The piano music of Amy Beach inspired by Native American Themes and French Impressionist music by Calude Debussy, Cécile Chaminade, Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc filled Mary Lyon Hall on March 29 as six student pianists and one vocalist held a concert in the Woolley Room.
As the concert began, Shelby Forbes ’16 introduced the history of North American woven objects from Wheaton’s Permanent Collection, which is located in Watson Fine Arts. Then, Xinyi Liu ’19, Xinru Liu ’19, Yuchen Wang ’18, Shiqiu Yang ’19, Christina Pedersen ’18 and Zheyu Cao ’19 played the piano in order. Each of them brief introduced the music and its background.
The performers also shared their thoughts and feelings about the music. Later in the concert, Emily Bergmann ’16, a mezzo-soprano, performed three songs by Chaminade. All of the performances garnered great applause from the audience. Lisa Romanul and Joanne Mouradjian, both Assistant Professors of music in performance, helped prepare this concert.
“This program is a three-year companion concerts that are related to the visual arts. Last year we did a concert themed as American music in the great depression. This year our concert theme is Shared Inspirations, featuring the music of Debussy, Beach and Milhaud,” said Leslie Amper, Assistant Professor of music in performance.
In addition, Amper presented a concert on the same theme, shared inspirations, on February 16 as well. She explained that the concept of the plan was to share ideas and find connections between music and art for both students and faculty.
The three-year project is sponsored in part by Herschbach Charitable Gift Fund. Georgene Botyos Herschbach ’61, alumni Achievement Award Recipient 2013, and Wheaton 1995 Honorary Degree Recipient, Dudley Herschbach attended the concert. These distinguished alumni take a personal interest in Wheaton student activities.
“I am impressed by their professional skills of playing the piano, and the pianists are really good!” Shi Shen ’18 said after the concert, “I am looking forward to coming for the next concert.”