Marshall University’s School of Music will present a faculty recital, “Songs of Pangea” at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20, in Smith Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to all.
The recital will feature faculty members Dr. Julio Alves on guitar, Dr. Henning Vauth on piano and tenor Dr. Alexander Lee. They will perform music from different regions that once made up the unified Pangean mountain range, now broken into segments across the Scottish Highlands and Appalachia.
The program will include Benjamin Britten’s folksong arrangements of Scotland, Ireland and England; Kenneth Frazelle’s Appalachian folksong arrangements; Villa Lobos’ songs from Brazil; Brahms’ folksong arrangements from Germany; and Moses Hogan’s spiritual arrangements.
“This program came from my desire to express our need for unity through troubling times,” Lee said. “Our world is divided politically, ideologically, religiously, racially, and ethnically. However, like all continents and lands were once one, it is essential to remember the root of all people and countries are identical.
“It is my desire that this program reminds audiences that although everything seems divided, we all share the same origin and root,” Lee said. “Like these songs from different areas and land came from one ancient mountain family, Central Pangean Mountains, we are all from one family.”
The concert is sponsored by the School of Music in the College of Arts and Media.