Second Annual President’s Concert Receives Rousing Reception
4/14/2008Hundreds of students, faculty and staff members, along with invited family members and guests from the wider Brooklyn College community, crowded into Whitman Hall on Thursday, April 3, 2008, for the second annual President's Concert put on by music students enrolled in the Conservatory of Music.
Actor Steve Schirippa, Class of '80, who is best known for playing the role of Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri in the award-winning HBO miniseries The Sopranos, served as master of ceremonies at the concert. It was a part that was played last year by his fellow Sopranos castmate Dominic (Uncle Junior) Chianese, Class of '62.
In his introduction of Brooklyn College President Christoph M. Kimmich, Schirippa, who attended John Jay College during his freshman year and then became a star on the basketball team during his remaining three years at Brooklyn College, told the audience that he was happy to be "home" again. "I have always considered Brooklyn College to be my home," Schirippa said.
The actor also praised the near one hundred students who participated in the concert, everyone who was sitting in the audience and even the stagehands for their efforts.
President Kimmich, in his role as host for the event, also welcomed the audience members and stressed that the concert was a significant happening on campus because it was "by and about students."
In addition to student musicians, a number of Conservatory of Music faculty members took part in the ninety-minute entertainment.
The twelve members of the Brooklyn College Brass Ensemble under the direction of Professor Douglas Hedwig opened the concert with English composer Gordon Langford's first movement of the Sinfonietta—one of his most frequently performed works for brass instruments.
Jonathan Levin followed up on piano with Sposalizio from Années de pèlerinage, 2e année, "Italie," by Liszt. The composer wrote the piece, the title of which means "Marriage" in Italian, with Raphael's painting The Marriage of the Virgin as inspiration.
With Professor Richard Barrett conducting the Brooklyn College Opera Theater with the Conservatory Orchestra, mezzo-soprano Fatima Ayazlar sang the aria Va! laisse couler mes larmes from the French composer Jules Massenet's opera Werther. This vocal piece was followed by soprano Greta Feeney's performance of The Willow Song, from The Ballad of Baby Doe by American composer Douglas Moore.
Guitarists Yotam Ginzburg and Aaron Riley combined for Tennis Waltz and Ragtime from Cambridge Suite for Two Guitars by the Moscow-born classical guitarist and composer Nikita Koshkin, who dedicated the work to his close friends Chris Kilvington and Lorraine Eastwood, after his first visit to Cambridge, England. Next, soprano Gretchen Mundinger performed "Iris" from Summoning: The Three Goddesses with electronic score by George Brunner.
Blues for Alice by Charlie Parker, considered to be one of the greatest and most influential jazz musicians along with the likes of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, was the next selection in the program, played by the five-member Conservatory Jazz Ensemble - which after the haunting melody of Brunner's work came out swinging.
Experimentation was the watchword for the penultimate piece on the program as the eighteen members of the Conservatory Chamber Choir under the direction of Professor Jonathan Babcock performed a musical recitation of poet Robert Frost's poem Nothing Gold Can Stay, using a pulse as opposed to a time signature as the basis for a rhythmic structure.
Wrapping it up was the Conservatory Orchestra under the direction of Professor George Rothman performing Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, with soloist Stanislav Nikolov on violin.
In his closing remarks, Professor Bruce MacIntyre, director of the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, thanked everyone for coming and invited them back for the three concerts that the Conservatory puts on each year.
