STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Four outstanding music educators will perform a special faculty recital at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, at Tarleton State University’s Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center Theater. Admission is free.
The performance features two pianists, Tarleton’s Dr. Leslie Spotz and Dr. J. Bradley Baker, and two percussionists, Tarleton Professor Ben Charles and percussion Assistant Professor Karlyn Viña from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Va.
“These four instruments are rarely performed together because of the unique challenges they bring to the stage,” Dr. Spotz said. “It is going to be quite a historic concert. We are excited to present it at Tarleton.”
Dr. Viña also is on the percussion faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Mich., during the summers. She maintains a busy schedule as an orchestral, chamber and solo percussionist, and has a particular interest in works that incorporate theatrical elements.
The performance will feature both of Tarleton’s nine-foot Steinway concert grand pianos surrounded by a sea of percussion instruments as the quartet presents Bela Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, a creative masterpiece in combining sonata form with Hungarian rhythms and melodies disguised in oceanic sound waves, and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, presented in an fresh format with percussion.
A founding member of The Texas A&M System, Tarleton State University is breaking records — in enrollment, research, scholarship, athletics, philanthropy and engagement — while transforming the lives of approximately 18,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. For 125 years, Tarleton State has been committed to accessible higher education opportunities for all while helping students grow academically, socially and professionally through programs that emphasize real world learning and address regional, state and national needs.