The Staller Center Recital Hall started filling up with a constant stream of people leading up to the performance of Starry Nights on Thursday, Nov. 4.

The audience was comprised of older couples, families, students and members of undergraduate ensembles. As the crowd continued to enter the recital hall, there were few empty seats left as the sounds of instruments warming up could be heard offstage.

Seven performers,  either faculty or students of the university, comprised the six small ensembles that performed that night. Each group performed pieces that differed from the group before.

The first ensemble consisted of Teddy Robie, Alan Kay and Colin Carr; a pianist, clarinetist and cellist, respectively. The group took the stage to a full applause from the audience and set up in silence. They opened the concert performing “Trio in B flat major for piano, clarinet and cello, Op. 11,” composed by Beethoven, a favorite of one of the audience members.

Eva Whatley, a retired member of the community, has been attending performances like this one at  Staller  for years. When asked what her favorite piece of the concert was, she responded, “How could I not say the Beethoven?” Whatley also mentioned a more contemporary piece of the concert, “Choros no. 2 for flute and clarinet” composed by Heitor Villa Lobos.

This piece was performed later  in the concert towards intermission by Carol Wincenc, flute, and Alan Kay, clarinet. Kay,  an artist in residence at Stony Brook, is in his third year of employment here. He says his goal in performing at Starry Night is to really incorporate the students of the university, which are “some of the best students I’ve heard anywhere” while  performing with the faculty.

One of Kay’s students was in attendance that night.

Robert Vitale, a 23-year-old master’s student of clarinet performance, came to support his teacher, whom he has been studying with for a year and a half. He says it is the “most gratifying experience of my life.” On the performances, he says that the musicians had a “first rate interpretation” of the music, and that the concert as a whole was “very humbling as a performer and student.” He said that “observing such masterful musicians’ performance of these pieces is very inspiring.”

The concert was arranged by Colin Carr, a cello professor at the university. He started putting on the event around the time he started teaching at Stony Brook. He created the series with the intent for people involved in the music program to get to know each other, to do something for the community and to create a high level  of performance. Because the program has been a constant in the community for some years now, Carr says the “people know they are going to get a good performance and they trust it will be exciting.”

Vitale agrees, saying the performances left him speechless.

Starry Nights occurs at the Staller Center twice a year-once in the fall and once in the spring. According to Carr, being the artistic director of the event and a performer himself is thrilling.

“For students to work with people with a lot of experince, requires  [them] to get to a higher level [of performance] sooner,”Carr said.

The concert concluded with a four movement piece composed by Maurice Ravel and performed by Kevin Loucks, piano, Iryna Krechkovsky, violin, and Colin Carr, cello. After the piece, the concert ended with  with a sound of applause from the crowd.

Carr later commented on one of his favorite things about the performance.

“It doesn’t feel like playing with two students, it feels like two colleagues,” Carr said.