The Department of Music presents a Faculty & Friends concert Featuring Applied Saxophone Professor Ben Still with Department Pianist Claudio Olivera. 

This concert is free for everyone!

Program

Breaking (2011) - John Fitz Rogers (b. 1963)

Sonate (1970) - Edison Denisov (1929-1996)

And Everything is Still...(2008) - Andy Scott (b. 1966)

Noir Vignettes (2014/2023) - Stacy Garrop (b. 1969) 

Andante et Bolero (1866) - Jules Demersseman (1833-1866)

Originally from Raleigh, NC, Ben Still is an active solo and chamber musician throughout the United States. Currently, he teaches applied saxophone and chamber music in the Department of Music at UNC Charlotte. Still is a founding member and tenor saxophonist of Mirasol Quartet. He has been a prize winner and finalist in numerous national chamber music competitions, including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the American Prize Chamber Music Competition, the ENKOR Chamber Music Competition, the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Chamber Winds Competition, and the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Quartet Competition. 

Pianist Claudio Olivera began his musical studies in Venezuela at age eight and debuted as a soloist with orchestra at 12. A prize-winning performer, he earned the Van Cliburn Award at the Interlochen Arts Camp and received top honors in competitions such as the Yamaha Piano Competition (2002) and El Salón Nacional de Pianistas de Venezuela (2006-07). Olivera has performed with nearly every major Venezuelan orchestra and internationally in Germany, Italy, Chile, Spain, France, and the U.S. Based in Charlotte since 2021, Olivera often collaborates with Opera Carolina, rehearses and performs regularly at Myers Park Baptist Church and is the main accompanist for Queen City Performing Arts. In 2025 he joined the Department of Music at UNC Charlotte as the staff pianist.