september 7, 2026 · Performances

Madsen’s Tuba Sonata opens a Michigan recital programme

Portrait of tuba player David Zerkel.

David Zerkel, whose recital with pianist Liz Ames at the University of Michigan on 3 September 2026 included Madsen’s Tuba Sonata. Photographer unknown. Source: University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Source.

The tuba takes the solo role in the recital programme announced for David Zerkel and Liz Ames at the University of Michigan on 3 September 2026. Madsen’s Sonata for Tuba and Piano stands at the beginning of an evening bringing together works from several generations of composers.

The setting was Stamps Auditorium in Ann Arbor’s Walgreen Drama Center, with a free recital advertised for 8 p.m. Zerkel, the university’s professor of tuba and euphonium, was joined on the bill by Ames, a collaborative pianist on its staff. The published programme set out their evening together. [1]

After the Madsen sonata came Sofia Gubaidulina’s Lamento and John Harmon’s Silhouette. Raymond Premru’s Tuba Concerto, written in memory of tuba player John Fletcher, was announced for the second half. The university’s event description also named composer Cait Nishimura among the composers represented. [1]

For Madsen’s sonata, the printed programme gives the date 1980 and the three movement headings: Andante sostenuto, Allegro energico and Allegro moderato. It confirms the work’s opening position in the recital, before the Gubaidulina and Harmon pieces listed in the announcement. [6]

Zerkel and Ames had appeared together in earlier university announcements too. Illinois State University named them as the opening guests in a three-day artist series in September 2023, with a full tuba-and-piano recital at Kemp Recital Hall on 12 September and work with students during their visit. [2]

That visit also placed recent composition in the foreground. Illinois State highlighted works by living composers, including pieces written in 2023 by James Naigus and Amanda Harberg. The tuba-and-piano evening was followed by trombone and fortepiano recitals on successive days, each open to the public without charge. [2]

Ames’s university biography lists performances at the World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews in 2012 and Strasbourg in 2015, as well as International Double Reed Society conferences. Her work with wind players also includes service as a pianist and piano coordinator at North American Saxophone Alliance conferences. [5]

Away from a particular recital date, performers can find Madsen’s sonata in print as Op. 34. Notebutikken lists the tuba-and-piano edition under product number MH2295, making the score available to musicians preparing their own programmes. [3]

There is a recorded route into the work as well. Roger Bobo included all three movements on Tuba Libera, issued by Crystal Records as CD690. The label supplies short audio samples. Bobo’s album is an earlier, separate performance, rather than a recording of Zerkel and Ames’s Michigan programme. [4]

The earlier album also received warm press attention. In a review excerpt reproduced by Crystal Records, In-Tune Magazine praised Bobo as “Remarkably musical & technically amazing”. That assessment concerns Tuba Libera as a recording, whose programme also includes John Stevens, Tom Stevens, Anthony Plog and Penderecki. It is distinct from the recent Michigan recital listing. [4]

Listen and watch

Related performance: Beth Wiese, tuba, and Megan Gale, piano. Vanderbilt University, 27 September 2024.

Sources and programme information