The Viquez-Wadley clarinet and percussion duo made their way to Wayne State College Monday night.

The duo presented six musical pieces for the public including Mae, Nola, Salt Duo, Dos Melodias, Two Brazilian Choros and +8.

“In the program there are two pieces that we are very fortunate that have been written for our instruments,” said clarinetist Luis Viquez.

Mae and Salt Duo were specifically written for clarinet and marimba, while other pieces were written for other instruments and the duo had to adjust their music. Unfortunately, not many musical pieces are written specifically for the clarinet and marimba, but Viquez and Darin Wadley make it work.

The first piece presented was Mae by Ben Stevenson. The duo couldn’t say enough good things about Stevenson, because he composed this piece specifically for them. Stevenson was a winner of the 2017 MMTA commissioned composer’s competition for Mae where he dedicated this piece to the Viquez-Wadley clarinet and percussion duo.

From start to finish each piece ended on a high note, literally. Viquez has been conducting orchestras and performing his clarinets for many years, both in and outside of the U.S. Wadley has been teaching at the University of South Dakota and has been teaching from jazz ensembles to music theory to percussion pedagogy. The duo has been together for over a year and a half.

The duo had a musical chemistry that had many students in the crowd moving to their music. They also had the opportunity to meet several students before their performance.

“We’ve had a wonderful afternoon speaking at master classes to the very talented students of the clarinet and percussion studio,” said Viquez.

Both Viquez and Wadley were able to interact with students during class hours, but they also interacted with the audience during their performance. Before one of their final pieces they explained that Dos Melodias was written for a saxophone so Wadley created a smaller drum set-up, so he didn’t overpower Viquez’s clarinet.

Finishing up the concert Viquez gave one last piece of advice to students. He told the crowd to keep practicing hard because music can heal the mind and soul and impact people.

“For those of you that are music majors or music education majors or are minoring in music, also keep music in your life, at many times this is a profession and field of study that many people need,” said Viquez.

For those who weren’t able to experience the guest artist they definitely missed out on some great music and a very educational evening.

“We are very thankful that Wayne State College made this possible for us to be here performing for you,” said Wadley.