Pennock Performs Her Dream Concerto

The Cyberbird landed in Athens on February 4th, 2016. As one of the 2016-2017 concerto competition winners, DMA student and studio graduate teaching assistant Shawna Pennock was given the opportunity to perform the first movement from Takashi Yoshimatsu's "Cyberbird Concerto". This was a special performance for Shawna as this piece has been with her for a long time. "When I was an undergraduate, I only dreamed of playing this piece. I listened to it every day. In my sophomore year for Christmas I was given the score as a gift!  The person knew I wouldn't be able to play it for years but that didn't mean I couldn't fool around with the easy sections.  If I really count it out, I have been practicing this piece for about 10 years, just absorbing parts of it that I could, waiting and biding my time until I knew how to play the other parts. It is very challenging technically and musically as it involves extended techniques and the ability to shift sound worlds and characters between every section."

While not officially a triple concerto, the piano and percussion parts are vital to establishing the style of the concerto. In fact, they are positioned in front of the orchestra just like the solo saxophonist.  Wesley Sumpter, a senior percussion major at UGA, and pianist Greg Hankins rounded out the trio.  They are fantastic musicians with backgrounds in jazz, which provided the stylistic foundation to the performance.

Shawna, along with the other six other winners, began rehearsing with the UGA Symphony Orchestra two weeks before the concert under the direction of Maestro Mark Cedel. "It was an amazing night for me, ten years in the making, as I was able to play with amazing musicians to make my dream piece come alive. I am very grateful for this opportunity."