Faculty Showcase Recital!

Today I went to see the Faculty Showcase Recital at the Hockett Family Recital Hall at Ithaca College. I came with low expectations when I went to see the Recital. Of course my mind changed quickly when I heard the first number. Mr. Charis Dimaras started out with a stupendous rendition of Piano Sonata with 4 selections of that piece of music. You could tell that he was into the music as he was playing it with so much passion. The next performance was from 2 gentlemen and a woman. One gentlemen, named Aaron Tindall played the tuba and the other gentlemen, named Alex Shuhan played the french horn. The woman, named Carolyn Grossmann, played the piano. Together they played a Suite for French Horn, Tuba, and Piano which involved 5 selections of music. Every instrument had a significant part to the selections of music no matter what tempo it had. They were able to not be on top of each other when the other had a solo part in them which I really enjoyed hearing. The Jazz quintet followed featuring the professors of jazz music, played two songs that they picked out for their students to study over the semester. They picked out Out of Nowhere and I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me. I do enjoy jazz when I hear, which I don't do often, but in this case I enjoyed both songs. The voice of Catherine Gale was amazing. She has the perfect voice for Jazz and she smashed both songs like it was nothing. I was really impressed with Nick Weiser who really felt the music in his fingers, he didn't even have to look at the piano to know what to play at all times. Afterwards, Nicholas DiEugenio and Nathan Hess played a couple preludes for the Violin and Piano from Dmitri Shostakovich and his friend who arranged the piece, Dmitri Tsyganov. At first I did not believe a violin and a piano could work together but they actually collaborated well. My favorite selection was the 15th Allegretto. I really do like music that moves quickly because you can feel the intensity that goes on between the violin and the piano. To finish the concert, or to be "The Desert" as John White put it, he and Conrad Alexander played children songs from Chick Corea. At first I thought it was going to be a whole bunch of nursery rhymes. In reality, it was a whole bunch of different beats and different notes that made the music interesting. The notes seemed to be played wrong but it worked out in the end of the song. I did recognize No. 9 Children Song but I could not remember were I have heard that song before and I've been cracking my head trying to figure out where that is from. Overall, I have an amazing experience listening to music played by the faculty of Ithaca College. I came out with a great impression of all the faculty and I hope I get to here them again in the future.