Senior Recital: Amanda Densmoor

Up next in the slew of Lux recital features this semester is  Soprano Amanda Densmoor! We're so excited for her to reach this milestone in her career, and we hope to see some of you there. Her recital is on Wednesday, February 27, in the Gildenhorn Recital Hall in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Last week, we sat down to ask her a few questions:

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.