Exploring questions of life transitions through sound and playfulness, composer/performer friends Gregory Beaver, Dave Hall and Mathew Fuerst team up with each other and violinist Hyeyung Julie Yoon to present “Birth/Rebirth.” The concert features premieres of new works by Fuerst and Beaver, as well as older works by Fuerst and New York-based composer Caroline Shaw. The featured premiere of Fuerst’s trio for vibraphone, cello and piano celebrates the birth of the composer’s twins this past summer. Mr. Beaver is turning a corner after 18 years in the Chiara Quartet, and these are his first publicly featured compositions, premieres of his Suite for solo cello and Duo for violin and cello which was written for Ms. Yoon, Mr. Beaver’s wife. Shaw’s “Limestone and Felt” was originally composed for viola and cello but arranged by the composer for marimba and cello in a rebirth of the original material. Fuerst’s “The Drift of Things,” the oldest work on the program (composed 2009) chronicles his transition from New York to a new life in Michigan as a professor. Audience members will share in the friendship and excitement of the performers birthing these works together.

Gregory Beaver is the cellist of the internationally-recognized Chiara String Quartet in residence at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The quartet has received rave reviews around the globe, recently touring South Korea and China. Their album “Jefferson Friedman: Quartets” was nominated for a Grammy in 2008. As a soloist, Mr. Beaver won the 1997 Corpus Christi Young Artist’s Competition and was selected as one of the two quarterfinalists from the United States for the Australasian International Cello Competition in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Dave Hall is assistant professor of percussion and Jazz Studies and coordinator of the percussion program. Previously, he was a percussion instructor at Texas Christian University (TCU) and also taught lessons, ensembles and courses at the University of North Texas as a teaching fellow. Hall regularly performs as a solo marimbist, drummer, orchestral percussionist and steel pan artist as a result of his diverse skills as a percussionist and omnivorous musical approach.

Program: https://unl.box.com/s/hgsgbtzathg7y51pp2o0netpautux9vc

Program notes: https://unl.box.com/s/j77gf15o4xkn7ufjbux8a7biuj1r0xv5