Ruth Lilly Performance Hall hosted the “Dynamic Duos” concert on Oct. 5. Five duets and one trio performed pieces across multiple styles of classical music.
The first piece of the night was “A Late Walk,” by Michael Karmon, performed by Mitzi Westra as mezzo-soprano and Nemenja Ostojić on acoustic guitar. According to the program, “A Late Walk” is a composition based on the poetry of noted American poet Robert Frost.
The piece ranged from light and cheery to slower and more somber, to reflect on the nature of the fall-centric poems.
The second piece was “Assobio a Játo” (“The Jet Whistle”), composed by Heitor Villa-Lobos and performed by Tamara Thweatt on flute and Dennis McCafferty on cello.
According to Thweatt, this piece highlights a jet whistle from which the piece gets its title. The jet whistle is a special way of playing the flute, which gives it a sound that is not normally characteristic of the instrument.
The next piece was “Sonata No. 2” for trumpet and percussion, composed by Anthony J. Cirone. It was performed by Larry Powell on trumpet and Paul Berns on percussion.
The piece incorporated a number of styles including military-esque snare lines with trumpet and slow melodies traded between trumpet and vibraphone.
The only trio of the night performed “Sunrise,” by Charles Ives. The trio included Kathleen Hacker as soprano, Austin Hartman on violin and Gregory Martin on piano.
Hartman and Martin returned to the stage for the final performances of the night. They performed “Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré” by Maurice Ravel, as well as “Nocturne” and “Cortège,” by Lili Boulanger.
The duet performed the final piece of the evening, “Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting” by Charles Ives.
The piece walks through a day in the life of a child at summer camp, from day start to end. The piece contained Christian hymns throughout, including “Jesus Loves Me” and closing with “Gather at the River.”
Sophomore jazz studies and music technology and recording major Sidney Carpenter-Wilson said that he most enjoyed the compositions of Lili Boulanger.
“[The pieces] are really cool just because the fact she [Boulanger] was so young when she created such [pieces],” Carpenter-Wilson said. “[The pieces] didn’t sound like anything new. [They] sounded like she was really well-learned and that she really used everything at her advantage.”
Senior performance major Joseph Jones said he was most inspired by the first piece.
“As a guitarist, I have to go with the Karmon [“A Late Walk”],” Jones said. “I also really enjoy Robert Frost poetry and thought that the lyric melodies really suited them [the Frost poems]. In a way, the guitar suits it more as an instrument because it is much more soft than the piano.”
The next concert will be a Voice Masterclass on Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Ruth Lilly Performance Hall in Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center.
