As the spring semester comes to a close, an annual staple of the Keene State College Music Department has come back around, with several music students performing their own recitals in the Redfern Arts Center over the past couple of weeks.
One of those student recital performers was senior Marley Sandman, who played a collection of flute pieces during their recital on Sunday, April 13.
Sandman said they felt like the recital went well despite having to overcome a last-minute pianist switch-up after the originally scheduled pianist became sick.
“I had to change my pianist at the last minute to [KSC Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies Dr. Christina Wright-Ivanova], who is amazing and wonderful, and she was so great throughout the process,” Sandman said. “I’m really thankful for her flexibility with that because one of the pieces she said that she hadn’t played in 20 years, but it went really well, so I’m very thankful for all of that.”
Sandman continued to say they felt like the recital went well and that they got positive feedback from audience members about their duet performances with their instructors.
“After talking to a lot of people that came, they really enjoyed the duets that I performed with my professors and everything and I was very thankful to be able to do that,” Sandman said. “I ended it with a duet with my private lesson teacher, [KSC Music Lecturer] Robin Matathias. We’ve been working together since my freshman year, so during the performance I was tearing up a little bit because it’s the end of a four-year-long relationship.”
Sandman elaborated on the feeling of having to leave KSC behind as a graduating senior this year.
“I’m really glad I came here. I’ve had some really good experiences, and I think that the amount of growth that I’ve done within the past four years, I don’t know if it would have happened if I went to a different institution. The professors here are great. I’ve made some really good connections with other students too,” Sandman said. “I’m glad I came here, but I’m also ready to leave the nest, so to speak.”
Sandman said their plan after graduation is to work at Powell Flutes in Maynard, Mass. building flutes, while also continuing to teach flute lessons in Lowell.
Another student recital performer with something different to look forward to was junior Emma Hunter. Instead of graduating and leaving KSC, Hunter has her senior recital to prepare for next year.
Hunter performed a selection of mainly classical opera songs during her vocal recital on Friday, April 11. Hunter said the biggest challenge she had to face during the rehearsal process for the performance was remembering all of the pieces that were mostly not in English. Despite this, Hunter said she felt like the recital went successfully.
“I felt like it went pretty well. I actually was able to complete my goals, and the audience responded very well to it, so I’m very happy,” Hunter said. “I’m very relieved that it’s over because I had a lesson beforehand and it didn’t go super well. I was having a little bit of some issues with my voice, but thankfully my voice was able to work up in time.”
Hunter said her experience in this recital will help her prepare for her longer senior recital next year.
“I now know how to pace out my timing and when to practice and what to practice. It just gives me a clearer picture of what to expect,” Hunter said.
Hunter said she already has plans for what she couldn’t do this year but wants to incorporate into her senior recital.
“I’m going to compose some songs,” Hunter said. “And there was one song I was going to do with a small harp with me accompanying it, but I didn’t have enough time and we didn’t feel super confident in that, so just getting those practiced, and also I was going to do paintings for each of my sets, so that’s another thing I’ll probably do for my senior recitals.”
Junior Noah Horgan performed his percussion recital on April 11 in the Alumni Recital Hall.
Senior James Slipp performed his vocal recital on April 12, also in the Alumni Recital Hall.
Slipp and Horgan did not respond to requests for interviews regarding their recitals.
Justin Dearborn can be reached at
