Recitals bring new music to Hamre Hall

Augustana’s School of Music performed two new music recitals on the evenings of Feb. 16 and 17 in Hamre Recital Hall. Both performances were free to attend and featured students, faculty, professional musicians from the region and members of the South Dakota Symphony Youth Orchestra. 

Friday night’s performance, titled “The Labyrinth Walk,” included piano solos, a vocalist, a clarinet quartet, a marimba and harp duet, a cello solo, a band ensemble and an electronic audio piece.

Connor Gibbs, the concert curator, explained throughout the concert how the music describes the feelings of walking through a labyrinth and making it out with a new perspective and understanding. 

Sophomore Jayda Hoffman, a piano major, performed two piano solos to open the concert. Hoffman said that Shu Li, assistant professor of piano, told the piano majors about the performance opportunity. 

“Initially, she wanted [piano majors] to get involved with this because it would be a great opportunity for us, a learning experience and just [a great way] to add onto our repertoire and experience as pianists,” Hoffman said. 

Hoffman said she was originally going to play a duet with senior Gilbert DeWitte, but he was busy with preparing for his senior recital, so she received two solos from Gibbs instead. 

Gibbs, who works with the education programs and youth orchestra of the South Dakota Symphony, said he created this weekend event because he likes organizing and hosting concerts. 

Gibbs said he comes to Augustana weekly for the youth orchestra rehearsals, so he has been able to meet faculty and students and become familiar with the School of Music. 

Gibbs said when he creates concerts, he likes to plan as collaboratively as possible, so he lets most performers select their own music. 

“Everyone involved has a little piece in it, except for Jayda,” Gibbs said with a laugh. 

Gibbs chose Georges Aperghis’ “Pièce pour jeunes pianistes” and Gabriel Erkoreka’s “Kaila Kantuz” for Hoffman’s solos, which are both contemporary music pieces. 

“It was a very new experience for me because I've never really played contemporary music like that,” Hoffman said. 

The experience of learning and performing these pieces was “petrifying,” Hoffman said, because she was learning a new style of music in a short amount of time. 

“I'm not gonna lie. It was quite a bit of pressure because I have my own personal repertoire that I'm working on, plus I was taking an interim course,” Hoffman said. 

Gibbs said planning began for this concert in September, and Hoffman said she received her music in the first week of January. 

Junior Katie Johnson, a music education major who performed Saturday night, said her piece also came together in a short amount of time. Johnson conducted the Augustana student quartet, which opened the second show “The Call to Come Home.” 

Saturday night’s recital included the Augustana University Flute Choir, two electronic audio pieces, a violin solo and a percussion ensemble. 

The quartet played the first movement of “Signs of Life II” by Russell Peck, who is the only non-living composer for both programs. However, the group made this piece more contemporary by incorporating backing tracks and recordings of themselves to create the illusion of a full orchestra.

Johnson said Peter Folliard, the Augustana Orchestra conductor and dean of the School of Music, is interested in new music and music production. 

“[Folliard and DeWitte] came up with the idea of trying to expand the orchestra using virtual instruments or recordings of ourselves layered on top of each other,” Johnson said. 

On the night they performed, Johnson wore headphones on stage while conducting. Johnson said the headphones helped her hear the backing tracks and also a click track to stay on beat. 

“I wasn't hearing what they were playing live through my headphones, so I had one off of my ear so I could hear them too,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said conducting this piece was a cool experience but also intimidating. 

“If I got off a little bit from what I heard, then obviously you'd hear in the audience two different things going on,” Johnson said. 

Luckily for Johnson, she said the performance went well and the quartet was able to display musicality while meshing with the whole ensemble of recordings. 

Senior Aidan Christensen, who majors in computer science and data science, performed in the percussion ensemble and said he enjoyed playing the music. 

“It’s exciting to play interesting music,” Christensen said. “And however it happens – however it gets played, good or bad – it’s fun.” 

Percussion professor Daniel Sailer, who performed alongside Christensen, said new music is becoming a part of Augustana’s identity as a music department. The School of Music has more concerts coming up involving living composers and pieces from the last 10-20 years. 

“New music is more exciting,” Sailer said. “There's just something about it that's novel and constantly changing, too.” 

Sailer said the percussion ensemble concert on May 8 at 7:30 p.m. will feature new music, and the Augustana Band is working on some contemporary pieces now. 

“If we're not staying up to speed with [new music], it's gonna fly by us,” Sailer said. “So writing something or putting something together is way more current than just relying on what's happened before.”