February 4: Aether Eos Guest Recital

On Monday, February 4^th, College of the Ozarks welcomed guest performers Leah Asher and Chris Goddard of Aether Eos as they performed new and experimental music of the twenty-first century. Composers Rebecca Saunders and Pang Chun-ting wrote the first two pieces Asher and Goddard performed. College of the Ozarks assistant professor of music theory and composition, Dr. Luke Carlson, wrote the third piece, Last Light. Asher also composed a solo violin piece that she performed at the recital, and Eric Wubbels composed the last piece that Aether Eos performed.

Leah Asher has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe with artists and ensembles such as Jennifer Torrence, Sanae Yoshida, Mary Auner, AJO ensemble, NOSO Sinfoniettaen, The Arctic Philharmonic, The Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, eighth blackbird, and The Rhythm Method. She served as solo violist of the NOSO Sinfoniettaen and co-principal viola of the Arctic Philharmonic 2013-2016 and joined as violinist of The Rhythm Method in 2016. Asher completed her undergraduate degree at Oberlin College and Conservatory, studying violin with Gregory Fulkerson. She also earned a Master’s in Contemporary Performance at Manhattan School of Music, studying with Curtis Macomber.

As a performer and advocate of contemporary music, Christopher Goddard has presented dozens of premieres by his colleagues, appearing with new music groups such as Ensemble Moto Perpetuo, Columbia Composers, Penn Composers Guild, the Wet Ink Ensemble and others. Goddard performed with TACTUS, the contemporary music ensemble at the Manhattan School of Music, while studying with pianists Christopher Oldfather and Anthony de Mare. Goddard was recently commissioned to compose music for Esprit Orchestra (Toronto), No Exit New Music Ensemble (Cleveland) the Royal Conservatory/Koerner Hall for the 21C Festival and by the City of Reutlingen. Goddard currently serves as Artistic Director of Ottawa New Music Creators.