News from the Maestro

Don Appert

Music Department Chair and Orchestra Director Don Appert has had a busy summer. The Clark College Orchestra took third place in the 2013 American Prize category of Orchestral Performance-Community Orchestra. The award was given specifically for the orchestra’s March 14, 2012, concert. “In addition I am also pleased to announce that my work Quartetto Basso was premiered and subsequently recorded by Rocco Parisi’s Bass Clarinet Quartet in June,” Appert adds in an email. “The piece was commissioned by the ensemble for the CD A tempo, a modo: Path tracking Vito Marsico. The proceeds from the CD will go to support FA-R.I.T.M.O., which is the Bone Marrow Transplant Research Foundation treating patients with acute leukemia in Genoa, Italy. It is fitting that I composed this piece of music for them, as my mother died of leukemia in 1972.”