The Moravian University Music Department fall semester opens with a faculty recital with performances by Artist-Lecturers in Music clarinetist Elizabeth Brodt-Zimmer and French hornist Mark Syslo.

Moravian University presents “Faculty and Guests Concert,” 4 p.m. Sept. 13, Peter Hall, Moravian University, Bethlehem.

“I wanted to be very purposeful in selecting mostly repertoire written by women composers,” says Brodt-Zimmer.

“I feel women are largely underrepresented in the composition world, and their works deserve to be heard and enjoyed,” Brodt-Zimmer says.

“Romanze in F major” for clarinet and piano is a lyrical single movement work written in 1892 by German Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxe-Meiningen (1853-1923), who studied piano performance and composition.

Inspired by scuba diving adventures, a contemporary work, “Sea Songs: California Coast for clarinet and piano,” by American composer Jenni Brandon (b. 1977) comprises three movements: “California Spiny Lobster,” “Leopard Shark” and “California Moray Eel.”

Composer Béla Kovács (1937-2021) was a professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, Hungary, and was principal clarinetist of the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra.

Brodt-Zimmer performs Kovács’ “Hommage à J.S. Bach,” one movement of a collection of works Kovács composed to honor great composers and as assignments for his clarinet students.

The difference between today’s French horn and the instrument of the famous Austrian hornist and composer Franz Strauss (1822-1905) is significant. The modern instrument is a double-horn system merging two keys (F and B-flat) versus Strauss’ horn which was a single-key instrument.

Hornist Mark Syslo performs Strauss’ “Fantasie, Op. 2” for horn and piano (1851), based on Franz Schubert’s “Sehnsuchtswalzer” (1818).

Syslo next performs Gina Gillie’s “Song for the Lost” (2021; revised 2023).

Says Gillie, “I chose to write a lyrical piece ... about unexpressed and unacknowledged grief for all the people, time, and things that we have lost personally and as a society as a result of this [COVID-19] pandemic.

“I feel that despite half a million deaths, there has been no national reckoning with our loss. And this piece is meant to rectify that in a small way. And to be an expression for any who wish to put that acknowledgment into a musical performance.”

A student of Nadia Boulanger and Paul Dukas, Belgian composer, teacher and violinist Jane Vignery (1913-1974) wrote “Sonata for Horn and Piano, Op. 7” (1942) for which she received a Royal Belgium Academy award. The three-movement work provides beautiful contrasts, including a rigorous and technically-demanding third movement.

“I am thrilled that Mark [Syslo] approached me about joining forces for a faculty recital,” says Brodt-Zimmer, adding, “We have a great music faculty here at Moravian University and I am so thankful to be a part of this community.”

Elizabeth Brodt-Zimmer began clarinet studies at an early age at the Nazareth Music Center. She received a Bachelor’s in Music Education from Moravian University and a Master of Music in Music Education from Boston University.

Mark Syslo is a French horn instructor at Moravian University. He performs in the Mainstreet Brass, co-founded the Lehigh Valley Horn Ensemble and recently performed with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra and Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra. He is a performing member of the Allentown Music Club and member of the International Horn Society.

Syslo, a graduate of Mansfield University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University, recently retired as instrumental music teacher in Parkland School District.

Bram Rader is a church and community pianist and pianist for The Salvation Army, Bethlehem.

“Faculty and Guests Concert,” 4 p.m. Sept. 13, Peter Hall, Moravian University, 342 Main St., Bethlehem. Tickets: at the door; https://www.moravian.edu/music/concert-schedule

“Classical View” is a column about classical music concerts, conductors and performers. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com