Two classical musicians — double bassist Bill Koehler and pianist Amanda Huff-McClure — will give a concert Sunday afternoon at the Alhambra Theatre.
It is titled “Medieval to Modern: An Eclectic Recital for Double Bass and Piano,” and plans for the concert grew out of a collaboration that began several months ago.
Koehler and Huff-McClure were both searching for a collaborator when a mutual friend suggested they should meet.
“In a small community where there are not a lot of classical performance opportunities it felt really fortuitous,” said Huff-McClure, a Caldwell County resident who owns and runs The Corner Coffeehouse in Hopkinsville with her wife, April Huff-McClure.
Koehler, who resides at Eddyville, is a professor emeritus at Illinois State University, where he taught bass and other music courses for 35 years. A composer, he has performed with major orchestras throughout Europe.
Huff-McClure has taught piano for more than 20 years. For the past nine years, she has been teaching students at University Heights Academy and in her private studio in Hopkinsville. Most her opportunities to play classical music have been in churches.
For the past six months, Koehler and Huff-McClure have met every Thursday at First Christian Church in Princeton to practice the selections they will play for the Alhambra concert.
“It’s such a very personal thing,” Huff-McClure said, describing how musicians are able to form a partnership.
“When you are playing together … you have to click on a fundamental musical level or it doesn’t work,” she said.
The fact that Koehler and Huff-McClure did not know each other but were both looking for a collaborator at the same time in rural Kentucky felt serendipitous, she said.
The concert will begin at 2 p.m. The theater doors will open at 1 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, or $5 for students and military, and can be purchased online.
“This is an opportunity to see if there is a market for classical performances in Hopkinsville,” Huff-McClure said.
Sunday’s program will last about two hours, including a brief intermission. Koehler will have CDs of his music available for purchase at the Alhambra.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
