By Joan C. McKinney, director, Office of University Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - Dr. Wesley Roberts, professor of music at Campbellsville University, will be giving a faculty organ recital on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. in Ransdell Chapel at 401 N. Hoskins Ave., Campbellsville.
The program will consist of sacred music in concert settings with premiers of works by the Dutch composer Kees Weggelaar and Louisville composer Daniel Gilliam.
Max Reger's monumental setting of the famous parable on the ten virgins in Matthew 25, based upon Philipp Nicolai's text and melody known as “Sleepers, Awake,” will conclude the program.
Roberts teaches courses in piano, organ, and musicology, and has been a member of the faculty since 1982.
His service at the university has included the supervision of over 100 solo undergraduate and graduate piano and organ recitals, seven master's theses, establishing and serving as the first director of the University Orchestra, co-founding the institution's Professional Development program and University Organist.
His students have won top honors in piano, organ, and piano ensemble competitions, and have earned doctoral degrees in musicology.
Roberts has presented concerts as pianist and organist throughout the United States, in Europe and in China, including premières of works by the Dutch composers Hans Osieck, Johan van Kempen, and Kees Weggelaar and the American composers Tom Johnson and James W. Moore.
He has been a guest speaker at numerous conferences, including the Music Teachers National Association in Cincinnati (2002), where he spoke on the topic “Bridging the Gap: Tools and Incentives for Pianists Turned Organists” and the European Piano Teachers Association in Helsinki, Finland (2017), where he spoke on “Intermediate-Level Piano Literature by United States Composers.”
Roberts is the author of articles and reviews in British, Dutch, and American journals, and co-author with Maurice Hinson of The Piano in Chamber Ensemble, 2nd Edition (2006) and Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire, 4th Edition (2014). He is preparing a new edition of Hinson's The Pianist's Dictionary.
Roberts has served as a visiting professor at the French Piano Institute in Paris and at Shanghai Normal University, and as organist at the First Baptist Church in Somerset and Calvin Presbyterian Church in Louisville, the latter two for nearly a decade each.
Along with his wife, Sida, the two have jointly served in various church music positions over the years. His interest in music around the world has led him to organize concert tours across Kentucky for international artists from France, Holland, Denmark, England and China.
He has served additionally as president of three professional organizations, including the Kentucky Music Teachers Association, which granted him its 2005 Distinguished Service Award and 2012 Distinguished Teaching Award. Roberts is also the recipient of the 2013 Campbellsville University Distinguished Professor Award.
For more information about the recital, contact Roberts at mwroberts@campbellsville.edu or (270) 789-5287.