02/15/18 

HAYS, Kan. – Shannon Sadler, winner of the 1985 Hays Symphony Concerto competition at age 16, returns to Hays for the first to present “Red, White, and Blue,” an All-American piano recital beginning at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 16th in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center in Sheridan Hall on the Fort Hays State University campus.

Dr. Sadler, now a piano professor at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, grew up in Pittsburg, where she played violin with the Southeast Kansas Youth Symphony and the Southeast Kansas Symphony Orchestra.

She also performed violin concertos with the orchestra while in high school, said Dr. Irena Ravitskaya, associate professor of music at Fort Hays State.

Sadler also started studying piano in high-school at the University of Kansas with Richard Angeletti. “She drove from Pittsburg to Lawrence almost every weekend,” said Ravitskaya.

Sadler earned her Bachelor’s degree from KU, her Master of Music with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston, Mass., and her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of California, San Diego.

“Throughout her bachelor’s degree at KU,” said Ravitskaya, “Shannon was fortunate to also study with artist-in-residence Claude Frank, who came to campus monthly for intensive study with a few students by selected audition.”

Sadler won a spot on the Music Department Honors Recital each year while at KU, also winning the concerto competition, which allowed her to perform with the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra.  

“Sadler has championed all that is new and adventurous in classical music as soloist and chamber musician. Shannon is the pianist in the acclaimed flute and piano duo, Calliope, with flutist Elizabeth McNutt,” said Ravitskaya.

Sadler will be performing various musical pieces from 19th and 20th century American composers: Charles Griffes, Ruth Crawford, Morton Feldman, Chinary Ung, and George Gershwin.