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Saxophonist offers guest artist recital Wednesday

Jan. 5, 2006

KALAMAZOO--Saxophonist Phil Barham will present a guest artist recital at Western Michigan University at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11, in the Dalton Center Recital Hall. Admission is open to the public free of charge.

Barham will be accompanied by pianist Paul Thurmond in a program that includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Pierre-Max Dubois, Ida Gotkovsky and Astor Piazzolla.

Barham's playing has taken him around the globe. "An American master saxophonist" declared a London critic after Barham's debut there in 1990. That recital was part of his first European tour of debut recitals which also took him to Oslo, Norway, and Geneva, Switzerland. He has presented solo recitals in New York City's Merkin Concert Hall and on Chicago's Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series.

Recently, Barham was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to record the works of U.S. composer Rodney Waschka, II. In demand as a clinician and performer, Barham has appeared regularly with the Southwest Michigan, South Bend, and Kalamazoo symphonies. He has also served as the saxophone instructor for WMU's celebrated SEMINAR summer music camp for high school students. Barham is a clinician for the Selmer Company and assistant professor of saxophone at Tennessee Technological University.

Thurmond enjoys performing in a wide variety of styles and settings. He has worked as a collaborative artist at regional and international conventions for flute, saxophone, tuba, and voice, and has served on the faculties of Interlochen Arts Camp, Delta State University and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. As a recital accompanist, he has performed with such artists as Howard Klug, Elizabeth Mannion, Alexa Still, and William Warfield.

A resident of Cookeville, Tenn., Thurmond is in high demand teaching class piano students, coaching voice majors, playing keyboard for the Tennessee Tech Chorale and the Bryan Symphony Orchestra, accompanying many student and faculty recitals, conducting the Cumberland County Playhouse, and directing the music program at Cookeville First Presbyterian Church.

Media contact: Kevin West, (269) 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu

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