Mitch McKay

Pianist Mitch McKay Opens Santa Fe College Performing Arts Series on Sept. 30, 2022

Pianist Mitch McKay will open the 2022-2023 Santa Fe College (SF) performing arts series in a concert of classical music at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, 2022 in the Jackson N. Sasser Fine Arts Hall at the Northwest Campus, 3000 NW 83^rd Street, Gainesville.

Tickets are $15 for adults; $9 for seniors, students, military service members and children 12 and under; and free for SF students, faculty and staff with college ID cards. Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Hall box office at 352-395-4181 or online from Showpass at:

https://www.showpass.com/mitch-mckay/

McKay, who is professor of music in the Fine Arts and Entertainment Technology Department, will be joined by SF’s new viola professor, Maurya Dickerson, and by flutist Christine Alicot of The Gainesville Orchestra.

“I'm very happy to open our season with this concert,” McKay said, “and I'm excited to have Maurya Dickerson here at the college. This fall, she is teaching violin and viola as well as a chamber music class. I'm hopeful that our string program can continue to grow and develop into an orchestra in the not-too-distant future.”

On the program are works by J.S. Bach, Franz Schubert, Maurice Duruflé and SF Music Professor Sheila Forrester, who is a composer of classical music. Alicot, principal flutist with The Gainesville Orchestra, will join McKay in performance of Forrester”s “Sonata for Flute and Piano.”

“I'm thrilled to play another great piece of music by my good friend Sheila Forrester,” McKay explained. “I love her writing and this flute sonata is such a wonderful addition to the repertoire. I'm very fortunate to get to perform with a great musician like Christine; she brings Sheila's music to life.”

While Bach and Schubert need no introductions to classical music aficionados, Maurice Duruflé is not as well known. Duruflé was a French composer, organist, musicologist and teacher who lived from 1902 to 1986. He was assistant organist at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and the titular organist at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, also in Paris. His compositions include pieces for the organ, piano, orchestra, and chorus, as well as chamber music. The musicians will end the concert with Duruflé’s “Prélude Récitatif et Variations, Op. 3.”

“I've wanted to play the Duruflé for a long time,” McKay said. “It's a rarely used instrumentation, and I get to perform it with excellent players. I think the audience will really enjoy hearing this unique work.”

McKay’s concert is sponsored by the Santa Fe College Fine Arts and Entertainment Technology Department. For more information about the concert, contact McKay at (352) 395-5144. For more information about tickets, call the SF Box Office at 352-395-4181.

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