During the weekend of April 23, the Nola Starling Recital Hall welcomed three student performers—all seniors from the Music Department. Their repertoire spanned multiple musical genres and eras—namely Baroque, Classical, and Romantic–each reflecting the unique preferences and tastes of the performer. All of the recitals included nearly 45 minutes of music, broken up by a 10-minute intermission.
The weekend started on Friday with vocal performance major Gavin Mason, baritone, whose piano accompaniment was provided by faculty coach accompanist Judy Stafslien. Mason and his voice teacher, Dan Johnson-Wilmot, collaborated to create a program containing art songs and an opera aria, which was topped off by a rousing selection from Handel’s Alexander’s Feast: the bass air “Revenge, Timotheus cries.” Selections spanned four languages—German, French, Italian, and English—set by Schubert, Poulenc, Bellini, Tosti, Menotti, and Handel. Mason is currently a published composer, work which he will continue—along with voice lessons from Johnson-Wilmot—as he begins Viterbo’s post-baccalaureate teaching program.
Sunday evening brought Ella Rose Mahlum to end the weekend. Mahlum is the last Viterbo student to graduate with a major in Vocal Pedagogy, which she has paired with a major in vocal performance. Her recital contained all classical repertoire, with piano accompaniment by faculty coach accompanist Dr. David Richardson. The soprano’s performance featured selections in German, French, Italian, and English by Mozart, R. Strauss, Debussy, Bellini, and Gordon. The performance was ended with the stunning dynamic duo of arias from the finale of Bellini’s La sonnambula—“Ah! non credea mirarti” and “Ah! non giunge.” Mahlum plans on beginning auditioning for graduate school and other performance opportunities next spring, after which she will pursue a degree in speech language pathology while launching her opera career.
All three students performed these recitals as part of the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Music degree in Applied Music Performance. Their selections reflected four years of work in the practice room, voice studio, recital hall, and even on the competition stage, culminating in a semester-long course focused on their performances. The Music Department wishes them well as they launch their professional careers.
Correction: In the previous issue, we stated that Rachel Handrick would be performing her senior recital on April 18. The recital was later postponed to Saturday, May 1. At the time of printing, there are still seats available via the SignupGenius link on the Viterbo website.
