Clarinetist Gresham to premiere Maslanka composition

Clarinetist David Gresham will premiere a new composition for clarinet and piano by composer David Maslanka in a recital at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall. He will be accompanied by pianist Momoko Gresham.

Admission is $6 for the general public, $5 for faculty-staff and $4 for students and senior citizens. Tickets are available at the CPA box office from noon to 5 p.m. weekdays or by calling (309) 438-2535.

Gresham, an associate professor in Illinois State’s School of Music, co-commissioned the piece by Maslanka, who has visited campus many times for premieres of his works and has written other compositions for Illinois State music faculty. The composition, “Eternal Garden,” is a beautiful, deeply moving, reflective piece, according to Gresham.

The program also will include Johannes Brahms’ Sonata No. 2 for clarinet and piano, the Gioacchino Rossini Introduction, Theme and Variations for clarinet with piano and a work by the Hungarian composer Miklos Rosza.

Gresham maintains an active and varied performing and teaching life. He has given solo concerts all over the world, including a four-recital tour of Japan, a nine-concert recital tour of South America as an Artistic Ambassador sponsored by the U. S. Information Service. He has given solo performances in England, Italy and Canada, five recitals at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium in New York City and at other venues in New York.

As soloist with orchestras and bands, Gresham has appeared in Portugal, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Ukraine and the United States. He gave the New York premieres of many works and has recorded the Mozart clarinet concerto, performing on basset clarinet, with the Kiev Camerata for the Troppe Note/Cambria label. Last year, he was soloist in the premiere recording of Maslanka’s Concerto for clarinet and band, “Desert Roads,” and performed that piece at the 2009 ClarinetFest in Porto, Portugal. From 1992 to 2008, he performed with a respected New York based new music group.

Gresham performs with the Illinois State faculty woodwind quintet, Sonneries, and with flutist Kimberly Risinger in the duo ensemble, Difference Tones. He appears with other chamber musicians around the country. Gresham also plays bass clarinet with both the Peoria and Illinois Symphony orchestras.

He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina, an M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music and a D.M.A. from The Juilliard School.

Next article: Award-winnng musical 'Into the Woods' opens Oct. 29