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Senior Recital: Austin Nikirk

2/24/2020

Soprano Austin Nikirk will be presenting her Senior Recital this coming weekend on Saturday, February 29th in Schmucker Hall at Gettysburg College! She has been hard at work preparing the diverse set of repertoire she'll be performing, and we can't wait to hear it. We hope to see some of you there! If you can't make it in person, there will also be a livestream via Facebook. We were able to sit down with her recently for an interview about her upcoming recital and some other things she's been up to this year. Check it out below!

It’s finally senior year! How’re you feeling about that?
"I have mixed feelings, because I’m so excited about many of the projects that I’m working on, and don’t want them to end! But I am also ready to be out of school, haha."

Besides your recital, what are you most excited about this year?
"Our opera workshop is doing an opera in French this year, and I am helping coach the language! It has been really fun combining my passion for French language and culture with opera."

What’s been your favorite experience studying music in college?
"I have interned with the choral department for two semesters now, and by far my favorite experience has been conducting our upper-voice ensemble, Audeamus. I have really enjoyed seeing them grow vocally and musically!"

Okay, so, recital time. Let’s start with the easy question. When and where is your recital?
"It will be February 29th (yeah that’s leap day!) at 7 pm, in Schmucker Hall at Gettysburg College."

What’s your favorite piece on your recital? Why?
"My opener! I don’t want to give too much away, because it’s a bit of performance art, but it’s not like anything I’ve ever sung before. It’s also by a composer who graduated from my school last year, so I’ve been able to coach it with him and really get into the nuance and expression of the piece."

How has the recital process been for you? What did you have to do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all?
"I have been working on some of this music since last semester, but there is also a significant portion that I have learned in the last few weeks. So getting it all together at the same time was really a journey! But I’m really excited about my program, and can’t wait to share it with my audience!"

If there’s only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be?
"My overall concept is probably the most important part. I begin with three pieces by student-composers, followed with a piece by their composition teacher here at Gettysburg. The next set was composed by his graduate professor, followed by his teacher, and so on. Finishing in the early baroque, I hope to take the audience on a journey back through the evolution of compositional styles!"

Lux at Chesapeake High School!

1/21/2020

Last Friday, we spent the day meeting and working with the wonderfully talented choral program at Chesapeake High School, in Pasadena, MD! Throughout the day we ran sectionals and masterclasses with Cheseapeake's Chamber Singers and Concert Choir, and we were also able to give an informal concert and Q&A at the end of the day! We were so impressed with their talent and the hard work they put in during rehearsals, and it was such a joy to sing for them and talk about all aspects of choral music with them! Not only did the kids at Chesapeake High enjoy our work together, but our singers had so much fun inspiring the next generation of young choral singers and getting to meet the wonderful students at Chesapeake! Check out some of our work together below.

Christmas Album Released!

11/29/2019

Just in time for Christmas shopping, Lux's first Christmas release, My Lord Has Come features some of our own favorite Christmas songs and arrangements for choir, including beautiful, gushing settings of well-known carols, as well as more traditional choral pieces which have become standards of the Christmas choral repertoire. Blending the known and lesser known Christmas anthems that we've come to love into one release; using simple arrangements of classic hymns next to more dense arrangements of classic melodies like Rathbone's "Silent Night", and finally including other Christmas anthems which might be less familiar, like Howells's "Sing Lullaby" or Pärt's "O Weisheit". Buy it now or preview a few tracks on our 'Listen' page using the buttons below!

Senior Recital: Ben Busch

11/21/2019

Last weekend, bass Ben Busch put on an incredible senior recital! Just last week, we sat down to ask him a few questions about his recital, and about his time in music school at the University of Maryland. One of the most unique things about Ben's recital is that his primary instrument isn't voice, but horn! Find out more about Ben and his recital below:

It’s finally senior year! How’re you feeling about that?
It’s gone by so fast! I’m excited to be done paying for school, but I am definitely going to miss the friends I’ve made while I’ve been at UMD.
Besides your recital, what are you most excited about this year?
Finishing up coursework and putting down my last tuition payment are definitely at the top of my list.
What’s been your favorite experience studying music in college?
Gaining a more broad view of the music world has been the best for me. I appreciate all different types of music a lot more than I did before entering, and I’ve really enjoyed playing music in groups with my friends.
Okay, so, recital time. Let’s start with the easy question. When and where is your recital?
This Sunday (November 17) in Ulrich Recital Hall, at 2PM!
What’s your favorite piece on your recital? Why?
The Fripperies by Lowell Shaw. We’re playing four of the eight quartets, and it’s a chance for me and my friends to goof off at an otherwise serious event. The best times I’ve had performing on horn have been times I’ve been doing something a little on the nose and less serious; I get to do this with some of my best friends that I’ve been playing with for a long time now.
How has the recital process been for you? What did you have to do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all?
The recital process for me has just been about enjoying playing the music. I have fun playing horn, and I want to have fun on my recital. I obviously had to practice a good amount to get everything up to speed, but overall I’d say it’s been a comfortable process. I’m excited to share it with everyone!
If there’s only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be?
I want everyone to have a good time! That’s all I really care about.

Power Plays the Count

7/19/2019

Baritone Collin Power has spent the past month in Schroon Lake, NY as an emerging artist at the Seagle Music Colony. Throughout the two month program, the artists put on four different productions, including Evita, The Marriage of Figaro, The Manchurian Candidate, and Oklahoma. Collin is playing the role of the Count in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which runs July 17-20.

Recital: Amanda Densmoor

7/17/2019

On a recent trip to visit family in Indonesia, soprano Amanda Densmoor gave a recital sponsored by the Musicorum music school for an audience of 150! In addition to performing her solo repertoire with accompanist Harimada, a teacher at the music school, Amanda was joined by three Musicorum students to perform four different duets. She was also joined on the duets by student accompanist and childhood acquaintance Vincent. Check out a short selection from the recital in the video below!

Nikirk Presents at MTSMA Conference

3/27/2019

Recently, soprano Austin Nikirk presented her research from her Kolbe Fellowship alongside Dr. William O'Hara at the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic's Annual Conference held in Baltimore among some of the Mid-Atlantic's most important and recent studies in music theory! Austin said "It was incredible to get to hear the research of current graduate students and professors and really inspiring to watch them talk about projects they were so passionate about."

Tenor Zach Taylor Wins Music Competition

3/24/2019

Congratulations are in order for tenor Zach Taylor for not only being awarded first place in the Sydney Lieberman Music Competition, but also being announced as the co-winner of the Sylvia and Irving H. Cohen scholarship! On his recent successes, Zach said "I’m so incredibly grateful to everyone who has helped me come this far, as I couldn’t have gotten this far without the support of family, friends, and teachers." Catch Zach performing alongside other winners in the Lieberman Honors Recital on April 4 at 11am at Towson University.

Robby's Going to Aspen!

3/6/2019

Director Robby Napoli has announced that he has been accepted into Seraphic Fire's Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival and School! In 2012, Seraphic Fire and PCI received a Grammy nomination for their recording of Brahms' German Requiem. In the program, Robby will spend two weeks preparing to sing join the world of professional ensemble singing with members of Seraphic Fire as well as their artistic director, Patrick Dupré Quigley. About the program, he said "I was kind of speechless when I saw the message that I'd been accepted into the program. I'm just so excited to have this incredible opportunity to learn about something I'm so passionate about from some of the best in the country, and with such intensity. This is certainly going to be an experience I won't forget."

Junior Recital: Austin Nikirk

2/27/2019

Amid preparations for a lecture-recital the following month, soprano Austin Nikirk has also been readying repertoire for her Junior Recital on Friday, March 1! The recital will be part of the concert series From XIX to '19, a centennial commemoration of the 19th Amendment dedicated to music which empowers women leaders. It will be in Paul Recital Hall in the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. We got together with Austin to ask her a few questions about her recital and some other things she's been up to this semester. Check it out below:

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."