Love will come to the Doudna Fine Arts Center Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the form of a classical music trio fronted by cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper.

“It’s called ‘Around the World with Love,’ and I just thought, since it’s so close to Valentine’s Day, it just kind of fit in really nicely,” said Dan Crews, director of programming at Doudna.

Cooper’s performance stands out from previous events held in Doudna because of the intimacy and meaning of the pieces she will be performing, Crews said.

“I think it’s really important to be able to access the spiritual part, the emotional part of our beings and to be able to connect to other people in that way,” said Kristina Reiko Cooper, cello virtuoso and visiting professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Crews said the size of the show plays a part in determining the atmosphere of the evening.

“This is a smaller show by far, and it’s presented in a real intimate environment, so you’re going to feel like you’re almost onstage with them,” Crews said.

“Around the World with Love” is more than an average small concert. The event takes on a multimedia aspect, exercising more senses than just hearing, and placing an emphasis on self-evaluation of relationships.

“Sometimes there’s kind of an ethereal experience, when you’re seeing the music, and also the lights dim … it’s kind of like a full-bore show,” Crews said. “It kind of affects all the senses when you see a show like this.”

Even though the trio values more than just the auditory aspect, it is still their musicality that is the focal point, and for good reason, Crews said.

“You can hear the instruments. You can almost feel them because, you know, it’s a piano, it’s a cello. I’ve been listening to some of her cello music, and it’s been really amazing because she’s so smooth and soft,” Crews said.

The theme of the night should make this performance applicable to more than classical music fans or Eastern music majors, Crews said.

“One of the things I always say, if you’re in doubt of something, if you wouldn’t like that kind of music, I always think that, in college, you might as well give it a try,” Crews said.

Conveying a message through music without any vocals or lyrics is a challenge that Cooper said she is ready to undertake for this performance.

“That’s the trick, right? I hope I can. First of all, because I’m playing music from all these different countries, I think that you get sort of an exotic feel from each of these different countries … I think that the music itself carries that for sure,” Cooper said.

Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for Eastern employees, $15 for senior citizens, and $10 for Eastern students. They can be purchased at the Doudna Box Office or online at Eastern’s website.

Ryan Meyer can be reached at 581-2812 or at rameyer@eiu.edu.