“Context is important,” Fort Lewis College violin professor Richard Silvers said. He deepened the meaning of the upcoming faculty recital to be given at 2 p.m. Sunday. Originally, it was intended to be the annual outing of the FLC Red Shoe Piano Trio, something chamber music fans have looked forward to for more than 20 years.
The trio’s last recital took place a year ago, in February 2023. But time and fate have intervened.
Instead, Silvers and FLC cello professor Katherine Jetter will present a recital titled “String Impressions.”
If you go
WHAT: Fort Lewis College Faculty Recital, Richard Silvers, violin, Katherine Jetter, cello.
WHEN: 2 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Roshong Recital Hall, Jones Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $15, at the door; FLC students, 18-under free.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.fortlewis.edu/music or call 247-7087.
The solo and duo recital replaces the scheduled FLC Piano Trio because of the unexpected departure of Lisa Campi Walters, professor of piano. Twenty years ago, she and Jetter founded the only chamber music ensemble at the college. Along with former FLC violin professor Richard Strawn, the trio performed before he retired at the millennium.
Determined to sustain an FLC chamber music entity, Jetter and Campi Walters persisted. In 2005, the ensemble underwent a makeover. The group took on its more colorful sobriquet. The Red Shoe Piano Trio, when violin professor Mikylah Myers McTeer joined the faculty. The trio performed annually, sometimes twice a year, even as violin professors seemed to cycle through the Music Department. That illustrious membership included Kasia Sokol, Nathan Lambert, M. Brent Williams and Brandon Christensen. In 2021, Silvers joined the FLC faculty and immediately enhanced the tradition of chamber music on campus. He came to FLC with degrees from UCLA, Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Originally, we, the Red Shoe Piano Trio, were going to perform on April 7,” Silvers said. “But when Lisa left earlier this year, we had to rethink everything.”
A year ago on March 6, 2023, Campi Walters’ husband, Mark Walters, died after a debilitating, multiyear illness. Their history has been intertwined with FLC since 1996. That’s the year Walters came to FLC as its new director of bands. He was a talented musician, a revered and beloved teacher who also founded the Southwest Civic Winds, now in its 12th season. Last November, the Winds gave a memorial concert in his memory. It was after that major public event that Campi Walters decided to leave Durango and move to Florida with her two children, Shea, 16, and Sam, 14.
“Lisa is doing some private teaching in the Orlando area, and she’s spending a lot of time with the kids,” Jetter said.
To many people, Campi Walters leaving a tenured position was a shock. To long-standing friends, the choice of family over career was not a huge surprise.
It remains to be seen if the FLC Piano Trio will reconstitute. If it does, the colorful Red Shoe name will probably retire. The FLC Music Department regularly hires adjuncts to fill the roster. Luckily, pianist Holly Quist could add Campi Walters’ full-time load to her part-time responsibilities.
On Sunday, Silvers will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata for solo violin in D Major, Op. 115. Jetter will perform Gaspar Cassado’s “Suite for Violoncello Solo.” They will close the program with Maruice Ravel’s “Sonate pour Violon et Violoncello.”
“Originally, the Red Shoe Trio planned to perform the Ravel Piano Trio. So, Richard and I talked,” Jetter said.
“I approached Katherine about the idea of doing a duo recital,” Silvers said. “We talked about the violin-cello repertoire, and the Kodaly Duo and the Ravel Sonata came up. Both are challenging, and we decided on the Ravel.”
You can listen to the Ravel Trio in A minor on YouTube as it is famous for its magical dreamscape, a chromatic escape to a better world. And you can also attend the FLC Faculty Recital on Sunday to hear Jetter and Silvers play another, less frequently performed Ravel masterwork and keep the spirit of chamber music alive at FLC.
As at other FLC faculty recitals, there will be introductions to the works, and a reception will follow.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
