With clear passion and dedication to the music, the Silver Duo performed on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Minsky Recital Hall, exploring the emotions encapsulated by the combination of piano and cello.

The Silver Duo, made up of Noreen and Phillip Silver, have been a part of the UMaine School of Performing Arts faculty for 16 years.

She teaches cello students, runs the chamber music program and is the first chair cellist in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. He is an internationally acclaimed artist and a professor of music history and studio piano.

What students and the community may not realize are the unique stories behind their lives.

Noreen Silver grew up in Glasgow, Scotland. She claims she has lost much of her accent due to living in the United States for 16 years.

However, when you listen to her speak, you can still hear the Scottish tone, and a sense of unique life history and stories behind it.

“I came from a family where my parents believed that every kid should learn to play music. We were all sent to piano lessons at the age of five. It was expected that we’d take up another instrument a couple years later,” she said.

Noreen Silver’s parent’s expectations and values were very different than today’s parents.

“You’re talking about a generation of intellectuals who valued creativity as highly as intellectual study. They were classicists. My mother was a French and Latin teacher and she was a very fine pianist and artist,” she said.

She explained that many people have misconceptions regarding music and art.

“There are some assumptions made about music and art, that they’re kind of recreational, but when you see the amount of discipline required to meet standards, it’s a good reminder that it’s not for the faint hearted,” she said.

For Noreen Silver, these assumptions can be traced back to what people value in life.

“It goes back to values, what do you value in life? If you value creativity and value artistic achievement, aesthetics, what greater achievements are there than those in music and arts. You know, historically, where would we be without Beethoven?” she said.

Noreen Silver went to many different schools before meeting up with her eventual husband, Phillip Silver.

“I went to The Royal College of Music in London, then I studied in Switzerland for a year, and then I came to the United States in the late ’70s to do my master’s at the New England Conservatory, and that’s where I met Phillip.”

Noreen Silver was starting her master’s in cello performance, and Phillip Silver was completing his master’s in piano performance. They met when Noreen Silver was learning Beethoven.

“I asked him if he knew bits of the piano part, and of course he assured me he did,” she said.

After playing Beethoven together, they were immediately drawn to each other.

Phillip Silver grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and learned to play piano at the age of three. The sounds of the piano affected him in a way he said is indescribable with words.

“My mom played piano, and I inherited the piano quickly. My mom was very happy,” he said.

The Silver’s story is filled with experiences from various cultures, due to moving from place to place.

Phillip Silver said living in the different cultures made him more open and tolerant.

“You learn not to judge too much and appreciate all the differences,” he said.

Once they finished their studies, the couple lived in London for a few years after getting married, then lived in Seattle, and then Israel for five years. After that lived in Scotland for 10 years, then arrived at UMaine.

The Silvers gained cultural perspective due to living internationally. Coming to the University  and learning how many students did not have the same kind of cultural knowledge was difficult.

“It took me a long time to realize that some of these young people haven’t even been out yet of the state of Maine. That’s very hard for me to grasp,” she said.

“Visiting other places widens your horizons and widens your cultural perspectives. It’s good to travel, and it’s good to come home,” she said.

In terms of performing with her husband, she discussed the uniqueness of her relationship with Phillip Silver in comparison to other couples.

“I think some couples, they each have their profession, and they can even have the same profession, and they go to work and come back. They might discuss their profession, but when you do what we do, which is have a dual, we’re working together,” Noreen Silver said.

“When you play this music together, you have to uncover depths of detail in performance that, I think that, without an enormous amount of trust, you could not even get to that point,” she said.

She said this connection creates a bond that, while may cause disagreement and discussion, is beyond depths of description.

“We argue about lots of things, but in the end, it’s the music thing I think that’s been the sort of the real essential glue that holds it all together,” Noreen Silver said.

The couple regards themselves first and foremost as performers, she said.

“We live to perform,” Phillip Silver said, “our highest fulfillment of our creative lives is from performing.”