Sarch and Boerckel Combine for Violin/Piano Recitals

Publish Date: 2/7/2012

February 7, 2012

MANSFIELD, PA—Kenneth Sarch, professor of violin and viola at Mansfield University, and Gary Boerckel, pianist and chair of the Lycoming College Music Department, will perform in recital on Sunday, February 19 in Lock Haven and Sunday, March 4 at Mansfield University.

The Lock Haven recital will be held at the Great Island Presbyterian Church, 12 West Water Street, at 4 p.m. It is a fund raiser to restore the organ at Great Island.

The MU recital is at Steadman Theatre at 7 p.m. It is free and open to the public as part of the Music Department Faculty Series.

The program will begin with the Nigun by the Swiss composer Ernest Bloch. It is based on Jewish Chassidic melody and prayer.

Brahms lyrical and nostalgic Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, opus 78 will follow.

The program closes with the famous Kreutzer Sonata in A Major, opus 47 by Beethoven, a virtuoso work written for the concert violinist Bridgetower and dedicated to the French technical genius Rudolphe Kreutzer.

In addition to serving as professor of violin and viola, Sarch is conductor of the Mansfield University String Chamber Orchestra

His awards have included four USIA Arts America Grants to Panama, Brazil, Israel and Jordan and two Fulbright Scholar Awards to Brazil and Bolivia. In 2003, Sarch was awarded the Citation of Excellence in Music Education – College by the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association. In January, Sarch conducted the National Youth Orchestra in Panama in a series of five concerts. This was his ninth invitation to conduct the orchestra.

Boerckel is a concert pianist, conductor, lecturer and chair of the Music Department at Lycoming College. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, he has appeared as soloist in piano concertos by Schumann, Gershwin, Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach with the Jupiter Symphony, the Northeastern PA Philharmonic, the Williamsport Symphony, the Williamsport Chamber Orchestra and the Susquehanna Valley Symphony.

He has performed solo recitals--including lecture-recitals devoted to ragtime and early jazz--in college, university, and community artist series throughout the country. He is also pianist for the Williamsport Symphony. Boerckel is also the host of “Music to My Ears” on WVIA/WVYA Public Radio.

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