Even Saturday’s gorgeous weather did not deter a sizeable crowd of pre-frosh, students, and community members from attending the Tishler Piano Recital at Russell House. Jocelyn Bonadio ’07, winner of the 2007 Tishler Piano Competition, and finalists Youkyung Lee ’07, Hannah Nam ’08, and Kathleen Day ’07 all gave captivating performances of demanding pieces.

Professor of Music Neely Bruce, host of the recital, made sure to point out the diverse academic backgrounds of the performers. He explained to the audience that only one of the four women, Bonadio, is a music major.

Day opened the concert, opulently performing “Excursions, Op. 20” by Samuel Barber. She was followed by Nam, who offered a lively rendition of “The Cat and the Mouse” by Aaron Copland. Next, Lee conjured up a stirring rendition of “Souvenir de Puerto-Rico, Op. 31” by Louis M. Gottschalk. Finally, Bonadio performed “Sonata No. 31 A Flat Major, Hob XVJ/46” by Franz Joseph Haydn, as well as a beautifully self-assured interpretation of “Piano Variations” by Copland.

The Tishler Recital was established in 1981 from a gift by Betty Tishler, wife of former Professor of Chemistry Max Tishler. Non-music majors and jazz pianists have won the competition in the past, but recent years have seen music majors and classical pianists dominating the competition. Former winners include two professional pianists, Donald Berman and David Hanlon.

Nam described the audition process to compete in the recital as fairly straightforward.

“There was one audition. It was closed. That is, there was no audience except for the two judges, and we played about 15 minutes of music, in a couple different styles,” Nam said.

Betty Tishler’s long-standing support of piano events on campus has had personal impact on Lee. She resumed her study of piano following a long layoff after attending a concert sponsored by Tishler, where she was inspired by one of the concert’s featured pianists who mentioned they had once taken a ten-year break from the instrument.

Lee expounded upon the piece she performed at the recital.

“’Souvenir’ is as difficult as other classical music, but it also has very popular rhythms inspired from tango and jazz, which draw people immediately and I think that’s what appealed to me even at the first hearing,” Lee said.

This year’s focus on American composers (all but one of the pieces performed was written by an American) provided a challenge to Lee, whose area of interest leans toward classical.

“I’m an international student from South Korea, and as a kid, my piano studies had focused on European baroque, classical, and romantic music so I had little knowledge about American piano music,” Lee said.

“I was happy to see so many American modernist pieces. The technical level was high,” said audience member Erik Youngdahl ’10.