The Perkins-Prothro Foundation gifted the music department $1.1 million which was used to buy 40 new pianos. To show its gratitude and to show off the new pianos, the music department put on a piano concert Sept. 28.

Some 150 people attended the concert. Martin Camacho, Dean of Fain College of Fine Arts, and Ruth Morrow, music professor and distinguished chair of piano, were among the six performers included in the piano concert.

“I heard about this event from my friend, Levi Lamb,” Cory Press, computer science senior, said. “He is actually my roommate and I hear him practice a lot, but I’ve never seen him perform on stage in front of a large audience.”

Levi Lamb, instrumental education junior, played “Prelude in C# Minor, Op. 3 No. 2.” He said he had been practicing the piece since early 2018 and when he was asked to play in this concert, he knew this would be the piece for him.

“I was very nervous,” Lamb said. “This was my first time performing piano since my freshman year, so its been about two years since I last performed piano. It was more about being part of a recital with Dr. Morrow and Dr. Camacho because I look up to them so much.”

Morrow played three Goldberg variation pieces, the last of which was just the beginning of a piece that lasts 45 minutes to an hour to play. She chose two pieces from the 2003 Gilmore Keyboard Festival, where composers were commissioned to write new variations on pieces.

“I enjoy playing music of living composers,” Morrow said. “We have to keep music alive and we have a tendency now as classicists to play music of dead white men. So to bring this, then actually to be able to tie it to another piece that is older, I love that so much. It was just really a joy.”

Nahye Byun, piano performance senior, played “Annees de Pelerinage II, S. 161/7,” a piece she said is very important to her and her relationship with Ruth Morrow.

“Before I met Dr. Morrow, I could never really get along with piano teachers,” Byun said. “When I worked this piece with other people, I just couldn’t play at my best. There was a block between me and this piece, but Dr. Morrow really helped me overcome that block.”

According to Camacho, most events on campus primarily bring in faculty or students, but this event brought in a lot of people from the community.

“We offer many concerts in Akin and most of our concerts are attended by our students and faculty,” Camacho said. “But this was an opportunity to reach out to the community and they responded and they came so they can see what the new pianos are. We can share the look, location and sound of the pianos, and at the same time to provide a moment to say ‘thank you’ to all of those individuals who were important in the acquisition of the pianos.”

Morrow said none of this would have been possible without the support from Joe and Dale Prothro, the Perkins-Prothro Foundation, President Shipley and the President’s Excellence Circle.

“More than anything it was a public acknowledgement of the generous gift of the Perkins-Prothro foundation, Dale and Joe Prothro, the President’s Excellence circle, President Shipley and Dean Camacho. We couldn’t have done it without all of them. We’re so touched by the faith and the trust they have in all of us,” Morrow said.