As part of the Music Department’s Senior Recital Series and partial requirement for a Bachelor of Music in Education, Keene State College put on its annual senior recital.
In this year’s performance, KSC students Lauren Casey and Jon Way performed alongside acclaimed pianist Vladimir Odinokikh at the KSC Alumni Recital Hall last Sunday.
With Casey on flute and Way playing violin, both students performed an eclectic mix of musical pieces spanning four centuries by classic composers such as Mozart and Bach.
Jake Coughlin / Administrative Executive Editor
Overall, both musicians said the recital went smoothly and are extremely happy to finally be done with it, even though it was exciting to perform for a live crowd after rehearsing so many times.
“I’m very happy with how it went, I tried really hard to just have fun,” Casey said. “I worked so hard throughout this entire semester. All summer I was just drilling this music and what mattered to me is that I had it perfect in practice sessions, but today’s goal was to have fun and I did that.”
When asking about how they chose the certain compositions to perform, both Casey and Way felt these pieces were the right ones simply because they were the most enjoyable to play over the past four years. But the first piece Way performed had special significance to him.
“It was important to me because I actually auditioned [with this piece] to get into school here, so I figured it only fitting for me to also perform it in my recital, and the other two pieces I just really enjoyed,” Way said.
With the masterful accompaniment of Odinokikh’s piano-work, Casey played from the repertoire of composers including Mozart, Dutilleux and Hoover, while Way performed pieces from Mozart, Bach and Bruch. Casey explained that she tried to not only choose pieces that showed a variety of musical dynamics, but also a showcase of pieces that spanned different time periods and styles.
“I had to choose a repertoire throughout different time periods, so Mozart was classical, Dutilleux was more French romantic, and the last piece I played was a contemporary piece,” Casey said. “Throughout the years we’ve played through a bunch of different pieces, and those were my favorite picks.”
Jake Coughlin / Administrative Executive Editor
The final piece that concluded the recital was performed as a trio by all three musicians, and while it was inspired by the score to the video game Kingdom Hearts, the piece was entirely composed by Way himself. Way attributes the video game as one of the inspirations that led him to start composing in the beginning.
“I really enjoyed playing music with these very creative and talented people,” Odinokikh said. “They are, especially Lauren, perfectionists. They were so well prepared, and the final performance is really the joy of it.”
For more information on the latest news about the Music Department and when the next public recital is, visit http://www.keene.edu/academics/programs/mu/
Alex Scholz can be contacted at alscholz@kscequinox.com
