JEFF GENTRY: And now Great Arts at Eastern. Coming few from the Portales campus of Eastern New Mexico University. I'm Jeff Gentry, Dean of the College of Fine Arts here on KENW, Your Public Radio Network. Today my guest is Dustin Seifert of ENMU's Department of music. Thank you very much for joining me today.
DUSTIN SEIFERT: Thank you, good afternoon Doctor Gentry.
GENTRY: So, Dustin, you're my first guest of the semester. And I thought we could talk a little about the upcoming spring season as a whole; Are you up for it?
SEIFERT: Oh, absolutely. And I think that it's beginning to take shape. And that folks that are listening should regularly check updates to the Fine Arts events calendar. Because I think we'll see more exciting events added as the semester proceeds.
GENTRY: Right. Excellent. I was going to ask you about that because the calendar is certainly shaping up. And I will make sure our listeners know how to find it. So, our theater program, for example, has committed to staging a pair of live streaming plays. One in February and one in April, which is outstanding. And last semester, we talked about how you're keeping the power button turned on in ENMU music. What are you excited about this semester.
SEIFERT: Well, as I can see from the events calendar here. The radio opera Beauty and the Beast should be rather interesting. I note that this composer, Vittorio Giannini is famous well beyond Beauty and the Beast. so I'm really looking forward to see how this all works out. I also note that this production will be released on March 20th and aired on KENW radio. So that ought to be pretty interesting. I'm very pleased with the ingenuity and innovation present in the music faculty. And continuing to push forward even though the pandemic. The pandemic has removed some of the in-person teaching options usually available.
GENTRY: That is an exciting collaboration led by Travis Sherwood and Gregory Gallagher, coordinated by Stephanie Beinlich. Right here on KENW FM. So that's a great one, and then there's Clarinet Day and Jazz Fest, and you'll be directing the bands in concert.
SEIFERT: Yeah. The most exciting thing that has occurred to this point in the semester is we have actually had live music rehearsals in the building with more than myself and one student. So, we actually had some ensemble music happening both yesterday and early today. And, I firmly believe by the time we get to May 9th, we will have a nice program for the audience. And that will be released on our YouTube channel. Which can be easily found by visiting ENMU.edu/musicperformances. That'll take people directly to the YouTube page. Again it's ENMU.edu/musicperformances. And they may find concerts from the past on our channel that they would enjoy watching again.
GENTRY: I was going to ask you that; what is a recent upload that you would recommend.
SEIFERT: There were some really outstanding student recitals at the end of last semester. Brianna Gilligan, tuba comes to mind. Of course, she is one of my students, so hers pops into my mind immediately. Cameron Abeyta's euphonium recital. All of these were really good. We also had faculty recitals from the Doctor Schuler. Pam, and Sid Schuler. And a wonderful piano recital from our Assistant Professor of Piano, Doctor Miles Massicotte. All of those are available on our YouTube channel.
GENTRY: And that'sENMU.edu/musicperformances. And this YouTube page that we're talking about provides a treasure of performances going back a number of years. So, that's really exciting, and your Department is now providing more in-person instruction. How is that going?
SEIFERT: So far, so good. I think that the challenges of occupying the space with the number of students interested in being in the space. It has proven to be a bit of a challenge. Luckily that Office 365 subscription is come in handy. And we've done a pretty good job of monitoring who's here and not. One of the things that is interesting about College Students is that they don't always want you to know where they are.
GENTRY: Right.
SEIFERT: I like to see them face to face. And we've done that now for two days in a row, and I think we're going to have a fantastic semester
GENTRY: Great. well, this Fine Arts calendar that we've alluded to is very easy to find: go to ENMU.edu/fineartsevents. Dustin Seifert, thank you. And thanks to our listeners for listening on KENW, Your Public Radio Network.