Neither canceled classes nor impending icy weather kept students and members of the public from enjoying a musical performance at the Pottle Annex Recital Hall last Monday evening.

Interim Head of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, Dr. Kenneth Boulton, and his wife, JoAnne Barry, performed several piano duets, their fingers dancing along the keys harmoniously like an elegant ballet. They performed pieces by Beethoven, Edward Elgar, Leó Weiner, and then finished off with “Fantasie” in F minor by Franz Schubert, a piece that Schubert dedicated to his pupil and unrequited love, Karoline Esterházy, during the last year of his life.

“The Schubert that they closed with was definitely the real captivator,” said Philip Vincent, a senior in Piano Performance who came to support his teacher. “Definitely, I was really feeling into the emotion of it, given the whole storyline behind it and such.”

Each program that Boulton and Barry perform at is unique, and their pieces are carefully chosen and practiced for several months before their performance.

“We try to choose programs with a lot of inherent variety, so that if someone doesn’t like a particular piece on the program, for some unknown reason, the next piece will probably suit their fancy a lot better,” said Boulton. “We have a lot of our own music to draw on, as well as a very well stocked library here at Sims, and we try to take advantage of exploring these resources so that we’re not playing the same program or the same pieces from one program to the next. If we are bored by what we’re doing, certainly the audience is going to be bored, so we try to keep things lively, varied.”

Boulton and Barry’s relationship gives them an advantage that other duet performers may not have in preparing for their performances. The couple has been performing duets together since about a year after their marriage, which will have lasted 25 years as of June.

“That’s what we feel we bring to the duet process is, even when we’re not practicing, we’re still, since we live together, thinking about the music together. We’re talking about the music together, as well as practicing it together,” said Boulton. “And so, we have all of this extra energy and chemistry that is built up through that kind of experience together.”

However, regardless of their circumstances and level of experience, preparing for their performances still takes time, dedication and practice.

“It’s very akin to sports, and we’ve been practicing on this program for months,” said Barry. “And we learned it; We learned the notes, and then we disciplined ourselves to play it in a very slow, rigorous tempo, and then gradually increased the tempo. So there’s a real methodology to learning, just like a sports team; just like our great football team goes through their drills and has their practice sessions and then plays their game. And hopefully it all comes together when you’ve got the big game.”

This performance was part of the Faculty Recital Series, one of many series that occur throughout the year.

“It’s a way for faculty to show how talented they are to their own students and act as role models to their students, and that’s an important facet of their teaching activities,” said Boulton.

At the end of March, the second of the series of Faculty Chamber Recitals will take place, which will feature performers from nearly every musical division. Next week, on February 6th and 7th, Southeastern’s opera program will be performing La Perichole at the Columbia Theatre.

Barry encourages students to check Southeastern’s calendar and take advantage of the performances and cultural events that are going on.