As the week before our regularly-scheduled spring break approached, and Craig Slagh’s Junior Recital date (3/15/20) drew nearer, it became apparent it might, then eventually certain that it would be canceled. Everyone was scrambling trying to react to the daily-changing situation, the instructions and edicts from administrators, governors, teachers, parents, etc. changing hourly, as they did at that time. Oberlin settled on a plan to send all students home one week before the spring break, elongate the break to two weeks, and resume classes remotely thereafter, with no plan to return to campus for the rest of the semester (as has subsequently become the case more or less universally).

We were all crestfallen, of course, and the mechanisms by which the countless impacts would be managed were scarcely known. In spite of all that, and in the narrow window offered to the students to pack up and leave, Craig spontaneously decided to give his recital anyway. The room (Kulas Hall) was available, as he’d reserved it for a dress-rehearsal. He gathered his duo partner (there was a duo scheduled to be a part of the program), and let a few remaining friends know, and played the program through. It is easy to see the casual nature of the moment in the photos—the sneakers, the sweatshirt draped over a seat, etc. And the sparsely populated room. Still, I felt glad that he got to run through it in the room with some listeners, as the let-down from the cancellation is was a bitter pill indeed. I had listened to it played a few days prior, and it was ready. Craig sounded instrumentally solid, musically certain and interpretively ready. His duo with his classmate, Aidan Wiley Lippke, was brilliant. I wish I’d have been able to attend. Still, here is a snapshot of the moment, the last guitar-moment on campus for the 2019-20 academic year. Congratulations Craig!!

Here are some photos. The program follows.