Harp, saxophone and percussion featured Wednesday night at Gobin

Monday, June 3, 2013
Jaclyn Wappel

The Celestial Duo, harpist Jaclyn Wappel and saxophonist George Wolfe, will be joined by percussionist Heather Sloan and cellist Eric Edberg as the Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues this Wednesday June 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of Greencastle's Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.

Admission is free. The festival is sponsored by donations from individuals, businesses and the Paul and Joanne Kissinger Endowment.

"Our series motto is 'bringing the community together with friends making music for friends'" explained Edberg, the festival founder. "George Wolfe

"is an old friend of the festival, having performed here numerous times. We are being joined for the first time by Jaclyn, and Heather, an outstanding percussionist who lives here in Greencastle. I believe this is the first time we've had a harpist in the nine years of our summer concerts, so I'm particularly excited about that."

The program, "Composed and Not," features music by Bach, Fauré, and other composers, as well as spontaneous improvisations -- something unusual for classical musicians, yet a speciality of Wolfe, Edberg and Sloan. Wolfe and Edberg have been performing improvisations together for years, and were recently joined by Sloan in an all-improvisation concert at the Serendipity Festival.

"Improvising together is not just about making music, it's also about how we relate to each other as human beings," Edberg said. "Leading at times, getting out of the way at others, responding to another's idea, knowing when to shift the energy of a conversation. The combination of composed pieces with music that is not composed or planned in advance makes for a great adventure for both the performers and the audience."

George Wolfe

As an avid harp performer, teacher, arranger and composer, Jaclyn Wappel has been the principal harpist for the Austin Civic Orchestra, Austin Summer Pops Orchestra and has played with the University of Texas Symphony, Symphony Band, Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble with whom she performed in Switzerland, England, Austria, Luxembourg and Spain.

Jaclyn is the principal harpist with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra and has performed throughout the state with such musical groups as the Anderson Symphony, Manchester Symphony and Masterworks Chorale. She has been a soloist with the Ball State University Choirs and has appeared on numerous solo and chamber recitals.

In 2012 she served as Principal Harp for the Tuscia Opera Festival in Rome and Viterbo, Italy, where she performed the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp. As the graduate assistant to the Ball State Harp Studio, Jaclyn is currently studying with Elizabeth Richter at Ball State University and plans to graduate in May of 2014 with the Doctor of Arts degree.

Saxophonist and peace educator/activist George Wolfe, praised by critics for playing that is "brilliant and moving," has performed extensively throughout the United States and concertized in Europe, Cyprus, Costa Rica, Canada, India, Korea and Japan.

Author of "The Spirituality of Nonviolence: Inerfaith Understanding for a Future Without War" (2011), Wolfe also received the Ball State University Outstanding Creative Endeavor award for his CD "Lifting the Veil," and has appeared as a soloist with ensembles including the United States Navy Band, the Saskatoon Symphony, the Chautauqua Motet Choir, The Indianapolis Children's Choir and the Royal Band of the Belgian Air Force.

Invited to give master classes at the Paris Conservatory, Indiana University and the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Wolfe has been artist-in-residence university/conservatory programs in Arizona, Austria, Canada and Costa Rica.

Heather Sloan

In addition to his concertizing and teaching, he frequently lectures on topics related to peace education and the role of the arts in the fight against social injustice. National conservative commentator David Horowitz has named him one of the "101 most dangerous academics in America."

Heather Sloan studied percussion with William Winant. She received both a B.A. and M.A. the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a D.M.A. from Stony Brook University.

Before moving to Greencastle, she was an active performer in the San Francisco Bay Area and has performed with the Cabrillo Music Festival, New Music Works and the Percussion Plus Project.

Eric Edberg is a classical and improvising cellist, founding artistic of the Greencastle Summer Music festival and Professor of Music at the DePauw University School of Music, where he teaches courses on improvisation and music entrepreneurship in addition to cello and chamber music.

Edberg was recently named the 2013-2018 John Rabb Emison Professor in the Creative and Performing Arts at DePauw.

The Greencastle Summer Music Festival brings the community together with friends making music for friends. Free concerts, supported by donations, every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: