‘Bel Canto' highlights clarinet

West Point — As part of its Chamber Music Series, the United States Military Academy will feature Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Geller on clarinet at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 26, in the West Point Jewish Chapel. The program, entitled “Bel Canto Clarinet,” will highlight the lyrical quality of the clarinet as a solo instrument. The recital is split between works for solo clarinet with piano, and those for a clarinet quartet. At the beginning of the program, Geller will be accompanied by pianist Janice Nimetz of Monroe, and for the latter part by the rest of the West Point Clarinet Quartet, Sgt. 1st Class Chris Jones, and Staff Sgts. Diana Cassar-Uhl and Sinclair Hackett. Claude Debussy’s “Girl with the Flaxen Hair” will open the performance. Originally scored as a solo piano piece, it has undergone numerous adaptations for solo instrument with piano. Francis Poulenc, one of the composers known as “les six français,” wrote his “Sonata for Clarinet and Piano” in three movements as a tribute to the memory of his friend and fellow composer Arthur Honegger. For the first movement of Carl Maria Von Weber’s “Concerto No. 2,” Geller will be joined by the other quartet members. The remainder of the performance will consist of Pierre Max Dubois’s “Quatuor” for four clarinets in B flat, and Paul Harvey’s “Quartet.” The recital is free. Allow extra travel time for the inspections at Stony Lonesome and Thayer gates. Call the hotline at 938-2617, or check www.usma.edu/band before leaving for the recital.