Michael Jacobson in Faculty Saxophone Recital

Michael Jacobson, Professor of Saxophone at Baylor University, will present a faculty recital on Monday, February 14, beginning at 7:45 p.m. in Roxy Grove Hall. He will be joined in the performances by Cameron Hofmann, Senior Lecturer in Collaborative Piano; soprano Amy Petrongelli, Assistant Professor of Voice; and Dr. Jacobson’s wife, violinist Suzanne Jacobson.
Opening the program will be a three-movement work from 1970, twentieth-century Russian composer Edison Denisov’s Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano. Denisov was strongly influenced by American jazz music, and that element is always close at hand in this sonata.
Next, Dr. Petrongelli and Dr. Jacobson will perform the six pieces in American composer Lori Laitman’s song cycle I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Set to the poetry of Pavel Friedman, Koleba, and Franta Bass, this collection for soprano and alto saxophone dates from 1996 but was revised in 2018.
Georgia-native John Anthony Lennon (not to be confused with the late Beatle) is a former Professor of Composition at Emory University in Atlanta. He holds a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, and William Albright. His Serpent b is scored for violin, alto saxophone, and piano.
The program will close with a the Fantaisie Brillante on Themes from Bizet’s “Carmen” by French flutist and composer François Borne. Conceived in 1900 for flute and piano, this engaging work has been arranged for saxophone by Iwan Roth and Raymond Maylan.
This recital is free of charge and open to the public. It is also available for livestreaming at baylor.edu/music/live.