Sarcastic Piano Professor in Concert at Converse

On February 9th the Petrie School of Music will feature pianist Dr. Melanie Foster Taylor at 7:30 p.m. in Daniel Recital Hall on the campus of Converse College. The concert is free and open to the public.

Taylor, Professor of Piano Pedagogy at Converse College, will open her program with Beethoven’s “God Save The King,: better known as “My Country ‘tis of Thee." Her intense competitive side emerged as she sarcastically wondered why anyone "would want to listen to the version by Beethoven after the fabulous version sung by Aretha Franklin at the recent inauguration?" and that she hopes her performance will be "as inspiring as Aretha’s despite the fact that I will not be wearing similar headgear."

Taylor will also perform what she describes as a “really, really, really long Schubert Sonata,” and will be followed eventually by a piece for duo piano by Bartok. Pianist Jocelyn Ridenour, Taylor’s atypical high school student, will join her.

Taylor said that the program will close with the "anticlimactic, namby-pamby strains of Debussy, which are sure to leave the audience swimming in a sea of disorientation."