This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
On May 24 at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose, the graduating seniors in the Harker Conservatory certificate program performed selections from their senior portfolios at the 2013 Harker Conservatory Senior Showcase to an appreciative crowd of more than 500.
All 27 graduates of the program have spent the previous four years honing their talents in one of six fields offered by the certificate program.
The show included several dramatic reenactments and, as always, the musical talents of Harker’s Conservatory students were a treat, including vocalist Rebecca Liu’s stirring version of “Ave Maria” and Payal Modi singing the Kelly Clarkson hit “A Moment Like This.”
After the performances had concluded, the graduates lined up on stage and were called forward to receive their engraved plaques signaling successful completion of this intense arts program.
A red-carpet gala affair capped off a fantastic year in performing arts for many of the cast and crew of Harker’s recent spring musical, “Oklahoma!”
During the June 3 evening event the Harker Conservatory students and educators were honored for a very respectable eight nominations and announced as winners in the sound and choreography categories at the Bay Area High School Musical Theatre: Stage Top Honor Awards.
Held at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose, the gala ceremony featured performances from Harker and all the nominated high schools. Sponsored by the San Jose Stage Company, the prestigious awards program encourages and rewards exceptional accomplishments in the production of high school musical theater across the Bay Area.
Harker’s production of “Oklahoma!,” directed by Laura Lang-Ree, performing arts chair K-12, was among those that stood out from the 19 private and public high school musicals who competed in the awards, which are modeled after Broadway’s Tony Awards.
Among the awards that Harker was nominated for at the recognition event were: overall production, chorus, student achievement in technical theater (Simon Orr, grade 12, stage manager), best supporting actor (Justin Gerard, grade 12), best supporting actress (Shenel Ekici, grade 11), and musical direction (Catherine Snider). The school walked away with top honors for choreography (Katie O’Bryon, specialist) and sound design (Brian Larsen, faculty, and Nicholas Semenza, grade 11).
Lang-Ree said she is “thrilled” with both the nominations and awards. “It’s so great that Brian is recognized for making the very best sound experience in a very difficult space. He does a great job.”
“It’s nice to be singled out for something that you’re passionate about,” said Larsen. “I view our work as collaborative, a true team effort, so recognition of my work is lovely, but I think it reflects on the production as a whole: the choral work of the performers, the amazing musicians in the band – it’s another really strong production in a series of strong productions.”
“Nicky’s work as a sound engineer cannot be complimented strongly enough,” Larsen continued. “He grew into the show, along with the show, and got better and more confident as the run progressed. For me, that’s the greatest part of producing theater in high school: you get to watch first-hand as students gain the skills and confidence to do it themselves.”
Lang-Ree added, “It’s a very special honor to be one of only six shows (out of 19) nominated for best show, and it makes the evening so much fun when we get to perform on that beautiful stage. Performing in front of your peers is an awesome experience. The six casts and production teams were so supportive of each other’s work, and it was rewarding to hear all the positive feedback on our performance from a group of our peers.”
Lang-Ree also expressed her appreciation for choreographer O’Bryon, saying, “To all of us, Katie is part of the Harker family and has been so for over five years. We are so lucky that Harker is the only school where she works as a choreographer as her ‘day job’ as director of Peninsula Youth Theatre keeps her very busy. She is so talented and so much fun to collaborate with, and she brings out the best in our students, no matter what their skill level.”
Judges comprising theater professionals, performing artists, designers and theater arts educators evaluated the various schools’ productions and made their nominations in categories of acting, design, direction, musical direction, choreography, technical production and overall production excellence.
Congratulations to the cast and crew of “Oklahoma!” for a great end-of-the-year musical and a host of nominations and wins at the Top Honor Awards!
A two-part show on May 3, titled “In Concert,” brought together all of the upper school vocal groups to ring in the summer and bid farewell to the graduating seniors and honor them for their dedication to Harker’s performing arts programs.
The first portion of the show was dedicated primarily to songs hailing from Great Britain and the countries that were part of its once-massive empire. The upper school’s all-female chamber group Cantilena teamed up with Camerata, the mixed chamber choir, for Stephen Leek’s “Kungala (Australia),” the first song of the show. Other great selections included Camerata’s performance of “Shoot False Love” by Thomas Morley, the Monty Python classic “Brave Sir Robin” sung by the ever-popular boys a cappella group Guys’ Gig and a solo performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Silent Noon” by baritone Stephan Pellissier, grade 11. Cantilena closed the first portion of the show with their rendition of the Sting hit “Fields of Gold.”
Bel Canto kicked off the second part of the show with a pair of African folk songs and medley of songs from Leonard Bernstein’s beloved score from “West Side Story.”
Upper school show choir Downbeat concluded the concert, singing a variety of pop standards, including the poignant a cappella song by Billy Joel, “And So It Goes,” and Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the group’s now-traditional closer. They also recreated their fashion show hit, “Wings,” to the clear delight of the audience.
For this year’s spring musical, the Harker Conservatory returned to a familiar favorite, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” directed by Laura Lang-Ree.
Set in pre-statehood Oklahoma in the summer of 1906, the production centers around the love triangle between Laurey Williams (Cecilia Lang-Ree, grade 12), niece of the respected community figure Aunt Eller (Cristina Jerney, grade 12), lovesick cowboy Curly McLain (Ian Richardson, grade 11) and the mysterious and dark farmhand Jud Fry (Justin Gerard, grade 12).
Meanwhile, the flirtatious Ado Annie Carnes, played by junior Shenel Ekici, reaches a crisis of conscience when she realizes her attraction to the Persian merchant Ali Hakim (Rohan Chandra, grade 12), despite her engagement to the good-hearted but fiscally irresponsible Will Parker (Kevin Moss, grade 11).
Drama and comedy naturally ensue, as conflict grows between Curly and Jud over who will win Laurey’s favor, and Ali Hakim tries to undo the situation involving himself and Ado Annie.
The huge upper school cast included several grade 5 students, all of whom gave splendid performances. Musical director Catherine Snider led the “Oklahoma!” band, whose interpretation of the beloved score was both accurate and inspired, providing the perfect backing for the student singers.
In order to ensure the best performance possible by the students, Lang-Ree enlisted the services of dialect coach Kimily Conkle, who instructed the cast in how to effectively convey the time and place of the musical with the right pronunciations and inflections. Fight choreographer Dexter Fidler was also brought in to direct the fight scenes, most notably during the iconic 15-minute dream ballet that closes Act I.
Crucial to all Harker musical productions is the set design, and longtime designer Paul Vallerga came through with a set that remarkably evoked the plains of the early 1900s. Harker students, as always, did a terrific job as the show’s crew, managing the stage, working the light board, assisting with wardrobe and attending to all the other important tasks required to execute a production of this caliber. Meanwhile, sound engineer Brian Larsen, lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson and costume designer Caela Fujii were again indispensable.
The kindergarten classes of teachers Katherine Chi, Michelle Anderson, Kimberley Sandoval and Kelle Sloan delighted audiences during a series of shows that took place April 25-26 at the Bucknall Theater. Titled “Arf!” each of the four shows, directed by Kellie Binney-Smart, featured each kindergarten class performing canine-themed songs with hilarious skits in between, all the while wearing adorable dog costumes provided by Marylin Watts.
Students provided support behind the scenes, as Danny Dunn’s grade 5 technical theater students acted as the crew for the show. Sasha Pikiner, grade 6, also provided scenic elements to complement Whitney Pintello’s wonderful scenic artwork.
Talk of Broadway and the big screen took on a new reality for upper school Conservatory students following a recent “Life in the Arts” workshop with guest speaker Gary King ‘87.
This past spring King, an award-winning filmmaker and director, returned to Harker to discuss his unique road to show business with the aspiring performing arts students. He also gave a behind-the-scenes look at his new hit indie film, “How Do You Write a Joe Schermann Song?”
Accompanying him was Broadway and film actress Christina Rose, who plays the lead role in his movie, which was released earlier this year and has received awards at venues such as the Raindance and Phoenix film festivals. King and Rose showed a trailer of the movie and spoke candidly about their experiences working in today’s rapidly changing entertainment industry.
Many of the students found it hard to believe that King, who serves as the director, writer and producer of his films, never studied acting at Harker … or anywhere.
“I didn’t study performing arts at Harker, nor did I go to film school in college. I received a master’s in psychology way back in the day. I’m self-taught when it comes to filmmaking,” said King, who was reached for comment following his Harker visit.
Although he had loved cinema from a young age, King never thought to make a career out of it until after spending a few unfulfilling years working in the field of human resources. He was thus very impressed to see how driven and focused Harker’s performing arts students are already.
“Talking with the students was exciting as it was amazing, to see how talented and eager they are to learn and grow within their areas of interest. They surely are taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities Harker offers to them,” he said.
He recalled how Harker gave him a well-rounded education, taught him responsibility and prepared him for the future by giving him the tools to succeed. “It definitely made a difference in my life,” affirmed King, whose work is best known for delivering powerful performances with an emphasis on a strong, visual style.
Despite a late start to filmmaking, King has written, directed and produced several critically-acclaimed feature films, and Rose, who has acted on Broadway as well as in television and movies, has worked with King on previous projects.
Because King and Rose are professionals in the current entertainment industry they were able to answer many questions that Harker students had about making it in the business. The duo advised workshop attendees to expect setbacks, but not become defeated by them.
At the conclusion of the event, the performing arts students were happily surprised when DVDs and soundtracks of King’s film were handed out, along with two tickets to watch the movie at a local theater.
“Coming back to Harker was a complete shock,” mused King, who couldn’t believe how much everything had changed. “The one thing I’m glad that has remained the same is seeing the faculty’s passion for the school and their students,” he said.
Lower, middle and upper school instrumentalists displayed their talents for an evening audience at the Spring Concert, held Apr. 12 at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose. Students performed in various groups, performing orchestral music from a wide selection of styles and time periods.
Toni Woodruff conducted the first performers of the evening, the Lower School String Ensemble, who played a medley of American songs arranged by Bob Phillips, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Finale from “Serenade for Strings.” Louis Hoffman then conducted the Lower School Orchestra, who performed Beethoven’s famous “Ode to Joy” and “Aragonaise” by Georges Bizet.
The Middle School Orchestra then introduced themselves to the show by teaming up with the Lower School Orchestra for a performance of a segment of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25. Harker Winds, the grade 6 wind ensemble, then performed “You Are My Sunshine” with guest conductor Paul Woodruff, who also led the grade 6 group Harker Strings in their renditions of “Irish Tune From County Derry” by Percy Grainger and a string arrangement of the popular Coldplay song “Clocks.” Woodruff stepped in that evening for conductor Dave Hart, who was on paternity leave.
Woodruff remained onstage to conduct the Grade 6 Orchestra’s performances of a medley of tunes from the “Harry Potter” film series and Johann Strauss’ “Radetzky March,” and also conducted the Grade 7 and 8 Orchestra, who played four pieces, including “Andham,” composed by Meghana Karinthi, grade 7, and the “Symphonic Suite” from the “Lord of the Rings” films.
After a brief intermission, the Upper School Orchestra, directed by Chris Florio, took the stage to perform the final series of songs for the night, which included “The Moldau” from Bedrich Smetana’s “Ma Vlast,” Max Bruch’s “Romanze for Viola and Orchestra,” featuring Nayeon Kim, grade 12, and the final piece of the night, “Huapango” by Jose Pablo Moncayo.
This year’s “United Voices” concert moved to the beautiful Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose, where every one of Harker’s student vocal groups performed. The Bucknall Choir, directed by Kellie Binney-Smart and Jennifer Sandusky and made up of grade 4-5 students, got things started with the traditional Irish folk song “Shady Grove,” Franz Schubert’s “An Die Musik,” one of the few songs that evening to be sung in a foreign language, and “We Believe in Music” by Teresa Jennings.
Mary Ellen Agnew-Place directed the grade 6 show choir Dynamics, the first of the middle school groups, who went on stage to perform their own three-song set, performing songs such as the iconic World War II hit “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Bigger Isn’t Better” from the Broadway musical “Barnum.”
Next up was the grade 7-8 group Harmonics, directed by Agnew-Place and Monica Colletti, who sang “All That Jazz” from the musical “Chicago” before being joined by their classmates in Vivace, led by Paul Woodruff, to sing their rendition of the Cyndi Lauper hit “True Colors.” Vivace then took over to perform “Sing and We Chant It” by Thomas Morley and Duke Ellington and Bob Russell’s jazz standard “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”
Starting off for the upper school was the Sandusky-directed group Bel Canto, who sang a medley from the much-loved Broadway musical “West Side Story” and the traditional spiritual “Battle of Jericho.” Susan Nace then directed Camerata, who sang Thomas Morley’s “Shoot False Love” before the upper school show choir group Downbeat, directed by Laura Lang-Ree and Sandusky, brought the house down with the Michael Jackson classic “Man in the Mirror” and funk legends Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Sing a Song.”
Crowd favorite Cantilena, led by Susan Nace, was the final group to represent the upper school, singing Ko Matsushita’s “Dona Nobis Pacem,” “The Hanging Tree” by Michael Sheppard and concluding with the evocative “See the Chariot at Hand” by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The show ended with the all of the night’s performers gathering on stage for a stirring performance of Jim Papoulis’ “Oye.”
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Cellist Sebastian Bäverstam, the 24-year-old former child prodigy who debuted at Carnegie Hall at age 14, brought the third season of the Harker Concert Series to a brilliant close on Feb. 8, performing a special collection of Russian music from Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff to a sold-out audience.
Partnered throughout the concert by accomplished pianist Pei-Shan Lee, Bäverstam began with Prokofiev’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Major, moving gracefully through its contemplative and somewhat somber first movement, trading phrases with Lee as though in conversation. The brisker second and third movements evoked a more upbeat style from the cellist, who swayed and bobbed through the faster sections as the call-and-response interplay with Lee continued. His physical expressiveness seemed to mirror his similarly impassioned interpretation of the material, as he took deep breaths before long legato passages and moved vigorously during the galloping, more technically challenging sections, for which he was more than up to the task. Lee handled the piece with the right amounts of aggression and restraint.
Bäverstam and Lee briefly left the stage following the conclusion of the sonata, returning a short time later to perform Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, but not before Bäverstam quipped, “Sorry. It’s not over yet.”
The shifting tensions and moods of Shostakovich’s sonata were brought out wonderfully by Bäverstam’s ability to interpret the varied themes with both subtlety and flair. The wide, ominous piano passages of the first movement were met by the disquieting melody provided by Bäverstam, whose splendid vibrato powerfully buoyed every note until the disturbing calm was broken by the second movement’s urgency and energy, driven by Bäverstam and Lee’s bombastic yet controlled approach, later contrasted by the desolation and sobriety of the “Largo” movement before being brought to a crashing finish in the final movement, guided by the dexterous, emotive performance of the two players.
Following the intermission, the duo performed the evening’s final piece, Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in G Minor, whose challenging first movement, characterized by varying tempos and moods, was superbly handled. The sonata also gave ample opportunity for Lee to demonstrate her immense talents, nimbly maneuvering her way through the piece’s more challenging sections while simultaneously finding the array of emotion underneath. Despite an exhausting program, Bäverstam and Lee had no discernible trouble summoning the energy necessary for the final run of the Sonata’s “Vivace.”
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly
Some 30 alumni returned to cheer on their friends for Harker’s first basketball league games of the season, held Jan. 4 in front of a boisterous home crowd at the middle school campus. That night was also the premiere of the Conservatory’s Student-Directed Showcase, concurrently held at Blackford, which many alumni chose to come out in support of as well.