Arkansas Tech University will welcome Ksenija Komljenovic as a guest percussionist as part of the final performance of the 2017-18 academic year by the ATU Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
The concert, entitled “Voices,” will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 29, at Witherspoon Auditorium, 407 West Q Street in Russellville.
Admission will be free and open to the public.
Komljenovic will join the ensemble on “Sideman,” a 2015 piece composed by Mason Bates.
A native of Belgrade, Serbia, Komljenovic obtained her Master of Music degree in percussion performance from Illinois State University in 2014. She went on to earn a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami in 2017. When she did, she became the first woman from Serbia with a doctorate in the field.
Komljenovic has performed with orchestras in Europe and the United States over the past decade. According to her bio, she has performed and collaborated with James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight, Snow White and the Huntsman), Jeff Beal (House of Cards), The New York Voices, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Grusin, Martin Bresnick, Andy Akiho and Ben Folds, among others.
All three compositions on the program for Sunday are modern works. The ATU Symphonic Wind Ensemble will also perform the Ryan George piece “Portrait in Jade” and James Stephenson’s “Symphony No. 2, Voices.” Both were composed in 2016.
Dr. Barbara Clements, associate professor of music at ATU, will lend her vocal talents as a soprano to the performance of the Stephenson composition.
Dr. Daniel A. Belongia, associate professor of music and director of bands, conducts the ATU Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
