The start of the fall semester is just around the corner, and you know what that means - live music will be kicking off again soon at the National Music Museum!
Starting September 8th, the Fall 2023 season of NMM Live! promises to strike a chord among music lovers. This season will feature six concerts, spanning styles and periods new and old, close and far. A number of our Fall programs will showcase historic instruments from the NMM collections, including the world's oldest playable harpsichord, and our recently renovated Pennsylvania church organ!
THE FALL LINEUP
September 8, 2023 | 12PM
Yvonnick Prené Quartet
Unique and Innovative Jazz Harmonicist
Yvonnick Prené is a professional jazz musician, bandleader, composer, and educator based in the greater New York City area. He is one of the most unique and innovative harmonicists on the scene today. Prené is a revered educator and founder of the New Harmonica School and My Harmonica Studio, and has taught more than 500 students. Additionally, he has written 10 methods about jazz improvisation, jazz etudes and blues harmonica. He also taught at Jazz House Kids, New York Jazz Workshop and Brooklyn Music School.
September 22, 2023 | 12PM
Alice Shu-Yao Sheu
Featuring the NMM's Haward spinet and Neapolitan Harpsichord
Alice Shu-Yao Sheu is a Taiwanese-American harpsichordist, historical organist, and pianist. Currently based in the Netherlands, she earned a master’s degree in harpsichord performance at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag with Siebe Henstra while also taking organ lessons with Reitze Smits at HKU Utrecht Conservatorium. At this moment she continues to work with Pieter-Jan Belder. She is the director and curator of Fitzwilliam Festival Taiwan (January 2023), the first harpsichord festival on the island featuring music from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.
Sheu will perform on the NMM’s Neapolitan harpsichord from about 1530. It is among the world’s oldest playable harpsichords. In typical Italian style, the instrument, with its thin walls, has a separate outer case. Additionally, she will play the NMM’s spinet by Charles Haward from 1689. Early English keyboard instruments are typically handsome pieces of furniture, and this is no exception—the curly figure of its walnut case is especially attractive.
October 1, 2023 | 2PM
Sioux City Symphony String Quartet
More Information Coming Soon
October 13, 2023 | 12PM
Joseph Gascho
Featuring the NMM's Calisto harpsichord
Joseph Gascho, renowned harpsichordist, exceptional performer, and educator, skillfully bridges the music of the past with the present. His expertise as a soloist and collaborator transcends centuries, creating captivating experiences for audiences. Gascho's concerts intertwine superb performances with open dialogues, fostering engaging interactions with students studying keyboard, voice, conducting, or composition.
Gascho will perform on the NMM’s harpsichord by José Calisto from 1780, a wonderfully preserved instrument that is typically Portuguese in both its design and decorative style. It has a single manual, with boxwood-covered naturals and ebony-covered sharps. The robust case, made mainly of spruce, is painted dark green on the exterior and veneered with Brazilian tulipwood on the interior. The original music desk is mostly of rosewood (palisander), as are the moldings and blocks around the keyboard. In typical Portuguese fashion, the instrument rests on trestles with cutouts in the shape of inverted hearts.
November 3, 2023 | 12PM
Christopher Marks
Featuring the NMM's Dieffenbach organ
Christopher Marks is consistently praised by reviewers for “style and assurance” and “musicality [that] seems to flow effortlessly”. With his series of recordings of music by Seth Bingham and his many performances on historic American instruments, he has gained a reputation as an expert in American organ music old and new.
He will perform on the NMM’s pipe organ by Christian Dieffenbach made in Bethel, Pennsylvania, in 1808, and originally installed in the Zion Lutheran & Reformed Church in Orwigsburg. In 1883, it was dismantled and altered by Thomas Dieffenbach, the maker’s grandson, for installation and service to another congregation.
December 1, 2023 | 12PM
Flower & Flame's "A Christmas Carol"
An explosion of Holiday spirit!
The show is one that everyone might recognize, but few may have seen presented in this way.
“This is one of my all-time favorite stories,” says Darrel Fickbohm, the actor from the group. “We’re very eager to bring it to Vermillion. The story is so hopeful, and the explosion of holiday spirit at the end is not fake in any way—the tale earns every laugh and tear. In A Christmas Carol, we see what we all want to believe can happen: that someone can change—really change for the better. This idea seems so impossible, these days. We’re so cynical. We seem convinced that once we’re older and ‘set in our ways,’ that we’re done listening to good advice.”
ABOUT NMM LIVE!
Two pieces of news to note before you join us!
Hosted primarily in the beautiful Janet Lucille Wanzek Performance Hall, NMM Live! is one of the region's premier concert series for early music, classical repertoire, unusual instruments, and contemporary exploration.
As our permanent exhibitions will be opening again on August 30th, admission to the NMM will no longer be free of charge. From August 30th onward, NMM Live! events will be included in the price of standard NMM admission, unless indicated otherwise. Please check the "Visit & Learn" page for further information on admission cost and discounts as they become available after our August 30th reopening.
Additionally, the NMM will begin offering NMM Live! events as free, live-streams on our website this fall! Please stay tuned for a forthcoming announcement of this program. We are thrilled to be able to share the music with those who cannot join us in person!
NMM Live! is made possible by the USD Student Government Association, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
If you are a person with a disability and need a special accommodation to fully participate, please contact Disability Services at least 48 hours before an event. Students and the public can contact Disability Services at 605-658-3745 or disabilityservices@usd.edu. Faculty and staff should contact Human Resources at 605-658-3660.
