On Saturday, Mar. 13, the Young Artist Celebration: Part II was held in the Howard Performing Arts Center (HPAC). It was conducted by symphony orchestra conductor Chris Wild and Kristii Rasmussen (graduate student, orchestral conducting). Andrews University employees, the Enjoyment of Music class, music majors, music minors, and Andrews University students were allowed to attend in person with a limited seating capacity. Those who attended in person were required to wear masks and social distance. Others were able to watch the concert through live stream on the Department of Music’s Facebook page.
Stephen Zork, professor of music and conductor of the Andrews University choirs, watched the concert online. He said, “What a wonderful concert! So impressed with the musicians and their musicianship. Great repertoire, too.”
The first piece of the concert was “Piano Concerto No. 5,” by Ludwig van Beethoven, featuring piano soloist Nathaniel Cogen (graduate student, music performance), with the Andrews University Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Cogen, as well as Simon Luke Brown, Emily Jurek, and Jeremy Jerim Myung, the featured soloists from the Young Artist Celebration: Part I, were selected to perform with the orchestra out of a group of auditioners who performed for faculty members in November.
Dmitri Shostakovich, a young artist himself, composed the second piece entitled “Polka from the Golden Age” when he was 24. Ms. Rassumssen conducted this selection. It featured parts of the Andrews University Symphony Orchestra. Because the piece is short and fun to play, they decided to play it a second time. The third piece was the final version of “Romeo and Juliet,” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky who was also a young artist composer. He composed “Romeo and Juliet” at age 29. Dr. Wild conducted this last piece.
First Violinist Dhara Marquez Torres (sophomore, music performance) commented, “one of the pieces that I really enjoyed in this concert was ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ This piece has a lot of meaning for me not only because it has beautiful melodies and phrases. Whenever I feel stressed or anxious I like to listen to pieces that are soothing, such as this one.”
Trombone player Tyler Braithwaite (junior, computer science, mathematics) said, “I had a lot of fun playing in this concert particularly due to the recognizability of some of the themes in our big last song: Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ Although the social distancing of the orchestra can make it hard to stay together while rehearsing, everything went really well!” Mr. Braithwaite also enjoyed the arrangement of “Polka from the Golden Age.” He added, “The Shostakovich ‘Polka from the Golden Age’ played by the smaller ensemble of Wind, Percussion, Harp, and String Bass was also a really unique tonal experience, and this particular arrangement was actually put together by our own conductor Dr. Wild.”
The concert is available to (re)watch here. More Department of Music concerts are coming, so be sure to check them out.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.