Photos by Lauren Kee, Tiffany Xiao, and Linda Phan/The Choate News
Spanning from May 15 to May 23, Arts Fest will feature many Choate artists’ hard work, including that of the choral and instrumental ensembles. This year has presented a multitude of barriers for these ensembles as they were only able to hold limited in-person rehearsals due to Covid-19 guidelines. These restrictions also affect how ensembles will be showcased during Arts Fest, because only members of the Choate community who are on campus or are day students may be a part of the audience. Despite these challenges, the ensembles have been able to adapt to guidelines and remain optimistic about their performances.
One ensemble group per- forming will be Chamber Chorus, on May 23. A highlight of the Chamber Chorus concert features a piece composed by Varun Ramamurthi ’22. “Composing music is one of my passions,” said Ra- Ramamurthy, “I have a long history in choral music, and I felt like I could utilize that to make a song for the community.” The piece, titled “In Paradisum,” was inspired by a requiem of the same name. The lyrics of the piece are derived from the final movement of the requiem, when a man is ascending to heaven and being welcomed by angels. Ramamurthi’s piece is dedicated to the people who have lost their lives to Covid-19, their families, and their loved ones.
“It feels great to have an idea coming to fruition,” said Ramamurthi. “I had to teach the choir the piece, which was interesting since I had to conduct them through it, and also an area of improvement for me as a composer.”
Sofia Munoz ’23, an alto in Chamber Chorus, added, “It was really helpful because we were having trouble with the key changes and figuring out the tempo with the sopranos. With Varun there, he was able to set a general rhythm and give us an idea of what the piece should sound like.”
Another ensemble performing is Symphony Orchestra. The concert, originally scheduled for May 15, coincided with the date when many students will leave campus to receive a second vaccine shot and so had to be pushed back a week to May 22. The repertoire for the con- cert features a variety of composers. “We’re trying not to play just popular classical music, but also present works by composers who aren’t part of mainstream classical music,” said Instrumental Ensembles Director Mr. Gene Wie. One piece the Symphony Orchestra is playing is “Colas Bruegnon Overture,” by Dmitry Kabalevsky.
“Kabalevsky doesn’t get as much airtime as a lot of the other composers do, and a lot of his music is now locked up in copyright,” said Mr. Wie. Fortunately, the Symphony Orchestra has been able to use Choate’s own copy of the music after a past director bought a set of parts 50 years ago.
Another piece the Symphony Orchestra is performing is Joe Hisaishi’s “Tonari no Totoro,” from the Japanese animated film My Neighbor Totoro. Mr. Wie said, “A lot of people don’t take film music seriously. People look at this and go, ‘Why would you play music from a cartoon? It’s not serious music.’ But it’s time for school orchestras to play this and not stick to the traditional Eurocentric standards of music.”
Mr. Wie concluded, “We have always learned orchestral music in a very narrow path, and as a conductor, I’ve tried to introduce new things to my ensembles over the years. As awful as the pandemic is, it’s also helped to trigger a revelation of why we teach certain kinds of music to our groups.”
