‘New Worlds’ concert features world-renowned trombonist

Written by Rob Ketcham

Wednesday, 25 February 2009 17:32

Edward de Bono, a famous Maltese author and inventor once said: “There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would forever be repeating the same patterns.”

In wake of the University of Wyoming’s three-day creativity conference, Mark Sheridan-Rabideau, UW assistant professor of music, has echoed de Bono’s sentiments for creativity, organizing a concert titled: “New Works, New Worlds.”

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center concert hall and features world-renowned trombonist John Kenny, as well as the Continental Trombone Quartet, the UW Faculty String Quartet and UW music professor Rod Garnett, among others.

Tickets cost is $5 for students and senior citizens and $7 for the general public.

In addition to musical performances by Kenny and UW faculty members, Sheridan-Rabideau said pieces written by Anne Guzzo, UW assistant professor of music, and Harvey Hix, UW English professor, will be showcased.

By participating in this conference, Kenny said he feels he can bring a lot to the table regarding creativity, beginning with his ability to relay the idea of communication through the language of music.

“As a musician, you can sit down with people of totally different language groups and play the notes on a page because it’s a shared language for anyone who reads western musical notation,” he said.

For tonight’s concert, Kenny said he and Garnett, a flutist, will perform “The Dark Night of the Soul,” a piece he composed in response to a book titled “Writing at the End of the World” by Richard E. Miller.

He described the piece as the highest level of creativity, adding that it forces the duo to “interpret a piece of music which has a considerable amount of the logical information removed from it.”

“There are rhythms and shapes, but nothing else,” Kenny said. “Therefore, we have to play all of these rhythmic structures correctly and in time, yet we still have to find a way to instinctively make melodic and harmonic sense.”

He added, “The piece will be a very interesting experiment in the communicative language of music.”

As a treat to the audience, Kenny said he will also be playing a piece on the carnyx, a Celtic boar-headed horn. In 1993, he became the first person in modern times to play the unique instrument.

Between the Festival of Winds last week in which he performed and the creativity conference this week, Kenny said he has really enjoyed his time in Laramie, aside from the fact of not being accustomed to playing his instruments at such a high elevation.

“In Scotland, we’d have to go to the top of the Alps to be this high, and we’re certainly not going to play a trombone recital up there,” he said.

Kenny is an acclaimed actor, composer and creative artist. On top of being one of the world’s leading trombonists, Kenny teaches in Scotland, as well as at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

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