Marshall University’s faculty members were brought together to play a recital using the music of Alessandro Scarlatti, Robert Schumann, Gary Schocker, Moses Hogan, and Italian Cantoni composers free of charge to students Sunday at Smith Recital Hall. 

“I cannot express how grateful I am that I can perform, create, and share wonderful music again with my colleagues, students, and my audience,” said Alexander Lee, coordinator of voice studies and opera director at Marshall. 

The musicians that played were Dr. Alexander Lee on the tenor, Dr. Wendell Dobbs on the flute, Dr. Şölen Dikener on the cello, Sara Lee on the piano and Emily Cloer the soprano. 

“The last time I performed at Marshall was Sept. 19, 2019,” Lee said. “Not performing as a singer is like not playing in the game as a sports player. It was a very challenging time because communicating with the audience on the stage is one of the biggest parts of my life. Thankfully, the situation is better and especially Marshall University is doing a great job with following COVID-19 protocols.” 

“I feel so grateful to have the opportunity to perform for a live audience again,” said Emily Cloer, the soprano for this recital. “I missed it a lot during lockdown. Since the advent of COVID, I’ve definitely been very cautious and have been tested multiple times for it because aerosol transmissions are much higher for vocalists.” 

Alexander Lee and Emily Cloer are planning to do more events like this in the future. 

“I will absolutely be performing more in the future,” Cloer said. “I have my master’s degree recital next year and will be performing in the upcoming Art Song Recital on Oct. 27 and Opera Gala; the date will soon be decided later on.” 

If you missed this recital, it can be found on YouTube on the School of Music profile. 

For more information on events coming up, look into the School of Music calendar on Marshall’s website or email Alexander Lee at [email protected] and Emily Cloer at [email protected] for more questions about this event.