By Marissa Massare, Living and Arts Editor
Susquehanna’s department of music will host pianist John Cheek for a guest recital at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 in Stretansky Concert Hall.
Cheek is a professor of music at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, N.C. where he has been a faculty member since 1998.
According to the Lenoir-Rhyne University website, Cheek grew up in Little Rock, Ark. and made his professional music debut with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra when he was 13 years old.
He was featured as a guest soloist with the orchestra for more than a dozen performances.
According to Lenoir-Rhyne’s faculty page, Cheek has also had the privilege of performing as a soloist at Columbia University, the Stamford Civic Center in Connecticut, the Chicago Twentieth Century Music Ensemble at the Harold Washington Library and during tours in Europe and central Asia.
Cheek performs as both a soloist and as part of a group.
As a co-founder of New York’s Omni Ensemble, Cheek and the ensemble has performed on stations like WGXR The Listening Room and WNYC John Schaeffer’s New Sounds.
The New York Omni Ensemble is an electro-acoustic chamber group that has been performing together for over 35 seasons.
In addition to being a renowned pianist, Cheek is also an author. His book “Douze Etudes of Claude Debussy-Performance Research,” among other songs and musicals he has written fill Cheek’s resume with diverse pieces.
Cheek has had many accomplishments in his career, including being the highest-ranking American during the Franz Liszt International Piano Completion in Budapest, Hungary in 1986.
The Arkansas Gazette commends Cheek’s performances stating, “Cheek has a commanding presence and has the necessary technical expertise to make a fine performer, while being gifted with a love of his art that is necessary to make a fine musician.”
Cheek’s guest recital performance follows previous recitals in the semester, like that of clarinetist Andrea Cheeseman and singer Alli Villines. Cheek graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with his doctorate in musical arts and received his Master of Arts in music from the University of New York.
Cheek’s performance is open to the Susquehanna community free of charge.