By Julie Bauer
Staff Writer
The Department of Music will present a faculty recital featuring chamber music for solo horn and voice at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 in Stretansky Concert Hall.
The recital will feature Adjunct Faculty in Music Nina Tober on soprano, Associate Professor of Music David Steinau on tenor, Adjunct Faculty in Music Tyler Ogilvie on horn and Lecturer in Music Jaime Namminga on piano.
Music by Berlioz, Britten, Cooke, Donizetti, Lachner and Lewy will be performed in this faculty recital. According to Tober, the group chose works that are generally underrepresented.
“There is not a great deal of repertoire for [our] combination of instruments, but we found some very beautiful works that are not heard of ten,” Tober said.
Namminga also added that the instrumentation for the recital is also new to the performers.
“I am a collaborative pianist who enjoys making music with anyone on any repertoire, but this will be my first concert performing works with this exact instrumentation, so that will be fun,” Namminga said.
The repertoire will also feature works in different languages, including pieces in German, a piece in Italian, a collection of pieces in French and some pieces in English. “The foreign language works were written in the 19th century and the English pieces are 20th century works, so there is quite a variety of musical style and poetry,” Tober said.
Members of the group also praised the opportunity to work with one another.
“It’s been very rewarding working with them all,” Ogilvie said. “I have never had the opportunity to perform a chamber music recital with vocalists, so this has been a unique experience for me.”
Namminga expressed some of the same sentiments.
“I thoroughly enjoy working with each of them because they are each confident and assertive in their musical choices, yet flexible and open to different ideas or suggestions,” Namminga said. “That is a special balance to find in a musician.”
Tober said she has enjoyed working with the other performers because it has pushed her to improve.
“Steinau, Ogilvie and Namminga are all highly-skilled [and] experienced musicians who have prepared countless performances throughout their careers,” Tober said. “Working with all of them has motivated me to perform at the highest level possible—it’s been a real privilege and a challenge.”
According to Tober, preparation for the recital began during the spring of 2018 and continued into the summer. It ran smoothly, with the performers attempting to take the music and make it their own.
“The pieces are not difficult to put together, ensemble-wise, so we have focused on finding the right placement of performers for the best balance and also have enjoyed bringing different phrasing interpretations to the music, making each piece our own,” Namminga said.
The group said they have enjoyed preparing for and presenting recitals because it is a way to improve themselves as musicians and engage with the campus musical community.
“[Our music] program provides new challenges that I welcome, helping me forever grow as a professional while providing the opportunity for [Susquehanna’s] students to hear great repertoire performed by top-notch musicians in our campus community,” Ogilvie said.
“Teachers of artistry and musicianship should demonstrate—when they can—their acquired expertise and love for what they teach and to serve as an example of the standards they set for their students,” Tober said. “This is both aspirational and inspirational. It’s what keeps us all going.”