The Student News Site of University of Louisiana Monroe

The Hawkeye

The Student News Site of University of Louisiana Monroe

The Hawkeye

The Student News Site of University of Louisiana Monroe

The Hawkeye

Pianists perform with personality

The School of Visual and Performing Arts continued its Faculty Artist Concert series with its Spring Recital last Thursday night.

This faculty concert featured pianist Richard Seiler and flutists Sandra Lunte and Mallory Sanchez.

The different pieces the three faculty members played were from a span of several centuries. Seiler said the repertoire and program they created started around two summers ago.
Lunte, a professor of music at ULM, told stories about their past and how they met years ago. She also joked that she had been performing with Seiler for a “thousand years.”

Lunte also said her fellow performer, Mallory Sanchez, was a high school student of hers in the past. She told stories about a class she had taken with Sanchez in New York at a monastery.

“This is the same class where Mallory was told by the professor that it’s a shame you can’t play the flute with your butt,” Lunte said.

Lunte used her personality to add to the performance. She made gestures and facial expressions throughout the night. She also told jokes and stories to keep the crowd engaged and entertained.

Specific details showed the collaboration efforts between the faculty artists. Lunte’s and Sanchez’s outfits for the night even matched their gold and silver instruments.

The rainy weather did not stop attendance to the recital. Over 30 people attended the performance in the Emy-Lou Biedenharn Recital Hall.

Seiler, a professor of music, said it was a good turnout considering the rain and cold temperatures. He said that more people came then he had expected and that unfortunately you cannot have a packed house for every performance.

“However, we are just happy to play. Whether it’s for either one person or a thousand,” Seiler said.

The majority of the audience were older men and women with a small crowd of ULM students. The majority of the students that attended were music majors. Some audience members were actually pupils of the performers. Those music students enjoyed the performance. Other students that were not music majors said they were not sure what to think of it.

“It’s pretty but I don’t know what to think about it. There are not any words. I don’t know what it’s about,” said Leighann Merrill, a freshman elementary education major.

Merrill also said that a friend had told her about the performance. She thought it sounded interesting and decided to go. She said she might attend future performances since this one was entertaining.

Seiler said the department will present more faculty performances and that VAPA has some sort of event going on almost every night.

The Faculty Artist Concert series will continue next week on Thursday, Jan. 29. Seiler will be an accompanying pianist during a recital at 5 p.m., while there will be another concert held at 7:30 p.m.

In addition to the Faculty Artist Concert series, VAPA will welcome various guest artists throughout the semester. These guest artists will perform and also offer master classes for interested students.

The next guest artists are faculty members in the Division of Music at Ouachita Baptist University who will present a concert of both solo and ensemble brass works at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 26 in the Emy-Lou Biedenharn Recital Hall.

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