Dueling Pianos engages audience

Students and families alike tuned in for Dueling Pianos Sept. 18 in the Hayden Clark Alumni Center. This was the first year the event was held here on campus.

Hosted by the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, Dueling Pianos engaged the crowd with fun music and entertainment, all while raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Type 1 Diabetes research foundation.

According to Delta Tau Delta president Cole Stalter, the event raised $400 for JDRF.

“I don’t have an accurate number of people who attended,” Stalter said. “However I do know that we had to grab more chairs because all of our tables were filled.”

Musical group Midwest Dueling Pianos, based out of Rochester, Michigan, provided the talent and entertainment for the event.

Families were encouraged by the performers to sing and dance along to each of the songs played. Since the show was request-only, each of the songs was chosen by someone in the crowd, allowing for a variety of musical tastes.

Stalter was in charge of planning and setting up the event with the help of Bradley’s Director of Student Activities, Tom Coy. Since the event was new, Stalter said he was nervous for the turnout, but his worries were quickly resolved.

“With any event that we put on, I am always nervous when thinking about how many people will show up,” Stalter said. “However, the place was packed … There was a consistent stream of people who came to the event throughout the night.”

“Dueling Pianos was a relaxing evening,” senior education major Andrea Barr said. “The performers took requests from the audience and actively sought to raise money for the respective charity to help decrease Type 1 Diabetes.”

Stalter said he was extremely happy with the results. After the success of this year, he said he and his fraternity would be more than happy to host the event in the future.

“We would definitely be willing to host this event again,” Stalter said. “It was [an] awesome turnout. We raised some money, and it was a fun time. We were honored to have our letters associated with this type of event.”