FACS opener features Leppard, De Pue

The University of Indianapolis will kick off its annual Faculty Artist Concert Series presented by Katz, Sapper & Miller on Sept. 19 with a gala opening night featuring Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Conductor Laureate Raymond Leppard and ISO Concertmaster Zach De Pue.

The 2016-2017 series includes 18 classical and jazz concerts from September through April featuring UIndy music faculty and distinguished guest artists. All events begin at 7:30 p.m. Mondays in Ruth Lilly Performance Hall of UIndy’s Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center. Admission is free.

Leppard, artist-in-residence at the university, will preside over a program that includes music of J.S. Bach, Joseph Haydn and Peter Warlock. The evening opens with Warlock’s spirited 1926 collection of dances, the popular Capriol Suite for strings. Violinist De Pue, formerly of the genre-defying string trio Time for Three, will team with UIndy violin professor Austin Hartman on Bach’s masterpiece for two violins and orchestra, the Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043.

To conclude the evening, Maestro Leppard will lead the UIndy choral ensembles, faculty soloists and Festival Orchestra in Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai of 1772. Soloists will include Department of Music faculty members Kathleen Hacker, soprano; Mitzi Westra, mezzo-soprano; and Daniel Narducci, bass-baritone.

One of the most respected international conductors of our time, Leppard has appeared with most of the world’s leading orchestras in his 60 years on the podium. He has conducted more than 170 recordings, earning five Grammy awards, a Grand Prix Mondial du Disque, a Deutsche Schallplattenpreis and an Edison Prize.