Orchestra pit

You’ve probably forgotten about 7th grade by now. What you looked like, how you acted, and how you dressed is all in the past. Thanks for forgetting me, by the way. I’m you from your 7th grade year. Currently, I have the long, ash brown hair you’ve grown to hate. With the same chocolate brown eyes and thick-rimmed glasses, I most likely do not dress like you. I have my signature look; black skinny jeans, black band shirts, and red flannels. I joined the marching band in the summer along…

I will be reviewing the performance of Brianna Blount and Francisco Zabala. On February 20th, they had their junior flute recital in the Bower school of music’s recital hall. They performed a variety of repertoire from the 1600’s to the present both solo and in an ensemble. They played pieces with multiple movements such as Concerto IV by J.B. de Boismortier and pieces without multiple movements such as Canzone by Samuel Barber. I enjoyed the variety of the concert the most because there were…

Giacomo Puccini was an Italian composer born in 1858 and is known to have put a considerable amount of thought into creating the mood and literary components of his librettos (Kamien, Roger Music An Appreciation p.280). Richard Wagner was a German composer born in 1813 to a theatrical family (Kamien, Roger Music An Appreciation p. 289). Both of these composers are famous for their operas and are from the Romanic Period. Their compositions, La Boheme and Die Walkure, share the characteristics of…

Emergent tenor saxophonist based in New York, Paul Jones, exhibits higher levels of matureness and a willingness for originality in his incredible new album, Clean, a considerable step ahead since the release of his full-length debut album, Short Stories, recorded in 2014 with his reliable sextet. The band members are maintained here with the exception of pianist Sullivan Fortner, who gave its place to Glenn Zaleski. The remaining artists, all young and powerfully talented, are Alex LoRe on alto…

For my first Vocal Performer report, I chose to review the classical tenor named Juan Diego Florez in his performance of the French opera La fille du regiment (The Daughter of the Regiment). Juan Diego was Juan Diego Flórez is a renowned operatic tenor that was born in Lima, Peru on January 13, 1973. Juan Diego studied at the Curtis Institute of Music where he is said to have developed the Bel Canto technique. Bel Canto is a term related to Italian singing and as well as a particular music style…

On March 17th of 2016 I got to go see Loreena McKennitt performed at the Three Stages in Folsom, which turned out to be an incredible experience that I was not expecting. Growing up, my siblings and I would listen to Loreena McKennitt during the evening when we were going to bed, which helped to make the performance nostalgic. Loreena McKennitt is a Canadian celtic musician and all of her music has either a Middle Eastern story or a significant message to them. She is a lady of many talents…

church, he exposed Europeans to the idea that Turkish people were horrible people. Emperor Joseph II dismissed the opera buffa and ballad troupes… all that remained were a troupe for the performances of spoken dramas in German and the Burgtheater orchestra, to play overtures and incidental music (Rice 202). This was just one example of how much power joseph II had and how he had control over which troupes would perform. The idea of musical exoticism developed during the Enlightenment period.…

The music concert 9066 Music Behind Barbed Wire was the ending cumulation of the events done throughout the semester to honor the 75th anniversary of Manzanar. Inside the university theatre the crowd was coming in, soon the theater was packed with a variety of people from the community and students. The evening event started fifteen minutes late, and then we were welcomed by the Dean of the college of arts and humanities Mitch Avila. He discussed how throughout the semester they had several…

It was Friday afternoon. This meant that I had a violin lesson all the way on the Upper West side at Christine Kwak’s (my teacher’s) apartment. I hate making the trip there all the way from the south of Brooklyn but Ms. Kwak had already recorded the complete 24 Paganini Caprices and made her debut at Carnegie Hall at the tender age of 11 so I guess it’s worth it. After standing in the middle of her living room, playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for an hour, I leave her apartment and put on Isaac…

my Neurologists were able to correctly diagnose my headache, I was able to play the trombone again. At once, the world shifted from black and white to color again, and this experience allowed me to appreciate music to another degree. This year in orchestra, instead of solely playing my piece, I often sit back and enjoy the beautiful harmonies created and take the time to admire how well written the songs are. Playing any instrument has a divine simplicity to it, and this is when I truly saw it…