The murmur of anticipation filled Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s Magale Recital Hall as the lights dimmed. Six different talents all gather one night once a year to perform their own unique talent.
Each year new students are selected to perform in the McCutcheon Honors Recital. The recital was renamed in 2002 in honor of Jim McCutcheon, a retired band teacher who repaired instruments at NSU. McCutcheon began to offer a financial price to students who performed in the recital.
After his death, his wife, Jo Lapeyrouse chose to continue this tradition and founded a scholarship in his name awarding six different students each year.
Participants are chosen by their own applied faculty based on their respective areas as the most outstanding based on their fall juries.
Stephen Clark assistant professor of flute at Northwestern State University and chair of committee for the McCutcheon Honors Recital said, “at the end of every semester all of the music majors don’t matter what degree they are getting as long as they’re majoring in music they all have to sit and essentially do an end of semester playing exam which we call juries.”
This year voice, trumpet, percussion, violin, saxophone and piano were the talents heard.
The recital began with Mario Gomez piece Suite for Piano, Op. 14 by Bela Bartok. Gomez is a previous winner for the McCutcheon Honors Recital in 2022 and now in 2025. He is a Honduran pianist, a collaborative artist based in Natchitoches and a student at NSU. He also forms part of various ensembles on campus and is a piano instructor at the NSU music academy.
The Recital was then followed by Dorcia Gillam. Singing two songs starting with “Les Cygnes” by Armand Renoud and “Steal Me Sweet Thief” by Gian Carlo Menotti. Gillam is a sophomore music education major and is a part of the Chamber Choir.
“I’m glad they noticed some improvement because especially for voice people, it’s really hard to tell whether you’ve improved. So this was kind of like, okay so I am actually doing better than I was,” Gillam said.
The sounds of a trumpet were then heard playing Concerto in Eb by Johann Baptist Neruda. Performed by trumpet player Ever Naun Galeas who is a graduate student from Victoriano Lopez Music School in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
“This performance I am dedicating to God and my family,” said Oscar Caballo, a junior music business major. His piece titled Concerto in D Minor Op. 22 by Henry Wieniawski was the fourth piece of the show. Caballo is originally from San Pedro Sula, Honduras and is currently an international student at NSU.
“It’s an honor to be selected to participate in this recital. It is a high caliber performance from all of us,” Caballo said.
Ronald Turizo Bueno was the fifth talent to perform with a piece titled Concerto for Saxophone in E flat by Alexander Glazunov. Turizo is currently pursuing a degree in music performance and is part of the NSU Wind Symphony. He hopes to achieve his dream of becoming one of the greatest saxophonists of his generation.
“Encantada” by Nathan Daughtrey and “Squal” by Benjamin Holmes were the closing tunes of the show. Performed by Mason Windham a percussion player and junior music business major at NSU, he forms part of the Percussion Studio, Steel Band, marching band, pep band and Wind Symphony.
Each of the six participants gets a small scholarship for their studies and the opportunity to perform their own unique talent. As well as having their name engraved on a plaque placed at the entrance of Magale Recital Hall.
