Ian Gu ’26 played cello in the Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 by Robert Schumann.
Flutist Caleb Beroukhim ’27 and Clarinetist Willy Park ’26 performed the “Deux Duos for Flute and Clarinet” by Kaspar Kummer.
Pictured from left to right, saxophonists Ethan Liu ’26 and Brandon Fu ’25 played in a Jazz ensemble that performed “Armando’s Rhumba” by Chick Corea.
Audience members sat on the edge of their seats as the performers’ bows darted back and forth. Ominous pizzicato and airy harmonics matched the fast-paced, macabre piece. Audience member Evie Kim ’27 reflected on the emotion and passion in the performance.
“Some people were getting super into it, and it was just fascinating… Especially the last one, it was [about] this guy whose friends died, and it was really interesting. You could kinda really see the attachment in the music,” said Kim.
Last Saturday, the Academy Chamber Music Society held two concerts in Timken Hall. Groups performed a number of different pieces with a broad diversity of moods and emotions. There were numerous different composers and themes represented in the concert. Jessica Jeon ’27 and their ensemble performed a piece by Florence Price, an African-American composer from the 20th century. Jeon noted the background of the piece they played.
“We performed Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, the first movement. For context, Florence Price is an underrepresented composer…who mainly composed during the 20th century, and she’s known as the first black female composer whose work was performed by an orchestra, which I thought was really cool,” said Jeon.
In preparation for the chamber concert, performers wrestled with the challenging pieces. Having around two months to prepare, Jeon reflected on the difficulty of the piece. Despite initial strain, ensemble members persevered to produce a successful performance.
“There are a lot of thorny passages, and a lot of them don’t really fit the way you expect it to. … Working to figure out how to make things sound cohesive was a little bit tricky, [as well as] finding out the balance between the instruments,” said Jeon.
In addition to complex pieces, some of the performers had little to no experience performing in chamber music. Cindy Yang ’26, a pianist, shared their experience overcoming this obstacle.
“I think the biggest challenge…is that the piece itself was…pretty hard…and I had no experience performing in chamber [music] before, so I think getting everything right, and learning to play in an ensemble [instead of] a solo [is] very different. You have to be aware of where everyone else is, keeping in time and everything,” said Yang.
In the end, Yang hopes that the audience appreciated the overarching diversity of talent in students at Andover. Performers are not only accomplished musicians but have well-rounded skills and interests that make them unique.
“I hope the audience liked it, but I think it’s good to see…a lot of people at Andover who are not just ‘music kids’. People here aren’t just one type of person, they’re not all ‘STEM kids,’ not all ‘humanities kids,’ not all ‘music kids,’ but I feel like people have different facets of themselves. There’s a lot of good people here who are really talented,” said Yang.
