Shasberger, Ryu Perform Spiritual Recital

Michael Shasberger, a baritone and Westmont professor of music and worship, and Jeong-ah Ryu, a world-renowned pianist, perform a recital featuring works by Brahms, Purcell, Dvorak, Telemann and Ives on Saturday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. at Steinway Hall in Pasadena; Sunday, Sept. 17, at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Arroyo Grande;  Friday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. in Westmont’s Deane Chapel; Sunday, Sept. 24, at 3:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara and Sunday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Granada Hills. Admission is free to each performance, or a freewill offering will be accepted.

Violinists Andrea Larez, a Venezuela native and a 2017 violin performance graduate of Westmont, and Junia Work, a first-year violin major at Westmont and performer with Santa Barbara Strings orchestral and chamber music program, will join Shasberger and Ryu.

Shasberger conducts the Westmont College Choir and Orchestra, offers private voice instruction, works with the office of the campus pastor, and develops artistic collaborations with the Santa Barbara arts community. He is also the conductor of the Santa Barbara Chamber Singers, guest conductor for the West Coast Chamber Orchestra, Director Emeritus of the Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra of Denver and sings with the Santa Barbara based Vocal Scholars vocal ensemble.

Ryu is widely in demand as a soloist, chamber musician and teaching artist. She has won numerous prizes including the Bromsgrove International competition, British Contemporary competition, and Concours National de Piano de Lagny-sur-Marne in Paris. She has appeared extensively in venues across the world such as Wigmore Hall and St. John’s Smith Square in the United Kingdom and Sala Argenta Palacio de Festivales in Spain.

“The recital of spiritual songs begins with a dedication of the art of music to God and reflections on the astonishment at creation by Henry Purcell,” Shasberger says. “The journey continues with the petitions of Georg Telemann, through the personal prayerfulness of Antonin Dvorak, into the darkly brooding but ultimately loving spirituality of Brahms, arriving at the startling visions of Charles Ives and hopefully coming full circle to the calming benediction of Mr. Purcell. We hope you enjoy the drama, the devotion and ultimately the destination.”