Music recital to feature Northwest faculty

Oct. 12, 2022 | By Kourtnie Stenwall, communication assistant

Northwest Missouri State University’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts will present a chamber music recital featuring three faculty members this month.

Left to right are Dr. Anthony Olson, Eva Peng and Dr. Joseph Tomasso.

The recital, which is free and open to the public, will feature soprano Eva Peng, pianist Dr. Anthony Olson and oboist Dr. Joseph Tomasso. It begins at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30, in the Charles Johnson Theater at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building.

“The recital will feature a variety of music – much of which imitates the sounds of nature,” Olson said. “It also includes a wide range of musical styles and varied combinations of voice and instruments.”

Peng has taught as an adjunct voice instructor at Northwest and North Central Missouri College. She teaches currently in her private studio in Kansas City, specializing in beginning and intermediate piano and voice lessons. She has studied music at the Wuhan Conservatory, the Shanghai Conservatory, the University of Southern California and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She also served as the resident soprano soloist for the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Olson, a professor of music at Northwest, joined the faculty in 2000, and his academic interests include piano music of the 19th century. He previously taught at Imperial College in London, Teikyo University in Tokyo and the Roosevelt Academy in the Netherlands. He is a member of the College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association, World Piano Teachers Association and the European Piano Teachers Association.

Tomasso, an assistant professor of music at Northwest, joined the faculty in 2017. Previously, he was a member of the woodwind faculty at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he earned a doctorate degree in oboe performance. He also holds master’s degrees in oboe performance from the University of Florida and in multiple woodwind performance from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in clarinet and saxophone performance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.