May 6th: Ashley West to Perform Senior Voice Recital at Coker College

Coker College's Ashley West will perform in her senior recital, accompanied by pianist Kim Roberts, a music teacher at Hartsville Middle School, at 7:30 p.m. on May 6 in the Hannah Lide Coker Recital Hall.

West is a soprano and a music major with a concentration in musical theater and studies voice with Serena Hill-LaRoache, assistant professor of music.  West has acted in roles in the musical productions such as “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” and the recent musical, “Spring Awakening.”  West has also been involved with the Chamber Choir and the Coker Singers since her freshman year, and has been an officer in Coker Singers since her sophomore year and became the president this year.   Last summer, she studied in Rome, Italy with “Operafestival di Roma” and will be attending New York University Steinhardt in the fall to pursue a master of music degree.

“In my four years at Coker, I have had the opportunity to learn from so many incredible people,” said West.  “My professors, friends, and family have all inspired me to become a better performer, and I have developed a passion for making music that will last a lifetime.”

“I am looking forward to Ashley's senior voice recital,” said William Carswell, associate professor of music and chair of the department of dance, music and theater.  “She has excelled as a music major in all areas of study, and we will, no doubt, see those skills displayed in her performance.  Ashley has prepared well not only for this capstone experience, but also for graduate study in the fall at NYU.”

Coker College offers a major in music education as well as music with concentrations in voice, piano and musical theater. Coker also offers a major in theater with concentrations in performance or technical theater, and a major in dance with concentrations in performance/choreography and movement analysis/therapies.

This concert is free and open to the public.  For more information about performing arts programs at Coker College, contact Wes Atkinson at watkinson@coker.edu or (843) 383-8050. 

November 5th: Coker Music to Present Faculty-Guest Recital

Coker College will present a recital featuring cellist Richard Thomas and pianist Jun Matsuo on Monday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hannah Lide Coker Recital Hall. 

The pair will present a wide range of music including works by Boccherina, Brahms, Popper and Piazzolla.  Admission is free.

Earlier this month Assistant Professor of Music Matsuo was officially designated as a Steinway Artist by the world-renowned Steinway & Sons. Versatile as both a solo and collaborative performer, Matsuo joined the Coker College faculty in 2009 as a visiting assistant professor of music, teaching piano and music theory.

In addition to South Carolina, she has appeared as a guest pianist in New York, Maine, Florida, North Carolina and Texas. Her international activities have included a recital and lecture at the Universitii Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia; performances of Spanish and South American Music for Cello and Piano in Japan; and master classes with Dominique Merlet, Pascal Devoyon, Noel Lee, and Roy Howat at the French Piano Institute in Paris, France. She also recently presented a lecture on Carl Czerny at the World Piano Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Matsuo earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in piano pedagogy from the University of South Carolina, and prior degrees from Binghamton University and the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

Matsuo’s teachers include Nanako Tamaki, Kathryn Stuart, Peter Takacs, Walter Ponce and Charles Fugo as well as Diane Richardson and John Keene in collaborative study.

Thomas directs the Presbyterian College Chamber Orchestra and is a member of the North Carolina-based Atlantean Piano Trio and the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium Orchestra in Anderson, South Carolina. He is a former member of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia in Bogotá and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of the Dominican Republic. He has performed and taught throughout North America, South America and Asia. In the summer of 2010, Thomas and Matsuo performed a series of recitals in Japan.

October 21st: The Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players to perform in Hartsville

On Sunday, October 21, 2012, the Hartsville Community Concert Association will present the outstanding Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players of New York City in a program of works from the Romantic Era for Piano, Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Soprano.  

The Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players will perform music by Beethoven, Dvorak, Hummel (Mozart's favorite pupil), and Spohr.  The concert will take place at the Hannah Lide Coker Music Recital Hall at Coker College (300 East College Avenue in Hartsville) at 3 PM.