By Devonne Tourre, Asst. Digital Media Editor
The Departments of Music and Modern Languages presented a recital titled “100 Years Later: Echoes of the Armistice” on Nov. 5 and 6 in Stretansky Concert Hall.
The concert was held to pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. It featured student translations of previously untranslated French texts from WWI. The text was read in its original French and in English between each performance.
Some of the translations were set to music in original student compositions, while others were by students and highlighted by original student artwork.
The recital opened with sophomore Stephen Burdsall singing “The Journalist” alongside senior Michaela Wagner on piano, who composed the piece.
“While we were introduced, it was mentioned that these letters where written by people who were no older than the performers on stage,” Burdsall said. “These words really stuck with me: to think that my education, my career, my interests … would be skewed by war is awakening. Being in this concert has made me treasure my education, my career and my life, just a little bit more.”
The recital continued with “Dark Reflections,” “Last Breath,” “Trenches” and “Umbrellas of Jellyfish:” four composed performances that were either played by students in complete darkness, had accented lights or were accompanied by text and images to portray the intensity and unease of war. The pieces were composed by junior Hayden Stacki, senior Benjamin Nylander, senior Shawn Khanna and sophomore Emily Hendershot, respectively.
“This concert meant a lot to me as a musician,” said junior Charlotte Wood, who performed in “Dark Reflections.” “I was thrilled to see the coordination of the … departments to create such a developed experience for the audience, but this concert really demonstrated the abilities of our student composers.”
Wood emphasized the effort taken to learn the repertoire for the performance.
“I had to learn some extended techniques on my instrument, the E-flat clarinet, to be able to play it,” Wood said. Wood also noted the work done by the student composers.
“Although I was a performer, I was a fan for my peers who had composed and performed alongside me,” Wood said. “I know it takes a lot of work, and I can really appreciate that.”
Associate Professor of French Lynn Palermo emphasized that the performance had been in the works for years.
“For me, [the event has] been kind-of a dream for a number of years,” Palermo said.
“I taught two different courses where students translated [these pieces] as part of their coursework and I was thinking, ‘We have the 100th year anniversary coming up and there’s nothing really on the docket to commemorate that,” Palermo continued. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, but I just sent the texts to [Long] … and we met a couple of times to work on the program and it slowly came together bit by bit.”
Attendees noted the passion conveyed in the performance.
“[At the second show,] I felt the same feeling, but it was more powerful,” said first-year Tyla Parks. “I knew what was coming, yet I got chills hearing it the second time, which I think is more powerful.”