The Wood County District Public Library will celebrate the resumption of Sunday hours with the sounds of
sweet music, the taste of sweets sundaes and the sweet sound of children’s chatter.
Sunday the library will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. for the first time since a budget crisis forced an end
to Sunday hours in June, 2009.
The day’s activities will include a concert featuring international students from the BGSU College of
Musical Arts at 2 p.m. followed by sundaes served at 3:15 to 4:15 as well as family activities in the
Children’s Place throughout the day.
Being closed Sunday has put a crimp in the concerts held since spring 2006 when the Steinway grand piano
was installed in the library’s atrium. Performances have continued, but Sunday afternoons were prime
time for the events.
The concert Sunday continues a tradition started in fall, 2006, and interrupted last year, of featuring
students from around the globe.
Performing will be singers Jing Lin, from China, Guillermo Lopez, from Mexico, and Mariangela
Chatzistamatiou, from Greece, as well as the Yi-wen Zhang, cello, and Qiaoni Liu, piano, both from
China, and pianist Andreas Xenopoulos, Greece.
The international concerts are coordinated by Jim Brown, a member of the committee that oversees use of
the library’s piano.
He serves as a host for international students, including Lopez and Xenopoulos, and he solicits
suggestions from faculty on campus.
"The international student concert at the library has lots of positives," he said. "Those
attending get to hear students from around the world, and the students have an opportunity to meet
members of the Bowling Green community."
Previous concerts, he said, have been well received both by audiences and students who appreciate the
excellent acoustics of the atrium space. "It’s very easy to sing in there because of the
resonance," said Chatzistamatiou.
"The whole atmosphere is very cozy," Xenopoulos said.
Both Greek musicians have performed previously at the library.
Xenopoulos said the concert gives local listeners a taste of how performers from different musical
cultures approach music. "It’ll be very interesting for people to see the cultural responses to
music."
Chatzistamatiou and Lin will include songs from their native countries in their sets.
The Greek vocalist said she wanted variety so she’ll perform "Rotima" by Emilio Radis Youkali
as well as Kurt Weill’s popular "Tango Habanera," and an aria from W.A. Mozart’s "The
Marriage of Figaro." Xenopoulos will accompany her, as well as performing a solo piece by Franz
Liszt. The recital gives him a chance to publicly perform "Vallee d’Obermann" before his
graduate recital on April 10.
The piece gives him a chance to delve into the passion he feels as a young man. It’s a piece that a
pianist never finishes with, instead its meaning deepens over the years.
Zhang and Liu will perform a sonata by Dmitri Shostakovich, Lin will sing a song by Richard Strauss and
Lopez will sing arias by Giacomo Puccini and Ruggero Leoncavallo.
Both Chatzistamatiou and Xenopoulos, who discovered they are cousins only after coming to BGSU, came to
Bowling Green at the urging of their mentor Lambis Vassiliadis, a BGSU graduate.
Xenopoulos said the university’s central location in the country with easy access to major cities adds to
its appeal.
Chatzistamatiou, who came as an undergraduate and is continuing her graduate studies here, has fallen in
love with the city and campus.
Life in Bowling Green is safe and affordable, and offers many opportunities. "We can perform as much
as we like," she said. That includes community events such as Sunday’s library concert.
Beyond that though is the welcoming nature of BGSU, she said. "This particular college creates the
feeling of family."