Jason Teng ’13 showcased his versatile baritone voice in a performance of various English and German songs. His Senior Recital last Saturday in the Timken Room of Graves Hall represented the culmination of his musical career at Andover.
Teng kicked off his performance with three renowned songs composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The first song, “An Chloe,” with German lyrics by poet J. G. Jacobi, is a love letter from a young man to his beautiful love Chloe. The song immediately set a sentimental mood in the room. Teng’s voice traversed a wide range of pitches, deftly conveying the piece’s love story.
“It’s tough because a lot of the songs were German songs. It’s not a language that he speaks. When you have lessons in voice, often the repertories will include music in other languages,” said Christopher Walter, Instructor in Music and the piano accompanist at the recital.
Teng sang “Erlkonig” by Franz Schubert, which he said was one of his favorite songs, drawing applause from the audience.
The “Erlkonig” composition, originally based off a poem of the same name written by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, has been adapted in a lot of musicals. It portrays a child riding on the horseback with his father who then dies at the hand of supernatural beings.
Teng demonstrated the anxious nature of the song through his facial expressions and voice.
Teng followed “Erlkonig” with “Promises, Promises” by Burt Bacharac, a song excerpt from a Broadway musical in 1960s. The song highlighted Teng’s mastery in controlling high-pitched, long-lasting notes. He hit the last note of the song smoothly, ending the piece triumphantly.
“With my music teacher, I go through a tremendous amount of repertoire. I chose the three English songs because I like the songs that have a lot of energy in them,” said Teng.
“[Donald] Wilkinson [,adjunct Instructor in Music] has been his voice teacher for four years. Jason sang wonderfully, with his great voice. He prepared very well,” said Walter.
“Stars” from “Les Miserables” by Claude-Michel Schonberg was the most popular song of the night among the audience members.
“I like ‘Stars’ a lot because I’ve seen the movie and knew the song. I could almost imagine it while he was singing it, very emotional,” said Ellie Blum ’15.
The finale of the night, “Everybody Says Don’t” by Stephen Sondheim, was from the musical “Anyone Can Whistle.”
“Jason’s notes were clear. He sang very well. The last song, ‘Everybody Says Don’t’ is a lot of fun [to sing]. Congrats to Jason,” said Wei Ham Lim ’15.
The audience responded with enthusiastic applause after Teng’s performance.
“I think it was really good. There were a lot of back-and-forths in emotions, and he did that very well. We could even understand that without knowing the language he sang in,” said Shun Sakai ’13.
