UM instructor Christine Kralik is to perform a cello recital Monday evening (Feb. 24) in Nutt Auditorium. Submitted photo
OXFORD, Miss. – Christine Kralik will perform music by some of her favorite composers during her recital for cello at 7:30 p.m. Monday (Feb. 24) in Nutt Auditorium at the University of Mississippi.
“As a cellist, I love being able to play the amazing writing of the Bach Cello Suites,” said Kralik, an instructor in the UM Department of Music. “They are completely inspired and prayerful, and also joyous and energetic, and stirring in emotional expression.”
Kralik’s program offers a range of music written for the instrument. She will be joined by pianist Adrienne Park on two cello sonatas by Beethoven and Shostakovich.
“I also love the immense intensity of phrase and emotion you get with Romantic era works, such as some of the cello concertos and sonatas by pillar composers such as Beethoven and, later, Shostakovich,” Kralik said.
Flutist Nave Graham will join Kralik on a piece by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. “Jet Whistle” is a duo for flute and cello that takes its name from the flute’s rapid glissandi in the third movement, which sounded to the composer like a jet engine.
The two instruments create interesting contrasts in range and timbre, which also makes this a fascinating piece for Kralik and demonstrates one of her favorite things about performing: collaborating.
“I love working with people,” she said. “To me, being able to collaborate and build bonds through music, and working together to achieve the best performance and most beautiful sound possible is so worthwhile.”
Kralik’s collaborations will extend into the fall, when she performs with the LOU Symphony Orchestra.
“Dr. Kralik is a cellist with an impeccable technique and a truly individual voice,” said Selim Giray, the orchestra’s director and conductor. “I look forward to collaborating with her on a cornerstone of solo cello repertoire, Schumann’s A Minor Cello Concerto, in the fall.”
For Kralik, each performance is an opportunity to experience and communicate something greater than herself, no matter what kind of music she’s playing.
“I am in awe of the amazing inspiration and creation from the hands of composers in each era,” she said. “I always learn what I’m capable of as a musician and cellist in the playing and performing of their works.”
Tickets for the recital are $10 for the general public or $5 for children and anyone with an Ole Miss ID, and are available at the Ole Miss Box Office in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts or at the door.