FSU Student Marse Romero to Present Junior Recital "I'll Be Seeing You"

2017 Apr 4

Frostburg State University student Marse Romero will present her junior recital, titled "I'll Be Seeing You," on Sunday, April 23, at 7 p.m. in the Pealer Recital Hall of FSU's Performing Arts Center. She will be accompanied by Joseph Yungen on the piano. The recital is free and open to the public.

Guest artists will include Gregory Hays on guitar, Mirto Dorcil on the piano and Grant Stryckning on electric guitar.

The program concerns the five stages of grief as described by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her book "On Death and Dying" in 1969: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

Romero, a soprano, will first address denial and isolation in "Gretchens Bitte" ("Grethchen's Plea") and "Gretchen am Spinnrade" ("Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel") by Franz Schubert, which find a restless Gretchen sitting by the window waiting for her love, Faust, to return. Next, anger is represented in "E gelosia" ("And Jealousy") by George Frideric Handel, then bargaining in "Extase" ("Ecstasy") and "Soupir" ("Sigh") by Henri Duparc.

After intermission, Romero will perform "Come Again" and "Flow My Tears" by John Dowland, signifying depression. Many of Dowland's best-loved songs are those telling of the pain of unrequited love or of life's other tribulations, with images of tears, darkness, sorrow and death.

Finally, there is acceptance in "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" by Cole Porter and the closing song "I'll Be Seeing You" by Sammy Fain. "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" was written for the 1938 musical "Leave It to Me!" The sentimental ballad "I'll Be Seeing You" was written for the 1938 Broadway musical comedy "Right This Way." The song became an emotional hit during World War II, in a country where many loved ones were serving far away overseas.

Romero studies music under Lawren Hill at FSU. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota and has been on the dean's list. She is a winner of the Department of Music Choral Assistantship, Betty Jane Phillips Scholarship and the Marguerite Witwer Richards Endowed Scholarship. Romero anticipates graduating in May 2018 with a bachelor's in music and plans to become an opera or classical singer. A graduate of Grace Brethren Christian School in Clinton, she is the daughter of Orvin and Miranda Watson of Temple Hills and Jose Romero of District Heights.

For more information, contact FSU's Department of Music at 301-687-4109 or visit www.frostburg.edu/concerts.