First Lady of OSU Concert will feature trumpet and harp
Thursday, October 2, 2014
The First Lady of OSU Concert will highlight the talents of Dr. Ryan Gardner on the trumpet with selections for trumpet and harp on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 2:30 p.m. in the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts.
Gardner is the featured artist for the annual concert after being selected as the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Professor of Music Award by the Friends of Music, the Music Department and the First Lady of OSU, Ann Hargis. He will be joined by guest artist, Dr. Louisa Ellis Woodson, on the harp for music by Debussy, Rota, De Falla, Presser and more.
As an orchestral performer as well as avid chamber musician, Gardner has played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra among several others. He has also worked with artists such as Ray Charles, Doc Severinson, Canadian Brass, Allen Vizzutti, Wayne Bergeron, and Michael Tillson-Thomas, among others.
As assistant professor of trumpet at OSU, Gardner teaches trumpet and directs jazz and trumpet ensembles. His students have repeatedly achieved success at the regional, national and international levels, most recently winning the 2014 National Trumpet Competition in the trumpet ensemble division, as well as International Trumpet Guild Scholarship awards.
Originally from Santa Monica, California, Gardner received his bachelor’s degree in music with highest distinction from the Eastman School of Music, earned a master’s degree from Rice University and a doctorate in musical arts from the Manhattan School of Music, where he worked with the principal trumpeter of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Mark Gould, and second trumpet with the New York Philharmonic, Vincent Penzarella. Gardner has been teaching music for more than a decade, and prior to his appointment at OSU, he served as assistant professor of high brass and jazz band director at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith.
Woodson, who has been playing the harp since age nine, received her doctorate of musical arts in harp from the Manhattan School of Music in New York. She is currently the adjunct professor of harp and an instructor in music theory and music history at Indiana University Southeast. She has also served as lecturer in harp at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
In addition to maintaining a private harp studio and busy freelance schedule, Woodson is the former principal harpist with the Waco Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared in many types of theater productions, including ballet, opera, and musical theater. She also enjoys regular chamber music collaborations with various instruments, including Sempiternal Sounds, and her duo with Gardner on trumpet.
The free concert is hosted annually by Ann Hargis as an opportunity for music lovers to gather in appreciation for all the OSU Department of Music does to enhance the cultural life of the campus and the community.