Fall 2017 Studio Recital
Each Fall, I have the students perform in an extended public concert in lieu of playing juries. To me, the jury (normally taken in a classroom in front of only me) is a dry, uninviting setting for music-making. Getting them up in front of an audience makes it more real for them and more enjoyable for all of us. They each play about 15-20 minutes of music, drawn solely from the new music they learned that semester. In some cases, works are not fully concert-ready, but they rise to the occasion as best they can. We only do this in the Fall semester as in the spring, most students will play full-length solo recitals.
Our program was shortened a bit by the unfortunate last-minute illness and cancellation of Rebecca Klein, and by another student, Mohit Dubey, who needed to play the day before (to accommodate a flight he had to catch to give a paper at a Machine Learning For Audio conference in California). Still, it lasted nearly three hours. Our enthusiastic, small audience was a bit reduced by the end of it, but that didn't dampen the student's enthusiasm or their efforts to play their best. We were pleased to use one of our favorite rooms on campus, the historic Fairchild Chapel. Ringing with the ambience of an old European church, the room sound in Fairchild helped everyone play more beautifully than ever.
Here are some shots from the concert; the full program is copied at the end of the post. (Sorry the photos aren't better; the light was very low).
Aidan Wiley Lippke opened up for us, with works by Bach, Albeniz and Barrios:
Next was Caeli Massey, with pieces by Bach, Carcassi, Sor and M. D. Pujol:
Craig Slagh followed, with works by Giuliani, Ruiz-Pipo and York:
Next, Collin Sterne played works of Sor and Merlin:
After Collin, Julia Humphrey performed works by Bach, Mertz and Barrios:
Next, Arcangel Velazquez played pieces by Bach, Giuliani and Villa-Lobos:
Next up was Stephen Fazio, who played pieces by Legnani and Torroba:
Finally, Brian King closed the show with works of Bach and Rodrigo:
The day before, in a classroom during Studio Class, Mohit Dubey played his set. He played The Prelude and Double from Bach's Suite BWV 997, La Rose, of Giuliani, and the first movement of Equations of Beauty, by Andrew York:
Here is the full program from the evening:
And at the Feve afterwards, per the usual routine, here are, left-to-right, Craig Slagh, Stephen Fazio, Arcangel Velazquez (standing), Eliza Baluth (visiting prospective student), Caeli Massey, Julia Humphrey, Collin Sterne, Brian King, and Aidan Wiley Lippke. We lifted our glasses to Rebecca Klein and Mohit Dubey...
