By Kelsey Rogers, Asst. Living and Arts Editor
Adjunct faculty music Jeffrey Fahnestock will perform songs and duets from the early 19th century at his faculty recital on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 2:30 p.m. in Stretansky Concert Hall.
Presented by the Department of Music, the recital features “Songs of Love and Loss,” with songs performed in both Italian and German from 1795 to 1835. Composers represented in the performance include Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Joseph Haydn, Vincenzo Bellini and Gioacchino Rossini.
The recital will feature Fahnestock, tenor, alongside Susquehanna alumna Susan Hochmiller, a soprano, and Jocelyn Swigger, a pianist. Both Hochmiller and Swigger are colleagues of Fahnestock at Gettysburg College.
Fahnestock says that his favor- ite part of the event is twofold.
“First, I get to perform live in a lovely space for an attentive audience of students and community members,” Fahnestock said. “Secondly, it is always enjoyable to perform and interact with a former student of mine.”
Fahnestock and Hochmiller studied under the same voice teacher when they were high school students, however they were decades apart. They also both attended graduate school at Eastman School of Music, along with Swigger.
Fahnestock then compared their connections to those of musicians past.
“Beethoven studied with Haydn. Schubert was a participant in Beethoven’s funeral procession. The music world is very small, with many connections,” Fahnestock said.
An interesting element of the program will be the transition of the instruments used.
At their concert right before the performance at Susquehanna, the trio will be performing the same program, but with a 1790 Walter fortepiano, which Fahnestock describes as the precursor to the modern piano. The performance at Susquehanna will use a modern piano.
“The fortepiano has a bigger, more forceful sound because there is an iron frame and hammers covered with felt,” Fahnestock said.
He continued by saying that performing with this instrument is a study in how it the music probably sounded in the early 19th century. The study is due to a growing increase in early music performance practice over the past five decades.
“Performing the same program a few days later with a modern piano in a larger concert hall is a unique challenge,” Fahnestock added.
At Susquehanna, Fahnestock teaches applied voice, vocal literature and lyric diction. He also co-directs the GO Japan program, which works with a chamber music residency at Niigata University.
Fahnestock has also performed internationally across the U.S. and in Great Britain and Germany. He has performed on radio and television broadcasts within the country.
