Music Lecture by Andy Jurik – “It is always three o’clock in the morning” – Dowland, Britten, Melancholy, Death

Guitarist and UNC Asheville music faculty member Andy Jurik will give a free public lecture, “It is always three o’clock in the morning” – Dowland, Britten, Melancholy, Death, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25, in Karpen Hall, Laurel Forum. This talk is part of the university’s Department of Music Lecture Series, which is funded by the Dan Lucas Memorial Fund.

Lecture Description

Themes of anxiety, depression, and mortality play significant factors in the music of English composers John Dowland (1563–1626) and Benjamin Britten (1913–1976). Influenced by events in their personal and professional lives, both composers realize these themes in their compositions through musical elements such as motivic content, form and structure, and text setting. Likewise, Britten often found inspiration by looking back towards the aesthetics and sentiments found in Renaissance music, in particular, Dowland’s vocal and instrumental works.

Using a blended historical and theoretical approach, this lecture will examine select pieces by Dowland and Britten to better understand how these disconsolate themes factor into both their music and personal narratives. Musical performances include Dowland’s lute song Come, heavy sleep, and Britten’s Nocturnal, op. 70 for guitar.

Andy Jurik Bio

Guitarist, arranger, and educator Andy Jurik actively explores the intersection of classical and popular music. As a solo guitarist, his repertoire includes arrangements ranging from Scottish lute works and Brazilian choro to Radiohead and the Beatles. Enthusiastic about the possibilities of third stream music (a hybrid of classical and jazz), Jurik prizes the compositions of genre-fusing guitarists like Ralph Towner, Roland Dyens, and Dušan Bogdanović. Demeler, his voice/guitar duo featuring vocalist Rachel Hansbury, reimagines Edith Piaf classics, Carter family standards, and timeless Celtic folk songs. Duo Cortado, his long-running duo with guitarist Devin Sherman, actively commissions new works to expand the scope of repertoire for guitar duo.

Jurik’s research in third stream music and contemporary improvisation results in activity on both the concert stage and the lecture hall. He presented a paper on improvisation in historical and contemporary contexts at the 2019 Dublin Guitar Symposium. His doctoral research on the classical guitar’s role in classical/jazz fusion was presented at the 2017 Guitar Foundation of America convention in Fullerton, Cal. Recent performances include the ASCAP-award winning Southern Exposure concert series, Brevard College, the Wired Music series, Carnegie Mellon University, Presbyterian College, Central Piedmont Community College, the ArtFields Festival, and the Southern Guitar Festival.

In addition to teaching as an adjunct instructor at UNC Asheville, Jurik teaches at Western Carolina University. He earned degrees from the University of South Carolina (DMA, 2016), Austin Peay State University (M.M., 2012), and Ithaca College (B.M., 2008). Andy’s previous instructors include Christopher Berg, Stanley Yates, Pablo Cohen, and Steve Brown; master-class and individual studies include Mark Stewart (Paul Simon, Bang on a Can All-Stars), Lorenzo Michelli and Matteo Mela (SoloDuo), Derek Gripper, and Ricardo Cobo.

Andy acts as co-director of the Asheville Classical Guitar Society, a collective that sponsors monthly open meetings, concerts, and master classes in the Western North Carolina area. His online critical writing for PopMatters and Spectrum Culture has been recognized by the Kronos Quartet, Nonesuch Records, New Amsterdam Records, and Innova Recordings.

http://www.andyjurikguitar.com

Upcoming Lecture in this Series

March 24 – From Songsters to Songbirds: Notes on Singing as Labor in the American 20th Century – Lecture Series Keynote by Gabriel Solis, professor of musicology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 7 p.m., Karpen Hall, Laurel Forum.

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