Samuel Barber’s violin concerto and Edward Elgar’s violin sonata
Tara Cherry to present & perform at SAC April 16
By Meredith Wathne
The deep amber color, the twisted tight strings and the soothing sounds that resonate after a legato bow stroke. It’s hard not to be romantic about the violin. Music education and music performance major Tara Cherry found romance and has been in a serious relationship with the violin since she was eight years old.
“I love everything about the violin,” Cherry said. “I had to push my parents to take lessons; it wasn’t the other way around.”
The Missoula, Mont., native will present on Samuel Barber’s violin concerto and Edward Elgar’s violin sonata because she will perform them at her senior recital in the fall. The research she’s conducted on these pieces will ensure she knows them top to bottom and front to back.
Barber and Elgar are both composers from a similar time period with different styles, but, “They have a lot of similarities in the two pieces, which is really surprising,” Cherry said.
Cherry’s presentation will touch on three main points—the similarities and differences between the styles and harmonic elements (tonal and atonal), the differences between the composers, and the history of the pieces.
Cherry hopes to inform her audience about the two composers and build a connection to the styles and different parts of the pieces themselves.
“They are two pieces that people do not really know about if they are not in the music world,” Cherry said.
During the conference she will present a variety of musical selections available to help showcase the style and history she studied. However, instead of having an audio file of the track, Cherry will play them on her violin, creating a more personal connection.
Cherry aspires to take her passion for the craft and share it with others by teaching.
Read more Student Academic Conference profiles in the conference booklet, www.mnstate.edu/sac