Congratulations on an amazing recital! Before we dig into that, let’s talk about some of your experience leading up to the junior recital milestone--what have been some of your favorite experiences studying music in college thus far?
I’ve had so many wonderful musical experiences in college that I can’t even begin to pick which ones are my favorite. There have certainly been a number of memorable performances that I could talk about, but I also really just enjoy going to my voice lessons each week. It’s always exciting when I have a breakthrough in a lesson that changes the way in which I sing something! Besides your recital, what are you most excited about this year? I’ve had a lot of great experiences this year despite the pandemic, but I’m honestly just ready for the school year to be over. What's your favorite piece on your recital? Why? My favorite pieces to work on were the Clara Schumann lieder. Because I can’t have a live accompanist at my lessons right now, I recorded my own accompaniments for these pieces, so it was really cool to learn them from both a vocal and pianistic standpoint. If there’s only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be? I don’t think there’s any one thing that I want people to get out of my recital. I just hope they get something out of it! You got to prepare and perform this alongside a classmate of yours--tell us a bit about that experience and what it was like collaborating on a joint-recital! Especially after not being able to sing in-person with others for so long, it was really, really exciting to collaborate with my friend Helen on this recital. The first time that we rehearsed our duets in person, I could barely make it through them because I was smiling so much. It was also just really nice to have someone else to lean on throughout the whole experience. How was the recital process for you, overall? What did you have to do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all? I was really scared that I wasn’t going to be able to memorize all of my music because memorization has never been a strength of mine. However, after working on my recital repertoire for more than a semester, I felt confident going into my recital that I knew the music as well as I possibly could have.
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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!"
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.
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. 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 days away from soprano Eby Buscher's senior recital, she made some time to answer a few questions about her recital and about her final year! Joining her will also be director Robby Napoli, on two Schumann duets. If you can't make it, no worries, there'll be a livestream! For more information, check out the buttons below.
Okay, so, recital time. Let’s start with the easy question. When and where is your recital?
November 11, 2018 at 2:30pm in Paul Recital Hall in Schmucker Memorial Hall at Gettysburg College. What’s your favorite piece on your recital? “Pur Ti Miro” from L’Incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi. It combines my three loves: Baroque music, opera, and “la bella lingua,” the Italian language. Featuring Bridget Kennedy, mezzo-soprano, it is a duet full of crunchy suspensions and stunning lyrical lines. “Piangero, La Sorte Mia” from Giulio Cesare is a close second though, due in part to it being composed by G.F. Handel, my favorite composer. It is also stunningly beautiful and depicts raw emotion of grief and anger through both simple and challenging phrases. How has the recital process been for you? What did you do to prepare, and how do you feel about it all? The process has been actually really fun for me. I’ve done a lot of research into the background of the compositions and composers, the characters, listened to many recordings, as well as developed storylines of my own for the art-songs. It takes a lot of time in and out of the practice room but I’ve loved it and I’m super excited. If there’s only one thing you want audience members to get out of your recital, what would it be? Opera and Early music are not as boring as some people make it out to be. They are super challenging, extremely expressive, and can connect to the modern world in a number of ways. Congratulations to soprano Eby Buscher, who passed her hearing yesterday for her senior recital! Her recital repertoire, includes pieces with her collaborators, Olivia Higgins (harp), Bridget Kennedy (mezzo-soprano), and Robby Napoli (tenor). After performing her recital pieces for her hearing, her panelists congratulated her in telling her she had passed! This now means that she can move on to creating posters for advertising, printing program notes, and finalizing the last logistical tasks for her recital. Stay tuned for an interview with Eby about her recital!
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