
Selected live recording performances from Fall 2020
Piano Recital of Carmen Rodriguez-Peralta
Works by J.S. Bach, Larry Bell, Beethoven, Debussy and Ginastera
Recorded by Bedford TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9njSegpDIC8&feature=youtu.be
Lowell Chamber Orchestra: Hidden Landscapes
The LCO, conducted by Orlando Cela, performed works by Bongani Ndodana-Breen, Evan Williams and Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.