KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Five graduate students from the University of Kansas are traveling with the dean of the School of Music and the director of KU’s symphony orchestra to perform in Eutin, Germany, which is Lawrence’s sister city.

The Jan. 15 concert will feature Robert Walzel, dean of music, on clarinet; David Neely, symphony orchestra director, on piano; and students Lukasz Lagun, violin; Robert McNichols Jr., bass baritone; Hugo Alberto Vera, tenor; Amy Elizabeth Cahill, soprano; and Kristian Bucy, soprano.

The group will perform opera arias, chamber music pieces, American musical numbers, solo works and popular songs by such composers as Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Johann Strauss, George Gershwin and Astor Piazzolla. They also will perform one work by Carl Maria von Weber, a native of Eutin, to commemorate the 225th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

The concert provides an opportunity for the Eutin community to learn about KU’s music program. The city commission will consider a plan developed by Hans Wilhelm Hagen of Rotary Eutin and the Eutin Trade Association to involve KU in performances during Eutin’s summer festival season.

KU and Eutin have partnered before. The two cities have shared numerous musical programs and art exhibitions over the past 20 years. In the past two years, the Lawrence group Friends of Eutin has worked closely with Hagen to expand the internship exchanges, part of the sister-city program that started in 1990.

“The numbers of interns has increased dramatically since that time,” said Frank Baron, professor of Germanic languages and literatures at KU and a member of Friends of Eutin.

In summer 2010, 10 interns from Lawrence worked in Eutin; Lawrence hosted three. For 2011, Eutin will send at least four interns to Lawrence. A committee from KU’s German department has interviewed and recommended 13 applicants for Eutin.

The KU graduate students performing in Eutin are listed below by hometown, level in school, major, parents’ names and high school or previous degree earned (when available).

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence 66049
Hugo Alberto Vera, doctoral degree in music arts from KU, spring 2010; bachelor’s degree from University of Utah.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Olathe 66062
Amy Elizabeth Cahill, master’s student in music; Richard and Sharon Cahill; bachelor’s degree from KU, 2008; Olathe South High School.

MISSOURI
From Grandview 64030
Robert Laron McNichols Jr., doctoral student in music arts; bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Missouri-Kansas City.

MONTANA
From Kalispell 59901
Kristian Noel Bucy, master’s student in music; bachelor’s degree from University of Idaho.

POLAND
From Zrodiana
Lukasz Lagun-Kuzminzki, doctoral student in music arts.