Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
April 29, 2011 Update: Aneesh Chopra, U.S. chief technology officer, has written an extensive blog about his visit with Daniela Lapidous and Shreya Indukuri, both grade 11. Read the blog here. April 20, 2011 Two Harker students attending Power Shift ’11 in Washington, D.C., earlier this month had the ear of 8,000 attendees, then had a private meeting with Aneesh Chopra, U.S. chief technology officer in the Obama administration. Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous, both grade 11, addressed the crowd of 8,000-plus at the conference then went on to meet with Chopra for about 30 minutes. The two students have been very active in advocating for reducing energy use through technology and other methods. A list of Harker News Online articles on their activities is at the end of this article. “The meeting [with Chopra] went really well,” said Indukuri. “He was very impressed with the opportunities for energy efficiency in schools and he wants to have Lisa Jackson, administrator of the EPA, and Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, write a letter to schools to launch a campaign for energy benchmarking. “He loved Harker’s new energy efficiency with the smart energy system and was very supportive of our efforts to take this to other schools; we already helped students implement this project successfully in the Los Gatos – Saratoga High School District,” she added. “We also met with staff members and the director of ARPA-E, (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy),” added Lapidous. “Their director is Arun Majumdar, and they basically invest in breakthrough clean energy technologies in hopes of finding the next big thing. “We made two presentations,” said Lapidous. “The first was more of an informal conversation while the second was a formal presentation including a segment of the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) presentation. The audience was a varying number of ARPA-E staff, who are all rather young and very nice.” Following the presentations, “Majumdar came to talk to us personally for about 30 minutes,” said Lapidous. “The post-doctoral fellow who organized the meeting for us, Karma Sawyer, said she couldn’t remember the last time she scheduled a 30-minute meeting for him – usually they are 10 minutes. He lives in the Bay Area when not working in D.C., and he knew exactly where Harker was. “Both he and Mr. Chopra said that this smart energy project was essentially a no-brainer with an obvious positive impact for schools. They both acknowledged the environmental importance but were understandably more interested in the 250 percent ROI our project turned over in about a year,” Lapidous said. “PowerShift, the meeting with Mr. Chopra, and the meeting with Mr. Majumdar were all very exciting and we are extremely inspired to work 10 times harder on SmartPowerEd and expand it to more schools in the Bay Area before the fall comes around,” she finished. http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/green-projects-featured-on-49ers-kids-program/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/energy-dashboard-goes-live/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/unicef-video-includes-activist-students-in-video/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/students-filmed-for-video-on-ace-grant-recipients/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/student-presents-at-tech-titans-conference/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/harker-trio-gangs-up-on-global-warming/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/winged-post-reports-on-teen-tech-conference/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/sophomores-report-on-l-a-climate-conference/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/students-invited-to-climate-summit/
The Harker School Orchestra, led by Chris Florio, reached a new pinnacle in its development today when it received a unanimous superior rating at the Californian Music Educators Association festival. The orchestra, 71 students strong, performed “Elsa’s Procession” from “Lohengrin”by Richard Wagner and “Polovetsian Dances” by Alexander Borodin. Judges’ comments included, “very ambitious program, nicely done; impressive technique; excellent solo work.”
“Our program has been growing and improving steadily for the past six years,” said Florio. “This honor is really a testament to the hard work that these students and those who have graduated from our orchestra have put in.
“Although we don’t measure our success as an orchestra by these festivals, they are a still a great event that helps the greater musical public know what great things we are doing at Harker. Our students love to play orchestral music and that passion comes out in their playing. That is what the judges heard today and that is what, I believe, led to our unanimous superior,” Florio added.
For the first time in the history of The Harker School, jazz bands from all three campuses came together for “An Evening of Jazz,” a major performance at the Blackford Theater in mid-March. Dressed to the nines, students spanning K-12 played fifteen standards, mixing suave and bluesy numbers with funkier, buoyant beats while alternating between solo performances and ensemble work.
The upper school’s The Harker School Jazz Band, directed by Chris Florio, led off with the energetic, trombone-heavy “I Got Rhythm,” by George and Ira Gershwin, and a dark and romantic rendition of “When Sunny Gets Blue,” featuring the vocals of Francesca Nagle, grade 12. The Lower School Jazz Ensemble, directed by Louis Hoffman, followed with the sweet “Tenor Madness,” the smoky “Killer Joe” and Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time,” with talented soloists who were barely taller than their instruments. The show was then handed off to the Middle School Jazz Band, directed by David Hart, whose medley of Sonny Rollins compositions included the tropical and airy “St. Thomas” and the blues number “Sunny Moon for Two.”
After intermission, the middle school group finished their Sonny Rollins medley with a new arrangement of “Doxy” that the group had been experimenting with in the days leading up to the show. After they finished with the catchy “Work Song,” by Nat Adderley, the upper schoolers retook the stage for a series of numbers designed to feature graduating seniors in their final major jazz concert. The rumbling, moody “A Mis Abuelos,” by Arturo Sandoval, gave way to Thelonius Monk and Cootie Williams’ melancholy “’Round Midnight” before Nagle returned to help the band finish off with Duke Ellington and Mack David’s “I’m Just a Lucky So and So,” the touching “Skylark” and “Smack Dab in the Middle.”
As the performance came to a close, the audience recognized each band with rapt applause, before all three groups crowded together on stage in a final, rousing rendition of “When the Saints (Go Marching In)”, bringing the evening to a close on a high note.
The first installment of the Harker Concert Series of 2011, held in early March, featured the MarcOlivio Duo, composed of violinists Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff, playing a blend of crushing, heartbreaking and even carnivalesque Eastern European folks songs, art music, and a parody of Mozart’s work.
The MarcOlivia Duo has performed around the world, appearing on radio and television in North America, Europe and Asia, winning Fulbright fellowships, and enjoying a residency at the Tokyo College of Music. On March 9, however, they came to Nichols Auditorium and the audience, feted with sushi and wine, was treated to tunes adapted for two violins.
The concert began with a number of compositions by Béla Bartók, a 20th-century Hungarian composer who traveled through Eastern Europe, listening to and transcribing the folk songs of village communities before they disappeared and melted into a homogeneous global culture. Most of these numbers were short and sudden – thirty seconds of powerful, tragic, arresting, halting, despairing, jagged strikes, followed by ten second fearsomely frenetic and jubilant conclusions. Some were songs of Romanian bagpipes transliterated for violins; others mixed bittersweet reaching and trudging marches with maddeningly twisting, spiraling slashes.
After the most powerful numbers, the audience was paralyzed in frozen silence for several seconds before applauding, digesting the works. The concert finished, however, on somewhat of a lighter note: a blend of a parody and an ode to Mozart’s music, as the two performers wove through a number of his pieces, even using voice and whistling to mimic other instruments.
The Harker Concert Series continues with the Taylor Eigsti Trio March 25 and Areon Flutes, a Bay Area-based flute quartet, at Nichols Auditorium on May 27.
The first installment of the Harker Concert Series of 2011, held in early March, featured the MarcOlivio Duo, composed of violinists Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff, playing a blend of crushing, heartbreaking and even carnivalesque Eastern European folks songs, art music, and a parody of Mozart’s work.
The MarcOlivia Duo has performed around the world, appearing on radio and television in North America, Europe and Asia, winning Fulbright fellowships, and enjoying a residency at the Tokyo College of Music. On March 9, however, they came to Nichols Auditorium and the audience, feted with sushi and wine, was treated to tunes adapted for two violins.
The concert began with a number of compositions by Béla Bartók, a 20th-century Hungarian composer who traveled through Eastern Europe, listening to and transcribing the folk songs of village communities before they disappeared and melted into a homogeneous global culture. Most of these numbers were short and sudden – thirty seconds of powerful, tragic, arresting, halting, despairing, jagged strikes, followed by ten second fearsomely frenetic and jubilant conclusions. Some were songs of Romanian bagpipes transliterated for violins; others mixed bittersweet reaching and trudging marches with maddeningly twisting, spiraling slashes.
After the most powerful numbers, the audience was paralyzed in frozen silence for several seconds before applauding, digesting the works. The concert finished, however, on somewhat of a lighter note: a blend of a parody and an ode to Mozart’s music, as the two performers wove through a number of his pieces, even using voice and whistling to mimic other instruments.
The Harker Concert Series continues with the Taylor Eigsti Trio March 25 and Areon Flutes, a Bay Area-based flute quartet, at Nichols Auditorium on May 27.
The first installment of the Harker Concert Series of 2011, held in early March, featured the MarcOlivio Duo, composed of violinists Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff, playing a blend of crushing, heartbreaking and even carnivalesque Eastern European folks songs, art music, and a parody of Mozart’s work.
The MarcOlivia Duo has performed around the world, appearing on radio and television in North America, Europe and Asia, winning Fulbright fellowships, and enjoying a residency at the Tokyo College of Music. On March 9, however, they came to Nichols Auditorium and the audience, feted with sushi and wine, was treated to tunes adapted for two violins.
The concert began with a number of compositions by Béla Bartók, a 20th-century Hungarian composer who traveled through Eastern Europe, listening to and transcribing the folk songs of village communities before they disappeared and melted into a homogeneous global culture. Most of these numbers were short and sudden – thirty seconds of powerful, tragic, arresting, halting, despairing, jagged strikes, followed by ten second fearsomely frenetic and jubilant conclusions. Some were songs of Romanian bagpipes transliterated for violins; others mixed bittersweet reaching and trudging marches with maddeningly twisting, spiraling slashes.
After the most powerful numbers, the audience was paralyzed in frozen silence for several seconds before applauding, digesting the works. The concert finished, however, on somewhat of a lighter note: a blend of a parody and an ode to Mozart’s music, as the two performers wove through a number of his pieces, even using voice and whistling to mimic other instruments.
The Harker Concert Series continues with the Taylor Eigsti Trio March 25 and Areon Flutes, a Bay Area-based flute quartet, at Nichols Auditorium on May 27.
The second installment of the Harker Concert Series brought the Taylor Eigsti Trio to the stage at Nichols Auditorium on March 25. Eigsti, the 26-year-old jazz piano phenom and Grammy nominee who started leading bands as early as age 12, was joined on this evening by bassist Reuben Rogers, a collaborator with Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove, among others, and drummer Colin McDaniel, 19, a fellow at the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific.
The trio began the first of their two sets with an instrumental interpretation of Sachal Vasandani’s “Please Mr. Ogilvy,” and would perform a diverse mix of covers and Eigsti’s own works as the show progressed. Eigsti’s dexterity was apparent from the outset, but his technical ability was very nearly overshadowed by his expressive syncopation and note choice. Rarely was this illustrated better than in the trio’s rendition of Mussorgsky’s “Promenade” from “Pictures at an Exhibition,” quite possibly the highlight of the first set. At first blush an odd choice of song for a jazz concert, the beloved piece sounded right at home in the trio’s capable hands, as did their cover of Coldplay’s “Daylight.”
What impressed about Eigsti more than anything, however, was the deft sense of placement. Be it a blistering chromatic run, a rapid succession of octaves or even a flurry of closed fists banging against the keyboard, every technique in Eigsti’s vast arsenal was wisely chosen and never overused.
As a special treat, Harker’s own Dave Hart, the middle school music teacher and trumpeter who formed a childhood band with Eigsti, was welcomed onstage to perform Dave Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way” with the band during the second set. Although visibly humbled by the gesture, Hart effused confidence during his extended, skillful improvisations.
Through it all, Eigsti made sure that the talents of his bandmates were as much a part of the show as the marquee name. Rogers’ many solos showcased his astonishing grasp of both theory and feel, and the interplay between him and Eigsti was always a joy to watch. Likewise, the young McDaniel seems destined for great things, his work behind the kit tasteful, layered and, yes, mature.