"The School of Music at West Texas A&M University will celebrate the dedication of its Marjorie Urban All-Steinway School Designation with a special reception, dinner and concert featuring pianist Arlington Jones Friday, June 29 on campus.
The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a dedication reception honoring naming donors Dr. Steve and Joan Urban and other lead donors along with the unveiling of the Steinway Wall of Honor in the Grand Lobby of the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex. Immediately after, dinner will be served in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center, Legacy Hall, followed by a performance by Jones, a Steinway Artist and internationally-celebrated jazz pianist.
The School of Music earned the prestigious designation of an All-Steinway School from Steinway and Sons on June 29, 2016, following the acquisition of 48 new Steinway pianos. That gave the University a total of 84 instruments and marked WTAMU as the school with the second largest inventory of Steinway pianos in Texas. Steinway pianos are considered the best in the world and earning the All-Steinway designation places the WTAMU School of Music in an elite circle of institutions. Now, exactly two years to the day later, the University celebrates the naming of its Steinway program and the continuation of a fund-raising campaign to support the future of the Marjorie Urban All-Steinway School Designation.
“The naming of the Marjorie Urban All-Steinway Designation represents the major milestone in an 11-year effort to provide the students and faculty in the School of Music with the finest pianos in the world,” Dr. Robert Hansen, director of the School of Music, said. “Our Steinway campaign motto has been Quality Assured, Excellence Achieved, Looking to the Future. The acquisition of new Steinway instruments over this span of time represents an investment valued at more than $2.5 million. With the gifts from our donors and the support of institutional funds, WT has been able to join a list of the most prestigious music programs in the world who share the All-Steinway designation. With this event, we celebrate the incredible generosity that says ‘Excellence Achieved.’ And we now look to the future by continuing our drive to provide for the care and maintenance of our pianos to assure the ‘Quality’ of our future.”
The naming of the designation is a perfect fit and honors Marjorie Urban, who was a gifted pianist. Early in her career, Urban finished second to renowned University of Texas pianist James Dick in a regional competition. She turned away from a career in musical performance to raise her family on a farm near Perryton but maintained a lifelong love of the piano. Her children remember hours of arpeggios and finger exercises as background music to their upbringing. She continued to take lessons, in particular with George Eason at West Texas State University, for many years. She presented several concerts a year to music lovers in Perryton, bringing Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Debussy and many others to the community. A quadrennial pilgrimage took her to the Van Cliburn piano competition in Ft. Worth; she would attend all the preliminary events and loved to speculate about the winner with other attendees. She took organ lessons from renowned teacher Emmet Smith at Texas Christian University and was church organist at First Christian Church in Perryton for more than 35 years. Her children recall her last church performance, played with fortitude several weeks before her death from metastatic cancer at age 61.
The featured guest artist for the evening is a successful recording artist, composer and producer. Arlington offers unforgettable performances with his soulful style and lush harmonies that leave audiences with an unforgettable toe-tapping experience. His music is influenced by ragtime, stride, classical, blues, Latin, funk and sacred styles. He is the artistic director for the Sammons Jazz Program at the Sammons Center for the Arts in Dallas and has years of experience as an educator, clinician, adjudicator and guest lecturer.
Tickets for the evening include the reception, dinner and concert and are priced at $75 per person. Reservations can be made by calling 806-651-2840. Payment by credit card can be made by calling Karen Friemel at 806-651-2070."
-West Texas A&M University
