THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF MUSIC
HOUSEWRIGHT VIRTUOSO
SERIES: “ Strange Bedfellows ”
Performances by:
Jeff Keesecker, bassoon
Mary Matthews, flute
Stephen Mattingly, guitar
Pamela Ryan, viola
Greg Sauer, cello
Marcy Stonikas, soprano
Valerie M. Trujillo, piano
Noël Wan, harp
Artwork by Lumin Wakoa and Meyoko/Melissa Murillo
Photography by David Moynahan
Thursday, January 22, 2026
Seven-thirty in the Evening
Opperman Music Hall
Stalk for Solo Harp
PROGRAM
Noël Wan, harp
Artwork by Lumin Wakoa
Four Sonnets to Orpheus for Soprano, Viola, Bassoon, Harp
Gabriel Jenks (b. 1981)
Alan Montgomery
Heil (b. 1946)
Frühling
Text by Rainier Rilke Spiegel Tänzerin
Marcy Stonikas, soprano
Jeff Keesecker, bassoon; Pamela Ryan, viola; Noël Wan, harp
Artwork by Lumin Wakoa
Solstice for Viola and Guitar
Pamela Ryan, viola
Stephen Mattingly, guitar
Photography by David Moynahan
Drawings for Meyoko for Alto Flute, Viola, Harp, and Electronics
Mary Matthews, alto flute
Pamela Ryan, viola; Noël Wan, harp
Artwork by Meyoko/Melissa Murillo
David Denniston (b. 1957)
Angélica Negrón (b. 1981)
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
Stephen Mattingly, guitar
Greg Sauer, cello
INTERMISSION
Vox Balaenae for Electric Flute, Electric Cello, and Amplified Piano
Mary Matthews, flute; Greg Sauer, cello
Valerie M. Trujillo, piano
Artwork by Lumin Wakoa
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959)
George Crumb (1929–2022)
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting while performers are playing. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Please turn off cell phones and all other electronic devices. Please refrain from putting feet on seats and seat backs. Children who become disruptive should be taken out of the performance hall so they do not disturb the musicians and other audience members.
TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Four Sonnets to Orpheus
Heil dem Geist
Heil dem Geist, der uns verbinden mag; denn wir leben wahrhaft in Figuren. Und mit kleinen Schritten gehn die Uhren neben unserm eigentlichen Tag.
Ohne unsern wahren Platz zu kennen, handeln wir aus wirklichem Bezug. Die Antennen fühlen die Antennen, und die leere Ferne trug ...
Reine Spannung. O Musik der Kräfte! Ist nicht durch die läßlichen Geschäfte jede Störung von dir abgelenkt?
Selbst wenn sich der Bauer sorgt und handelt, wo die Saat in Sommer sich verwandelt, reicht er niemals hin. Die Erde schenkt.
Hail the spirit
Hail the spirit that can join us. For we truly live in figures. And the clocks move in small steps alongside our own day.
Without recognizing our true place, we act in genuine accord. Antennae sense antennae. and the empty distance carried...
Pure tension. O music of the powers! isn’t it so that our unneeded tasks deflect every disturbance from you?
Even if the farmer worries and works, where seed transforms itself into summer it is never enough. The Earth gifts.
Frühling ist wiedergekommen
Frühling ist wiedergekommen. Die Erde ist wie ein Kind, das Gedichte weiß; viele, o viele…. Für die Beschwerde langen Lernens bekommt sie den Preis.
Streng war ihr Lehrer. Wir mochten das Weiße an dem Barte des alten Manns. Nun, wie das Grüne, das Blaue heiße, dürfen wir fragen: sie kanns, sie kanns!
Erde, die frei hat, du glückliche, spiele nun mit den Kindern. Wir wollen dich fangen, fröhliche Erde. Dem Frohsten gelingts.
O, was der Lehrer sie lehrte, das Viele, und was gedruckt steht in Wurzeln und langen schwierigen Stammen: sie singts, sie singts!
Spring has returned Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child how knows poems; many, oh many...for the trouble of long learning she takes the prize.
Strict was her teacher. We liked the white of the old man’s beard. Now we may ask what the green, the blue could mean: she can do it, she can do it!
Earth, on holiday, lucky one, play now with the children! We want to catch you, glad Earth. The happiest succeed at this.
O, all that the teacher taught her, and all that’s been written in roots and the long complicated stems: she sings it! She sings it!
Spiegel
Spiegel: noch nie hat man wissend beschrieben, was ihr in euerem Wesen seid.
Ihr, wie mit lauter Löchern von Sieben erfüllten Zwischenräume der Zeit.
Ihr, noch des leeren Saales Verschwender -, wenn es dämmert, wie Wälder weit... Und der Lüster geht wie ein Sechzehn-Ender durch eure Unbetretbarkeit.
Manchmal seid ihr voll Malerei. Einige scheinen in euch gegangen -, andere schicktet ihr scheu vorbei.
Aber die Schönste wird bleiben -, bis drüben in ihre enthaltenen Wangen eindrang der klare gelöste Narziß.
Mirror
Mirror: never before has one knowingly described what you in your essence truly are. You, like interstices of time filled with the sieve’s many holes.
You, still squanderers of the empty hall-, when dusk falls as in vast forests... And the streetlamp, like a sixteen-pointer, passes through your impenetrability.
At times you’re full of paintings. Some seem to have entered into you-, others you shyly sent away.
But the loveliest of them will remain-, until the clear, relaxed reflection of Narcissus found its way there, to their chaste cheeks.
Tänzerin
Tänzerin: O du Verlegung alles Vergehens in Gang: wie brachtest du’s dar.
Und der Wirbel am Schluß, dieser Baum aus Bewegung, nahm er nicht ganz in Besitz das erschwungene Jahr?
Blühte nicht, daß ihn dein Schwingen von vorhin umschwärme, plötzlich sein Wipfel von Stille? Und über ihr, war sie nicht Sonne, war sie nicht Sommer, die Wärme, diese unzählige Wärme aus dir?
Aber er trug auch, er trug, dein Baum der Ekstase. Sind sie nicht seine ruhigen Früchte: der Krug, reifend gestreift, und die gereiftere Vase?
Und in den Bildern: ist nicht die Zeichnung geblieben, die deiner Braue dunkler Zug rasch an die Wandung der eigenen Wendung geschrieben?
Dancer
Dancer: o you transposing all that is passing into motion: how you brought this forth. And the whirl a the end, this tree made of movement, didn’t it fully possess the hard-won year?
Didn’t the treetop bloom from stillness so that your swaying of a moment ago might swarm around it? And above her, wasn’t she sun, wasn’t she summer, the warmth, this immeasurable warmth of you?
But it also bore, it bore your tree of ecstasy. Aren’t these its quiet fruits: the jug, touched with ripening, and the ever-riper vase?
And in the images: doesn’t the drawing remain that the dark stroke of your brow sketched quickly on the wall of your own turning?
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
David Denniston (born 1957) is a freelance, non-academic composer living in Central California. He studied music and geology at the University of California, Berkeley, and received his doctorate in composition from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He plays piano, violin, theremin, and other various electronic noise-makers. Much of his music is in a tonal or post-tonal style, sometimes slyly referring to music of past style periods, and much of his recent work – since the mid 1990s – involves improvisation in a contemporary, non-popular idiom. His recent work includes several symphonies for large orchestra.
Professor of Bassoon Jeff Keesecker is Principal Bassoonist with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, holds the Paul W. and Phyllis G. Runge Principal Bassoon Chair with the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra and is the Bassoon Mentor of the National Music Festival (Maryland). He has been a member of the Florida Orchestra (Tampa), the Sarasota Orchestra, the St. Gallen Sinfonie (Switzerland), the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival (Asheville), and Solisti New York. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician across North America, and in Europe, South America, and Asia, and is a frequent performer at the annual conferences of the International Double Reed Society. He has taught masterclasses and workshops on three continents and has been on the faculties of the Interlochen Arts Camp, Utah Music Festival, and Animas Music Festival (Durango). Keesecker gave the World Premiere of Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Bassoon and Wind Ensemble in 2003, and in 2006 released a solo CD entitled Bassoon Music of the Americas.
A native of Sarasota, Florida, Keesecker first studied bassoon with Trevor Cramer. He received the Bachelor of Music from FSU, studying with William Winstead, and the Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Steven Maxym. His training included participation in the Aspen Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, and the New York String Orchestra Seminar.
Mary Matthews enjoys an active career as an international soloist, chamber musician, orchestral flutist, and pedagogue, and has performed on four continents in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Matthews is Assistant Professor of Flute at Florida State University, and she is a co-author of the Beatboxing & Beyond series of method books. An active studio musician and recording artist, she can be heard on soundtracks for film, TV, and video games on Netflix, HBO, and Disney. She currently serves as second flutist of the Tallahassee Symphony, and she is the flutist of Khemia Ensemble, Newfound Chamber Winds, and Duo Elektra. MaryMatthewsFlute.com.
Associate Professor of Guitar Stephen Mattingly has been warmly received by audiences in Europe, Africa, and the Americas as soloist and founding member of the Tantalus Quartet. He is a member of the D’Addario artist roster with recordings available on all streaming platforms. Additionally, Stephen is chair of the Guitar Foundation of America Board of Trustees.
Meyoko, also known as Melissa Murillo, creates the metamorphosis of a surreal world inhabited with hybrid characters and peculiar fauna.
Composer Alan Montgomery is an Indiana native. When he went to Indiana University, his intention was to study music composition. He eventually changed to music education. His graduate degrees were both in instrumental conducting. Montgomery spent 1974-75 in Hamburg, Germany, where he coached opera at the Hamburg State Opera. When he returned to Indiana, he sang lead tenor roles with the Whitewater Opera. During his time with that company, he also began musical direction of musicals at Nettle Creek Players, Hagerstown, Indiana, eventually music directing over 40 musicals. His musicals Robin Hood! and A Dog’s Life were presented there in 1985 and 1989. In 1979, Montgomery moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where he was the assistant music director of the Oberlin Opera Theater. In Oberlin, he conducted Copland’s The Tenderland, Rossini’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio, Menotti’s The Medium, and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. Although he retired in 2011, he still coaches singers occasionally.
David Moynahan is an award-winning conservation photographer living in the Florida Panhandle. His goal is to help raise awareness of the precious natural world that still surrounds us through his photography. At this time of spiraling environmental crises, too many of us have become disconnected from nature. By adding his work to the efforts of environmental groups, scientists, and policy makers, as well as showing it through his website, social media, and his blog – honoring the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” – David believes that we can re-inspire awe, respect, and stewardship of our remaining wild places.
A Florida native, David grew up in Miami, with Biscayne Bay, the Everglades and Keys his extended backyard. He spent his youth exploring the seashores and studying the creatures that lived there. Early on, he began to paint and photograph seascapes, fishes, birds, and abstract compositions in nature. Photography became the basis of his journal-keeping as he explored biology, medicine, art, travel, and parenting into adulthood. Over the past 20 years as professional photographer, David’s lifelong study of and respect for the natural world, and eye for composition have converged into creating his diverse and striking images of Florida’s wild beauty.
Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist. She writes music for voices, orchestras, and film as well as robots, toys, and plants. Recent commissions include works for Opera Philadelphia, the LA Philharmonic, NY Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Sō Percussion, Kronos Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and an original score for the HBO docu-series Menudo: Forever Young. Angélica has upcoming premieres with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (featuring singer Lido Pimienta), Santa Rosa Symphony & Eugene Symphony (First Symphony project), and The Hermitage Artist Retreat (as the recipient of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize). Residencies have included WNYC’s The Greene Space and the NY Botanical Garden. Angélica regularly performs a solo show and is a founding member of the tropical electronic band Balún. She lives in Brooklyn, where she’s always looking for ways to incorporate her love of drag, comedy, and the natural world into her work
Pamela Ryan, Professor of Viola at the Florida State University College of Music, has performed as concerto soloist at the Aspen Music Festival and with the Thailand Philharmonic and as recording artist for Col Legno, CBC, and Naxos labels. She has served as summer festival faculty artist at Aspen, Round Top, Yellow Barn, Schlern/Italy, Green Mountain, Idyllwild, Brevard and Bowdoin. She served as principal viola of the Tallahassee Symphony and the Southwest Florida Symphony. In addition to classical viola, she studied and performed Balinese rebab in Bali and San Francisco and performs jazz viola regularly with critically praised band, JazzEtcetera, in Tallahassee. She has given a national collegiate viola masterclass, written scholarly articles, served as adjudicator, and given many invited presentations at national and international conferences. A recipient of FSU teaching awards, her former students hold music leadership positions on six continents.
Professor of Cello at Florida State University, Gregory Sauer enjoys a vital and varied career as a teacher and performer. He has appeared in recital at prominent venues across the U.S. and at universities such as Vanderbilt and Rice University. Sauer has performed concertos with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the Columbus (GA) Symphony, and the Missoula Symphony, among others. His most recent recording on the Albany label is titled Conversa, and features 20th and 21st century Brazilian and North American duos with pianist Heidi Louise Williams. As a member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, Greg played concerts in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Siena, Italy, and in the group’s first China tour. Other chamber music appearances have been at the Austin Chamber Music Center, the Victoria Bach Festival, and the Colorado Music Festival. In addition to the Florida State position, Sauer has taught at the Texas Music Festival, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, the Green Lake Music Festival, and the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute.
Soprano Marcy Stonikas has performed with major opera houses and symphony orchestras across North America, Europe and Australia and made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2022. Some recent highlights include the title roles in Turandot (Atlanta Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Seattle Opera), Ariadne auf Naxos (Seattle Opera, Berkshire Opera Festival), Fidelio (Volksoper Vienna, Seattle Opera, Princeton Festival), Tosca (Arizona Opera, Opera Santa Barbara), and Salome (San Diego Opera, Utah Opera) as well as Judit in the rarely performed Bluebeard’s Castle with the Sacramento Philharmonic.
Valerie M. Trujillo, formerly Co-Director of the Young American Artists Program at Glimmerglass Opera, has worked with opera companies including Santa Fe Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Connecticut Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Ohio Light Opera and has served as faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center, Taos Opera Institute, Si parla, si canta (Urbania, Italy). She made her Weill Recital Hall debut in 2006 and can be heard
on Mark, Chandos and Albany labels. She received her musical training from Eastern New Mexico University and the University of Illinois and is now Associate Professor of Vocal Coaching and Accompanying at Florida State University.
Lumin Wakoa (1981–2025) received a BFA from the University of Florida in 2005, and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2010. Her work has been the subject of solo and two-person presentations at Various Small Fires, Seoul (2024); Harper’s Chelsea 512, New York (2024), Various Small Fires, Los Angeles (2023); Taymour Grahne, London (2023); Harper’s Apartment, New York (2022); Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland (2022); Deanna Evans Projects, Brooklyn (2021 and 2018); George Gallery, Brooklyn (2019); Present Company, Brooklyn (2017); and Providence College, Providence (2013). Most recently, Wakoa has participated in group exhibitions at James Cohan Gallery, New York (2024); Almine Rech, online (2023); Frieze, Seoul (2023) Harper’s, East Hampton and Los Angeles (2023, 2022, and 2021); Gaa Gallery, Provincetown (2022); Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome (2022); Hesse Flatow, New York (2021); and Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland (2021). Wakoa was a recipient of the Sharpe Walentas Studio Program, Brooklyn (2018); the Deadalus MFA Fellowship (2010); and the VCU Fountainhead Fellowship (2010). Reviews of her work have appeared in Artnet, Brooklyn Rail, and Vogue, among other publications. A special thanks to the family of Lumin Wakoa for providing photos of her artwork for this concert.
Noël Wan 萬依慈 is a Taiwanese-American harpist and an interdisciplinary scholar. Recognized for her charismatic artistry and genre-crossing virtuosity, Wan has won major competitions, including the 2023 Astral Artists National Competition, 2022 USA International Harp Competition, and 2010 World Harp Competition, and actively performs around the world. She combines her work as a performer with theoretical research on gender, sound, and performance practice, and her current project connects ideas about embodiment with digital sound creation via the electroacoustic harp.
Wan is the Assistant Professor of Harp and Entrepreneurship at Florida State University and harp faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music and divides her time between the US and Canada.
