Soprano junior Kayla McGallian (pictured above) performs her winning solos from the 2019 music department Honors Competition. McGallian was one of many students to perform in the Honors Recital on Saturday Sept. 21 in the Doty Recital Hall. This recital is annual and includes winners of the Honors Competition (Xavier Delcid/photo editor).
Groups of families and friends chatted excitedly to their favorite performers before the 2019 Geneseo music department Honors Recital on Saturday Sept. 21 at the Doty Recital Hall. The winners of the annual Geneseo Honors Competition were dressed to the nines and smiling ear to ear as they waited for the doors to open and the show to begin.
Soprano junior Kayla McGallian and tenor senior Brett Hammes were among those preparing to perform the pieces they’d sung to win the annual Honors Competition. They both expressed their gratitude for the opportunity.
“Today we’ll be performing songs with a collaborative pianist who we worked with last year and auditioned for this concert with,” Hammes said. “We are so grateful we were offered this opportunity to perform and to showcase what the arts have to offer at Geneseo.”
Hammes is a student of Joan Floriano and chose to sing the songs “Lonely House” from Street Scene by Kurt Weill as well as “I’m Alive” from Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. According to the concert program, Hammes has performed in the Geneseo music department Honors Recital in the past. Both songs were dynamically sung with a power and energy that Hammes never ceases to bring to the stage.
McGallian is also a student of Floriano and chose to perform the songs “I’ll Know” from Guys and Dolls by Frank Loesser and “It’s Only a Paper Moon” by Harold Arlen. McGallian’s smooth soprano notes made clear that both songs were specifically and perfectly chosen for her vocal range as if they were written for her to sing.
Aside from Hammes and McGallian, six other performers took to the stage to showcase their individual talents. Piano accompaniment by Dr. Corey Silberstein and Dr. Brock Tjosvold spotlighted the sounds of each performer elegantly.
McGallian was first to perform. Next up came the stunning vocals of soprano junior Kelsey Roberts, who impressed the audience with her velvet sound. This performance was followed by Hammes, whose tenor voice brought a new range into the hall.
Cellist senior Grant McElheny brought a new sound to the recital with the rich hum of his cello, which he has studied for more than 10 years, according to the concert program. Violinist senior Shotaro Toyoda followed McElheny with a mysterious, intriguing A minor violin concerto.
Next, soprano senior Annie Levine channeled character into her songs with her expressions and vocal dynamics. Following Levine, baritone junior Rocky Nardone allowed his powerful voice to project beautifully through the auditorium. The final performance of the afternoon was an incredible, lofty clarinet solo by clarinetist junior Sara Stoner.
The Honors Recital was only a taste of what Geneseo’s music department is capable of. Even more opportunities to experience the talent of Geneseo are coming up in the form of shows and group concerts for this semester and the spring. McGallian commented on the several events that musical theatre majors are involved in.
“Musical theatre majors usually audition to be in the school musicals, and we have our page-to-stage in November. We’re doing Urinetown,” McGallian said. “And then in the spring semester we are doing Assassins and Damn Yankees. Also, there are six of us in the musical theater major who are doing La cage aux Folles at Geva Theatre Center. We’ve been running since Sept. 3 and we run to Oct. 6.”
Hammes also highlighted the project that one musical theatre major has taken on this semester.
“We’ve had people before take composition classes where they create their own music which we then perform in the choirs,” Hammes said. “One of our students, Tristan Strasser, is using his own drive and passion to put on his own totally student-run production, Ordinary Days, in December.”
For those interested in learning about just how exceptional the music department at Geneseo can be, stay on the lookout for information about these upcoming experiences.