Performers, audience members and professors alike gathered at 2 p.m. Saturday in Whitmore Recital Hall as students from MU’s School of Music queued up for a piano recital.
The event, the Mid-Missouri Collegiate Chapter Piano Ensemble Marathon was number 099 in the lineup for the 2011-12 performance series given by the School of Music. Students spent several weeks preparing for this event.
Recitals such as this one are held frequently in Whitmore Recital Hall, free to the public with a suggested donation of $5. The donation aids in accomplishing one of the school’s values: to “foster appreciation for music and participation in musical activities throughout the campus,” according to the School of Music’s website.
Two pianos sat on stage as students took turns playing various pieces.
Musical selections covered a range of different sounds from different time periods, some dating back to eras of waltzes and balls, some conveying the jive and swing of the more recent ’60s. From Sergei Rachmaninov’s “Italian Polka” to Beethoven’s “Concerto in C Major,” the program was the only indicator of what genre the crowd should expect next.
Rather than students playing solos, each song was a group effort, ranging from two to four performers. This required performers to sometimes share a single piano, which naturally added the extra difficulty of keeping one’s timing in sync with someone else’s.
Senior music and biology major Nimali Siriwardana was one of these students.
“It’s hard to hear the other people when you’re playing,” Siriwardana said. “Watching and listening are the most important things to do when you’re up there.”
Siriwardana played Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture, Op. 84” along with three other performers, as well as Gabriel Fauré’s “Dolly, Op. 56” with one other performer.
Much hard word and practice was put into the event.
“We worked on (the pieces) individually for a few weeks until we’re ready to put it together,” Siriwardana said. “We actually work on it more by ourselves.”
Students were the only performers in the recital with the exception of professor Paola Savvidou, who had to fill in for an absent student.
According to the School of Music’s website, Savvidou, a recent addition to the MU faculty, is the co-founder and co-director of New Music Everywhere, a Madison-based ensemble specializing in location-specific and multidisciplinary performances of contemporary works.
“Almost all of the students from the piano department participated,” Savvidou said.
The next student recitals are at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
