By Tyler Beckett

The Lee University School of Music will host a special performance by Serena Hill-LaRoche, vocalist, Tabitha Easley, flautist, and Catherine Garner, pianist, on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. in the Squires Recital Hall.

The trio will be performing a selection of songs collectively titled “An American Potpourri.” The works of David Diamond, Samuel Barber, and Lori Laitman, among others, will be presented. This will include such 20th century American classics as “The Giraffes Go to Hamburg,” “The Mad Maid’s Song,” and “Good Morning, Mr. Bluebird!”

Dr. Serena Hill-LaRoche is an assistant professor of music at Coker College. She is the 2008 National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award Regional Finalist and the 2006 Artist of the Year with FBN Productions, Inc. Hill-LaRoche earned her DMA at the University of South Carolina.

Dr. Tabitha Easley is an assistant professor of Flute and Music History at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is also the competition coordinator for the College Flute Choir Competition and Director of the Richmond Flute Fest. In addition to her performances around the nation, Easley will be performing in Argentina and Colombia this summer. She earned her doctorate at the Eastman School of Music and has spent over ten years teaching at the collegiate level.

Dr. Catherine Garner is a pianist and assistant teaching instructor on faculty at East Carolina University. She has performed with the Louisiana State University Orchestra, the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, served as a staff pianist for the American Institute for Musical Studies summer program in Graz, Austria, and as a participant at the Summer Academy in Nice, France. In addition to her many performances, Garner is the founder and director of Music on a WIM (Women’s Initiative Music Series), a monthly concert series featuring compositions by women. She is also a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.

This event is free and open to the public. The Squires Recital Hall is located in the Humanities Building on Lee’s campus.

For more information, contact Lee University’s School of Music at (423) 614-8240 or email at [email protected].

PHOTO: From left, Serena Hill-LaRoche, Catherine H. Garner, and Tabatha Easley.