Clarinetist
‘shakes up’
conservatism
By Barb Churchill
Assignment Reporter
To clarinetist Todd Palmer, different is
good.
Palmer is the featured soloist tonight in
Kimball Recital Hall as the latest in the
Lied Center for the Performing Arts’ “New
Voices” series. Palmer is an accomplished
musician who obviously enjoys what he
does.
“Music is my calling. It is something 1
cannot not do,” Palmer said.
Painter especially enjoys “shaking up”
musical conservatives who believe there is
only one way to interpret a piece. Palmer’s
interpretation of the Francis Poulenc
“Sonata for Clarinet and Piano" is a case in
point.
“Interpretation is very personal,”
Palmer said. “People get stuck w ith one
recording, listen to it over and over, and
then think. 'This is the only way it’s sup
posed to go.' Well, this is only one person’s
interpretation.
“Recorded sound is a mixed blessing
because we get too hooked on recordings.
Pieces are not meant to be played the same
way every time.
Palmer became a clarinetist compara
tively late, at age 16. Before that, he played
the trumpet.
“Trumpet was loud, so I liked it. Then, I
figured out that 1 was attracted to the clar
inet section and sound,” Palmer said.
However, he quickly made up for lost
time, gaining admission to the prestigious
Mannes School of Music in New York at
age 19 after one year of study at
Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va.
Palmer combines an adept technique with a
flexible tone, ail in the name of one thing:
musical expression.
Palmer is playing Aaron Copland’s
“Sonata for Clarinet and Piano.” Franz
Schubert’s “Du bist die Ruh,” Edvard
Grieg's “Six Lyric Pieces,” Malcolm
Arnold’s “Sonatina for Clarinet and
Piano,” Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s
“Marietta’s Lied from Die tote Stadt” and
Francis Poulenc’s “Sonata.” Palmer’s
accompanist is longtime friend Eugene
Asti.
Palmer is looking forward to the recital,
as most of his Lincoln itinerary was wiped
out by last weekend’s snowstorm. Palmer
appeared at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln music convocation on Thursday at
2 p.m., and will give a lecture recital-cum
masterclass today at 1:30 p.m. at Midwest
ClariFest in Kimball Recital Hall.
“I have no idea what I’ll do,” Palmer
said. “I hope I don’t scare the younger stu
dents. I hope they’ll play for me and that
we’ll be able to do a masterclass.
“I really enjoy the younger students;
they have so much enthusiasm.”
Palmer’s recital is tonight at 8 in
Kimball Recital Hall. Tickets are $18 and
$14, half-price for students.
_________ ___ ... Ryan Soderlin/DN
FROM LEFT: ANDREA FERRERO receives dancing instructions from Guillermo Orti. Orti, a UNL biology professor, and his wife Sandra Halpern, a
professional dancer, teach the Argentine tango to students at Dance Sport USA, located at 237 S. 70th St. /
Biology professor makes time to tango
By Sarah Baker
Senior Reporter
Instead of finding him in a tux and tails
ready to dance, Guillermo Orti is probably
more likely to be found instructing a few hun
dred aspiring biologists.
But wherever he is, he will be teaching.
Orti, a biology professor at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, spends much of his time out
of class in the dance studio, teaching the
Argentine tango.
Orti, who is originally from Argentina, said
he first got into the dance when he met his wife,
Sandra Halpem.
“My wife is a dancer by profession, and a
modern dancer by training,” Orti said.
Orti said Halpem learned to dance the tango
long before the couple came to the United States.
“When she came to the states in 1988, she
brought the tango with her,” Orti said.
Halpem said it was easy for her to teach the
tango to her husband.
“Even though he had never danced it before,
he wanted to learn, so that made it easier,” she
said, smiling. “He has learned well, and has
turned out to be a good partner, and he also just
happens to be my husband.”
Orti and Halpem have been teaching dance
classes for the past nine years, and Orti said he
has learned a lot from his wife.
“It’s like she is the professor and I have been
her TA for the past nine years,” he said. “You
learn a lot when you are working with the same
professor for some time.”
Orti said he never thought about dancing
before he met Halpem.
“All I know about the tango is what she has
taught me,” he said. “And all she knows about
biology I have taught her.”
Orti said he keeps his biology teaching and
his dancing separate, and said most of his stu
dents know about his outside hobby.
“I think they are amused by it,” he said.
Orti said he eventually wants to try to teach
the traditional dance to UNL students.
“I have taught the tango at other universities
before, and I would like to bring it here, if I can,”
he said. “I taught through continuing education,
and I think the students really enjoyed it.”
Orti said he thought there would be interest
in the dance from UNL students.
“Depending on how it’s arranged, with prices
and things like that, I think students would enjoy
learning something unique,” he said.
The Argentine tango, the dance that Orti and
his wife teach, is the classic form of the dance.
“The dance has a rich history, and originat
ed in Buenos Aires,” Orti said. “It’s hard to say
what the original form of the dance was like, but
the form we teach is the traditional one. It’s Me
way we saw the dance done as kids and it’s been
passed down to us.”
Orti said once someone learns the basic
structure of the tango, there is still more to learn.
“There are infinite, intricate combinations
one can learn after they learn the basic,” he said.
Orti said the Argentine tango, which origi
nated around the turn of the century, is experi
encing renewed popularity, both in South
America and the United States.
u
The tango was originally
an erotic, dirty danceT
Guillermo Orti
professor of biology
He said he thought part of the attraction of the
dance was the romantic image that surrounds it.
“The tango was originally an erotic, dirty
dance,” he said. “It has been toned down and
refined for the ballroom since then, but it is still
a very passionate piece.”
He said the sensuality of the dance is some
thing that makes it fun.
“The upper body of the dancers is in an
upright posture, but there are a lot of things
going on from the waist down,” he said.
Amy Castro, owner of Dance Sport USA,
237 S. 70th St., the studio where Orti and
Halpem teach, agreed.
“Most of the people who come to learn the
tango are couples,” Castro said. “They are
drawn to it because of the romantic, passionate
image it carries.”
Orti said he originally learned the dance to
help his wife, but he has come to enjoy it himself.
“It is really fun,” he said. “Although there
are very few chances to actually use the dance
outside of class, it’s still an impressive thing to
be able to do,” he said. “But the main objective
for me is just to teach and help people have fun.”
Pianist to combine music, mysticism in spiritual recital
By Barb Churchill
Assignment Reporter
An extremely unusual piano recital
is coming your way Sunday night,
courtesy of University of Nebraska
Lincoln assistant professor Paul
Barnes.
Barnes’ recital, themed
“Minimalism, Mysticism and
Monasticism: Music as
Contemplation,” is music that leads lis
teners to the spirit of contemplation.
Barnes came up with this unusual
theme during his trip to St. John’s
Monastery in England last year.
Barnes is performing Arvo Part’s
“Fur Alina,” Cesar Franck’s “Prelude,
Fugue, and Variation,” Act III
(Conclusion) of Philip Glass’
“Satyagraha” and Ludwig van
Beethoven’s “Sonata in C Minor, op.
111.”
“All of these composers were
intensely religious in their own way,”
Barnes said.
In addition, Barnes will be joined
by the UNL Byzantine Choir in its
debut performance. Barnes, along with
the choir, will perform “Cherubikon”
and “Poterion Soteriou,” traditional
Byzantine choral works.
“In this music, there is a different
approach to time and form,” Barnes
said. “In traditional, serious music
there is one event or a series of events.
It’s very narrative.
“However, in this music, the music
has a non-narrative musical structure.
Different conceptions of time, contem
plative prayer and voluntary embrace
ment of simplicity as a way of life are
highlighted instead,” Barnes said.
The two Byzantine choral works
are based off of an ison, or drone. The
ison aspect seeks to suspend time, for
when time is suspended, the contem
plative aspect begins, Barnes said.
He will lecture during one-third of
the concert. The ancient definition of
mysticism, Barnes said, is not about the
new age or the occult.
“Instead, it is a direct and objective
intellectual intuition of transcendent
reality. Whenever humans have an
encounter with transcendent reality
(commonly called “God” or a higher
power), they have a religious experi
ence,” Barnes said.
Minimalism in music, Barnes said,
is similar to spiritual pursuits. For
example, composer Vincent D’Indy
has said Cesar Franck’s music “is truly
as much the sister of prayer as of poet
ry, (it) does not weaken or enervate us,
but rather restores the soul....”
The interdisciplinary appeal of this
recital should appeal to many people
who would never dream of attending a
classical music recital, Barnes said.
“Anyone interested in early
Christian theology, mysticism, spiritu
ality or non-Western culture should
enjoy this recital,” he said. “And, of
course, anyone who loves good music.”
Barnes’ recital is Sunday night at 8
in Kimball Recital Hall. Admission is
free.