The Wabash College Music Department will present its first concert of the fall semester at 4 p.m., Sunday, September 9, in Salter Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public.
The afternoon music will include adjunct instructors Alfred Abel and Cheryl Everett. They will perform four sonatas for violin and piano.
"The works offered on this program represent a sort of Grand Tour of the romantic repertoire for violin and piano, beginning with Schubert, ‘the classicist of Romanticism and the romanticist of Classicism,’ passing through the high romanticism of Schumann, and culminating with works of Johannes Brahms and Cesar Franck that stand as last bastions of German and French Romanticism," said Abel, who directs the Wabash College Chamber Orchestra.
Abel’s career, based in Indianapolis, has taken him all over the Midwest during the past 25 years. He is the concertmaster of the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held for more than 20 years, as well as Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He has also served as concertmaster of the Kokomo Symphony and guest concertmaster of the Marion Philharmonic. As a teacher, in addition to Wabash College, Abel has served on the faculties of Purdue University, Butler University, the federally-funded IPS Arts Magnet Program, and the Indianapolis Academy of Strings. In addition, he maintains a large private studio. Former students have gone on to study with great artists and become prizewinners in the Queen Elizabeth and Menuhin Competitions, concertmaster of the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and active professional musicians performing with major symphony orchestras.
Everett, in addition to teaching piano and organ at the College, is accompanist for the Glee Club. Everett is also a member of the accompanying staff of the Department of Music at the University of Indianapolis, organist at the Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church, and accompanist for the Crawfordsville Community Chorus. She has an independent studio in her home where she teaches over 40 students a week, ranging in age from six to over 60. Everett was honored earlier this year by the Montgomery County Community Foundation as a person who has made a difference in the quality of life in the community. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Indiana Music Teachers Association and serves as the Ensemble Concert Chair. In 1999, she was honored by that organization as their Teacher of the Year. Everett has performed in recitals and master classes in conjunction with the International Workshops in Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, and England, and with the Amalfi Coast Music Festival. In 2005, Everett was chosen as a performer in the Teachers Program of the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In October 2006, she served as an adjudicator for the World Pianovision Competition sponsored by the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Atlanta. In conjunction with the National Federation of Music Clubs, she is Chair of the Indianapolis West Festival at the Indiana School for the Blind. She also chairs the Young Hoosier Pianist Competition of the Indiana State Fair.