Collegial connection comes home in organ, flute concert

 Frances Shelly

Frances Shelly

When Fran Shelly joins Lynne Davis for the next Wednesdays in Wiedemann organ concert, the flutist and organist, both faculty members at Wichita State University, will round out an artistic circle that began in their own college days, said Davis.

Their performance together, on Bach’s Sonata in B minor for keyboard and flute, is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6, in Wiedemann Recital Hall. Admission is free for the half-hour concert.

“It is an honor that Fran and I can at last perform together,” said Davis, associate professor of organ for Wichita State University.

Lynne Davis

Lynne Davis

“We were both born in Michigan and went to the University of Michigan, where we met years ago,” Davis said. “Her flute teacher was Keith Bryan. One of my dearest piano teachers there was Karen Keyes.”

Bryan and Keyes are now a husband-and-wife flute and piano duo, said Davis, who has stayed in touch with the pair.

“After all these years,” she said, “Fran and I are finally getting together and completing the artistic circle.”

Shelly, professor of flute for Wichita State since 1973, is principal flutist for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. She also performs as a member of the Lieurance Woodwind Quintet and the Shelly Egler Flute and Organ Duo, and has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Canada.

Davis, associate professor and the Ann and Dennis Ross Faculty of Distinction Endowed Professorship of Organ since 2006, spent most of her career in France, studying and developing as a soloist who has performed annually at the Chartres Cathedral since 1972, and in other world-class venues. She was most recently professor of organ at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance, Caen, France.

Bach’s monumental B-minor Prelude and Fugue will be performed on the organ, Davis said, showing off again the beautiful key of B minor with its heart-wrenching appoggiaturas and ear-bending modulations.