Maestro & Friends to perform at Albany Museum of Art

ALBANY — Claire Fox Hillard, music director of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and some of his music arts friends from the area will perform Sunday afternoon when the second of this season’s Symphony @ the Museum series gets underway at the Albany Museum of Art.

Joining Hillard for the 4 p.m. concert titled “Maestro & Friends” will be Elizabeth Goode, professor of music at Valdosta State University and principal flutist with the Valdosta and the Albany symphony orchestras; Marcia Mitchell Hood, chair of the Department of Fine Arts at Albany State University and the director of choral activities for the university and the Albany symphony; Marc F. Boensel, a member of the music faculty of Darton State College where he conducts the Concert Band and director of the Albany Chorale; and Carlos Odria, who heads up the guitar area at Darton.

“I think it’s going to be fun,” said Mari Wright, executive director of the Albany Symphony. “It’s going to be musicians from our area. We have some great talent in Albany and the area, and this is a great way to showcase that talent and the symphony.”

The program Sunday will be a varied concert of chamber music that will include pieces by Bach, Lauro, Ibert and Mozart. The museum is located at 311 Meadowlark Drive, adjacent to Darton State College.

“It’s a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon,” Wright said. “Afterward, we’ll have a little reception and the people that come can meet and talk with all the musicians. It’s a little more intimate than with the musicians up on a stage.

“It’s not expensive. It’s $25 for adults and $10 for students. I think that’s a real affordable afternoon of entertainment. Plus, they can tour the museum. That’s one of the best parts about it. It’s nice to be able to collaborate with another part of the arts community.”

Hillard, who will play violin, is on the music faculty at Darton and has conducted throughout the world, most recently with the Academic Philharmonie in Astana, Kazakhstan. As a violinist, he has served as concertmaster of the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony, University of Iowa orchestras and the Danville Symphony Orchestra in Illinois. Additionally, he was a member of the Quad-City Symphony for five seasons and the Grand Rapids Symphony for six seasons.

Goode, who will play flute, previously served on the faculties of Maryville College and the University of Tennessee and as flutist with the Knoxville, Oak Ridge and New Haven Symphonies. In the summer of 2011, she joined the artist faculty of the Orfeo International Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy, as a performer and teacher.

Hood, the Albany Symphony keyboardist, conducts the world-traveled Albany State University Concert Chorale and the ASU Chamber Singers and teaches choral conducting. She conducts the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Chancel Choir and her performing interests fuse the three disciplines: singing professionally, conducting and performing classical piano and harpsichord literature. She has served as assistant conductor of the Tuscaloosa Community Singers, where her duties included preparing choral works for the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra.

Boensel studied conducting with Benton Minor, Edmund Williams, Robert Gilson, John Wakefield and James Ross, and studied oboe with Larry Timm and Peggy Michel. His career as a professional oboist has spanned three decades, including 22 years in Navy and Air Force bands as well as various orchestras in California, Virginia and Maryland.

Odria is a guitarist, composer and musicologist. Originally from Lima, Peru, he studied classical guitar and folk music with renowned Peruvian guitarist Pepe Torres. From 2009-2014, he was the appointed director of the FSU Latin American Music Ensemble Aconcagua. Odria’s stage experience includes performances as a lead acoustic guitarist with various jazz and world music ensembles through the country. He has been a member of the Florida Artism Ensemble, a musical project founded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, contact the Albany Symphony offices at (229) 430-8933 or visit www.albanysymphony.org.