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It’s almost senior year! How’re you feeling about that?
"Pretty excited! And also nervous. Lots of exciting things coming!" Besides your recital, what are you most excited about this year? "I will be presenting some research I did last summer at a theory conference later this month with my mentor! Stay posted for more details on that later." What’s been your favorite experience studying music in college? "At school, we have a recital hour called “Now Hear This!” which is an hour on Fridays when students can sign up to perform things they’re working on, pieces for their recitals or juries, or just for fun. I’m usually in the last category, and I have performed on more than I can count, because I love the environment of getting up and practicing my art in front of my peers." Okay, so, recital time. Let’s start with the easy question. When and where is your recital? "My recital is on March 1st at 3:30pm, in Schmucker Memorial Hall." What’s your favorite piece on your recital? Why? "It’s so hard to choose just one, I’ve lived with and researched this music for so long! But of course, French music is near and dear to my heart, so I would choose my Germaine Tailleferre set. This music was composed just following her divorce and miscarriage, and is widely considered as a reaction and way to process the immense grief and trauma she had just endured. So much of that emotion is obvious in the music, and portraying it on stage is definitely going to be a challenge." How has the recital process been for you? What did you have to do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all? "All of the music I am singing is brand new for this semester, so I’ve really been learning and perfecting at the same time. It’s a lot of music to learn in such a short period of time, but I’m not sick of any of it yet, so that’s a good sign!" If there’s only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be? "My recital is all music by female composers, a largely and historically underrepresented group in the compositional world. I hope to bring exposure and excitement to their work, and encourage other musicians to seek out the music of less-performed composers and demographics."
It's the end of senior year! How're you feeling about that?
"Excited and nervous, which I imagine is how most people feel..." Besides your recital, what are you most excited about this year? "I'm really excited to be performing in Street Scene by Kurt Weill as part of UMD Weill Festival! I think it's an amazing show and I'm so excited to be a part of it." What's been your favorite experience studying music in college? "I've loved getting to make other musician friends. It's so special to be able to make music with people close to you, and the best part is that I know I will run into these people after I graduate because the music world is so small. I'm so excited to continue to make music with my friends as we all mature as musicians." Okay, so, recital time. Let's start with the easy question. When and where is your recital? "February 27 at 8pm in the Gildenhorn Recital Hall, which is in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center." What's your favorite piece on your recital? "I'm doing a set by Louis Beydts called Chansons pour les oiseaux. I think the music is so beautiful and harmonically interesting, and it's by a composer that not many people know. I love having the opportunity to introduce people to music that isn't widely known." How has the recital process been for you? What did you have to do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all? "It usually involves me changing my repertoire about 17 times... There's just so much I want to sing! But once I settle on the repertoire, I translate and IPA the text, learn the notes, and listen to the music as much as possible. I find that listening to the music helps me memorize quickly and it’s definitely a painless way to memorize." If there's only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be? There’s so much wonderful music out there that isn’t widely performed! The set on my recital I’m most excited to share with the audience is my set of Indonesian art songs. Not only is it cool to share my culture with the audience, but it also shows them that there is a lot of cool music that comes from non-western countries. I would encourage everyone to explore music that is written by composers other than those we typically perform like Mozart, Schubert, etc.
It’s finally senior year! How’re you feeling about that?
It’s both really exciting and incredibly nerve wracking! It’s crazy to think how quickly time has passed, and how far I’ve come as a singer and performer since I first started my degree. I’m nervous about what the world will have to say about me as a musician, but also super excited to show them what I’ve got! Besides your recital, what are you most excited about this year? After finishing my recital where it’s just me, my pianist, and the audience, I get to immerse myself in two awesome collaborative/ensemble opportunities! This semester I will be playing the role of Presto in the Turner-Fischer Opera Center at LSU’s production of Les Mamelles de Tirésias by Poulenc, and I will be a part of the LSU School of Music’s performance of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, one of the greatest masterworks in the Western canon. These two works are super different musically and thematically, so I’m excited to dive right into both! What’s been your favorite experience studying music in college? One of my greatest pleasures has been realizing the two sides of good musicianship. While many people think that music is only the “touchy feely” aspects of sentimentality, pageantry, and drama, I’ve also gotten to explore the more absolute sides of music, such as music theory, history, pedagogy and, of course, vocal technique. The marriage of preciseness and artistic license have really fascinated me, and I’m glad that I’m in a field that has the best of both worlds. Okay, so, recital time. Let’s start with the easy question. When and where is your recital? It’s Wednesday, February 20th, at 5:30 pm CST, in the Recital Hall in the LSU School of Music! I intend on streaming it via Facebook, so all my friends and family back home can see too! What’s your favorite piece on your recital? Why? I’m doing several great pieces, but I’d have to pick Till I Wake, which will coincidentally be the last song of the recital. It comes from the song cycle Five Songs of Laurence Hope which I will be performing the entirety. One of the things that I love about this song cycle is that it finds its music from H.T. Burleigh, an African-American composer living in early 20th century America, and it’s text from Adela Florence Nicolson, a young woman who wrote under the pseudonym Laurence Hope, which adds some much needed diversity to a recital comprised primarily of white male composers/poets. Till I Wake is a kind of dreamy, languid appeal of someone on their death bed asking their loved one’s to droop over them “like yellow roses in the South” that they knew in their youth, so that when the singer passes and then moves on to the next plane, they may see the faces of their beloved. It’s really pretty and very moving, and I think it’s a fitting farewell. How has the recital process been for you? What did you have to do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all? It’s been a MARATHON! My recital came upon me a lot more quickly than I realized it would, and I had to learn a lot of completely new music, since I recently transitioned from tenor to baritone. All the practicing time has really allowed me to hone my technique, and I am super excited to share the fruit of my labors! If there’s only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be? My recital has a LOT of themes surrounding love in it’s different facets; there’s some new young love, love that you have held closely to for years, love that was ripped away prematurely, and even love that transcends the grave. I want people to be able to appreciate love in all its forms, and I wanna convey my love for all of this great music! Soprano Austin Nikirk was one of nine students from Gettysburg College who presented their research as part of the Kolbe Fellowship last Thursday, January 24. Phoebe Doscher described Austin's research and the other Fellows in an article for The Gettysburgian: "Austin Nikirk '20 took an arts-oriented approach to her research and studied Floral Imagery and Birdsong in the Art Song of Amy Beach. Nikirk spoke passionately about Beach, an American composer, who pioneered women’s music performance and composition. Nikirk primarily studied Beach’s art songs, analyzing a variety of nuances in her stylistic tendencies, harmonies, and poetry. Nikirk described Beach’s modification of early strophic songs, and how she expanding upon melody and mood that was unprecedented for the time period. Ultimately, she intended to find how Beach used certain techniques to display originality and express emotion in her works. Nikirk will be singing songs by Beach during her junior voice recital at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music in March." Of the experience, Nikirk said "it was an invaluable experience to do faculty-mentored research so early in [her] academic career. [Her] mentor, Dr. William O'Hara, was incredibly supportive of [her] many interests in the field, and helped me synthesize them into a research topic that was both challenging and inspiring." To learn more about Austin's research, and to hear her perform these pieces, see her lecture-recital on April 12 in Paul Recital Hall at 3:00pm, at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College.  Just a few days ago, we gave our final performance of our Winter season, and we couldn't have been more excited to share so many wonderful moments with our audiences! We were absolutely overwhelmed by your support, and had so much fun sharing our music with everyone. Special thanks to Quorus, who joined forces with us to create an exhilarating concert between two of the best young choral groups in Maryland. But of course, our biggest thank you goes to you! Our fans and supporters. Without you, we simply couldn't have done what we were able to do this season, or any season! This Winter, we performed three different programs in two states and for three distinct audiences - more than ever before in our four-year history! This was also our first season as a non-profit business, and we are excited to announce that we are beginning the planning stages to release two new albums in 2019! Weren't able to make it to our performances, but still want to support our work? Never fear! Visit our Donate and Shop pages, and follow with our social media for more pictures and videos of this weekends' performances. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures below from our Baltimore concert with Quorus: Many thanks to Music, Gettysburg!, the Gettysburg Children's Choir, and of course the incredible audience we had tonight for the Gettysburg Christmas Offering. We had so much fun sharing the night with you all! Here's a short slideshow of some pictures to help relive the night. |
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