The Joan Stockstill Godsey Center for Keyboard Studies

Mercer University has become an All-Steinway School through the generosity of Mercer's chancellor, Dr. R. Kirby Godsey.  With the establishment of the Joan Stockstill Godsey Center for Keyboard Studies, the Townsend School of Music will exclusively feature Steinway & Sons pianos for all teaching, rehearsals, and performances.  The gift, which recognizes Joan Godsey's many contributions to Mercer, and in particular her love of and commitment to music, enables the School of Music to join the nation's other premier music programs as an All-Steinway School.  The gift provides for 37 new pianos and creates an endowed fund to support the care and upkeep of all the pianos.

The Joan Stockstill Godsey Center for Keyboard Studies hosts an annual Concert Series that features leading international performing keyboard artists.  The Godsey Center joins the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, the Townsend-McAfee Institute for Graduate Church Music Studies, and the Jo Phelps Fabian Cenber for Musical Excellence as signature programs of the Townsend School of Music.

 

 

JOAN STOCKSTILL GODSEY CONCERT SERIES

All performances of the Joan Stockstill Godsey Concert Series are free and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Neva Langley Fickling Hall at the McCorkle Music Building unless otherwise indicated.

 

Saturday, September 24

Uriel Tsachor, piano

An internationally active soloist and chamber musician, Uriel Tsachor is a Steinway Artist and heads the piano area at the University of Iowa. "A musician who pursues piano playing as a vehicle for musical poetry,"(SuddeutscheZeitung, Munich) Tsachor has appeared in recitals in New York, Chicago, Tel-Aviv, Brussels, Vienna, Paris, London, Milan and other cities around the world, winning acclaim from critics and audiences alike for his powerful poetic expressiveness and compelling sensitivity. 

 

Friday, November 18

Barbara Lister-Sink, piano

Barbara Lister-Sink is a concert pianist with an international career and a specialist in injury-preventive keyboard technique. A graduate of Smith College and recipient of the Prix d'Excellence from Utrecht Conservatory, Ms. Lister-Sink currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Piano and Artist-in-Residence at Salem College. Formerly keyboardist for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Lister-Sink has taught at the Amsterdam Muziek Lyceum, Brevard Music Center, Duke University, and as Artist Faculty at the Eastman School of Music.. Her video/DVD Freeing the Caged Bird won the 2002 MTNA-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy National Award. 

 

Tuesday, January 24

Edward Eikner, piano

Carol Goff, piano

A joyous evening of solo and two-piano literature from the Classical and Romantic periods. Pianists Edward Eikner and Carol Goff share timeless masterpieces including Brahm's "Variations on a Theme by Haydn and Rachmanioff's Suite No. 2."  Considered an outstanding musician of his generation. Edward Eikner attended Baylor University on a Van Cliburn scholarship and did all of his graduate work at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He has done extended study in Europe on a Fulbright grant and is at present, enjoying an exciting and diverse career. 

 

Sunday, February 26, 3:00 p.m.

Albert Travis, Hymn Festival

Mulberry Methodist Church; 719 Mulberry Street, Macon, GA

Dr. Albert L. Travis is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Organ at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He served on the faculty of the School of Church Music from 1977-2008. Dr. Travis has been Organist of Broadway Baptist Church in Forth Worth since 1978. Currently serving as Organist and Director of Music Ministries, Dr. Travis plays the Rildia Bee O' Bryan Cliburn Organ. Dr. Travis maintains an active schedule as hymn festival leader, improvisation workshop clinician, arranger and composer. Mulberry Methodist Church, 719 Mulberry Street, Macon, GA

 

Tuesday, March 14

Julie Coucheron, piano

Elizabeth Pridgen, piano

Distinguished faculty artist Elizabeth Pridgen is joined by pianist Julie Coucheron for an evening of 4-hand/2 piano works featuring Bizet's Carmen Fantasy in addition to works by Brahms and Dvorak. Coucheron has established an international career winning first prize in all the national competitions she has attended, in addition to winning prizes in Italy, Germany and the United States. Originally from Oslo, Norway, Ms. Coucheron now resides in Atlanta and is a member of the Georgian Chamber Players.