James Blue Memorial Concert to Benefit Mission Shawnee

February 22, 2011

OBU's Alpha Eta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota will present the James Blue Memorial Benefit Concert, featuring OBU faculty and student performers, on Monday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Raley Chapel's Yarborough Auditorium. The public is invited to attend. All donations from the concert will benefit Mission Shawnee in honor of James Blue.

The concert, originally slated for Tuesday, Feb. 8, has been rescheduled due to the forecast of inclement weather.

The program will feature an introduction by Dr. Kristen Stauffer Todd, chair of the OBU Division of Music and associate professor of music. Dr. Jennifer McQuade, assistant professor of music, and Dr. James Vernon, professor of music, will perform Vernon's piece, "Barter."

Staci Wright, a freshman management major from Dewey, Okla., will present a monologue titled "When It's Over," by Christyna Beldon. Dr. Andrew Armond, assistant professor of English, will be featured on the piano in "Intermezzo in A, Op. 118 No. 2," by Brahms.

"The Rainy Day," written by OBU student Jonathan Hamrick, will be presented by Casey Flynt, a senior church music major from Turpin, Okla., and Hamrick, a senior composition major from Cedar Crest, N.M. OBU junior Kat Hunter, a voice major from Owasso, Okla., will perform to "Keep Breathing," by Ingrid Michaelson.

Micah Reinhart, a senior voice major from Mooreland, Okla., will sing "Chacun le sait" from "La fille du régiment" by Gaetano Donizetti. Valerie Hunt, a senior instrumental major from Peoria, Ariz., and Andrew Harper, a junior voice major from Olympia, Wash., will perform "Morceau des Concours" by Gabriel Faure.

"How Great Thou Art," by Stuart K. Hine, will be performed by Stephanie Marchbanks, a junior voice major from Overland Park, Kan. The program will close with Psalm 23 performed by members of Sigma Alpha Iota, with flute performances by Andre Jones, a junior music education major from Lawton, Okla., and Valerie Hunt.

James R. Blue passed away April 28, 2010, at age 63 following a battle with bronchoalveolar carcinoma. Born on June 4, 1946, in Frederick, Okla., he was a graduate of East Central University. He was a teacher and coach in Piedmont, Okla., and Cordell, Okla., before moving to Shawnee to become the assistant vice principal at Shawnee Mid-High School and later Shawnee High School. He was principal at Seminole High School, then served in Shawnee and Wayne, Okla., before he found his long-term administrative home at Tecumseh High School as principal in 1984. He retired in June 2008.

His wife of 17 years, Dr. Deborah Blue, serves as senior vice president for academic services at OBU. A Shawnee native, she graduated from OBU in 1972.

For more information about the concert, contact the OBU Division of Music at (405) 878-2305 or e-mail music@okbu.edu.