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The Charlton-Fisher Duo will perform its annual program 2 p.m. Sunday at the Williams Center for the Arts.
Sponsored by the music department, the event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.
The five selections in the program are by Austrian composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837); French composers Henri Dutilleux (1916- ), Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941), and Francois Borne (1840-1920 or 1862-1929); and American composer Robert Beaser (1954- ).
The Charlton-Fisher Duo is comprised of Lafayette music instructors Susan Charlton, flute, and Alexis Firstenberg Fisher, piano. They have been performing together since 1992.
“Rehearsing and performing with Alexis is such a joy,” says Charlton. “She is a fabulous pianist and a sensitive collaborator.”
“This program includes old favorites of ours as well as a couple of new works for us,” she adds. “I am especially excited about our very first performance of Robert Beaser’s ‘Variations’. It is a beautifully tonal but rhythmically challenging work that has made for some very exciting and intense rehearsals, and I think our audience will be drawn into its beauty and complexity. We are ending our program with Borne’s ‘Fantasie’ on themes from Bizet’s well-loved opera Carmen, sure to be a hit with our audience.”
In addition to music faculty recitals, the duo has performed for Friends of the Williams Center and has given concerts at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Allentown Art Museum, Kirkland Village, and Moravian Hall Square.
Charlton has held principal flute positions with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, Waterloo Festival Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, and Ambrosian Wind Quintet, and was a finalist in the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. Locally, she has performed with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Bach Festival Orchestra, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, and various chamber music ensembles. She has held the positions of instructor of flute and director of wind chamber ensembles at Lafayette since 1992.
A native of St. Paul, Minn., Charlton earned bachelor of music and master of fine arts degrees from the University of Wisconsin. Her principal teachers include Robert Cole, Robert Goodberg, and Mary Roberts Wilson. She has performed in master classes given by Julius Baker, Paula Robison, and Thomas Nyfenger.
Fisher is director of piano studies at Lafayette, where she has taught applied piano and classical piano since 1986. She performs as an ensemble pianist and piano soloist in the Lehigh Valley.
Fisher earned her bachelor of music and master of music degrees from Manhattan School of Music and also attended Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Ind. She was a member of the piano faculty at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and also taught at Santa Clara University and San Jose City College. Her piano studies were with Adolph Baller, Leander Dell’Anno, and Abbey Simon. She is currently a student of Constance Keene.