In the end, the master will always outshine the student, and on Thursday night, Colorado Mesa University hosted a showcase of the music department staff at CMU.

The scene was set and stage was ready for the annual Faculty Gala to take place. 11 acts were presented, ranging from opera to jazz. 

The night consisted of 16 of the CMU music staff members presenting different song pieces in different forms, in order to showcase what indeed is happening inside the Moss Performing Arts Center day in and day out.

The first few acts were duos performing pieces orchestrated by Alyssa Morris and Arthur Houle. The duos were written to be played by trumpets, cellos, saxophones, pianos, etc. The musicians presented their own talents with different instruments.

After a brief intermission, the audience was treated to more outstanding sets, such as an intoxicating jazz piece and some melodic opera singing.

The Director of Voice Studies, Graham Anduri, performed a classical opera piece from “Thais” near the end of the night, with Stefanie Anduri as the soprano, and as Brian Krinke and Monte Atkinson accompanying on violin and piano.

“I think this night shows we have multi-faceted faculty that comes from a diverse background,” said Anduri. “We’re working to provide more and more varied opportunities to the students to have a broad skillset to go out into the world.”

The students were able to witness how talented their professors and mentors are. It also offered the community insight into who teaches the next generation.

Music major Justin Nickerson was in the audience to see his professors portray the excellence that is the music program at CMU. 

“They lived up to exactly what I expected and highly exceeded them,” said Nickerson.

Half the crowd was filled with music students watching their mentors awe the masses with beautiful harmonies and melodies. The diversity was very appealing to the audience, which kept everyone enticed during the two hour show.

The most notable thing throughout the whole night was the immense applause each performance received after it concluded. All the musicians performed close to perfect, and it was nothing short of stellart.  

The music staff encourages all students of CMU to attend music performances throughout the school year.