Final Performances of the Year

    As my freshman year nears its end, it has been and is a very busy time, with lots of end of the year activities!  With all of the performance opportunities recently, it’s felt more and more like things are returning to normal.  Within a two week span, there have been three major performances, with the last one 48 hours.  Here’s the rundown.

    The first musical event in this two week span was Juries.  At the end of each semester this year, violin students had to submit a tape consisting of certain repertoire/length.  Last semester, it focused on scales and arpeggios.  This semester, I played Bach Partita No. 3’s minuet movements, as well as the third movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.  It was challenging to play both pieces back to back without a cut, but it was a great experience for the present and future!  

    Next was the Finall Orchestra Concert of the year.  We got to perform two amazing pieces at the Krannert Center over a Facebook Live stream.  One was Boticelli by Respighi, which depicts three specific paintings in three movements of the legendary artist in which it is named after.  The other was a piece that is recognized by all around the globe - Beethoven 5.  They contrasted with one another, which ended up making a very cool program.  I also got a nice selfie with Maestro Schleicher afterwards.

    Here’s a funny bit of information.  I’ve been playing violin for 15 years, and have been a part of orchestra programs for around 8.  However, this was the first time I’ve ever played Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.  To be honest, it was much more difficult than I expected.

    The most recent event (earlier this morning) was the Chamber Music Recital.  Since the pandemic affected organization and the amount of people in the chamber program, our group was a bit interesting: two violins and a viola.  However, there’s a great piece of music for this unusual combination of instruments by Dvorak called “Terzetto”.  We performed the first two movements of the piece, and it was really fun.  Personally, chamber music is probably my favorite type of music to perform, and it was a treat to have the opportunity to perform in a nice space after such a long drought.

    Finally, this coming Monday, the violin studio is having its last studio class, where I’ll be performing the third movement of Mendelssohn once again.  What makes this more interesting than the jury, however, is that it will be in person with piano.  Having an accompanying piano or orchestra helps to create new and beautiful musical ideas.  It’s more of a conversation and interaction between the musicians and instruments.  

    The best part of all of this is between these recent events, I got to see lots of great recitals!  I think it’s extremely important to go to lots of concerts, because it provides inspiration, motivation, and you get to support your peers.  Recently, I’ve seen a slew of violin recitals, a flute recital, and a sort of band festival outside of Krannert.  Bravo everyone!
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    These last few weeks of school have been extremely fun and challenging, and have felt more normal than the entire past year (I got the vaccine too!).  I look forward to the Fall very much.

Noah Kublank