Jessica Tong, with Michael Sheppard.

Violinist Jessica Tong and her musical partner will give a recital that explores the nature of sacred and profane music.

Michael Sheppard, a pianist and composer, will join Associate Professor Tong on the Juliet J. Rosch Recital stage at SUNY Fredonia on Thursday at 8 p.m.

The recital is free and open to the public.

Two major works by acclaimed German composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Johannes Brahms are beloved, but the work by Swiss-born American composer Ernest Bloch is very rarely performed because of its fiendish intensity and technical demands on both instruments, Tong explained.

Their Rosch recital will be the first performance of this program ahead of a tour that includes Juneau, Haines and Skagway, AK; Neskowin, OR, and Easton, MA.

Tong and Sheppard, who have performed as a duo for more than a decade, met at the Peabody Institute at the Johns Hopkins University, where they discovered they share a very rare singular vision in their approaches to music-making. Tong and Sheppard have continued to collaborate ever since that first performance, presenting inventive and adventurous programs that integrate both well-loved and lesser-known masterpieces for violin and piano.

“Michael is a phenomenal pianist who has the breadth and capacity to play anything and everything with impeccable stylistic and technical accuracy,” Tong explained, “from traditional classical music, full-score orchestral reductions, to Broadway musical tunes.”

Sheppard, who performs solo recitals and concertos around the world, is affiliated with the Peabody and the Baltimore School for the Arts.