POINT LOOKOUT, MO. — On Tuesday, March 10, guest percussionist Mariana Aun will perform in the Newman Recital Hall, located in the Gittinger Music Center at College of the Ozarks at 7:30 p.m. as part of the College of the Ozarks Guest Artist Series.
The concert is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Aun will play the marimba, an instrument of wooden bars similar to a xylophone. During the first half of the recital, she will play pieces by Dr. Luke Carlson, assistant professor of music, and student composers Riley Eggebraaten, senior music theory and composition major, and Brian Hofmann, senior computer science and music theory and composition double major. Following intermission, Aun will collaborate with Dr. Clara Christian, associate professor of music, on jazz arrangements and a piece by the minimalist composer Philip Glass. Christian has played multiple summers in the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra with Aun.
"It's exciting to get to bring such a multi-talented percussionist to C of O as a guest artist.,” Christian said. “This year we've brought a variety of visiting instrumentalists to our department, from strings, to organ, to marimba. It's a great opportunity for our students to get to experience these performers."
Concert Program
- Equivocal Reveries, by Brian Hofmann
- And They Danced, by Riley J. Eggebraaten
- Quinary Coils, by Luke Carlson
Intermission
- Mad Rush, arranged by Philip Glass
- Moonchild, by Gary Burton
- In Your Quiet Place, by Keith Jarrett
More about Aun
A native of El Paso, Texas, Aun began formal percussion studies at the age of 16. From Arkansas to Africa, her education and musical experience spans four continents. Aun holds Bachelor of Music degrees from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in commercial music and music performance, graduating in 2010. Both were awarded summa cum laude, and she was selected as The Outstanding Graduating Senior in Performance by the UTEP faculty for her graduating class. In 2012, she completed a Master of Music in solo performance at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and worked toward a Graduate Certificate in music performance at the University of Central Arkansas in 2014.
In 2014, Aun joined the faculty at the University of Central Arkansas as an adjunct instructor in music technology and general music. There she took on the supervision of the department’s recording activities for the duration of her tenure at UCA. She concurrently taught percussion at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and served as the drumline instructor for the Hendrix College Pep Band from 2016-2017. She helped to pilot an outreach program with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in 2017, teaching bucket band at multiple after-school sites in Little Rock. After relocating to Houston, Texas, to work as an assistant production manager at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in August 2018, Aun joined the faculty of Lone Star College-Montgomery as adjunct instructor of music theory in January 2019. In addition to performing and teaching, Aun serves as a North American Ambassador for the Royal Northern College of Music.