School of Music to honor violin professor with concert, CD
The School of Music will honor the memory of the late Vartan Manoogian, professor of violin, with a concert at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 1, in Mills Hall of the Mosse Humanities Building.
Vartan Manoogian
Philomusica, a 25-member student string ensemble, will perform under the direction of James Smith. Admission is free.
The program features the world premiere of a violin concerto by Zulema de la Cruz, one of Spain’s leading composers. Manuel Guillén, a violin professor at Madrid’s Royal Superior Conservatory of Music and one of Manoogian’s former students, will be the soloist. The concert and soloist were booked last spring, but following Manoogian’s death on July 12, the composer renamed the concerto in Manoogian’s memory.
Other works on the program include the march from “Serenade for String Orchestra” by Dag Wirén and “Soledad for String Orchestra” by Zulema de la Cruz. Avedis Manoogian, Vartan’s son, will join Guillén for the “Sonata for violin and piano” by Claude Debussy, and the concert will conclude with the well-known “Serenade for Strings in E major” by Antonin Dvorak.
Manoogian began his career with positions at European orchestras, serving as associate concertmaster of the Lausanne (Switzerland) Chamber Orchestra and concertmaster of L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. He was an artist-in-residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts and a member of the Claremont String Quartet before joining the UW–Madison faculty in 1980. He attracted gifted undergraduate and graduate violin students, many of whom have become successful professional musicians and teachers.
Although he performed regularly for the Faculty Concert Series, Manoogian enjoyed nontraditional collaborations and settings for making music as well. In the spring of 1997, he performed the finale of the Mendelssohn violin concerto with the Varsity Band directed by Michael Leckrone at the “Farewell to the Field House” concert.
In 2004, Manoogian recorded the complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin by J. S. Bach, a two-CD set available through the School of Music’s online CD store. During the past two years, he had begun working on another ambitious recording project, the complete “Trio-Cosmos” by Henk Badings. “Trio-Cosmos” comprises 16 suites for three violins, and Manoogian planned to record all three parts of all 16 suites, multi-tracking the parts with different violins so each line could be distinguished within the trio texture. At his death, he had completed recording five of the trios, and these have been produced and issued on one CD that will be available for purchase at the concert.
During the past two years, Vartan Manoogian had worked on a recording project, the complete “Trio-Cosmos” by Henk Badings. At his death, he had completed recording five of the trios, and these have been produced and issued on one CD (pictured here) that will be available for purchase at the concert.
The School of Music Alumni Association will host a reception for the audience following the concert at the University Club.