Voice Area Recital Held at Sunderman Conservatory
Scott Crowne on the piano while Jocelyn Little ’25 performs. (William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
By Nathaniel Swindell, Staff Writer
On Saturday, a recital called “Sunderman Sings” was hosted for the voice students of the Sunderman Conservatory in an event that featured twelve different singers accompanied by a piano as they performed songs that were taken from many periods throughout the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. The event held great importance to the singers themselves, as many have been involved with music since they were young.
“I just love to perform, and be able to do it with people that I enjoy being around, and experience new perspectives,” said Scott Myers ’27.
“I’ve been playing the piano since I was five, and I didn’t take a real great interest to it until I was in high school,” said Scott Crowne, the pianist for the recital. “It was at that point that I really started discovering the music of Claude Debussy, who is a French composer, and his music just touched me, something spoke to me about it, and it really motivated me to practice.”
The selections were mainly art songs sung in various languages and styles, including English, Italian and Russian.
“I think a lot of what everyone tonight’s gonna be performing are art songs and arias,” said Myers, who performed an Italian arietta. “I think that a lot of connections to the music come with the story, and comes with the story behind it, and art song is poetry set to music.”
Crowne also commented on the different languages that students sang in.
“Language is definitely a challenge, but what’s a bigger sort of area they have to understand is the style period,” said Crowne. “There are different time periods the students have to appreciate and learn. Yes, there are different languages, but there’s also just a different style of singing, and so that’s one of the things that the students learn, and why it’s good for them to get up and perform.”
The recital also gave the students a chance to perform their skills during a time when their usual professor was on sabbatical.
“Dr. Crowne has stepped up to make sure this happens for us, and I really appreciate his work and dedication to it.” said Myers. “I think we should all take a moment to recognize the voice teachers as well, Professor Fahnestock and Dr. Osifchin, who have also helped immensely to make this night possible by teaching us our music and helping us grow along the way.”
The Conservatory will hold more events in the future, starting with further recitals on Nov. 1.
“I just hope that everyone keeps their eyes on the Sunderman Conservatory calendar,” said Crowne. “There’s lots of performance opportunities the students have, and people should come out and support their colleagues, and the greater public at large should always keep an eye out for these great performances the students give.”
Most of these events will also be held in the recital hall, featuring choirs and instrumental performances.
(William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
(William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
