January 20, 2023— Pianist Mitch McKay will perform classical music at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, in the Jackson N. Sasser Fine Arts Hall at the Northwest Campus, 3000 NW 83rd Street, Gainesville.
Tickets are $15 for adults; $9 for seniors, students, military service members and children 12 and under; and free for SF students, faculty and staff with college ID cards. Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Hall box office at 352-395-4181 or online from Showpass at showpass.com/mitch-mckay-2/.
McKay, who is a professor of music in the Fine Arts and Entertainment Technology Department, will be joined by SF’s new viola professor, Maurya Dickerson, and by flutist Christine Alicot of The Gainesville Orchestra.
“I’m very happy to have this chance to perform since my fall concert had to be canceled,” McKay said, “and I’m excited to have Maurya Dickerson here at the college. I’m hopeful that our string program can continue to grow and develop into an orchestra in the not-too-distant future.”
On the program are works by J.S. Bach, Alexander Scriabin, Maurice Duruflé and SF Music Professor Sheila Forrester, who is a composer of classical music. Alicot, principal flutist with The Gainesville Orchestra, will join McKay in performance of Forrester” s “Sonata for Flute and Piano” and on Duruflé’s piece for flute, viola and piano.
“I’m thrilled to play another great piece of music by my good friend Sheila Forrester,” McKay explained. “I love her writing and this flute sonata is such a wonderful addition to the repertoire. I’m very fortunate to get to perform with a great musician like Christine; she brings Sheila’s music to life.”
Not as well known as some composers of classical music, Maurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, musicologist and teacher who lived from 1902 to 1986. He was an assistant organist at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and the titular organist at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, also in Paris. His compositions include pieces for the organ, piano, orchestra, and chorus, as well as chamber music. The musicians will end the concert with Duruflé’s “Prélude Récitatif et Variations, Op. 3.”
“I’ve wanted to play the Duruflé for a long time,” McKay said. “It’s a rarely used instrumentation, and I get to perform it with excellent players. I think the audience will really enjoy hearing this unique work.”
McKay’s concert is sponsored by the Santa Fe College Fine Arts and Entertainment Technology Department.