October 3, 2023 – Music students in the piano and vocal programs at Santa Fe College (SF) will perform a free recital beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in the Jackson N. Sasser Fine Arts Hall at the Northwest Campus, 3000 NW 83 Street, Gainesville. Tickets are not necessary for this performance.
The pianists are students of SF Associate Professor of Music Mitch McKay. The singers are students of SF Professor of Music Lynn Sandefur. McKay and Sandefur will provide musical accompaniment as needed.
“This recital will feature what I call ‘jazzical’ music,” McKay said. “There will be a mix of piano students and vocal students who will perform traditional classical pieces as well as music that’s influenced by jazz and other styles.”
The piano students will play the full-size Steinway concert grand piano.
“It’s important for the students to have that experience,” McKay explained, “because the tone quality is vastly different from that of a smaller piano. The Fine Arts Hall has excellent acoustics and playing in that space is different from playing in a small practice room or in someone’s living room.”
McKay has a master’s degree in music from Arizona State University and a doctorate in piano performance from Michigan State University. He has performed with the Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra, the Brigham Young University-Idaho Symphony Orchestra, and at Steinway Hall in New York City. He has adjudicated various piano competitions in the Southeast and his students have gained recognition in competitions that include the Florida Promotion of Music Club’s Sonata Festival, the Florida Federation of Music Clubs Festival and the Alcorn State University Piano Competition.
Sandefur has a master of music education degree from the University of Florida. She taught as a choral director, instructor and coordinator in the Alachua County school system for many years. Her students, choirs and choral ensembles have consistently received top honors and awards at state and national festivals and competitions. Sandefur has been a featured soloist with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. At Santa Fe College, she has been the vocal and choral director for “West Side Story,” “Sweet Charity,” “A Chorus Line,” “Working” and “Grand Hotel.”
The recital is sponsored and organized by the Fine and Performing Arts and Entertainment Technology Department at Santa Fe College. For more information, call Mitch McKay at 352-395-5144.