My long-time teaching colleague James Marron gave his faculty recital last night at the University of Akron. He gave a typically eclectic performance featuring guitar solos, chamber music and a very special chamber music piece he both wrote and conducted.

Jim started with some familiar gems by Jorge Morel, Isaac Albeniz and Federico Moreno Torroba:

He followed with Piazzolla's great l'Histoire du Tango with violinist Linda Nagy Johnston:

The final piece on the program was a musical realization of a children's story by John Lithgow called "The Remarkable Farkle McBride." He composed it for flute, violin, trombone, percussion and narrator. The narrator was the delightfully theatrical Jeff Bixby, who delivered the story with compelling enthusiasm. The instrumentalists offered the musical accompaniment with humor and panache. They had the audience laughing out loud:

Bravo, Jim, for such a varied and memorable program!!

Full program: