Normally, musicians perform under the direction of a conductor, but this was not the case this past Sunday when over 20 students performed in the Academy Chamber Music Society’s concert. Andover’s Chamber Music Society does not function as many other clubs do. At the beginning of each school year, students who express interest in the organization can speak to music teacher and performer, Holly Barnes, to audition. Barnes then organizes groups of students to perform together based on their musical aptitude. Chamber music is performed by a small, intimate ensemble of musicians without the direction of a conductor. Sophie Scolnik-Bower ’08 said, “Chamber music makes you communicate when you are performing. I love chamber music because it’s a unique experience where you try to portray one idea among several people, to communicate without words.” Barnes also chooses the pieces that each group performs, and they usually rehearse only once a week with an assigned coach. Because winter term is so short, the ensembles only had about one month to rehearse for this past performance. Scolnik-Bower said, “We could have used another week or two to rehearse, but with the amount of time we had it went really well.” At the concert, students and faculty members jointly performed 12 pieces by nine composers, including well-known ones by Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. A particularly excellent string quintet was composed of Katie von Braun ’09 and Barnes on violin, Jacob Shack ’10 on viola and Bobby Chen ’10 and Rainer Crosett ’10 on cello. Their performance of “Quintet in C Major, Op. 163” by Franz Schubert was technically secure and well put-together. In addition, the performance drew a full audience, most of whom were Andover residents. The audience sat at small tables covered in white tablecloths and enjoyed refreshments around vases of red carnations while listening to the musical performances. Despite its length of two and a half hours, the concert was engaging and kept audience members entertained, as demonstrated by the loud applause after each performance. Andi Zhou ’09 said, “It was absolutely fabulous. Great energy. All of the pieces fit together really well, and everything was in its place. Excellent.”
