Faculty Concert Series hosts Gala Opening Concert
The Gala Opening Concert on Sept. 12 marked the beginning of a concert series spanning the entire school year. The Faculty Artist Concert Series is in its 31st season and will feature music students, faculty members and special guests.
According to Kathleen Hacker, associate professor and chair of the music department, this concert series is a culmination of professional performing, which shows that professors can both teach and perform.
The concert began with Pamela French, faculty adjunct professor, playing a solo oboe performance of “Empty Sky.”
This moving 9/11 tribute was composed by Butler University Associate Professor of Music Frank Felice.
“[The emotional notes] spoke directly to our human nature,” Hacker said.
Maestro Raymond Leppard and music professor Paul Krasnovsky introduce the start of the Faculty Artist Series. Photo by Jessica Stucky.
Following French’s performance was the piano duet by Maestro Raymond Leppard and UIndy Professor of Music Richard Ratliff. The duo played three Francis Poulenc pieces: “Sonate,” “Élégie” and “L’embarquement pour Cythére.”
Following “L’embarquement pour Cythére,” the audience had the opportunity to hear violinist and UIndy Assistant Music Professor Ariana Kim and the UIndy Festival Orchestra perform. Conducted by Leppard, Kim and the Festival Orchestra made Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 2 come alive.
After Kim and the orchestra’s collaboration, Leppard accompanied Hacker on the piano.
The final composition of the night, Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 47, was performed by the Festival Orchestra.
Kim advised students with a negative perception of classical music to avoid limiting themselves to enjoying only one type of music.
Hacker described classical music as its own language.
“It [music] can express things that words cannot,” Hacker said.
