Throughout a student’s time at Choate, it would be almost impossible to not either perform or attend a musical performance. This past Sunday, extremely talented Choate students participated in the Piano and Voice Recital in the Chapel to singing music from a broad range of styles, genres, and languages. For Annika Chang-Boeckmann ’19, this recital was one of many musical performances not only throughout her Choate career, but throughout her entire life.
Chang-Boeckmann performed the song Au Bord de L’Eau, which was composed by Gabriel Fauré and has been re-recorded by notable singers such as Roger Vignoles and Sylvia McNair. Although Chang-Boeckmann is fluent in German and is taking Chinese at Choate, she did not have much familiarity with the French language, making this operatic song particularly difficult to sing. In the past, Chang-Boeckmann has sung in both Italian and German. However, this performance is just a small portion of her musical achievements throughout her life.
Sitting down with Chang-Boeckmann, her dedication, humility, and passion for music was inspiring. She began when she was very young and participated in the program “Music Together,” a group where parents could sing with their children. From that point on, she participated in school choirs and began music lessons.n the seventh grade with a friend’s mother who was an opera singer. Now, at Choate, Chang-Boeckmann participates Chamber Chorus, is a member of the Whimawehs, and was in the musical last Spring. Classical musical, out of all the styles she has tried, is Chang-Boeckmann’s favorite style to sing.
“It’s my passion,”Chang-Boeckmann declared with a smile on her face. “It’s a release of emotions because you can channel your feelings and emotions into singing to make it sound better and give the piece feeling and your own interpretation.”
Although the life of any Choate student is difficult, Chang-Boeckmann never fails to set time for music. “People always ask me why I do chorus and why,even though I am so stressed, I don’t quit chorus. I don’t because itgives me kind of a calm peace with everything going on, and life is so so busy. There is so much stress, but when you go to chorus you kind of take a step back and can enjoy the music and forget the outside world and just focus on the music.”
Her favorite memory with the chorus was traveling to Scandinavia over the summer. “In chorus, you create such a tightly-knit groug by singing together. It’s a family. Being able to travel with that family abroad and visting these cool places and getting to expierence music over there in the Greek Core. They were all really good and it was super cool to have workshops with them.” Chang Boeckmann loved the opportunity to sing with the Greek-Core and learn folk Music. Scandinavia was a highlight, but she has dealt with her fair share of setbacks.
Chang-Boeckmann faced some artistic struggles last year with a voice change. “I was going through a voice change so I was kind of insecure about my voice, because I could not sing at a high pitch. I got really nervous to sing high notes. Dr. McClain really helped me get over that fear and have confidence in my voice.” She has proven that her setbacks have only made her stronger. Chang-Boeckmann will be participating in a Voice Directed Study next term.
Chang-Boeckmann has left a huge mark on the voice community at Choate, and her love for music and performing is heart-warming. Although she claims that performances are nerve wracking, she suggests that performers trust themselves and trust that they are well-prepared and that their instincts will kick in when they are performing.
