The Clarksville Arts and Heritage Council is teaming up with First Presbyterian Church to present an enchanting concert of music by composer Claude Debussy in the church sanctuary at 1 p.m., Sunday, April 21.
The concert by oboist Hannah Cruse and harpist Liana Alpino is free and open to the public.
Although the venue is the formal church sanctuary, Ms. Cruse suggests those attending bring a pillow or blanket to get comfortable and let Debussy’s romantic melodies lull them into a springtime dream.
“I’ve wanted to play these Debussy pieces arranged by Humbert Lucarelli ever since I started playing oboe and now have the chance with a wonderful harpist,” she commented.
Ms. Cruse, director of music and creative arts at First Presbyterian, is an organist, pianist, oboist, vocalist, and composer, From age 12 through her early 20s, she aimed to become an orchestral oboist, dedicating herself intensely to that goal.
In high school, she discovered her love for sacred music and the organ by leading the music at her home church in Arkansas. In college at Southern Methodist University, Ms. Cruse majored in both oboe and organ performance, receiving a bachelor of music in 2017. Ultimately, she felt called toward the church more than the orchestra, so she completed a Masters of Sacred Music with an organ emphasis at Southern Methodist University in 2019.
Awards for her musical performances include third place in the 2016 International Double Reed Society Young Artist Competition in Columbus, Georgia, and first place in the 2015 Meadows Undergraduate Concerto competition in Dallas. She has played oboe concertos with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in 2014 and the Meadows Symphony Orchestra in 2016.
As an organist, Ms. Cruse has received awards from the National Federation of Music Clubs and the American Guild of Organists. The Perkins School of Theology in Dallas awarded her the Roger Deschner Prize in Sacred Music in 2018 and the Fellowship Seminarian Award “for outstanding leadership in music and worship arts” in 2019.
Award-winning performer and composer Liana Alpino is one of Nashville’s premier harpists. Equally at home playing in Nashville’s legendary live music scene, entertaining hundreds of guests at an upscale event, or performing on stage with one of the region’s symphony orchestras, she has carved a niche combining her classical training with her passion for creating new music.
Alpino’s versatility makes her an in-demand-artist in Music City’s vibrant music culture. She has performed with Keith and Kristyn Getty, Kathy Mattea, ABBA’s original band members, and Roy “Futureman” Wooten.
She’s also a regular with a number of professional orchestras, including the Paducah Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Kentucky Bowling Green. In 2021, Alpino was a soloist with the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra after winning the adult division of its concerto competition.
Alpino has also shared her musical talents on screen, performing for Lifetime TV’s hit reality show Married at First Sight, and Nashville’s Channel 4 News program profiled her innovative neighborhood driveway concert series in 2020.
The concert is sponsored in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission and by federal award number SLFRP5534 awarded to the State of Tennessee by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.