Festival Concert
On Thursday, Oct. 25, students and faculty members gathered in the Forrestal-Bowld Music Center in honor of this weekend’s official opening of the Academy’s new David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance. The concert, a mix of voice and instruments, featured students representing each class at Exeter. The pieces performed ranged from seventeenth century works by Alessandro Scarlatti to the more modern twentieth century works of Nicolai Kapustin and Montri Tramote.
As a kick-off to the Goel Center’s opening on Saturday, Oct 27, Director of Choirs and Department Chair of Music Kristofer Johnson voiced praise for the accomplishments of the first years of the Forrestal-Bowld Music Center. In addressing an audience of students, faculty, and patrons of the art, Johnson said that, with the addition of the Goel Center, “Phillips Exeter’s stance is firmly planted to support all the performing arts for generations of students to come.”
“I think it shows Exeter’s commitment to the arts,” upper Thomas Matheos said, whose flute performance of Philippe Gaubert’s Nocturne et Scherzo was accompanied by Silvana Sokolov-Grubb on the piano.
Student performers agreed. “I think it shows Exeter’s commitment to the arts,” upper Thomas Matheos said, whose flute performance of Philippe Gaubert’s Nocturne et Scherzo was accompanied by Silvana Sokolov-Grubb on the piano. Upper Ariyaporn “Mimi” Haripottawekul added that the Goel Center will increase the number of musicians on campus and “will allow more students to be interested in pursuing learning a musical instrument.”
Earlier this month, the Department of Music’s Concert Series Team of faculty members held an audition for twenty students which yielded eight performers. Radmila Repczynski, an adjunct faculty member and Music Instructor, provided piano accompaniment to many of the student performers. Repczynski “enjoys collaborative piano work immensely” and still encounters pieces that are new to her. “Often I get to participate in a student’s lesson, and I usually learn something new in that process,” she said.
Student performers sang pieces by Bellini and Scarlatti, while piano pieces featured Chopin and Kapustin. The trumpet, cello, and flute were also represented, while the most esoteric of the instruments was the khim, played by Haripottawekul. Though derived from a similar middle-eastern instrument, the stringed khim was introduced from China in the twentieth century to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
As an international student, Haripottawekul used the concert as an opportunity to improve her musicality as well as share a small piece of her culture with the Exeter community. Haripottawekul began studying the khim two years ago in her prior school’s khim choir. “The piece I played [by Montri Tramote] had a special significance to me,” says Haripottawekul.“It was one of the first pieces I played that was more ‘complex.’ I think it added to the purpose of the festival concert by helping to display a wider range of musical instruments, and also by helping to display a wider range of cultures.” She also finds the khim to be a great way to “channel emotions or de-stress,” which is particularly helpful to her being so far from her native Thailand.
As a demonstration of Exeter’s passion for the performing arts, the festival concert was an additional motivation to many student performers. Upper Llamo Dixey’s vocal coach encouraged her to perform an difficult piece she had been working on for months. Though admitting to some stage fright, Dixey calmed her nerves with drinking tea and “warming up an insane amount.” Her solo piece, Vaga luna, che inargenti by Bellini, received great applause for its emotion. “I wanted my audience to understand the pain that was felt by the singer, as the song is about a long lost love,” Dixey said.
Despite busy schedules, Exonians worked hard to give justice to the opening of The Goel Center. Soprano singer and Senior Catherine Skinner, performing a work by Scarlatti, continually tried to squeeze in anything she could throughout her day to prepare for the performance. “I prepared by working the piece to the best of its ability,” she said, “analyzing phrasing and meaning, or planking while singing to work on breath support. Anything that would make it a great performance.” Cellist and lower Max Tan, who performed a piece by Elgar, jumped at every chance to play in the new Goel Center. “I felt the opportunity to play in such a resonate place would be a great experience,” he said.
The 63,130-square-foot facility contains two theater stages and two dance venues, allowing faculty their first teaching spaces designed to the specifications of a modern dance and theater program. It integrates the Harkness table, where performance students can move easily between the table and the performance spaces.
Fulfilling its purpose, the festival concert brought the Exeter community together to celebrate the student body’s talents. Performers exhibited their talents for everyone to enjoy and allow the community to see the new opportunity now opened for these students. “I just want the audience to enjoy hearing good music,” said trumpet performer and senior Hanna Pak. “Honestly, if I can get just one person to walk out of a concert genuinely happy, I’ve achieved my goal.”