Fort Lewis College to host a virtual music showcase Sunday

Thursday, Oct 1, 2020 2:45 PM

Music to calm a COVID-19 time

Durango Herald file<br><br>Saxophonist Jeff Solon will join other Fort Lewis College Music Department colleagues on stage Sunday.

When saxophonist Jeff Solo saunters onto a stage with his inimitable smile, you know you are in for a jazzy treat.

That will be the case at 3 p.m. Sunday, when Solon joins other Fort Lewis College Music Department colleagues for their first virtual showcase.

The faculty showcase is now an annual affair, and the pandemic has not disrupted the practice. You can access the event, normally held in Roshong Recital Hall, through the college’s YouTube site: youtube.com/flcdurango/videos. You will find the link at the top of the video list says Shauna Blaylock, spokesperson for the Music Department.

Solon’s rendition of “Over the Rainbow” may well be the heartbeat of the concert. But so will the FLC Faculty Jazz Combo’s interpretation of Gershwin’s “Summertime.” For that, Solon will join Joe Nibley on trumpet, John O’Neal on drums and the new FLC band director Justin Hubbard, also on saxophone.

Tenor Wesley Dunnagan will accompany himself on the harpsichord and lull us all with Schubert’s “Nacht und Träume” and Stefano Donaudy’s “Amorosi miei giorni.”

Dunnagan will also accompany Bailey Barnes as she sings Liza Lehmann’s “There are fairies at the bottom of our garden.”

Department Chairwoman Charissa Chiaravalloti will sing the moody, jazzy “Tenderly” from “Torch Song,” by Walter Gross and Jack Lawrence. She’ll be accompanied by the FLC Piano Studio’s own Lisa Campi Walters, who will also perform Debussy’s dreamy “L’isle Joyeuse.”

And Campi Walters will accompany cellist Katherine Jetter in another work to remind you the world is a beautiful place: Chopin’s “Largo” from his Sonata in G minor, Op. 65.

Flutist Kathryn Shaffer and pianist Kristen Chen will perform William Grant Still’s “Picnic with Sheilah,” which may be new to many listeners and all the more welcome.

Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.