Virtually sublime: Seniors shine in digital recital
The musicians of MUS500 show off the fruits of their labor during assembly.
Seven senior musicians delivered a stirring assembly performance over Zoom on Wednesday, but there was nothing virtual about their talents.
The members of “Music 500” class have spent two terms in intensive study of their respective instrument under Instructor in Music Rohan Smith’s tutelage and most of their lives polishing their prodigious skills. As part of Exeter’s Wednesday assembly schedule during this term of distance learning, the classmates “gathered” to perform works of their choosing.
Dacha Thurber '20 performs Paganini during the virtual assembly.
The full lineup:
Gabriel Wong, violin Clara Schumann, Romance No. 1
Patricia Fitzgerald, flute Katherine Hoover, Winter Spirits
Dacha Thurber, violin Paganini, Caprice No. 5 in A Minor
Thomas Matheos, flute Prokofiev, Flute Sonata, Scherzo
Paula Perez-Glassner, soprano Bellini, ma rendi pur contento
Anjali Gupta, violin and Meili Gupta, violin Wieniawski, Etude Caprice No. 1 in G Minor
Meili Gupta talked about the transition to distance learning:
“I am saddened to think that when I performed in the Bowld the final night of winter term for the Italy concert, I did not know it would be my last. I have been steadily continuing my violin lessons with Ms. [Eva] Gruesser, which have been going better than I'd expected! We take our violin lessons over Zoom (although with a couple adjustments to the audio intake settings).
"Anjali and I are both also enrolled in MUS 500 Senior Recital this term. Our class has laughed a couple times that the class might be going better than if it were in-person. Now that we are on quarantine, I'm happy to have found more time to practice my violin. We use class time to take turns performing for each other, with a copy of the sheet music screen shared and typing comments into the Zoom chat.”
