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Lee University’s School of Music will host Dr. Meghan Berindean, cello, Dr. Wendy Case, violin, Dr. Charlotte Kies, clarinet, and Dr. ChoEun Lee, piano, for a faculty and guest artist recital on Friday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Lee’s Chapel. “Evoking the Infinite,” a pre-concert with Lee’s Dr. John Wykoff, will be held at 7 p.m.

The performance will feature Olivier Messiaen’s work, “Quartet for the End of Time.”

“I like presenting a concert with a theme,” said Lee, assistant professor of collaborative piano and vocal coaching at the university. “Where there is storytelling, we naturally become more interested and inspired.”

According to Lee, Messiaen was captured by the Nazis while serving as a nurse during WWII. While imprisoned, he befriended other musicians and composed this “astonishing” piece inspired by the Book of Revelation: “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven…the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

Cellist Berindean, performer of chamber music, has been the recipient of the Francis E. Sykora Outreach Grant for chamber music and a first prize winner of the MENC Pennsylvania State Chamber Group Competition. As an orchestral player, she is currently co-principal cello of the Clarksville-based Gateway Chamber Orchestra and has served as principal cello of Sinfonia Gulf Coast, Northern Tier Symphony, and Altoona Symphony.

Case has performed all over the world as a chamber musician and recitalist. She is the founding violinist of the Brahms’ Ghost Piano Trio and has performed in ensembles including the Blossom Festival (Cleveland Orchestra) and the Atlanta Symphony. Her passionate performances have been heard on NPR, in Carnegie Hall, the National Opera Center, the Kimmel Center, and Severance Hall. Case currently serves on the music faculty of Berry College, Covenant College, and Chattanooga State.

Kies is a clarinetist with the Ohio Light Opera Orchestra and teaches at the Lee University School of Music. She is an acclaimed orchestra performer, plays regularly with the Chattanooga and Huntsville Symphony orchestras, and was awarded second prize in the 2017 International Clarinet Association Orchestral Audition Competition. Before moving to Chattanooga, Kies formerly held the position of second clarinet with Steamboat Symphony in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Lee has given numerous performances in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Korea, New Zealand, and the United States in major venues including Carnegie Hall, Ozawa Hall (Tanglewood Music Center), and Harris Concert Hall (Aspen Music Festival). She was twice invited to the Tanglewood Music Festival and been named a recipient of the Grace B. Jackson Prize. She has been invited as a repetitor to American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz and most recently, she world-premiered a co-commissioned vocal chamber music for soprano, saxophone, and piano by Lori Laitman in the National Opera Center in New York City.

Wykoff is an associate professor of music theory and composition at Lee, writing for choir, piano, organ, orchestra, and various chamber ensembles. His works have been premiered by the International Contemporary Ensemble, MIVOS Quartet, Enso String Quartet, and other music groups. In 2016, he received the Opus Award from the Missouri Choral Directors Association. He was also commissioned with poet Michael Dennis Browne to write a piece for the 2017 Presidential Inauguration. Together they wrote “Now We Belong,” a choral work about the welcoming of strangers.

The Friday evening recital is free, non-ticketed, and open to the public.

For more information, contact the School of Music at (423) 614-8240 or email [email protected].