ELLISVILLE – This year’s Spring Recital Series will feature a musical “feast” on the fourth Tuesday of February, March and April. With musicians from across the globe and across the U.S., music lovers will be treated to three unique opportunities to enjoy during the short performances. The annual Spring Recital Series of concerts are free and open to the public. For more information call the JC Fine Arts Department at 601-477-4203 or online at https://www.facebook.com/JCJCFineArts
On Tuesday, February 25, at 12:45 p.m. until 1:15 p.m. in the Foote Chapel, the Series opens with, “The Danish Experience.” Virtuoso trombonist Jonathan Henneveld from The Netherlands will open the series with beautiful music by Axel Jørgensen, Launy Grøndahl, and Søren Hyldgaard. He will be joined by Jones College faculty pianist, Dr. Theresa Sanchez.
Jonathan T.J. Henneveld is a multifaceted trombonist, a performing artist with Antoine Courtois, and currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern Mississippi with Dr. Ben McIlwain. As a freelancer, Jonathan has played with several orchestras, for example, Prinsens Musikkorps, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Sønderjyllands SO (South Denmark SO), and Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, amongst others. Next to this, he won the solo competition of the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus and got to play as a soloist with Aalborg SO in 2020. Recently, he won the Gower Concerto Competition and was rewarded a solo feature with the USM Orchestra last February.
Henneveld has taught at the Orkesterefterskolen, and the music schools in Holstebro and Struer, Denmark. Now, he teaches the music majors, and coaches chamber ensembles as part of his Graduate Assistantship at USM.
Dr. Theresa Sanchez has served on the Jones College faculty since 1995 and is a past president of the Mississippi Music Teachers Association. She has received numerous teaching awards, and in 2024 was named a Fellow of the Music Teachers National Association. She performs regularly as a chamber musician with the Impromptu Piano Trio, and as a symphony pianist. She has served as Music Coordinator for FestivalSouth since its inception in 2010.
Jones College is honored to host the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Wind Ensemble, which is a select group with a distinguished history, conducted by Jonathan Caldwell, and featuring soprano soloist Lindsay Kesselman on Tuesday, March 25, at 12:45 until 1:45 p.m. in the M.P. Bush Fine Arts Auditorium.
Founded in 1937, the UNCG Bands are among the finest collegiate band programs in the United States and dedicated to the performance, study, and cultivation of wind band music of the highest quality. The UNCG Wind Ensemble is a select concert band of approximately fifty performers within the UNCG School of Music from first-year students through master’s and doctoral students. Members of the current Wind Ensemble are drawn from fifteen states, China, and Peru.
The UNCG Wind Ensemble has enjoyed a distinguished record of performance. The band has performed across the United States and Europe in venues that include the Music Center at Strathmore, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Dvořák Hall. In addition, the band has performed for national conferences of the College Band Directors National Association, the American Bandmasters Association, and the National Band Association and frequently commissions and premieres new music for the band.
The band’s legacy of highly acclaimed recordings includes nineteen albums released between 1995 and 2015. The band’s latest recording projects, The Centennial Collection and Centennial Chimes, are celebrations of the UNCG School of Music’s centennial (1921–2021). With nearly 120 tracks totaling more than 12 hours of music, these albums include material from the UNCG Wind Ensemble’s history that was previously unavailable in digital form as well as premiere recordings of four compositions commissioned for the school’s centennial.
Wrapping up the Spring Recital Series on Tuesday, April 22, in the Foote Chapel from 12:45 p.m. until 1:15 p.m. will be flutist Brianne Little and pianist Siying He. They are taking us on a musical journey through different types of mythologies and legends from cultures across the globe, including Greek Mythology, Japanese Legends, Fairytales by Hans Cristian Andersen, and Hungarian folklore, through music by Franz Doppler, Carl Reinecke and Amanda Harburg in “Myth, Legend, Fantasy.”
Dr. Brianne Little is the Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Louisiana Lafayette. She is a First Prize winner of the 2018 Vienna, 2019 Paris, and 2019 London Grand Prize Virtuoso competitions and the 2018 Golden Classic Music Awards International Competition. She has performed in Italy, France, and England in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Amphithéâtre – Cité de la Musique, in Paris, St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and the Haydnsall in Eisenstadt, Austria. In July 2019, she performed as Guest Principal Flutist with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santa Cruz de La Sierra in Bolivia.
Dr. Siying He is an active collaborative pianist based in Louisiana. She has served as a staff pianist for the Vocal Immersion Program at the Castleton Festival (2022, 2023) and was a vocal fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in 2023. In 2024, she was an apprentice vocal coach at Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point. Dr. He has appeared as a collaborative pianist for masterclasses, competitions, and professional productions, working closely with vocalists and instrumentalists in recital and concert settings. Her engagements include performances with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Louisiane. Dr. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from Louisiana State University and a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music.