Former Broadway star and movie musical actor William Warfield will be on hand Friday night to pay tribute at the memorial concert for the late professor Edwin P. Romain, Jr.

Romain, an internationally renowned duet pianist famous for duets with partner Wilfred Delphin, died May 20, 1995 from complications of AIDS. He was a professor in the SIUC School of Music from 1988 to 1995.

Delphin, an SIUC School of Music professor who will also play Friday, said he is glad he has this opportunity to pay tribute to his friend and colleague.

Advertisement

I have such great respect for Edwin as a person as well as a musician, he said. It is an honor having the opportunity to do this for him.

Delphin said he will play pieces that Romain liked.

I wanted to play things that he enjoyed playing himself or had a special fondness for, he said.

Although Romain never composed any works of his own, he enjoyed arranging different works, Delphin said.

He and I used to do duo piano together, he said. He would take solo piano work and arrange it for our duo performances.

Delphin said the two performed their first duet together in 1977 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. They were the first African-American piano team on the professional circuit, he said.

Delphin said Romain was a fine pianist with special talents.

Advertisement*

He was a wonderfully lyrical pianist, he said. He had a sense of phrasing and fluidity to his playing that was exceptional. He was a pianist whose music sang through his fingers.

Delphin said he asked Warfield to be a part of the event because Warfield was a friend of Romain.

This year’s Black History Month events are dedicated to the memory of Romain.

The memorial concert, taking place at 8 p.m. tonight at Shryock Auditorium, will feature the Southern Illinois University String Quartet and the voice-piano duo of soprano Jeanine Wagner and Margaret Simmons. Organist Marianne Webb also will showcase her skills at the event.

Wagner said the duo is looking forward to the concert and will perform works by Mozart.

It’ll be a lot of fun because it will be diverse, Wagner said. Romain and Wagner were good friends while he was a professor at SIUC, she said.

He was a very special person, she said.

Simmons said she enjoyed Romain’s performance skills and his presence.

Tickets for the event are $7.50 for the general public and $3 for students, children and senior citizens.