Guest Artist Recital
The Innocents John Lane and Allen Otte, percussion Monday, September 28, 2026 Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building 7:30 PM
PROGRAM The Innocents (2006, revised 2017) ................................ ............................ John Lane (b. 1979) and Allen Otte (b. 1950) John Lane and Allen Otte , percussion
This approximately one -hour dramatic soundscape is comprised of eighteen individual tableaus which endeavor to explore various aspects of the issues surrounding wrongful imprisonment and exoneration in the American criminal justice system: mistaken identit y, incarceration, psychology, politics, injustice, and resilience. Though we do this from our admittedly privileged perspective, we have available not only the information —both factual and testimonial —but, significantly, we have resources of a time and sou nd-based art. In performance we have the opportunity to direct and focus not only attention, but more importantly, to engage on an emotional level where experience is more than simply processing facts and figures. Some of the pieces are meant to be uncomfortable – too long, momentarily chaotic and confusing, difficult to understand. Others are simple and direct. Our idea is to shine a light on this subject as if through a prism in hopes that various aspects surround ing it may briefly come into focus for each of us. We offer no answers, but through our work we strive to confront questions. Art provides a platform for advocacy, affords us an opportunity to raise our voices in the name of something other than ourselves. In the current socio -political landscape where we are confronted with the most egregious examples of the opposite of that, our offering wishes to prove the power of empathic engagement with issues that ultimately touch all of our lives. Percussionists as storytellers is as old as the idea of human culture itself. As the-cruelty-is-the-point morphs into a lawless the -destruction -is-the-point and the creation of problems where none existed solely for the purpose of performative brutality, we arrive at Rev. Niemoller’s “first they came for…” …a place we would never have imagined America arriving to. Addressing the clearly non -partisan social issue of wrongful incarceration is something any of us can relate to even in somewhat normal times. Suddenly the country is awash in 1000’s of persons being swept up off the streets, families separated, renditions to incarceration facilities and co ncentration camps both in and out of the country; the government violently grabbing, maiming, even murdering, its own citizens. It could now be absolutely anyone, any age, anywhere, caught in the wrong place or car or boat at the wrong moment. Arts advocacy is not just a potentially eloquent response to the warnings and injustices which mount around us, be they social or economic inequalities, climate crisis, or other intolerances. The performing arts are vital, keeping alive some conversations —literally, some vibrations —in the world of creativity at a moment when being a witness, finding a way to raise your voice, has never in our lifetimes been more significant. Wrongful incarceration is but one issue: we offer this presentation as example of h ow to do this cultural work for any issue, and how powerful the arts can be in this role.
Presented with generous support from the Lavori Sterling Foundation
Please silence all cell phones and electronic devices.
PROGRAM NOTES The Innocents , subject of an award -winning documentary film, was first conceived in 2006 and has toured regularly throughout the country since 2017, bringing creative music in the role of arts advocacy to thousands of listeners. We have partnered with the lawyers and o ften exonerees of many state Innocence Projects, with universities, music schools, public high schools, art galleries, and various Peace and Justice Forums including appearances at the Innocence Network National Conference, Woody Guthrie Center, Desmond Tutu Peace Lab, MLK Center for Civil and Human Rights, and McMaster University Neuroscience Institute for Music & the Mind.
ARTIST PROFILES
John Lane John Lane has appeared throughout the Americas, Australia, Europe, and Japan in a 20 -year career including solo, concerto, and chamber music performances. An active commissioner of new work, his creative endeavors and collaborations extend through percussion to poetry/spoken word and theater. He has released two albums: The Landscape Scrolls, and Trigger: Artists Respond to Gun Violence.John is Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX.
Allen Otte Allen Otte was in 1972 a cofounder of America’s first professional percussion ensemble, the Blackearth Percussion Group, and in 1979 of Percussion Group Cincinnati. He toured for decades throughout the world in recitals, concertos, masterclasses and children’s concerts, performing new and experimental music created for the group. He is the regular percussi onist with the early music group Trobar Medieval, and Professor Emeritus University of Cincinnati. In 2017 Percussion Group Cincinnati was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
UPCOMING WELLS SCHOOL OF MUSIC EVENTS For full event details visitwcupa.edu/music or call (610) 436-2739 Friday, October 2, 2026 , 7:30 PM Symphony Orchestra Concert Paul Bryan, director Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall Philips Memorial Building
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 , 11:00 AM And now: a word from our friends: Orrin Evans Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building
Thursday, October 8, 2026 , 7:30 PM Chamber Winds Concert Andrew Yozviak, director Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 , 7:30 PM Fall Choral Festival Concert Kimberly Adams & Ryan Kelly, directors Emilie K. Asplundh Concert Hall Philips Memorial Building
Friday, October 23, 2026 , 7:30 PM Concert Choir & Mastersingers Concert Kimberly Adams & Ryan Kelly, directors Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre Performing Arts Center
Sunday, October 25, 2026 , 3:00 PM Wind Ensemble Concert Andrew Yozviak, director Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre Performing Arts Center
Monday, October 26, 2026 , 7:30 PM Faculty Recital: Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski, trumpet Madeleine Wing Adler Theatre Performing Arts Center
Tuesday, October 27, 2026 , 7:30 PM Vocal Honors Recital In Young Lee, director Ware Family Recital Hall Swope Music Building
*Ticketsare required for this event. For weekday daytime events, please RSVP tomusicinfo@wcupa.eduto obtain a parking pass via email
Interested in supporting the Wells School of Music? Scan the QR code and choose the ‘Wells School of Music Excellence Fund' to direct your donation towardsustaining and enhancing the overall programs and musical excellence at the Wells School of Music. For further information, please call (610) 436 -2868 or visitwcufoundation.org 🙘 A majority of performances are available to watch via live stream at Vimeo.com/WSOM Mr.Jonathan Lightcap, Director of Recording Services and Digital Media 🙘 Steinway & Sons Piano Technical, Tuning and Concert Preparations by Gerald P. Cousins, RPT If you do not intend to save your program, please recycle it in the baskets at the exit doors. The Wells School of Music | West Chester University of Pennsylvania Dr. Christopher Hanning, Dean