Vanderborgh and Hafey to Perform Feb. 21 at UW

A free, public recital featuring faculty cellist Beth Vanderborgh with guest pianist Brooks Hafey, presented by the University of Wyoming Department of Music, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall.

French impressionist miniatures meet Russian romantic grandeur in this soulful dialogue between cello and piano, featuring works by Nadia Boulanger and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The performance begins with Boulanger’s “3 Pieces for Cello & Piano,” featuring three movements: “Modéré,” “Sans vitesse et à l’aise” and “Vite et nerveusement.” Originally composed for organ, the work was transcribed by Boulanger for cello and piano in 1914. The set begins with an ethereal, impressionist moderato, followed by a peaceful, folk-like canon in A minor. It concludes with a vigorous, motoric dance featuring complex five-eighths rhythms.

The duo also will perform Rachmaninoff’s “Cello Sonata, Op. 19,” a cornerstone of the romantic chamber repertoire, which Rachmaninoff completed in 1901, shortly after his second piano concerto. Written for and premiered with cellist Anatoliy Brandukov, the four-movement work is known for its passionate, lyrical melodies and deep, symbiotic interplay between the instruments. The piano part is famously virtuosic and equal in prominence to the cello, providing sweeping, dramatic textures that complement the cello’s soulful, expressive lines.

Vanderborgh is a professor of cello in UW’s Department of Music and serves as principal cellist of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of the artist faculty at the Eastern Music Festival and a founding member of the Stanislas Sextet, with which she has recorded four albums.

Hafey serves as professor of music at Chadron State College (CSC). His professional background includes solo and collaborative performances in France, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Norway. He has conducted operas in Italy, including works by Mozart and Puccini. From 2020 to 2022, he curated the Beethoven Festival at CSC and recently completed a recital series covering the history of piano music.

For more information, email Vanderborgh at bvanderb@uwyo.edu or call (336) 312-7688.