The Midday Music in Oxford performance series will come to a close for the year with the Classical Jazz II Concert April 25.
This performance is a second part to the classical jazz concert that was held in 2005, also as a part of Midday Music in Oxford.
Jack Daugherty, Midday Music event coordinator and former Miami University professor, felt that the jazz theme of the concert needed to be continued this year due to the positive response it previously received from the audience.
"The first performance of classical jazz was so popular, so we decided to organize this one together," Daugherty said.
According to Daugherty, the last Midday Music performance, April 25, hopes to bring students and community members together for an afternoon of unique musical talent.
The event was rescheduled from Feb. 14 due to the snowstorm the area received, Daugherty explained.
Siok Lian Tan, associate professor of piano at Miami University, will be performing in the classical jazz II event. She said she is excited to perform George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" with Robert Thomas, piano professor at Miami. The performances are held during noon and last for no more than an hour, Daugherty said.
"This is a great piece because it is so orchestrated," Tan said. "It is quite symphonic in scorings as well."
This will be the third time Tan has performed with the series.
Other performers include Brian Diller, a Miami senior music education and piano performance major at Miami; Ellen Nettleton, a cellist from Cincinnati; Scott Padden, a Miami junior double major in political science and music; and Robert Thomas, a professor of piano and head of keyboard studies at Miami.
Midday Music is a series of music performances that bring musicians from Oxford and other areas, including Hamilton and Cincinnati, to the city. This is the 18th year for the performance series, according to Daugherty.
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The 2007 program is sponsored by Miami's Institute for Learning in Retirement in celebration of its 10-year anniversary.
Overall Tan enjoys the Midday series and thinks it is well-organized community event.
"I think Midday Music is a great concert series because it presents a wide variety of music and the programming is interesting," Tan said. "It is also audience-friendly and is a nice midday relief from the regular workday."
The second to last event, held April 11, featured a performance from the Ohio State University's men's vocal octet, High Street A Cappella.
This award-winning group takes its name from High Street in Columbus, one of the main roads of the university. All eight members of the group are presently students at the university or have graduated. The octet's repertoire contains an eclectic blend of classical, sacred and romantic works, in addition to a blend of contemporary pop music.
Daugherty said he was impressed with the a cappella octet and was also pleased with the turnout at the April 11 performance, stating that there were 250 people in attendance, one of his largest groups yet.
All Midday Music in Oxford performances are held at the Oxford Presbyterian Church on 101 N. Main Street.
The church is happy to be the host building for the event, according to Elaine Patterson, church secretary.
Three years ago Daugherty needed a different location for Midday because the former location was under renovation. He asked if he could hold the event at the church, and the response was positive.
"We enjoy having the program here," Patterson said. "We feel it is part of our outreach program. We also see a lot of our members attending these events."
Patterson has not looked into how the event is affecting numbers in service attendance, but she did report that the music performances draw a large attendance, well more than 200 people.
Junior Adrienne Cantrell, a music performance major, said she enjoys attending Midday Music in Oxford when she has some time between her Wednesday classes.
"I go to the Midday Music performances because I like how I can hear performers from outside of the university," she said.
The Midday Music series holds four performances in the fall and four in the spring. The series runs September through April, and is free to the public.
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