By Daily Press staff
An evening of “Stevenings” next weekend should pique music lovers’ interests. On Saturday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica, 1260 18th St. at Arizona in Santa Monica, music director Steve Wight will present the third of his “Stevenings.” The topic will be Monothemism in Music. Admission is free.
Wight will explore the way composers sometimes build large-scale musical structures from one or two themes. The music discussed will include Ravel’s String Quartet in F and Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” Suggested reading before the event: Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which will be explained at the event.
For more information, call (310) 452-8908. Wight’s work spans a wide range of musical styles and media. He has composed music for television, including Saturday Night Live, The Man Show and Cartoon Funhouse. He also did the vocal and instrumental arrangements for Johnny Guitar, which won the Outer Critics Circle award for Best New Musical of 2004. For eight years he was an instructor at Cypress College, where he oversaw the construction of their midi lab in the mid 1980s. During his time at Cypress, he also served as conductor and music director for a number of productions, including West Side Story, The Wiz, Camelot and The Pajama Game.
His work as church choir and music director spans more than 20 years, including 12 years at Holliston United Methodist Church in Pasadena. In his current position as music director of the UU Community Church of Santa Monica, he has led the choir in a wide range of repertoire, from Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart and Faure to Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. He frequently contributes compositions and arrangements for Sunday services, Christmas Eve, the annual children’s pageant and other church functions.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 21, 2005. Read the original PDF.