Hotchkiss students head to Carnegie Hall

There’s an old adage that asks, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer is usually “practice, practice, practice.” But for 27 Hotchkiss students, the answer will be boarding a chartered bus from Lakeville to New York City for the Young Artists Concert on Jan. 31.

The concert will be presented by Fabio Witkowski, the Joanne Eastman Sohrweide Chair and director of music at Hotchkiss, alongside Gisele Witkowski, instructor in piano and director of the Hotchkiss Piano Portals summer program. Together, they will showcase a wide range of student performances, highlighting the depth of musical study and artistic excellence cultivated at the school.

“Hotchkiss has a great reputation for strong academics and athletics, but not as many people know about our wonderful music and arts programs,” Witkowski said. “The generosity of Barbara and Amos Hostetter made so much possible here,” he added, referring to a major three-part gift from the couple in 2018 that significantly strengthened Hotchkiss’s music and arts programs.

“One thing that makes me so proud about this type of philanthropy is that people usually spend every dime on the bricks,” Witkowski said. “But we used about half for the building and then half for programming. Now we really operate like a mini conservatory here.” Students who study in the music program have access to two lessons a week, orchestra, music history and theory. “And we have an amazing music series here,” he said. “We’ve had the Guarneri String Quartet, Emerson, Lang Lang and Midori. And the concerts are all free because they’re part of the endowment. That makes me very proud.”

Fabio Witkowski, the Joanne Eastman Sohrweide Chair and director of music at Hotchkiss. Natalia Zukerman

To be chosen to perform at Carnegie Hall, students went through a competition process in December. About 20 students will have the opportunity to perform solo pieces, but to accommodate all the students, Witkowski arranged two pieces for small ensembles. “That way, everyone gets to play,” he said.

Annabelle Chu, from Hong Kong, is studying percussion at Hotchkiss and will be playing “Brazilian Landscape” by Ney Rosauro for solo vibraphone. “Usually, I do a sport. So, during the spring and fall, I do track and cross-country, respectively. Last year I did swimming in the winter, but I switched to music, which was great. Now I’m getting a lot more practice time — like two hours every day, and then on weekends, I get like three or four.”

Chu has only ever been outside Carnegie Hall. “When I was just wandering around the city,” she said. Asked how she will feel when she walks out on stage, she said, “I think I’ll be very nervous, but at the end, hopefully I’ll be very proud of myself.”

Senior Emma Liu is a pianist and is in the process of applying to conservatories that have joint programs. She has been to Carnegie Hall many times during her tenure at Hotchkiss and will be performing “Sonata No. 4” by Scriabin this year. Asked how much she has been practicing, she said, “Probably not as much as I should be, but I try to get in at least two hours a day.” Even though this will not be her first time at Carnegie Hall, when she walks out on the stage, Liu said, “Every time feels like the first time. I love being there with Hotchkiss students because it’s an incredible opportunity. I don’t think there’s any other place like Hotchkiss that does this kind of thing. So, yeah, we’re very, very lucky.”