This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Members of the JV and varsity dance troupes had a very successful run at United Spirit Association’s summer dance training camp at University of California, Santa Cruz, this summer. The group earned the highest ranking, a superior, for its choreography and performance skills, and was awarded the Hardest Working Team plaque by camp instructors. Hazal Gurcan, grade 11, and Liana Wang, grade 10, were named All-Americans and were invited to perform in the London New Year’s Day Parade, and Ankita Sharma, grade 12, earned an invitation to perform at Disney World’s Spirit Spectacular in recognition of her leadership and teamwork skills.
Late next month, four Harker students will head to Grand Ole Opry in Nashville to perform with the All-National Honor Choir. Sahana Narayanan and Gurutam Thockchom, both grade 12, Ashwin Rao, grade 11, and Krishna Bheda, grade 10, were chosen by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) after a nationwide audition process. They will perform in a 350-person ensemble featuring singers from all over the country and those residing overseas in military base schools. Aside from Harker, only two other schools have four or more singers in the ensemble, and Harker’s students account for four of the nine singers from California.
This past summer, upper school music teacher Susan Nace attended the residential Choral Conducting Institute at St. Stephen’s College of Oxford University through the new Vegesna Grant Program for teachers’ professional development. The institute gave conductors the opportunity to hone their conducting skills, working with James Jordan and the Westminster Williamson Voices, and James Whitbourn, a fellow of St. Stephen’s. The intensive daily program included master classes, seminars by eminent scholars, private tutoring, rehearsals and singing “Compline” at the end of the day. The institute ended with a concert conducted by attendees.
Highlights of the institute included lectures by esteemed conductors Edward Higginbottom and Stephen Darlington; singing at Sunday Mass at Christ Church Cathedral; observing rehearsals of the Christ Church Cathedral choir; inspecting centuries-old manuscripts at the Bodleian Library; and conducting music under the tutelage of the composer.
“As music teachers, we often do not get the opportunity for intensive study with deep internal reflection on and engagement with the music we conduct,” Nace said. “Working closely with professional singers on choral masterworks is a different experience from the classroom, yet afforded us an opportunity to focus solely on our conducting technique to become better communicators with those we do conduct.”
Nace added that “to receive affirmation from scholars, mentors and peers is a rejuvenating and heartening experience that teachers need but often do not receive. This experience has not only given me new perspectives on conducting but also encouragement that I am a very capable conductor and teacher as well as a mentor to other musicians.”
Members of the JV and varsity dance team had a very successful run at United Spirit Association’s summer training camp at UC Santa Cruz last week. The group earned the highest award, Superior, for its choreography and performance skills, and was awarded the Hardest Working Team plaque by camp instructors. Hazal Gurcan, a rising junior, and Liana Wang, a rising sophomore, were named All-Americans, and were invited to perform in the London New Year’s Day Parade, and Ankita Sharma, a rising senior, earned an invitation to perform at Disney World’s Spirit Spectacular for her leadership and teamwork skills. Directors Rachelle Haun and Karl Kuehn noted they are incredibly proud of all the dancers for the hard work and energy they displayed during the four-day event!
Four Harker singers were named to the 2015 National Association for Music Education (NAfME) All-National Honor Mixed Choir. They are Krishna Bheda, rising sophomore; Ashwin Rao, rising junior; and Sahana Narayanan and Gurutam Thockchom, rising seniors. The NAfME All-National Honor Ensembles represent the top performing high school musicians in the United States. Students will perform Oct. 28 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn., as part of the NAfME National In-Service Conference. Congrats to all four!
Four Harker students were chosen for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) All-National Honor Mixed Choir! They are Krishna Bheda (alto 1), rising grade 10; Gurutam Thockchom (bass 1), rising grade 12; Sahana Narayanan (soprano 2), rising grade 12; and Ashwin Rao (tenor 1), rising grade 11. The choir will assemble Oct. 25-28, in Nashville, Tenn.
The road to nationals requires auditions, as well as participation in regional and state honor choirs (which also require auditions), so full honors to these four!
Gail Palmer, lower school performing arts lead teacher, dubbed this year’s lower school dance concert, “Dancing at Disneyland,” “The Happiest Dance Show on Earth” – and anyone in attendance would be hard-pressed to disagree! For some audience members, the enchanted evening in late May provided a monumental trip down memory lane; for others, it was every bit as magical as a visit to their all-time favorite theme park.
“Mickey and Minnie Mouse greeted the audience upon arrival as Disney music played in the Bucknall Theater. Once the show began, they were transported on a journey to the original theme park that Walt Disney opened in 1955,” Palmer said.
Under the direction of Palmer, with assistance provided by Kimberly Teodoro and Jessalyn Espiritu, the concert featured 250 students in grades 1 through 5 dancing around a wonderland of fanciful props, sets and slides.
“The children performed with energy, enthusiasm and smiles that would have made Walt Disney proud,” Palmer noted. “A true Bucknall community event, 23 faculty and staff dancers were in three different routines. They rocked the stage as Disney tourist; Matterhorn Bobsled enthusiast, complete with the Abominable Snowman along for the ride; and some Grim Grinning Ghosts were found dancingly haunting the stage.”
Each performance was cleverly assigned the name of a popular Disneyland attraction, parade, ride, shop or show, with 11 of 29 lively numbers choreographed by Palmer herself, including the opening and closing routines set to the Academy Award-winning song “When You Wish Upon a Star” from the animated musical fantasy film “Pinocchio” and “Happy” by singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and fashion designer Pharrell Williams.
Palmer said Disneyland is a special place and the theme made for a very special dance concert. The eight themed lands at Disneyland came to life through the dance routines, music, costumes, slides, props and set design. Mickey Mouse even high-kicked his way across the stage, making a featured appearance in the routine “Mickey” that paid homage to the mouse himself.
Palmer said it takes many people to create a show of this magnitude. She credits the choreographers, including Teodoro and Espiritu, as well as technical director Danny Dunn and the production staff for their inspired work.
Whether a princess or a pirate, a mouse or a Jedi Knight, there was something for everyone at the Harker stage otherwise known as the Magic Kingdom. The audience left the performance feeling that it truly was “The Happiest Dance Show on Earth.”
For a small group of students in the Class of 2015, Harker’s commencement exercises were their second graduation in as many days. Twenty-nine Harker Conservatory certificate students changed their status from candidates to graduates at the 14th annual Senior Showcase on May 22, held at the beautiful Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in San Jose.
These artists completed a four-year guided course through the upper school performing arts department – the Conservatory – mentored by teachers in all the disciplines, with particular emphasis in one: vocal music, instrumental music, dance, theater, musical theater or technical theater. Senior Showcase is a culmination of those years of study, with the seniors providing guests in the packed theater with snapshots from their accumulated portfolios.
Actors presented scenes ranging from the comedy of Neil Simon and Steve Martin to the heartwrenching drama of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America.” Dancers raised the roof with resounding numbers they choreographed themselves, celebrating everything from an intimate pas de deux to hip-hop to Bollywood. Instrumental candidates mesmerized the audience with haunting renditions of “Theme from Schindler’s List,” Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen” and a Kodaly cello sonata, among others. Musical theater performers merged scene and song from shows across the decades, including “The Producers,” “Grand Hotel” and “Evita.” This year’s three technical theater candidates handled the stage management, scene changes, lighting and sound for the performance.
The evening ended with the formal presentation of their certificates by the performing arts faculty, and a final group bow, greeted with a well-deserved standing ovation by the many friends, family members, teachers and administrators who supported them on their journey through the program. Most group members intend to pursue this artistic passion in college, with a handful planning to major and pursue careers in the performing arts.
Congratulations to the Conservatory Certificate Programs’ Class of 2015:
Theater: Jai Ahuja, Juhi Muthal, Zoë Woehrmann; Dance: Noel Banerjee, Ashir Bansal, Darby Millard, Erika Olsen, Sindhu Ravuri, Jacqui Villarreal; Instrumental Music: Thyne Boonmark, Lekha Chirala, Eugene Gil, Juhi Gupta, Matthew Huang, Rishabh Jain, Sahana Rangarajan, Nikhil Singh, Julia Wang, Madelyn Wang, Helen Wu; Musical Theater: Ishanya Anthapur, Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari, Caroline Howells, Madi Lang-Ree, Glenn Reddy; Vocal Music: Shreya Maheshwari; Technical Theater: Jeremy Binkley, Delaney Martin, Alexander Thomas.
A who’s-who of iconic fairy tale characters got much more than they wished for at this year’s spring musical, a raucous production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Into the Woods,” which played at the Blackford Theater April 16-17.
Noted for its thematic and musical depth, “Into the Woods” intertwines the stories of Cinderella (Caroline Howells, grade 12), Jack (Rishabh Chandra, grade 11), Little Red Riding Hood (Zoe Woehrmann, grade 12) and other popular fairy tale characters who all have a wish they want fulfilled. At the center of the story are a Baker (Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari, grade 12) and his wife (Madi Lang-Ree, grade 12), who wish to have a child, but are stymied by a curse put upon the Baker’s house by a Witch (Ishanya Anthapur, grade 12) after the Baker’s father was caught stealing six beans from the Witch’s garden. Each of them sets off toward the titular woods to seek out the objects of their desires, unaware of what may lie beyond their supposedly happy endings.
The through-sung musical, directed by Laura Lang-Ree, featured inspired performances from its cast, who brought out the surprising complexity of characters known mostly for their simple and moralistic stories. The woods themselves, designed by Paul Vallerga and lit and shaded by lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson, were consistently mysterious and foreshadowing and Caela Fujii’s costume design found the right mixture of homage and originality. Conducted by Catherine Snider, who also played piano, the orchestra provided the ideal soundtrack to the onstage action, interpreting Sondheim’s complex work with the appropriate whimsy and emotional depth.
On April 10, middle and upper school orchestra ensembles gathered at San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater for the 2015 Spring Orchestra Concert.
Up first was the Grade 6 Orchestra, directed by Dave Hart, which performed Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5” and the modern folk classic “Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Ungar, finishing with the famous “James Bond Theme” by Monty Norman. The Grades 7-8 Orchestra, also directed by Hart, began with the invigorating theme from “Pirates of the Caribbean” and continued with selections by Brahms, Wagner and Tchaikovsky.
The middle school orchestras then joined forces for a crowd-pleasing performance of “Prelude to Carmen” by Georges Bizet.
Chris Florio directed The Harker School Orchestra, which headlined the evening, starting with Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” before performing the entirety of Stravinsky’s “The Firebird.” Two soloists also performed. The first, senior violist Austin Lai, performed Léo Delibes “La Paix,” from the ballet “Coppélia,” while senior violinist Helen Wu, who recently earned a spot on the National Youth Orchestra for the second year in a row, performed the allegro from Samuel Barber’s “Concert for Violin & Orchestra.” The orchestra closed the evening with a spirited version of “Huapango” by renowned Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo.