The concert will feature Dr. Kamerhan Turan on piano. He is a Joan C. Edwards Distinguished Visiting Professor at Marshall and currently teaches piano and also works as the director of the School of Music at Baskent University in Ankara, Turkey. Also performing will be Şölen Dikener on cello and Alexander Malaimare on violin.
They will play at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, in Smith Recital Hall and again at noon on Thursday, Sept. 4, at First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, located at 1015 Fifth Ave., with a slightly different program. The second performance is the first event of the School of Music’s Chamber Music Concert Series, which continues each month during the fall and spring semesters at First Presbyterian Church.
The musicians will be performing Claude Debussy’s “Cello Sonata” and Ravel’s “Oiseaux Tristes & Alborada del Gracioso” for solo piano, as well as a movement from his “Sonata for Violin and Cello” and “Piano Trio.”
“In 2025, many classical music organizations and educational institutions around the world are celebrating the musical genius of this French composer on the 150th anniversary of his birth,” Dikener said.
Ravel was an integral part of Impressionism in music and the modern movement, Dikener said.
“He combined progressive musical techniques with the eclectic colors of exotic cultures,” he said, adding that Ravel’s mother came from the Basque region of Spain, which influenced his music.
Both performances are free and open to all. The recitals are sponsored by the School of Music in the College of Arts and Media, and the Chamber Music Concert Series also has sponsorship from First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, with support from the city of Huntington.