Trio of music faculty receive grant from the Alabama Council on the Arts

The Elicio Winds, a woodwind trio comprised of Auburn University Music Department faculty Virginia Broffitt Kunzer, flute, Kathleen Carter Bell, oboe, and Conor Bell, bassoon, recently received a grant from the Alabama Council on the Arts to commission five composers to write musical works celebrating distinct cultural aspects of Alabama.

This stylistically diverse panel of composers will write musical works inspired by Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, Alabama's contribution to NASA and space exploration, the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, including the Rosenbaum House and Alabama's rich tradition of folk song and spirituals. The final commissioned work will be a multimedia presentation combining live music and filmed images of Alabama's diverse natural landscapes.

This interdisciplinary project will make lasting contributions to our field while celebrating the arts and providing a sense of community, pride in traditions and unique collaborations.

​The composers for this project are:  
Timothy Hagen – freelance composer, subject: To Kill a Mockingbird 

Joshua Burel – University of Alabama in Huntsville, subject: Alabama’s contribution to NASA and space exploration 

Margi Griebling-Haigh – freelance composer, subject: Frank Lloyd Wright & Rosenbaum House 

Shawn Okpebholo – Wheaton College, subject: Alabama's rich tradition of folk song and spirituals 

Craig Michael Davis – Indiana University, subject: Multimedia work featuring Alabama's diverse natural landscapes