Dr. Ozzie Johnson
VALLEY CITY, N.D. (VCSU) – The Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts will host a trio of fine arts events on Oct. 2 and 4 at Valley City State University. All events are free and open to the public.
VCSU music faculty Dr. Ozzie Johnson will play a solo piano recital on Friday, Oct. 4. The performance begins at 7 p.m. inside the Performance Hall and features music by Schumann, Grieg, Chopin, and Kapustin. Johnson built the program around two major works: Chopin’s first Ballade and Grieg’s Holberg Suite.
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the CFA Gallery is hosting an artist talk and reception for visiting artist Ryan Stander’s solo exhibition “Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid.” Stander’s work is currently on display in the gallery.
On the evening of Oct. 2, the VCSU music department is hosting Virinca Trio for a free concert. Based in South Dakota, the Virinca Trio features the talents of soprano Dr. Darci Bultema, clarinetist Dr. Audrey Miller, and pianist Dr. Philip Everingham.
Friday, Oct. 4, 7 p.m. – Ozzie Johnson Recital
The music department at Valley City State University is pleased to host faculty member Dr. Ozzie Johnson playing a solo piano recital in the Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts. Dr. Johnson is in his third year at VCSU, where he teaches applied piano, class piano, music theory, and coordinates collaborative piano duties. In addition to these duties, Dr. Johnson has a deep interest in composition and music theory. His culminating doctoral project was a multi-movement work for piano entitled Bigger Than Us, which he composed and recorded in Sursa Hall in Muncie, Indiana. Dr. Johnson is highly active within the piano community in North Dakota. He is a member of NDMTA and NDFMC, and he currently serves as the NDMTA State Competition Chair and president of the Valley City MTA chapter. Dr. Johnson received a DA in Piano Performance from Ball State University and holds a MM in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from Ohio University, as well as a BM in Piano Performance from Wheaton College.
Dr. Johnson’s program features music by Schumann, Grieg, Chopin, and Kapustin. He built the program around two major works: Chopin’s first Ballade and Grieg’s Holberg Suite. The first set features a short piece from Schumann’s Morning Songs that works as a perfect prelude before the exciting launch of the Praeludium that starts the Holberg Suite. This wonderful work by Grieg contains five movements, each modeled after a dance style from the Baroque period.
Following this first set are two great piano compositions by Chopin: his Nocturne in C Minor and the aforementioned first Ballade. After the cataclysmic ending of the Ballade, the third set fittingly features three delicate gems that flow seamlessly together. The first piece is from Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood, entitled Of Foreign Lands and People, and it is followed by Grieg’s Arietta, which several people in the audience may have played in their own past piano lessons. The final piece of the third set is Schumann’s Arabeske, the ending of which is simple, breathless beauty. The final set is really just a single piece, Variations on a Theme by Stravinsky by the late Ukrainian jazz pianist and composer Nikolai Kapustin. Being a variation set, it features many popular jazz styles and ends with a bombastic coda that is a fitting end to just about any program.
Dr. Johnson is eager to share this wonderful program with the region and hopes you will consider attending, Friday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 2, 3:30 p.m. – Ryan Stander Artist Talk
Valley City State University invites the community to an artist talk and reception for visiting artist Ryan Stander’s solo exhibition “Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid”.
The event will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 2 in the Larry J Robinson Center for the Arts Choir Room at 3:30 p.m. A reception will follow in the CFA Gallery and lobby until 5:30 p.m. The Artist Talk will be also live-streamed on the Art Department’s YouTube and Facebook channels.
Stander’s work, featured in the VCSU Art Gallery over the last month, explores the shaping of place, memory, and religion through interdisciplinary artworks incorporating printmaking, sculpture, book arts, and photography. Stander encourages viewers “to piece together meaning through loose associations, rather than explicit illustration.”
Wednesday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m. – Virinca Trio Concert
The Virinca Trio, based in South Dakota, is a distinguished ensemble dedicated to commissioning and performing works by American composers. Their repertoire not only includes traditional pieces for soprano, clarinet, and piano but also emphasizes rare and underrepresented compositions. The trio’s mission is to champion underserved communities making the repertoire accessible to both students and professionals.
Deriving from the Esperanto international language, as well as Sanskrit, “virinca” (vee-REEN-cha) loosely means the creator and all of his and her followers.
In recent years, the Virinca Trio has commissioned songs from four esteemed composers, showcasing their commitment to expanding the musical landscape. Their exceptional contributions have garnered international and national acclaim, with notable presentations and performances at prestigious conferences. Among their celebrated premieres are Jocelyn Hagen’s Inside My Ribcage (2022), Jonathan Bailey Holland’s Poppies in the Graveyard (2021), and Richard Pearson Thomas’s Life on the Edge (2019), all debuted at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest. Additionally, the trio has presented their commissioned works at the 2022 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) national conference.
The Virinca Trio features the talents of soprano Dr. Darci Bultema, clarinetist Dr. Audrey Miller, and pianist Dr. Philip Everingham. Drs. Bultema and Miller are esteemed members of the music faculty at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD, while Dr. Everingham serves as the Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Granville, Ohio. Their collective expertise and dedication to their craft have solidified the Virinca Trio’s reputation as a leading force in contemporary American music.