Nov. 13, 2025

Contact Mary Ellen Haupert at 608-796-3770 or mehaupert@viterbo.edu

LA CROSSE, Wis. – “Titanic,” the third concert of the 2025–26 Viterbo University Out of Our Minds Chamber Music Series, will be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23 in the Fine Arts Center Nola Starling Recital Hall.

The concert features the music of Polish composers Heinryk Górecki and Grażyna Bacewicz, two world-class composers who experimented with coloristic melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic elements within Neo-classical forms. Performers include clarinetist Dr. Michael Chesher, horn player Dr. Thomas Hunt, pianist Mary Ellen Haupert, flutist Alyssa Baranski Gaines, oboist Timothy Shows, and bassoonist Jeffrey Copp. All are professionals who teach and play regularly in the greater La Crosse area.

The concert will open with Bacewicz’s Kaprys Polski for Clarinet and Piano, a short work that showcases the clarinet’s virtuosity. The signature work of the concert is Górecki’s Trio Titanic for Clarinet, Horn, and Piano, Op. 38 – written in 2012, one hundred years after the sinking of the luxury ocean liner, Titanic. Cast in three movements, the work musically captures Titanic’s voyage from departure through its sinking: soaring melodies over wave-like arpeggios, dance motifs, and surging swells.

The second half of the program adds flute, oboe, and bassoon for Bacewicz’s Quintet for Winds and Górecki’s Burlesca for Piano and Winds. The program is extremely entertaining (while not being too long) and would be especially suitable for students involved in local instrumental ensembles.

The concert is free and open to the public.

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