Building from smooth, dreamy low notes to a long, pure high note, Margot Shang ’16 opened her set with “Nella Fantasia” by Ennio Morricone. Although it consisted of three verses with the same melody, Shang’s ex- uberance made each section unique and captivating.
Shang was one of three se- niors who performed at the Se- nior Voice Recital last Sunday in the Timken Room of Graves Hall. Shang was also joined by Sara Luzuriaga ’16 and Fiona Yonkman ’16.
Luzuriaga opened the recital with “Once Canciones, 3. Bendi- ta La Tierra” by Diego Luzuriaga, Luzuriaga’s father, accompanied by Peter Lorenço, Instructor in Music, on guitar. The guitar opened the piece with a series of low, sad, and quiet notes be- fore Luzuriaga started to sing. The piece alternated between sections where her voice dom- inated the melody and sections with only the guitar rhythm as the volume and pitch steadily in- creased. Rapid guitar strumming contrasted with long, high, vocal notes, which led to a final guitar chord to close the piece.
“I think [my favorite song to perform would be] ‘Bendita La Tierra,’ just because it real- ly builds throughout the song,” said Luzuriaga. “It kind of starts off really quiet and soft, and it’s about a big change in somebody’s life, having to start afresh, and everything you think you know has been shattered and blown away. This kind of desperation
builds up with the song, and in the end it’s just big and fun. I re- ally love the words and music.”
Shang performed “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” from “Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, accom- panied by Kilduff on the piano. Starting on a low, mournful note, Shang slowly ascended before reaching the high pitched, hope- ful chorus. Singing “Let me say goodbye!” toward the end of the song, Shang then hit a high note as the piano slowly climbed to a final note.
“I think that on an emotion- al level, I’m most attached to ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,’ because it reminds mealotofmydad.Itwasoneof the big musicals that we went to see together. I remember when I first moved to London, I didn’t really like London that much. My dad wanted to make a spe- cial thing to try and make me like it more, and understand all the good things that could end up happening. So we went to see phantom of the opera, and then after that weekend, it kind of got better,” said Shang.
Closing the recital, Yonkman performed “Embraceable You” from “Girl Crazy” by George Gershwin, accompanied by Bar- bara Kilduff, Adjunct Instructor in Music, on the piano. The piece started off on a bright, high note, which slowly descended in pitch before rapidly jumping up again. This alteration in pitch repeated throughout the piece. In the end, Yonkman sang “my sweet em- braceable you,” ending on a low- er, held note, as the piano rose in pitch to one final flourish.
C.ELKOUH/THEPHILLIPIAN Margot Shang ’16 performed “Wishing You were Somehow Here Again” from “Phantom of the Opera.”
“I really like jazz and more of the oldies, so the last four songs were definitely my favorite, the Gershwin ones, and [out of those] I really like ‘Embraceable You.’ I love the lyrics and the jazzy feel of it, and [the lyric] ‘Embrace me my embraceable you.’ Don’t we all want to be embraced by some- one?” said Yonkman.
Yonkman first started singing when she was only two years old as a part of a chorus of little sheep in a Christmas pageant at church. As the daughter of two pastors, Yonkman frequently sang in church, which formed the basis of her passion for sing- ing.
“One of my favorite types of music is gospel music, so for me, [music] has a really religious as-
pect to it. Singing is part of the way that I praise God. None of the songs I sang [today] were re- ligious, but that’s the reason why I sing,” said Yonkman.
Unlike Yonkman, it wasn’t un- til Luzuriaga was in fifth grade when she first joined a choir. Af- ter arriving at Andover, Luzuria- ga found she had no time for singing, and only started to take lessons with Kilduff during her Upper year when she realized that she missed singing.
“My dad’s a composer, so I’ve grown up hearing music and go- ing to concerts. I’d always want- ed to play an instrument, so I tried piano for a little bit and then guitar, but nothing really stuck. The one thing that I’d kind of been doing forever was sing-
ing,” said Luzuriaga.
Similar to Luzuriaga, Shang
has also embraced music since a young age, but started singing in a choir in middle school. Shang has also taken vocal lessons at Andover with Kilduff since Low- er year.
“When I was little, I under- stood there was a difference be- tween reality and my imagina- tion, but I didn’t totally get when I was switching, so I was always singing,” said Shang. “I was sing- ing to myself and singing to peo- ple that I thought were in the room, but they weren’t there. So I was literally insane and just singing about what I was doing and everything that popped into my mind; if I had a thought, it would be sung.”
