Music education majors Joe Reppucci and Kevin Sonntag joined forces Sunday, Nov. 19 in the Redfern Arts Center Alumni Recital Hall for a combined senior recital.
In addition to sharing the stage for their recital, Reppucci and Sonntag play together in Keene State music ensembles like the jazz ensemble and concert band, as well as the off-campus Keene Jazz Orchestra.
Reppucci, a tuba player, opened the performance with “Suite for Tuba,” a piece in three movements by composer Donald Haddad. He was accompanied on piano by Keene State’s Dr. Jinhyang Park for this and several other pieces.
Reppucci said the Haddad piece had “gone along” with him since he began college.
“That was the original piece that I auditioned on to get into college,” the tuba player said. “So over the years I have made vast improvements on that piece and it has come a long way since when I started playing it in 2017.”
Reppucci’s last piece, “Down In The River,” was unique in that it featured a tuba/euphonium ensemble, including Hart on euphonium.
“We had a bunch of tuba players come to Keene State this year, as well as a euphonium player, so it just kind of came together where we had the instrumentation… so I decided, yeah, let’s give it a try,” Reppucci said.
Sonntag, an alto saxophone player, opened his portion of the recital with “Brazileira,” a samba and the third movement of the Darius Milhaud piece “Scaramouche.” He then followed with “La Malinconia,” a slower piece. He was accompanied on piano by Keene State Music Faculty Hugh Keelan for each of his pieces.
The two performers held a meeting while planning the recital where they created the order in which they would play the pieces, Sonntag said.
Additionally, each collaborated with their respective applied lesson instructors to select repertoire pieces for the program.
“It requires a lot of knowledge of your instrument and knowing what pieces to play over the years, because this is my fourth year in college,” Reppucci said.
“It’s a collaborative process, but we try to get repertoire that is… a good representation of what the instrument can do,” said Dr. John Hart, Reppucci’s applied lesson instructor.
Hart said he also tends to look for pieces from living composers or composers from underrepresented communities. The tuba player’s side of the program included a number of composers who were born after 1910.
The saxophone player pursued a number of more recent pieces as well.
“Kevin was looking to play some more contemporary works,” said Sonntag’s applied lesson instructor Dr. Craig Sylvern, who said he had no problem approving such pieces as long as they possessed the right “melodic content.”
Sonntag described his aims as finding a mix of material that is technically impressive and “sounds cool.” One of his pieces, “Sonata No. 11 in G Minor” by Henry Eccles, he explained to be originally written for violin and transcribed for several other instruments over time, including the alto sax.
Charlotte King can be contacted at
cking@kscequinox.com
Alana Perry / Senior Photographer
