SALISBURY — The Annual Student Open Recital was held at the Congregational Church in Salisbury on Sunday, Feb 26. The recital is eligible to students from kindergarten through high school, and features official school ensembles as well as students of private instructors.
The concert began with Sophia Poirier playing Beethoven’s “Für Elise”. Poirier approached the piece with poise and a steady rhythm, undaunted by the classic piece’s quick transitions and intense latter half.
Brothers Soren and Lucca Peacock performed a duet of Antonio Vivaldi’s “Sonata #5 in E minor RV 40,” a daunting piece of work with four major sections over about 10 minutes. The brothers, Lucca on piano and Soren on cello, played with experienced synchronicity and beautiful tandem. Lucca’s piano provided a firm and unshakable foundation to Soren, as his cello soared through quick and precise jumps between higher and lower notes and somber melodies.
Jayden Lee then played an original piano piece entitled “Un morceau sur une mélodie que j’ai entendue.” Lee quickly stunned with blindingly fast arpeggios and runs of notes from the very start of the piece, while maintaining a light and airy quality to his playing. The piece was full of interesting key changes, chromaticism and turns that had listeners enthralled.
Lee then joined performers Tiffany Zhai on flute and Dorothy Machiels on cello to complete the Indian Mountain School Advanced Ensemble and perform another original piece by Zhao. As befitting of its name, “Dreaming in the Night,” the piece moved quickly from place to place with loosely tied melodies and key changes. The trio traded melodic material back and forth, weaving through sharp turns into varying keys and melodies with ease.
Continuing the trend of expressionistic music, Nicole McDowd then performed “Arabesque #1” by Claude Debussy, on piano. McDowd leaned heavily into the piece’s emotion, appropriately adjusting tempo and volume to give an incredible ebb and flow to the piece, capturing Debussy’s love for ethereal and abstract soundscapes.
The Salisbury School Classical Ensemble then performed Bach’s famous organ piece, “‘Little’ Fugue in G minor BWV 578”. Arranged for violins, cello, trombone, alto saxophone and clarinet the ensemble approached the Baroque piece with rigid and stable rhythm appropriate for the time, dutifully and skillfully passing the song’s main melodic material between the many instruments while demonstrating excellent counterpoint to supplement it.
Joaquin Pachano Vollert played Chopin’s “Scherzo #2 in B flat minor, opus 31,” a difficult and extensive piece that requires much from its performer.
The piece continually shifted between slow, heavy staccato phrases offset by light and quick arpeggios which Vollert navigated with grace. The piece also has a middle section that Vollert brought an incredibly peaceful and tender emotion to, before ramping back into a flurry of notes that would close out the piece.
The Salisbury School Jazz Ensemble closed out the concert with three selections, “Tom Cat” by Lee Morgan, “Lawns” by Carla Bley, and hard bop classic “Song for my Father” by Horace Silver. The three songs served the ensemble well, showing off the group’s cohesion while also giving several opportunities for players to perform extended solos.
The recital is open to students from kindergarten through high school, and features official school ensembles as well as students of private instructors.
