First on Feb. 13, then on Feb. 17 and finally on Feb. 22, different members of the music faculty at Colorado Mesa University stepped up to perform at Love Recital Hall in the Moss Performing Arts Center.

Friday’s event featured CMU Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Vocal Studies Dr. Graham Anduri, and included Dr. Daniel O’Dea, with Dr. Adam Kluck on piano.

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“I have intuitively known since I was a kid that music was important to my life, and I had dreams of becoming a rock star for many years,” Anduri said. “The prospect of being a musical performer always held great appeal, but I never really could articulate why.”

Anduri has been with CMU since 2016. He received his Bachelor of Music at Colorado State University for music education. He got his Masters of Music at the University of Florida for vocal performance and he got his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Southern Mississippi for vocal performance and pedagogy.

“Music is often called the language of the soul because it communicates our deepest and most subtle emotions more effectively than words alone are able to do,” Anduri said.

“The art of music is above the conflicts of the world, such as nationality and politics,” Anduri said. “It reminds us that we all feel the same emotions, and yearn for the same things.”

According to Anduri, music creates a deeper sense of reality that binds people together despite their differences and brings out the most beautiful aspects of humankind. 

“When we are in an ensemble with other people, we may have our share of differences with those people, and we may not agree with or even like them all of the time,” Anduri said. “But we put aside those differences in order to work together and create something beautiful that will help other people to feel a connection to that source of shared humanity.”

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Anduri stressed the point that there is an important difference between perfection and connection, saying that the main point of music is the emotion and impact it has on its listeners. “Connection rather than perfection is the goal,” Anduri said.

Anduri has performed locally with CMU, the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, Western Colorado Chorale, First Presbyterian Church Concert Choir and Grand Junction Rockestra, according to CMU’s website.

Dr. Graham Anduri and his wife, Dr. Stefanie Anduri, are presenting at the TedX Grand Junction conference on Mar. 9 to share their passion of music with the crowd.