Cellist spending week in Aberdeen

Virtuoso cellist Wesley Baldwin will join the Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony for a residency and concerts this week.

Baldwin is professor of cello at the University of Tennessee. He holds degrees from Yale College, the New England Conservatory and the University of Maryland.

The week will include a recital Thursday night in Northern State University’s Krikac Auditorium and visits to the Aberdeen and Watertown public schools.

On Wednesday, the Watertown High School orchestra will host Baldwin and student members of the symphony for a string workshop and concert. The workshop will conclude with a concert at 2 p.m. at the Goss Opera House in Watertown.

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Baldwin will be joined by Robert Vodnoy, director of the Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony, and pianist Jaime Namminga for an evening of chamber music. Namminga is a full-time lecturer and faculty accompanist at Valley City State University, and is also part of the adjunct faculty at Jamestown College.

The program will open with “Sonata for Unaccompanied Cello,” which Vodnoy composed in 1967. Next, Baldwin will perform Vivaldi’s “Concerto in E Minor” for cello and strings, accompanied by the strings of the symphony. In the second half of the program, Baldwin, Vodnoy and Namminga will perform Beethoven’s “Piano Trio in B-Flat Major (Archduke).”

This recital will be the first full music recital presented in the newly renovated Krikac Auditorium by the NSU music department. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for seniors. Students are admitted free.

On Friday, Aberdeen Central will host Baldwin and student symphony members for a string workshop and concert. Central orchestra conductor Karen Anderson is also a symphony member. The workshop will conclude with a concert at 2 p.m. in the high school auditorium, which will be attended by the middle school orchestras.

Baldwin will headline an Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Johnson Fine Arts Center. The concert is titled, “Ooh-la-la! French Night at the Symphony.” Tickets for the concert may be purchased in advance at Engel Music. Tickets are $13 for adults and $11 for seniors. Students are admitted free of charge.

The night of the concert, tickets will be available at the box office.

Baldwin’s residency is sponsored by the American News.