A musical evening with Genslinger, Armstrong

A faculty recital with two of Peterson Fine Art’s professors was held at Ley Theater on September 22 involving Michael Genslinger, on trumpet and Shelly Armstrong on piano.

The recital had four pieces of music “Concerto in E-Flat” by Franz Joseph Haydn, “With Malice Toward None” by John Williams, “Variations and Fugue on a Theme By Brahms” composed by Eric Ewazen, and “Soaring” composed by Sean O’Loughlin.

On the day of the concert Michael Genslinger explained why he chose each one of his songs. For “Concerto in E-Flat” he said it was a significant piece for the modern-day trumpet being composed for the “key trumpet” in 1795. The next piece was “With Malice Toward None” by John Williams. Genslinger was “pretty excited” for this piece as John Williams is his favorite composer.

“It’s a fugle horn piece and I haven’t gotten to perform with my new fugle horn,” Genslinger said about “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Brahms.” “I saw there was a fugle horn part and decided to choose this piece.”

The newest and last piece of the recital is “Soaring” by Sean O’Loughlin which was composed in 2021. Glenslinger said he was drawn towards the piece because of O’Loughlin’s work in previous concert band music he had directed and saw that O’Loughlin had solo trumpet music.

“It’s very modern sounding and I wanted to leave the concert on an uplifting note,” Genslinger said. “I feel pretty good about it, I put in a lot of work and effort to make sure the composer and music is well represented and I’m excited to share the music as many haven’t heard these songs before.”

Michael Genslinger is an assistant music professor at Wayne State College, he teaches applied trumpet, and music education courses. He also is a performer with the Sioux City Symphony, Nebraska Brass Band, and has performed with the Sioux City Municipal Band, Northeast Area Jazz Ensemble, Ocala Symphony, and even Carnival Cruise Lines. His accompaniment, Shelly Armstrong is a collaborative pianist where she plays with WSC choirs, classes, student juries and recitals and for WSC faculty recitals.

WSC’s campus directory said, “An active musician, Armstrong is a performing/recording artist and studio singer for choral demos. As an award-winning composer and arranger, her works have been published by E.C. Schirmer’s MorningStar and Galaxy divisions, Peck Music Group, MusicSpoke, SMP Press, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing Inc., in addition to featured ‘editors’ choice’ selections with JW Pepper.”

A musical evening with Genslinger, Armstrong

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