The premiere of a new musical composition, a song-cycle based on poems written by the late Paul Rice, will be presented at Coastal Carolina University as part of a Faculty Chamber Music Recital on Tuesday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. in the Edwards Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required.

"Paul Rice Songs," a commissioned composition for flute, soprano voice and guitar, is based on "The Ossahatchee Codex," an unpublished collection of poems by the noted poet, songwriter and Coastal Carolina University professor who died in 2004. The piece will be performed by faculty members Amy Tully (flute) and Daniel Hull (guitar). Soprano Deanna McBroom, director of the Voice Program and professor of music at the College of Charleston, will join Tully and Hull. (She replaces Patti Edwards who has bronchitis.)

Composer Beth Wiemann, a music professor at the University of Maine, was commissioned by Richard Johnson, a Coastal Carolina University associate provost and former chair of the music department, to create the work. Educated at Oberlin College and Princeton University, Wiemann has won many awards for composition, and her works have been performed by the New York New Music Ensemble, Parnassus and other noted groups.

In addition to the premiere work, the program will also feature music by Meira Warshauer, a noted composer who is the Nancy A. Smith Distinguished Visitor in Residence for 2008-2009 at Coastal Carolina University. Warshauer's works, many on Jewish themes, have been performed and recorded to critical acclaim throughout the United States and in Israel, Europe, South America and Asia. Her "Four Songs from the Holocaust" and "In Memoriam" will be performed at the recital.

The program will also include ensemble pieces by Gustav Holst, Philippe Gaubert and Herbert Sontag. In addition to the trio, faculty performers include Philip Powell, piano; Anne Dervin, clarinet; Kurry Seymour, percussion; and Tonya Propst, horn. Former faculty member Tamar Ben-Pazi, cello, will also perform.

For more information, call the Wheelwright Box Office at 843-349-2502.