Oberlin Studio Recital
I started a few years ago having my students publicly perform their jury repertoire at the end of each Fall semester instead of play in a dry classroom, with me, the only audience, poised with pen in hand.
The repertoire should be extremely well-prepared; it is the best of each student's work for the semester. They set aside pieces that are still works-in-progress and pieces that are too new for the stage and present only the ones that are ready. Each student gets 15-20 minutes. In many cases they play much less music than they have ready, but a time limit is imposed.
This tradition is in keeping with my general philosophy that they are there to perform, and the more of it they do, the better. They get to invite their friends and we generate a sizable audience, spurring them on to play their best. It is highly enjoyable for all. This edition of the Fall Studio Recital was an authentic
marathon
. Two hours and 45 minutes in all, it was a terrific celebration of the classical guitar and its repertoire. (Yes, if we have that many next time, I'll split it into two programs!!)
This year, I decided to have them include their concert study on their programs. (Everyone prepared a concert study by Francis Kleynjans--see the
). So the consistent presence of Kleynjans studies created a thread of continuity in the evening's program. I'll omit mentioning them in the recount below; the program in its entirety is reproduced at the end of the post.
We began with Philip Lutz, who played works by Torroba, Albeniz and Giuliani:
Next, Rebecca Klein played works by Villa-Lobos and Brouwer:
Then Mohit Dubey played three Mertz pieces:
Next, Daniel Nitsch played some Walton:
Concluding our first half, Stephen Fazio played works by Scarlatti and Brouwer:
After intermission, Max Lyman started us up, with some Takemitsu:
Then Brian King played some Bach and Giuliani:
Next up was Lenny Ranallo, with some Brouwer, followed by a work of Barrios:
Then Crispin Swank played a Dowland solo and sang a few Britten songs:
Finally, our marathon concluded with Jacob Blizard, in a performance of works by Bach and Legnani:
Here is the full program:
