Students and community members filled the Eccles Concert Hall to hear faculty perform for the Faculty Fall Concert.
Saxophonist Rhonda Rhodes and Pianist Merrilee Webb started out the concert by playing a piece titled “Aria.” The beautiful blending of the saxophone with the piano was an excellent way to start the night.
Along with the saxophone and piano duet, a harp, percussion, piano, bass, trombone and more duet pieces of vocal and piano, vocal and oboe, cello and piano, and piano and violin performed.
Performer Candice Behrmann played three instruments: flute, alto flute, and piccolo with a tape playing in the background. As she switched instruments during her performance the song, titled “Within,” lost its soft Native American sound and turned into powerful dramatic music, almost like what you’d hear in an intense thriller movie.
Out of the many performances, there were two that really captured my attention.
The first was from a piece played on the harp by Adriana Horne. I’ve never seen a harp so close before, and it was mesmerizing the way Horne’s hands plucked at the strings so swiftly and surely.
The second performance that caught my attention was a duet between a cello and piano. The rich sound of the cello blended well, with the piano creating a soothing feeling.
Besides the calm peaceful music, there was also music with more liveliness in it. Christopher Giles performed a piece by Fredrick Chopin by memory. I couldn’t see his hands moving, but I heard how fast and mighty they played on the keys.
Giles hands weren’t the only thing that were moving fast. A whole hour passed in what felt like no time at all.
Although the concert had many wonderful performances, a few lacked unity. The performance of vocal and oboe was such a case. Each part sounded lovely on its own, but when played together, the instruments overpowered each other.
Another performance that felt overpowering was from the piece titled “Big Bend.” The performer, Robert Matheson, created his own bass instrument, which looked and sounded cool, but waiting over 10 minutes to restart his computer so electronic sounds could be added to his performance was a bit much. The bass sounded great when played by itself, but when sound effects were added, the song sounded jumbled and chaotic.
Even though the concert had a few technical difficulties, the concert ended wonderfully with Paul Abegg playing the violin and Christopher Giles playing the piano. Though it was the longest piece of the concert, the piano and violin mimicking one another created a fun and lively song that tied the concert together.
