By Danielle Bettendorf Asst. living & arts editor
Susquehanna juniors Ariana Dellosa and Luke Duceman performed a duet recital in Stretansky Concert Hall on April 1.
Dellosa performed on piano and Duceman performed on saxophone. Duceman was accompanied on select pieces by Galen Deibler, who formerly served as professor of music at Susquehanna, and Lecturer in Music Ilya Blinov.
Dellosa performed “12 Variations on ‘Ah vous dirai-je, Maman’ K. 265/300e” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Danzas Argentinas, op. 2” by Alberto Ginastera and “Mazurka, op. 7, no. 1 in B-flat Major” and “Nocturne, op. 32, no. 1 in B Major” by Frederic Chopin. Duceman performed “Drei Romanzen, op. 94” by Robert Schumann, “Improvisation 3” by Ryo Noda and “Hot-Sonate fur Altsaxophon und Klavier” by Erwin Schulhoff.
Dellosa and Duceman chose the pieces they performed with guidance from their professors and had many factors to consider.
“It’s finding the right set and what would work best in the program,” Dellosa said. “How much you can get done and what you like versus what you should be playing and what would complement each other.”
Dellosa added that performing a duet recital meant the two had to consider what pieces would work together, instead of just individually.
“It’s not your own recital— you’re sharing the recital,” Dellosa said. “So it’s what would complement each other, and that was kind of difficult in our case because [Duceman] has a lot of 20th century music, whereas I don’t. I incorporated a 20th century piece in mine to complement his style.”
Dellosa and Duceman agreed that their program covered a wide variety of musical styles.
“I think what’s interesting about our program is that it’s very diverse: a lot of different kinds of music,” Duceman said. “It’s not just like one style, one era—you get a little bit of everything.”
“I’m playing a set of variations on ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,’ which is really fun,” Dellosa said. “On the program, it has the title in French, so unless you’re well-versed in French you’re not going to know what that means.”
“You hear the opening of the tune that we all know, and then it turns into Mozart,” Dellosa continued. “It’s super fun and whimsical and a lot of fun to play. I think it’s definitely a crowd pleaser.”
Duceman also noted that one of his pieces has some integral historical background.
“[‘Hot-Sonate für Altsaxophon und Klavier’ is] a very jazzy piece, and it was written in 1930 between World War I and World War II,” Duceman said. “Though overall it’s jazzy, fun [and] super energetic, it was written during a time when the Nazis were coming into power.”
“It does have a kind of history behind it,” Duceman continued. “Jazz in this time was used as a form of empowerment and resistance against the Nazis and the Third Reich, so it’s a very powerful piece. It’s a lot of fun.”
The two also noted the importance of being able to show those in attendance what they have been working on and compared the performance to other students presenting research.
“As music education majors, our capstone is student teaching,” Duceman said. “However, it’s not something we can show off. We just go off and student teach, whereas the [other majors] get to present their research.”
“With this recital, we get to show what we work towards,” Duceman continued. “This is what our passion is. This is what we spend two to three hours every day working on. It’s nice to finally be able to show people what we’re about and what we truly love doing.”
The duo also spoke to how they have grown because of this recital and how they have enjoyed working together.
“I’ve had to discipline myself in ways that I didn’t really know I was capable of,” Dellosa said. “That could be me in the practice room until two in the morning, or that could be memorizing something I didn’t know I was capable of, mastering a new technique or actually being able to perform in front of people, because of performance anxiety.”
“That’s a huge thing for me, so overall the whole package is improving on my musicianship,” Dellosa continued. “I’ve grown so much in this short but very tedious process.”
“Working with each other and getting to see each other perform and grow as musicians is such a rewarding experience,” Duceman said.
“It’s interesting, because you think ‘Oh, you’re music majors, you get to listen to each other all the time,’ but because [Dellosa] plays piano and I play sax, we don’t really get to listen to each other that much,” he added.
“I’ll see her perform once or twice a semester, and vice versa, but it’s so nice to see your friends and colleagues being successful and excelling and being in their element,” Duceman continued. “It’s such a fulfilling, rewarding experience.”
