Valerie Coleman (photo by Kia Caldwell)
The second part of the Claudette Sorel Visiting Artist residency with guest artist Valerie Coleman, flutist and composer, is slated for April 25 to 27 at the State University of New York at Fredonia School of Music.
The residency is made possible through a grant from the Sorel Charitable Organization through the Fredonia College Foundation. The Sorel organization has awarded the Fredonia School of Music a grant to welcome women artists of international distinction to campus for a wide variety of open to the public interactive events with students and faculty.
All events are free and open to the public.
Featured events for the April residency include:
Thursday, April 25
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Diers Recital Hall
A panel discussion with Sorel visiting artist Valerie Coleman and Dr. John Gallagher on the topic of “music advocacy,” focusing on topics of creating supportive creative and fiscal environments for performing ensembles, educational programs, and individual artists with focus on how to assist music teachers and artists in securing support for themselves and the music programs and events for which they are responsible. An open and informal Q & A will follow.
8:00 p.m.
Harry A. King Concert Hall
The Fredonia Concert Band will perform Ms. Coleman’s work, “ROMA.”
Friday, April 26
8:00 p.m.
Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall
Ms. Coleman, “On Stage With Valerie Coleman”
The artist shares her musical journey through both of her career as an internationally acclaimed flutist and composer. The program will include solo selections as well as chamber works for flute performed by Ms. Coleman and School of Music Flute Assistant Professor Barry Crawford, who is a longtime friend and collaborator of Ms. Coleman’s.
Saturday, April 27
Noon to 2:00 p.m.
Mason Hall Room 1080
Flute Area master class with Ms. Coleman
2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Mason Hall Room 1080
Composition Area master class with Ms. Coleman
8:00 p.m.
Harry A. King Concert Hall
Fredonia Wind Ensemble will perform Ms. Coleman’s “Fanfare for Uncommon Times”
A reception will follow in Mason Hall Room 1080, open to the public and free of charge.
About the guest artist/panelist:
Ms. Coleman was the creator of the wind quintet, Imani Winds, and in 2020, was named as Performance Today’s “Classical Woman of the Year” and by the Washington Post as “one of the top 35 women composers.” She was recently appointed to the Composition Department faculty of the Juilliard School, to begin her position in the 2024-2025 academic year. In 2021, was appointed a Clara Mannes Fellow within the Flute Performance and Music Composition faculty at the Mannes School of Music at The New School in New York City. In 2018, she was appointed Associate Professor of Performance, Chamber Music, and Entrepreneurship, and Director of the Chamber Music Program at Frost School of Music, University of Miami, FL.
Dr. Gallagher serves as Director of Fine Arts at Long Island’s Longwood Central School District. He serves as Statewide Chairperson for public relations and information for the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA). His writings on the topic of arts advocacy have been published in the NYSSMA magazine School Music News, as well as in NAfME’s Teaching Music, and The instrumentalist.
