Spring break was an opportune time for The Harker School Orchestra, which traveled to Chicago to perform at the Chicago International Music Festival. Earlier this year, the orchestra was chosen to premiere a new piece by composer Jeremy Van Buskirk. The piece, titled “… such as I am you will be,” was one of three performed by the orchestra at the festival, along with Arturo Marquez’s “Danzon No. 2” and the fourth movement of “Symphony No. 5” by Dmitri Shostacovich.
The orchestra’s performance won a Gold Award and high praise from Deborah Gibbs, president and CEO of World Projects, the production company behind the festival, who declared The Harker Orchestra was the best high school orchestra she had ever heard. Chris Florio, upper school music teacher and director of the orchestra, was similarly enthused. “We have been preparing all year long for this event and I could not be more proud of how our students performed,” he said.
“The whole orchestra prepared by rehearsing every day in class since January, and as concertmaster, I feel very proud to lead and be part of such a hard-working and talented group,” said violinist Helen Wu, grade 11. “Every day without fail, regardless of whatever else we have going on, we always came together during first period to work and refine our music.”
Sahithya Prakash, grade 12, who plays bassoon, noticed changes in the orchestra’s practices as the concert neared. “As we got closer to our performance, our focus and intensity kept rising,” she said. “I felt really exhausted after each practice because I had put my 100% into playing, and I felt that the entire orchestra did too.”
Although Van Buskirk did not have a hand in selecting the orchestra that played his piece he was “extremely grateful they were chosen.” Premiering a new piece, he said, is a unique challenge for both the composer and an orchestra. “It’s a challenge to bring a new piece of art into the world for the first time,” he said. “As a composer, I can not do it by myself. I need willing and enthusiastic performers. Chris Florio and The Harker School Orchestra did an amazing job.”
While writing and refining his piece, Van Buskirk sent unfinished versions of it to the orchestra, who recorded their renditions and sent them back. He and Florio then discussed how the piece could be written to best fit the orchestra. “The students work hard and they are very musical,” Van Buskirk said. “It’s rare for a composer to have this level of access to a orchestra while writing a new piece. They met the challenge head on.”
Wu felt honored to premiere “…such as I am you will be,” calling it “remarkable musically and ideologically. Dr. Van Buskirk was a pleasure to work with, very involved in the creation of his piece and enthusiastic about rehearsing with us.”
For Prakash, being selected to premiere the piece served as validation for the positive feedback the orchestra receives from its director. “Mr. Florio keeps emphasizing how special the Harker Orchestra is and how talented we all are,” said Prakash, “and I think being chosen to premiere this piece made me realize that we really are a talented group of individuals.”
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Three Harker seniors made their directorial debuts at this year’s Student Directed Showcase in January. The show features three one-act plays directed by Harker students, the culmination of years of hard work in Harker’s Conservatory and one very intensive yearlong class, offered by Laura Lang-Ree to seniors through an application process. The plays featured in this year’s production were “Beyond Therapy,” directed by Ian Richardson, “The Case of Alex Hansen,” directed by Namrata Vakkalagadda, and “The Wonderful World of Dissocia,” directed by Shenel Ekici.
“Being a SDS director was really a goal I had for myself around freshman-sophomore year,” said Richardson. “The idea of directing a show using the talents of your fellow classmates really drew me to the program. Also, just being in control of your own show, having your own interpretation, blocking, lights, sound and stage for your choice of play was just too good to pass up.”
The directors of each play are heavily involved in every step of the process from the planning to the premiere. All of the elements necessary for the play to be a success, from auditioning and choosing the cast to managing props and costuming, fall under the director’s purview.
One lesson Vakkalagadda learned was that unexpected circumstances are part of the process. “No matter how much planning is done, I always had to be open to sudden changes and twists and turns, but by doing so, I was also able to take in so many new and exciting ideas I may not have had the chance to experience if I was solely set on my initial plan,” she said.
She also learned that often it is better for directors to trust the people they’ve chosen. “Being in charge does not necessarily mean controlling every aspect,” she said. “In reality, by letting my cast come to the conclusions I had come to on my own and wanted them to finally come to, we were able to grow together and make the show all of ours rather than just mine.”
Despite the frequent challenges and months of hard work, the students found the experience useful and fulfilling. “I really learned that you stick to what you love, no matter the hardships,” said Richardson. “Especially when directing a show, it’s all up to you and what you make of it.”
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
In mid-January, San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater played host to the annual middle and upper school Winter Concert, which featured the talents of a wide selection of musicians from Harker’s various music programs.
Middle and upper school music teacher David Hart directed all but two of the evening’s groups, leading performances by the Grade 6 Orchestra, Grade 7-8 Orchestra, Middle School Jazz Band and, now in its second year, The Harker School Lab Band. The grade 6 winds group kicked things off with the up-tempo “I’m Walkin’” by Fats Domino, followed by Joe Zawinul’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.” The grade 6 strings group then performed three pieces, including a rendition of the “Spring” section of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” which included solos by Jun Lin, Ahn My Tran and Gabriel Chai. Winds and strings then joined forces to perform Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” and the iconic “Star Wars” theme by John Williams. Soon after, the evening audience was treated to a special appearance by the middle school chamber group, which performed a haunting version of the traditional favorite “Scarborough Fair.”
The show then shifted gears to feature the Middle School Jazz Band, which performed selections by Horace Silver, Billy Strayhorn, Oliver Nelson and Joe Henderson before the Grade 7-8 Orchestra performed pieces by Johannes Brahms and Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, finishing their set with the theme from the film “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
The Harker School Lab Band was the last of the groups directed by Hart. Their set included Thelonius Monk’s “I Mean You” and “Manteca” by the great Dizzy Gillespie. Upper school music teacher Chris Florio took over to direct The Harker School Jazz Band, leading them through four songs, including Dan Gailey’s “The Cheese That Time Forgot” and the swing classic “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” by Count Basie.
Capping off the night was The Harker School Orchestra, also directed by Florio. It began with Franz von Suppé’s “Poet and Peasant Overture” before moving on to a grand performance of excerpts from “Fiddler on the Roof.” Concluding the show was an exciting rendition of Stravinsky’s “Scherzo a la Russe.”
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
On Jan. 30-31, grade 5 students came together on one stage for “Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.,” a tribute to the classic educational cartoon series. The show, directed by lower school performing arts teacher Kellie Binney-Smart, followed the young Tom Mizer (played by students Srinath Somasundaram, Levi Sutton, John Lynch and Chance Hewitt, who switched off during the show) amid preparations for his first day as a teacher. As he goes about his business, he notices his thoughts materializing in front of him. He turns on the TV to calm his nerves, and the lessons of “Schoolhouse Rock” leap from the screen to show him all the fascinating things he can teach.
The show featured many of “Schoolhouse Rock’s” most famous songs, including “A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing,” “Interplanet Janet” and “Just a Bill,” each with unique choreography and costuming. “The Great American Melting Pot,” for example, featured a student dressed as the Statue of Liberty, while “Interplanet Janet” had students dressed in gleaming robes representing the different planets.
Scenic artist Whitney Pintello’s creative set design transformed the entire Bucknall Theater stage into a massive TV set – complete with color bars – in which most of the action took place. Karoli Clever and Ken Boswell acted as the show’s stage managers, while Danny Higgins Dunn’s work as technical director kept the show running tip-top, with her technical theater students indispensable as the show’s crew and costume assistants.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Students took charge as both dancers and choreographers to celebrate “Peace, Love, and Dance” at the 2014 upper school dance production, directed by dance teachers Amalia De La Rosa and Karl Kuehn. The production was staged in three parts, with each word of the show’s title corresponding to a section of the show.
“Peace” followed a thread from conflict to unity, with dancers performing to works such as the pensive “Heartbreak Warfare” by John Mayer, choreographed by De La Rosa, and the more energetic “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic, choreographed by Erika Olsen, grade 11.
In “Love,” Kuehn’s choreography for “Coin-Operated Boy” by The Dresden Dolls featured an inventive use of props, as the titular boys emerged from boxes as though they were action figures come to life. Other visuals elements included Natti Pierce-Thomson’s lighting design, which heightened the mood and atmosphere of each performance, and the costumes by De La Rosa, Kuehn and the student choreographers.
The final portion of the show, “Dance,” featured some of the most upbeat performances of the evening, with complex and spirited routines set to the likes of Groove Factory, Robyn and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This stage of the production also featured the lone solo performance of the show, as Angela Ma, grade 12, danced evocatively against a black backdrop to Clint Mansell’s “Lux Aeterna.”
The show closed on an exhilarating note, with the production’s entire cast gathering on stage for the final number, and the excitement moved into the crowd, punctuated with a cascade of confetti.
Technical director Paul Vallerga and production manager Brian Larsen made sure the show ran smoothly, with the help of student crew members Sean Knudsen and Nicky Semenza, both grade 12; Alexander Thomas, Steven Wang and Harry Xu, all grade 11; and Justin Culpepper, grade 9.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Casino chips clicking, hopeful bidders on the edges of their seats during the live auction, the clink of silverware, laughter and conversation – these were the sights and sounds of Night on the Town, Harker’s 11th annual gala, held this year at the San Jose Marriott.
The Marriott’s ballroom and two large lobby areas provided lots of room for the elegantly attired guests to socialize and meet up with friends. A silent auction, which opened for bidding a few days before the gala, offered vacation getaways, homecoming and graduation packages, the chance to shadow business professionals, and video software. Lucky live auction winners will enjoy a Hawaiian vacation, a visit to the San Francisco 49ers Winter Fest and – for the night’s highest winning bid of $15,000 – a trip to Los Angeles for the “American Idol” finale, to name just a few.
Out in the lobby, Harker students sold raffle tickets to patrons, who then dropped those tickets in boxes promising everything from beauty products to picnic baskets filled with goodies. Also in the lobby were several casino tables and refreshment stations, allowing guests to mix and mingle with friends and try their hands at some Vegas-style games.
Over dinner, Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and event chair Tina Najibi (Mary, grade 10) welcomed the crowd and introduced the show portion of the evening, which was a montage of video and live performances that showcased the school’s talented students, faculty and parents, and helped the audience understand the purpose of the evening: to raise funds for the construction of a theater and gym complex on the upper school campus, as well funds for financial aid.
Dance Fusion, Downbeat and Varsity Dance Troupe performed show-stopping numbers, and middle school teachers Mark Gelineau and Keith Hirota, with their many backup dancers, wowed the crowd with a terrific Blues Brothers imitation and lip sync.
A faculty/student rock band showed off the versatility of many: Brian Larsen (K-12 production manager) channeled his inner Huey Lewis by fronting a band comprising guitarist Chris Florio (upper school music); keyboardist Evan Barth (dean of studies); trumpeter Dave Hart (middle school music); drummer Nikoloff; and student musicians and singers in a rousing version of “Hip to Be Square.”
A particularly charming set of dances were the mother/son and father/daughter numbers, performed by both faculty and non-faculty parents and their kids, to “Good Times” by Chic and “My Girl” by The Temptations, respectively.
After the show and dinner, some guests returned to the casino games in the lobby while others hopped up on stage and danced the night away to tunes spun by a DJ. Harker Board of Trustees member Christine Davis, who was one of three chairs for the inaugural fashion show gala 11 years ago, attended Night on the Town and said, “I congratulate Harker on the outstanding event on Friday.”
The event was produced by the advancement office, and the show was directed by Laura Lang-Ree, chair of Harker’s K-12 performing arts department, with production management by Larsen and set design by Paul Vallerga.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
After a season that included a beatboxing flautist and possibly the most experimental performance in the short history of the Harker Concert Series, Austin’s Miró Quartet had a tough pair of acts to follow. They were more than up to the task.
The bouncing staccato of Haydn’s “The Lark” went right along with the mood in the auditorium: airy and light, with Daniel Ching’s violin fluttering in and whistling like the titular bird on its favorite perch. Invoking a pastoral serenity, the quartet took flight through the first movement’s quick tempos, as each member exchanged flurries of notes. They maintained this feeling through the slower, more harmonically focused second movement, with Ching’s melodies again appearing front and center, albeit in the shadow of cellist Joshua Gindele’s yawning basslines; violinist William Fedkenheuer and violist John Largess were the perfect complement to the outer voices. With amazing dexterity, they launched into the finale, handling the challenging passages with finesse and exuberance, ending the exhilarating piece to huge applause.
Elizabeth Dwyer, who was attending her third Harker Concert Series event, said, “I love it. I can’t believe the precision.” Miró Quartet being from Austin was a point of interest for Dwyer, who said she had considered visiting the city for its vibrant arts scene.
“I think it’s fabulous,” said attendee Raiida Thompson, who said she enjoys live music. The social atmosphere of the event, she said, was “very impressive. I was not expecting this.”
Surely no strangers to audiences with high expectations, Miró Quartet wisely chose to include Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” as the closing piece. Though occupying a somewhat ironic position as a crowd-pleaser in the chamber music canon (it essentially outlines Schubert’s stages of grief as he neared his own death), it was nonetheless a welcome, if familiar, treat for an audience that had just been taken through Dutilleux’s disorienting nighttime odyssey.
The encore was a selection from Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, ending with an also-unfinished violin line that seemed to delight Ching to no end, leaving him smiling as the final note hung in the air along with all the possibilities of what may have come after.
Three Harker singers – Shreya Maheshwari and Shreya Basu, both grade 11, and Helen Woodruff, grade 10 – earned “superior” ratings at the California Music Education Association’s South Bay Solo and Ensemble Festival on March 8. Basu and Woodruff also received a command performance commendation, granting them the opportunity to perform at the CMEA State Solo and Ensemble Festival, to be held in May at Sacramento State University. Congratulations to these three talented students!
Five Harker instrumentalists were selected for the 2014 All-State Honor Band and played in formal concerts over the weekend, and another student was selected for the National Youth Orchestra and will perform with that group this summer.
Victoria Ding, grade 10, flute; Andrew Kim, grade 10, double bass; Austin Lai, grade 11, viola; Kristen Park, grade 10, soprano clarinet; and James Shaw, grade 8, trombone, were selected from more than 1,700 applicants statewide by the California Band Directors Association, an affiliate of the California Association for Music Education. “This is the ninth straight year we’ve had students in all-state,” said Chris Florio, upper school orchestra director, “and this is the largest number of students we have had accepted in a single year.”
Those selected played in a concert band, jazz band or orchestra in Fresno following concentrated rehearsals. “James is a member of the Grades 7-8 Orchestra and Middle School Jazz Band this year,” said Dave Hart, middle school orchestra director. “He was first chair in the Junior High All-State Band. This was a great opportunity for James, who said that he left the experience inspired by the music and new friends he made.”
In other exciting music news, Helen Wu, grade 11, was recently accepted to the National Youth Orchestra. Wu has not yet committed to the program, but being accepted “is a huge honor,” said Florio. “It is a month-long program that is sponsored by Carnegie Hall and is 100 percent free. The orchestra is extremely competitive to get into. The orchestra will be conducted by St. Louis conductor David Robertson and will tour the U.S., performing at such halls as Carnegie, Disney Center and others.”
This article was originally published in the winter 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Bands at Harker are nothing new, as we see from this photo, but the orchestra of today is a long way from the drum and bugle corp of yesteryear. In 2012, The Harker School Orchestra was in London by government invitation to perform for London’s 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
In April 2014, The Harker School Orchestra will travel to Chicago to perform at the Chicago International Music Festival. “We auditioned for this festival last spring and were thrilled to be accepted,” said Chris Florio, upper school music teacher and the group’s director. The orchestra is working with composer Jeremy Van Buskirk of the Boston Composers’ Coalition on a new composition to be premiered by Harker students.
“My interaction with Jeremy was a lot of fun,” said Florio. He was very curious about Harker (and) opened our meeting by telling me how impressed he was with our orchestra and how excited he was to work with them. On describing his upcoming work for us, he said, ‘It would not be [Pierre] Boulez, but it would not be [Aaron] Copland either; it will most likely be somewhere in between.’ What a wonderful experience for our orchestra to be involved in the creative process of a large new work from beginning to premiere!”