Faculty recital will feature 14 songs by five composers performed by four faculty members

Faculty and students will be featured together for the first time in several years at Southeast Missouri State University's music department's 14x5x4 piano recital.

The performance 14x5x4 will begin at 3 p.m. on Sep. 29 on Robert F. and Gertrude L. Shuck Music Recital Hall.

The recital will feature faculty members Dr. Kevin Hampton and Matt Yount and Southeast students Tiffany Henning and Joel Melchior. The recital will include 14 pieces by five composers with four performers.

Hampton will play for the first time at Southeast since being hired as the new chair for the music department this August. Hampton will play two nocturnes by Frederick Chopin and the "Roman Sketches" by Charles Tomlinson Griffes during the performance.

"[I wanted] to provide contrast to what else is on the program and to play pieces I believe in, pieces that really resonate with me," Hampton said.

Hampton said he chose the "Roman Sketches" because they are rarely heard in public, and he finds them interesting because they were inspired by a group of poems by William Sharp called the "Sospiri di Roma."

The performance also will include Yount playing four preludes by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Hennings playing two movements of a French Suite by J.S. Bach and Melchior playing "Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm" by Bela Bartok.

Yount said that he most looks forward to performing these pieces solo.

"I haven't had a chance to do any real solo performing in about four years," Yount said. "When we got the idea to do this performance I thought about pieces that I'd always wanted to take on. These Rachmaninoff preludes were ones that I was really familiar with just by listening to them and knowing them, but I had never performed any of them. So I thought this is going to be a prime chance to jump in with some new repertoire that I had never performed before."

Hampton said that including students in the performance was a top priority, so the community would be able to hear the quality of the students.

Hennings was originally concerned that she would not have enough time to practice and perfect her pieces.

"I was worried at first, but as the date got closer and the piece started coming along I'm really excited to participate now that I know it should a pretty great recital," Hennings said.

Performers had to consistently carve out time to practice on their own to ensure that each piece was perfected. Hennings said she worked with Yount and Hampton to prepare her piece.

"[Dr. Hampton] really built upon the things Professor Yount has taught me, and he gave me some interesting viewpoints I hadn't considered before," Hennings said. "So it was really nice to try and incorporate what he said with what Professor Yount said into my performance. I think with both of their help, it's going to be really great to see and to hear."

Yount hopes that at the end of the performance, attendees will see that the piano department is continuing to grow.

"Dr. Hampton's arrival here ushers in a new age for our piano area, and I think one of the things we want our audience to take away from this program is our piano program is in sort of in a state of rebirth," Yount said. "We are going to see more growth, more quality, in our piano area."

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling 573-651-2265 or visiting www.rivercampusevents.com.