Visiting Professor of Trombone Jennifer Wharton maintains tradition with the 2024 Trombone Labor Days - featuring the Penn State Trombone Choir, guest artist John Fedchock, alumni Ryan Rongone and Bryan Powell, and Professor Emeritus Mark Lusk. Learn more about the event here.
Professor Mark Lusk will perform a faculty trombone recital during the first week of the semester for the 72nd time in his 37-year tenure at Penn State.
The concert will feature Professor Lusk performing the music of Gustav Mahler and Johannes Brahms with his long time colleague, pianist Dr. Timothy Shafer. These two gentlemen were hired together in the 1986, and this program is a remake of their first recital together! The concert also features our Professor of Horn, Dr. Sarah Schouten performing a new work by James Naigus along with pianist Dr. Kathy Gattuso Cinatl. The concert is free, and will also be live streamed from our beautiful Recital Hall.
In 2019 the Penn State School of Music opened its New Recital Hall to national acclaim. One of the first concerts in this venue was called "A Pennsylvania Summit" and featured Professor Mark L. Lusk and two very special guests; Mr. Peter Sullivan, Principal Trombonist of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Mr. Nitzan Haroz, Principal Trombonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. It is time to do it again!
These two world-class trombonists will be sharing their musical experience and wisdom with us on Sunday, and presenting a full recital on Monday afternoon at 5:00. They will be joined by Kathy Gattuso Cinatl, Professor Lusk, and the Penn State Trombone Choir.
Come join the Penn State Trombone Studio as it kicks-off another great year of musical activity with our traditional Labor Days event - featuring this year's special guest, Dr. Elisabeth Shafer. The event includes three wonderful concerts, a masterclass, and open rehearsals.
Mark L. Lusk, Professor of Trombone at Penn State for the last 37 years, will be presenting a very special and meaningful concert along with pianist, Kathy Gattuso Cinatl and guitarist/trombonist Paul Leskowicz. This ensemble will joined by special guests; organist Freda Crummey, keyboardist Beth Smith, trombonist/bassist James Gates, and vocalists Mary Leskowicz and Kaitlyn Lusk.
The program will feature beautiful and inspirational songs of Faith and Praise. The performance will feature music from across a wide musical span; from traditional hymns, to classic anthems, to contemporary songs.
The concert will also be streamed on The Penn State Trombone Studio’s Facebook page.
The Penn State Trombone Studio is proud to host the 30th Frühling Posaunen Festival in this coming April. The event will feature many special guests such as the legendary Jay Friedman! This year’s festivals will also feature The Pennsylvania All-State Trombone Choir which will be composed of 16-20 young trombonists. Read more about this prestigious event
On September 5th and 6th, the Penn State Trombone Studio and Professor Mark Lusk will continue the tradition of The Penn State Trombone Labor Days! The weekend-long event will feature several live performances from Professor Lusk himself, faculty and guest artists, and a plethora of guest alumni. Sunday, the 5th, will feature a jazz concert filled with charts arranged and performed by Penn State alumni alongside of Penn State faculty. Monday, the 6th, will feature Professor Lusk’s 67th faculty trombone recital in the New Recital Hall!
To see a full event schedule and concert programs, visit here.
To learn more about the guests of the 2021 Trombone Labor Days, visit here.
Professor Mark L. Lusk is presenting his 65th Faculty Trombone Recital on Sunday, January 19th at 7:30 pm in the new Recital Hall at the Penn State School of Music. This exciting program will feature new orchestral reductions of two concertos written for Professor Lusk, along with the premiere of a new work for two trombones and piano.
The first concerto is entitled “Journey” and was composed by Kim Scharnberg. The work was premiered here at Penn State in 2010 with the Penn State Philharmonic under the direction of Professor Gerardo Edelstein. The second concerto is a double concerto for trumpet and trombone with orchestra. The”Caribbean Sounds Suite” was written by the legendary Cuban composer, Daniel Guzman and premiered in Cuba in 2015. These exciting arrangements will be performed by Kathy Gattuso Cinatl, Maeve Berry, Bobby Leidhecker and fellow Penn state faculty member, Marko Marcinko.
The concert will also feature the premiere of a new work commissioned the Collegiate Commissions Project and Penn State alum, Dr. Erik Shinn. “Toward Eternity” by James Naigus is a new work for tenor trombone, bass trombone and piano. Dr. Shinn will join Professor Lusk and pianist Kathy Gattuso Cinatl as a guest soloist.
This recital is a benchmark in a long tradition of performances presented in the first days of each semester specifically The Penn State music community and especially the members of the Penn State trombone studio. The series is designed establish a musical standard as applied studies for the upcoming semester. Numerous guest artists, alumni, faculty and students have been involved in these recitals over the last 33 years, and this recital will be no different.
If you can’t make the performance live be sure to check out the live stream on the Penn State Trombone Studio Facebook page.
Join Professor Mark Lusk and the Penn State Trombone Studio, as we present a concert full of songs from great American composers like Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber, along with numbers from classic musicals such as Man of La Mancha, Sweeney Todd, and Oklahoma!
We hope you can join us for a recital dedicated to showcasing many different and exciting pieces of music “sung on the trombone” by the members of our studio!
The pieces we will perform were learned by using four (4) distinct approaches of musical study:
1) Analyzing the lyrics alone, without the music
2) Analyzing the music alone, without the lyrics
3) How the composers combine these two elements
4) The sound of the singer when singing each piece
The goal was to learn the song completely before we began playing it on the trombone. We will perform this recital with no music, not because we have “memorized” the music, but rather because we know the music that well. We will also use a TV to display the words as each person performs their pieces.
The event will take place October 20th, at 7:30 pm, in the new Recital Hall at the School of Music!
The concert will also be live-streamed on our Facebook page!
Professor Lusk will perform a recital entitled FINALE!! A program consisting of the final movements from 8 various concertos that he has performed through the years.
2:00 PM
The New Recital Hall
The weekend is packed with events! Click to find more information about this Penn State tradition.
The Penn State Trombone Studio is proud to host the 30th Frühling Posaunen Festival in this coming April. The event will feature many special guests such as the legendary Jay Friedman! This year’s festivals will also feature The Pennsylvania All-State Trombone Choir which will be composed of 16-20 young trombonists. Read more about this prestigious event
Join the Penn State Trombone Choir on March 18th for a wonderful night of music making! The choir will be performing a concert filled with contrasting works with some featuring solo, duet and trio performances from senior and graduate members of the ensemble.
This exciting event celebrates a new home, the NEW Recital Hall at the Penn State School of Music. What a great way to mark this change of venue than to have to have two world-class trombonists!
On December 6th, Santa is making his annual trip to Penn State to conduct the Trombone Choir and to bring joy and cheer to the children of the State College area! We invite kids of any age to come and hear all of your holiday favorites and fill your hearts with holiday cheer!
The Penn State Trombone Choir will be performing various repertoire in the new recital hall!
Join professor Mark Lusk and the Penn Sate Trombone studio, as we present a concert full of music from composers like Ralph Vaughan Williams, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss.
Click to learn more about this event!
This coming week, Prof. Mark Lusk along with professor of jazz trumpet and Cuban music at the University of Richmond, Mike Davison and friends will be performing Pictures at a Cuban Exhibition throughout Cuba!
The weekend is packed with events! Click to find more information about this Penn State tradition.
