Senior recital season is upon us, and there are several original and anticipated recitals happening in the next few weeks. Already this week Autumn Stone gave her performance on the clarinet. Coming up before the break are Marissa Perez on the oboe with Sarah Showers on the violin, as well as a vocal recital by Aniela Perez.
Many students outside of the music building are not entirely familiar with the reasoning behind or nature of the recital, aside from the fantastic student posters that accompany them. For music majors, however, it is the single event they have been working toward during their four years at Houghton.
Ellenore Tarr, a senior music major at Houghton, explained the reasoning behind the showcase. “A senior recital exists to showcase the work we’ve completed over the last four years,” Tarr explains. “Music, like any discipline, involves gradual, consistent growth. This is a capstone project, graded by our music faculty, that aims to exhibit that growth.”
Tarr’s recital that will be a historical first for the Greatbatch School of Music. She will hold her recital alongside good friends and peers Hannah Jager and Brandon Mellerski, both music education majors with vocal concentrations. A group of three has never performed in one recital together, as the general rule is one or two students.
Tarr, Jager, and Mellerski have combined for a 90-minute recital that will consist of each of their 30-minute performances. This allows the group to collaborate on some pieces, work together choosing music, and just have fun with each other before graduation puts them on different paths in life. Among other aspects that make the recital so fun and unique, it will feature a piece composed by 2017 Houghton alumnus Hunter Gregory, along with some theatrical pieces and a Dean Jordan cameo.
Another original recital is that of resident harpist, Lillie Blakeslee. Blakeslee is a music education major known to everyone for her laughter, and to friends for her bright and energetic personality. She started to play the harp in 7th grade. She had played the piano, but before long her parents kindly demanded that she play an instrument more intensively. Blakeslee’s history teacher played the Celtic harp, and she decided that she wanted to play the harp as well. Blakeslee took lessons with her history teacher, and later from a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, until she found her home at Houghton.
Blakeslee also has a decent amount of performance experience thanks to the rarity her skill. She has performed at multiple Scottish festivals and weddings, especially those of her Houghton friends. Blakeslee is the first harpist in recent memory at Greatbatch, and her recital will feature both styles of harp, the Celtic or lever harp and the pedal harp. Blakeslee’s recital will also feature her immensely sought-after baking abilities, with such delicacies as peanut butter cookies with toffee bits, snickerdoodles, and cheesecake.
Both recitals featured will take place on April 11, with Blakeslee’s at 6:30 p.m. and the Tarr, Jager, Mellerski recital at 8 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Recital Hall.
There are many more recitals coming up, from a variety of instruments and voices. Sole composition major, Jeffrey Hansen, will take the stage the Wednesday after break. April will also bring multiple graduate recitals, voice recitals from Angela Matson and Jenna Munro, and an instrumental recital from Cassie Harrison. The talent of Houghton’s music program is too extensive to enumerate in a single article. A more complete list is available on the school calendar.