In preparing for the first concert of the calendar year on Ball State University's 50-stop pipe organ, music performance professor Kirby Koriath chose his songs with care.
At tonight's 7:30 p.m. concert in Sursa Performance Hall, Koriath will play 20th century French music, featuring Olivier Messiaen's "L'Ascension," an orchestral suite for organ, and selections by composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Simon Preston and W.F. Micheelsen.
"We are really hoping for a good audience," Koriath said. "The pieces selected for this performance will show off the different colors, power, elegance and grace that comes with a pipe organ such as this one."
The performance will be the second in a series to debut the pipe organ, the showpiece of the performance hall in the Music Instruction Building. The final performance will take place March 27.
Robert Kvam, dean of the College of Fine Arts, said the performance will be a good chance for all in attendance to hear the versatility of the instrument.
"It will be a great opportunity to hear all the bells and whistles that make up an organ," Kvam said.
The pipe organ was installed last summer and premiered during an Oct. 22 concert featuring the Sursa's daughter, Ann Sursa Carney, and international concert organist James David Christie.
The organ was made possible by a $1 million gift from David and Mary Jane Sursa, longtime supporters of the arts at Ball State.
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