KU choirs and cello professor to premiere cello concerto

On Monday, May 9, the KU choirs, directed by Professor Paul Tucker, will perform Elizabeth Raum's cello concerto The Four Humours, a work written for KU Professor Ed Laut (cello), who will perform the work with the choirs. The concert takes place at 7:30pm in Swarthout Recital Hall and is free and open to the public.

"The work The Four Humours is unique in that while almost all concertos are composed with an orchestral accompaniment, the solo cello in this piece is accompanied by a chorus, the sonority of which intermingles with, supports and enhances the solo cello with new richness," said Laut.

Elizabeth Raum, composer, is a principal oboist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra in Canada. She earned her B.M. in oboe performance from the Eastman School of Music, her M.M. in composition from the University of Regina, and in May of 2004, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from Mt. St. Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and she has been awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit for her compositions.

Edward Laut, cellist, has appeared as soloist on radio and television in the U.S. and abroad. He has recorded for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and National Public Radio and won the plaudits of such composers as Samuel Barber, George Crumb and Virgil Thompson for his performances of their works. Laut, a graduate of Indiana University, has held principal positions in the Manila Symphony, the USAF Band, Washington, D.C. and the Atlantic Symphony, was assistant principal of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and cellist in the Cleveland Orchestra. He taught in the Philippines under the auspices the JDR III Fund Project. In 1977 he joined the faculty of the University of Kansas.

For more information, contact the KU School of Music at 785-864-3436. Visit us at www.music.ku.edu.