By Mitch Holt, Staff Writer
The Unison Piano Duo, a world-renowned husband and wife piano duo, will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, in the recital hall of the Williams Performing Arts Center in the fourth of five concerts in the Music Department’s Centennial Guest Artist Series.
The concert is free, open to viewers from the public and highly emphasized by the Department of Music as a worthwhile piano concert to attend.
Dr. Greg Straughn, chair of the Department of Music, said this musical opportunity is important to experience because it is a rare and wonderful opportunity to hear a duo piano concert, especially one of this caliber.
Du Huang and Xiao Hu, the two individuals who make up the Unison Piano Duo, have performed together throughout the United States, including Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall in New York.
The duo is booked for upcoming engagements at centers for higher education all over the world. These include recitals and master classes at Central College in Iowa, Wuhan Conservatory of Music and Shenzhen School for the Performing Arts, both in China.
Chris Pillsbury, junior piano performance major from Amarillo, said watching these artists perform is amazing because of the level of perfection they bring to their music.
“It’s inspiring to hear their work and how easy they make it look,” Pillsbury said. “They are simply amazing musicians. The concert is a good opportunity because of the connection that will take place between the musicians and audience members.”
Both members of the traveling group earned Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and, since 2001, have been part of the music faculty at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
“They have consistently shown the highest aspiration and wonderful artistry as soloists and as a duo,” Straughn said.
During the concert in the university’s recital hall, the duo will perform pieces from composers such as Mozart, Haydn, Johannes and Brahms.
“I’m sure it helps that they are husband and wife,” Straughn said. “There is surely a connection between them that, like music, transcends words. This will be a spectacular concert full of great music.”
