Stacey Fraser

Soprano Stacey Fraser, Cal State San Bernardino music department chair and professor, will be singing in a world premiere concert, “A Chaos of Light and Motion,” by veteran composer Jack Van Zandt, on Thursday, Jan. 30, at CSUSB.
 
The show, to be held in the university’s Performing Arts Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m., was commissioned by Fraser, who will perform alongside some of Los Angeles’s best musicians, including Grammy Award winning pianist Nadiya Shpachenko.
 
Shpachenko recently won a 2020 Grammy in the Best Classical Compendium category for her album “The Poetry of Places,” which features music from Van Zandt as well as percussionist Cory Hills, who will be performing in Thursday night’s concert. The performance will also feature harpist Alison Bjorkedal, a 2020 Grammy nominee.
 
The other performers include: Sara Andon (flute, alto flute, piccolo, bass flute), Cynthia Fogg (viola), Alastair Edmonstone (piano) and Yuri Inoo (vibraphone).
 
“A Chaos of Light and Motion,” conducted by University of California, Riverside orchestra and choral director Ruth Charloff, is based on text written by major English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
 
“Shelley’s works were marked by many interests and influences – especially science, mathematics, and philosophy, including Hinduism and Buddhism – and were often a ‘mash-up’ of numerous ideas of the time,” Van Zandt said in a press release in Composers Edition UK. “The text of the title song, extracted from his drama Hellas, is a wondrous evocation of the scientific achievements of the Age of Reason and explores the crossroads of science and spirituality.”
 
The show will feature four songs: A Chaos of Light and Motion; The Painted Veil; Weave the Dance on the Floor of the Breeze; and The Atmosphere of Human Thought.
 
Tickets for “A Chaos of Light and Motion” can be purchased on the Department of Music website or at the Music Box Office. Music Box Office hours are Monday through Friday, 1-4 p.m.