Eleven students enrolled in the new W+H Conservatory Program shared their amazing musical talents during the program’s first Recital Week series last week in the Berry Performing Arts Center. On four consecutive evenings for 60-90 minutes, many of the school’s most talented performing artists delivered amazing vocal and instrumental repertoires.
The recital performances, which ran from May 26-29, featured vocalists Severian Ekong-Reid ’27, Emily O’Neill '27, Victoria Diaz ’27, Ishani Shah ’26, Anousheh Nazir ’27 and Jayda Richter ’27, instrumentalists Anushka Patchigolla ’27, Kimberly Zhang ’27, Cameron Williams ’27, and guest pianists Del Aitken ’29 and Kartina Chen ’27.
One of the major requirements for instrumentalists and vocalists within the Conservatory Program is to perform 30 minutes of music at the end of their junior and senior years. This requirement is designed to parallel what performing arts students will experience in college music programs. Since September, their private music teachers guided the students to select appropriate repertoire from various genres of music ranging from Mozart to Broadway. Vocalists were required to perform selections in at least four different languages. The instrumentalists worked all year collaborating with their peers, honing their listening skills in addition to their technique.
“All of the students displayed incredible growth in their performances from previous times they performed on stage,” said Mrs. Sharon Byrne, Performing Arts Department Chair and Director of the Conservatory Program. “The level of sophistication in their collaboration with Dr. (Julian) Jenson and student pianists was impressive and inspiring! Our audiences were blown away by the level of musicianship and commitment to the performing arts that was on display night after night.”
Mrs. Byrne added that she’s truly grateful to Dr. Corinna Crafton, Mrs. Christine Cerminaro and the Board of Trustees for their support and “trusting us to bring vision for the W+H Conservatory Program to life this year.” She also expressed thanks to Mr. Alex Nappi for his leadership of the students in the Production Track of the Conservatory Program who were the backbone of each recital and every other event in the PAC this year; to the dedicated members of the Private Music Lesson Program who shared their expertise and love of music to guide each student to accomplish things that they never could have imagined; and to Ms. Susy Jenson-Leiva and Dr. Julian Jenson for their vision, expertise and dedication in making this Recital Week happen.
“They worked with all of the students musically, prepared the dress rehearsal schedule, coordinated technical elements and most importantly, made sure that all of the performers felt supported and ready to go,” Mrs. Byrne said.
And those student performers sure put on a show, for those in attendance and others watching on the nightly livestreams.
“We are incredibly proud of you and are inspired by your dedication to the performing arts,” Mrs. Byrne said to her students. “It is a joy to watch you shine on our stage. Bravi Tutti!”