On Sunday, November 4, at 3:00 p.m., Dr. Dennis Plies and Ruth Ann Yerden, the Tabor Duo, will present a free concert at McGuire Auditorium on the campus of Warner Pacific College. The performance will include a wide variety of musical styles arranged for solo marimba and marimba with piano, including such composers as Palestrina, Bach, Brahms, Gershwin and more.
Dr. Plies and Ms. Yerden are each accomplished musicians. However, it may be the instrument itself that is the true star of this performance. It was 25 years ago when Dr. Plies asked Ron Samuels to build a marimba. Although it was his first experience constructing one, Samuels quickly discovered a passion for this unique instrument and quit his woodworking job to build marimbas full time. His company, Marimba One® is now the world's premiere maker of concert marimbas.
"I felt that this story needed to be celebrated with a concert featuring music that will display the virtues of the marimba's sonic flexibility," said Plies. "Musical ability may be inside a person but each instrument a person uses must be equally capable of capturing what the musician experiences within."
With a program that includes everything from Renaissance polyphony to vaudeville theatre tunes, the audience will experience the full artistic range of the marimba. The performance is free of charge and donations will be accepted to support students at Warner Pacific College through the Murdock Matching Grant. To learn more about the grant, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Vice President for Institutional Advancement and External Relations.