COMPOSER KRENEK TO BE HONORED AT UCSD

Honoring the 85th birthday of Ernst Krenek, friends and colleagues of the composer will celebrate the anniversary with a three-day tribute to Krenek at UC San Diego, Dec. 6-8.

The public tribute will encompass five concerts, a video program, a seminar and a banquet.

Although Krenek, who has lived in Palm Springs for the last 19 years, has not served on the UCSD faculty, he was instrumental in selecting the original music faculty at the La Jolla campus, a university administration spokesman said. On that faculty were Robert Erickson, Will Ogdon and Thomas Nee. In 1966, Ogdon became the music department’s first chairman; he hired Erickson as one of his first official acts.

Among the participants at the UCSD celebration will be Roque Cordero, a Panamanian composer and former student of Krenek’s. Cordero will honor Krenek with a new guitar suite. Pianist Charlotte Zelka, a longtime champion of the composer, will play Krenek’s Sonata No. 5, which she commissioned. Cordero and Zelka will perform at the concert at 4 p.m. on Dec. 6 in Room B210 of Mandeville Center.

The second concert will take place at 8 p.m. on Dec. 6, when the Thouvenel Quartet will play Krenek’s Fifth and Eighth Quartets in Mandeville Auditorium.

Four events are scheduled for Dec. 7. A seminar of papers and reminiscences on “Krenek as Teacher” will be presented at 10:30 p.m. in the East Room of Mandeville Center. A 3 p.m. concert in Room B210 will feature the UC Santa Barbara Chamber Players, violinist Janos Negyesy and others. A banquet will get under way at 6 p.m. in the North Dining Room on Muir Campus.

A musical “Festschrift” for the composer will be presented at 8 p.m. by his students in Mandeville Center Recital Hall. At this event, Times Music Critic Martin Bernheimer will be the moderator, and musical scores for about 20 miniature works will be given to the composer (traditionally, a Festschrift is an academic custom for which a professor’s students write a poem or essay in honor of his birthday and present it to him in a volume).

Two events will conclude the celebration on Dec. 8: A video presentation will get under way at 10:30 a.m. in Room B210 and include a tape of Krenek’s opera, “Ausgerechnet und Verspielt.” The La Jolla Civic-University Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Nee, will give a free concert at 3 p.m. in Mandeville Auditorium. A reception will follow the concert.