The Harker School has always been proud of the talent and passion of its performing arts students; and their talent certainly doesn’t stop growing after graduation. The annual Alumni Conservatory Classic allows graduates – recent or not so recent – to return and show off all they’ve learned, accomplished, and become interested in since graduation. This year marked the fourth annual such show, which was well-attended by approximately 70 alumni along with staff such as MaryEllis Deacon, the director of alumni relations, and Susan Nace, a performing arts teacher.
Performances ranged from solos, including one by Christina Li ’11 accompanied by a dancer to illustrate the piece, to groups of musicians – a string quartet opened the evening – to songs in foreign languages alumni have mastered, including an impressive piece in French. Nace conducted a group of female alumni along with current student Tina Crnko, grade 12, blending the school’s past and present talent.
Deacon enjoyed all the performances, and along with them, enjoyed seeing students catch up with each other. “Seeing them reconnect and visit with friends is one of the best parts of alumni events, I believe,” she said. The alumni, parents and staff had the opportunity to see each other after the performance, and talk about life after Harker.
On Dec. 9, nearly 300 Harker students in grades 4-12 performed at holiday assemblies on all three campuses. Each campus’ show had its own orchestra in the opening slot, followed by dance and vocal groups from all across Harker’s expansive performing arts program. Louis Hoffman directed the lower school orchestra, with Dave Hart directing the orchestra at the middle school performance and Chris Florio at the helm of the upper school orchestra’s performance at the Saratoga campus. In between acts, students performed amusing skits to introduce the next performer.
The Bucknall Choir, directed by Jennifer Cowgill, sang “The 12 Days of Christmas” and “5 Minutes,” and was followed by Showstoppers, the middle school female dance ensemble directed by Rachelle Ellis, who performed an upbeat routine to the holiday classic “Jingle Bells.” Next, Cowgill’s upper school vocal group Bel Canto performed a rendition of “Sing We Fa La La,” and the upper school female vocal group Cantilena, directed by Susan Nace, sang “Carol of the Bells” and the Hebrew song “Shel Shoshanim.”
Other great vocal performances were provided by upper school chamber choir Camerata’s rendition of “Allons,” also directed by Nace, the middle school mixed choir Vivace singing “Danny Boy,” “Zat U Santa Claus,” by the middle school vocal group Harmonics, directed by Roxann Hagemeyer, the grade 6 choir Dynamics performing “Merry Christmas to Me,” directed by Hagemeyer and Monica Colletti, and the upper school show ensemble Downbeat performing “Hamisha Asar” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” directed by Catherine Snider and Laura Lang-Ree.
The show also featured performances from Harker’s many talented dancers, including the Karl Kuehn-directed middle school boys dance group High Voltage, the upper school’s junior varsity and varsity dance squads, the former directed by Amalia De La Rosa and the latter by De La Rosa and Kuehn, and the lower and middle school group Dance Fusion, directed by Gail Palmer. To close the show, Harmonics, Dance Fusion, Downbeat and Dynamics all took the stage for the finale, wishing the crowd Happy Holidays in raucous fashion. At the lower school campus, the finale included all groups leading the traditional sing-a-long with a very excited young audience.
The Harker Orchestra, the upper school’s largest musical ensemble, returned from London earlier this month, after having performed during that city’s New Year celebration. They performed at the famous Cadogan Hall, and received a very enthusiastic response. “We had amazing energy that night as that was our first performance of the year, and to do so in Cadogan Hall was amazing,” said Chris Florio, director of the orchestra. “The audience’s spontaneous reaction was one of the highlights of my musical life because it was so genuine. They hadto stand up right away. I’ve never experienced that as a conductor.”
The students also had the opportunity to march in the London New Year’s Day parade, carrying the flags of the countries participating in this year’s summer Olympic games, which will take place in London. “Since we are not a marching band, this was an option for us, so I graciously accepted,” Florio said.
Students weren’t the only ones who considered the performances a highlight. Many Harker parents were also in attendance, and were ecstatic at how well the concerts went. “Almost immediately after the performances, parents started emailing each other, expressing how moved, proud and stunned they were at how well we performed,” said Florio. “Many audience members were brought to tears when our program was finished.”
The orchestra’s performances can now be viewed online through Cadogan Hall’s website. Their Dec. 29 performance begins at approximately one hour and three minutes into the video. The Dec. 31 performance begins at the 57-minute mark.
On Dec. 13, with winter break nearing, lower school families filled the Bucknall Theater for the grade 1 holiday show. Titled “The Search for Old Man Winter,” the show featured students from every grade 1 homeroom singing holiday tunes such as “Old Man Winter,” “A Chubby Little Snowman,” “Take Me Back to Toyland” and “Winter Wonderland.” In between songs, groups of students narrated the show, and Joe Connolly, lower school dean of students, guest-starred as Old Man Winter.
The show was wonderfully directed by performing arts teacher Kellie Binney, with superb technical direction by technical theater teacher Danny Dunn. Accompanists Paul Woodruff and his wife, Toni, again provided great musical backing to the student singers.
After the show, with the spirit of the season fresh in their minds, families gathered in the lobby to socialize and enjoy holiday treats.
Lower school instrumentalists and singers were the stars during the Winter Concert on Dec. 6, which featured five ensembles performing lesser-known classics and familiar favorites. Joe Connolly, dean of students K-5, acted as master of ceremonies, while Danny Dunn’s lower and middle school technical theater students made sure the show went off without a hitch.
Louis Hoffman led the Lower School Orchestra in performing Jacques Offensbach’s “Can Can” and “Rosamunde Overture” by Franz Schubert. Hoffman also directed the Lower School Jazz Ensemble, who performed “St. James Infirmary” by Joe Primrose and “Doin’ My Thing” by Jimmy McGriff.
The evening also featured Harker’s two preparatory ensembles. Rick Leder conducted the preparatory wind ensemble’s performances of the American traditional “Go Tell Aunt Rodie,” the theme from “New World Symphony” by Antonin Dvorak and “Boogie Blues” by Bruce Pearson and Ryan Nowlin. Conducted by Toni Woodruff, the preparatory string ensemble played “I Have a Song to Sing, Oh” by Arthur Sullivan and brought some holiday cheer to the show with the traditional “Christmas Fiddlers in the Hall.”
The Bucknall Choir, directed by Jennifer Cowgill, sang a traditional Hanukkah song titled “Hanerot Halalu,” the hymn “Panis Angelicus” by Cesar Franck and, in the spirit of the holiday season, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
For the last song of the evening, Hoffman brought together his orchestra and jazz band for the fun-filled finale, a performance of the theme from the immensely popular mobile game “Angry Birds,” with the students and conductor wearing hats shaped like characters from the game.
Grades 2 and 3 came together on Dec. 15 to perform at their annual holiday show, this year titled “December in Our Town,” directed by lower school music teacher Kellie Binney and held at the Bucknall Theater. Both classes kicked off the show with a performance of the show’s title tune, composed by Roger Emerson. Grade 2 then took center stage and performed a series of holiday songs, both modern and classic, such as “Deck the Halls,” “O Christmas Tree” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” which featured choreography by Stephanie Bayer. The students of grade 3 then performed their own set, singing “Jingle Bells,” “Let it Snow,” “Kwanzaa Celebration” and others. The two classes reunited on stage for the final two songs, “A Visit From Saint Nick” and “Somewhere in My Memory.”
Technical theater teacher Danny Dunn and her grade 5 technical theater class kept the show running smoothly, while veteran accompanists Paul Woodruff on piano and Toni Woodruff on violin provided splendid musical support to the student singers.
As we reach the end of the holiday season, we look back at the highlights of it, and of our favorite holiday traditions here at The Harker School; not least of those is Downbeat’s annual holiday tour. Downbeat is a group of theatrically gifted sophomores, juniors, and seniors who incorporate dance and vocal interpretations into jazz and pop songs. In early December, Downbeat departed Harker at 8:45am for their tour day – a day when they perform festive, fun, and beautiful music all over the Bay Area. “We’ve gone to same places for several years now,” said Cathy Snider, one of Downbeats directors. It starts at the Lucile Packard Children’s hospital, where students sing throughout oncology wards, as well as bedside for childhood cancer patients. From there, they travel to Filoli Gardens, where they sing at a historical home that opens to the public during the holidays. Then the students hop back on the bus, and travel up to Pier 39 in San Francisco, where they perform right under the big Christmas tree, a stop on the tour that was added “just a few years ago so we could get them up to the City,” Snider said. After a quick stop for sundaes in Ghiradelli Square, the students are off once more, this time to The Forum, Assisted Living, where students perform both bedside and in the hallways for Alzheimer’s patients. It’s a quick jump from there to The Forum, a retirement community where residents live on their own and love to join in the singing. Finally, the group goes to The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. “This is the most important part of the tradition for the families, because all the parents, and some teachers/admin take over the lounge and cheer us on!” Snider said.
Snider’s favorite part of the tour is not any one stop, though. “My favorite part of the day is watching the group really fuse as an ensemble,” she said. “Touring can be stressful, with the need for constant good cheer and adaptability, and on this tour they really become a unit, all while giving so freely of their compassion and energy.”
In early December, The Harker School’s lower school music students gathered for their annual concert. The concert featured six groups total, including the choir (directed by Jennifer Cowgill, a grade 4-5 performing arts teacher), the orchestra and the jazz ensemble. Technically, practice for the concert began on the first day of class. As Louis Hoffman, a K-5 music teacher, said, preparing for the concert is a “whole learning process.” Class and practice are one and the same, and the concert allows students to showcase the broad range of style they’ve learned by singing and playing in various pieces.
Closer to the concert date, Hoffman brought a selection of songs to his students and let them pick what they’d play. The wide range of songs performed was capped off by a unique, energetic song choice. As the finale for the event, the students chose the theme song to the popular game Angry Birds. The students wore Angry Birds hats, and Hoffman conducted the piece with a slingshot (an item any Angry Birds fan will recognize as the tool the birds use to launch themselves at their enemies). Conducting the piece and hearing it performed tied for first for Hoffman’s favorite moment in the concert. His other was hearing the choir sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” complete with sound effects for each day’s calling birds or pipers piping or swans a-swimming. “It was very funny,” Hoffman said.
At the end of each year, the three campuses have a joint performance. So as Hoffman said, “It’s nice to highlight the accomplishments of our youngest students. It’s different at this level than it is at a high school level. Rather than instilling a sense of competition, we focus on learning to play together, learning to hear yourself, and learning to follow a conductor. We give them the opportunity to explore and to be successful.”
The concert provided the students with the chance to let everyone participate equally. Even in the jazz ensemble, where each student had a short solo piece, no one solo was focused on over the other. This way, Hoffman said, “The real star of the show is the music itself.”
That does not mean there isn’t room for special recognition for those who help make the concerts happen, though! Hoffman noted Toni and Paul Woodruff, both from the performing arts department, for playing violin and piano, respectively, and “for all their support and willingness to participate. They’re really remarkable people.”
Harker’s upper school orchestra has just returned from London, where they performed during the New Year’s celebration and participated in the city’s New Year’s Day Parade. During their performance at Cadogan Hall on Dec. 31, the orchestra, directed by upper school music teacher Chris Florio, performed “Overture to Candide” by Leonard Bernstein, “Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1” by Ralph Vaughan Williams and the famous “Overture to William Tell” by Gioachino Rossini. During their stay, the students also had the opportunity to see many of England’s most famous locations and landmarks, including the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Stratford-upon-Avon and the City University of Oxford.
Watch this space for more information and photos in the near future!
This article originally appeared in the winter 2011 Harker Quarterly.
This October, a unique combination of events conspired to give performing arts students a at a hitherto unexplored area of their craft: the Broadway casting call.
It started when Laura Lang-Ree, K-12 performing arts department chair, was contacted by Lisa Schwebke ’04 about hosting a talent search she was associated with. Casting for a Broadway revival of “Annie” is underway and the West Coast casting call for the lead role and her orphan buddies needed a place to audition hopefuls.
Schwebke, a musical theater graduate of the Harker Conservatory certificate program, had interned and apprenticed at casting agency Telsey + Co., which was holding the casting call, and she now works as a talent agent with the Gersh Agency, who would love to place some of their talent in the show. Lang-Ree and the Telsey representative worked out the details and the deal was done.
The payoff was that Harker Conservatory certificate candidates and other performing arts students had an intense weekend in late October, attending a college casting workshop Friday afternoon, a workshop on casting in general that evening, and putting the new information to use at the casting call held at Blackford on Sunday.
Friday Afternoon
Schwebke was up to bat first. She hosted the Friday afternoon discussion in Nichols Hall with students in Cantilena, an upper school choral group, and the Advanced Scene Study, Choreography and Study of Dance classes.
Schwebke, perched on the edge of the stage, spoke about the satisfaction in her non-acting job and how she actually likes the casting side better than performing. A Manhattan resident who attended New York University’s Steinhardt School, she noted the training she received while getting her Conservatory certificate has helped her virtually every day of her career. “The discipline and foundation in the arts I learned [at Harker] comes into play every single day of my life,” she said. “I don’t think I would have gotten that training anywhere else.”
Her best advice for current Conservatory candidates is to “be open to all the possibilities. I really didn’t understand that there were options other than to be an actor, and I’m having so much more fun doing what I am doing now that I ever did when I was acting. I loved [acting], but to help other actors and to use different parts of my brain that I maybe wasn’t using on that track is such a treat.”
Friday Evening
That same evening, Schwebke and Telsey casting director Rachel Hoffman teamed up for a Conservatory-sponsored workshop, “How Broadway Casting is Done.” They discussed the difference between a talent agent and a casting director, gave tips to the students about following different courses in college, and answered the students’ various questions about “the biz.” Twenty-five Conservatory candidates attended the workshop.
“It was great,” said Lang-Ree of the audition workshop. “It was a unique look at the business of casting; not only could my students gain information about casting and understand it in a whole different way, but they got to show their stuff as well. I had a couple of students prepare their work to show it to Rachel for feedback. That was very informative not only for the students who were brave enough to do that but for the students watching. You learn so much by observation in the arts,” she said.
Sunday
Then, Sunday, 30 Conservatory candidates in two shifts helped manage the flow of tiny hopefuls to and from the audition rooms, as Hoffman and two of her New York colleagues finished up a yearlong search for the next cast of “Annie,” being revived on Broadway next year.
Gathering in the Blackford campus’ outdoor eating area, the morning shift of 15 interns was instructed on how to help those auditioning to fill out the proper releases, where the prospective Annies and orphans would go first, and where to take them when they moved to the second round or were through for the day.
Those trying out for parts began arriving at 8:30 a.m., settled at picnic tables and passed the time until called.
“The amphitheater is the holding room,” said Alice Tsui, grade 11 and a theater certificate candidate. Once called in, hopefuls “go in one by one and sing to them. It is very exciting,” she added.
Interns first led those auditioning in groups of eight to the initial try-out room, helping build energy and confidence by having them skip or weave between the poles along the walkway. While waiting outside the auditioning rooms, interns read parts to cue those auditioning, high-fived those exiting and gave advice on speaking with emphasis.
“I thought it would be a really good experience,” said Tsui, “especially because it was a real Broadway audition. I thought it would be a great chance to see what goes on beyond the walls of high school and it has been fascinating.”
“Auditions went great,” said Hoffman. “Having the casting call at Harker has been a win- win all around. Harker has been a beautiful facility. The interns have been fantastic. I think they’ve had fun and they have been great.
“I love that high school kids are the interns because little girls that age always look up to older girls, so they have been fantastic about being encouraging; a big part of this is to encourage self-esteem in these girls. The interns have been fantastic at that throughout the day!” said Hoffman.
Lang-Ree was on cloud nine with all the outside expertise flowing to Conservatory candidates. “It has been an incredible opportunity to have that kind of one-on-one contact with live theater on Broadway,” she said. “It has allowed students to see the business from a very personal point of view.”
Between the Friday afternoon session, the Friday evening session and Sunday’s casting call effort, “ interns have had an opportunity to see the business from multiple sides, and that is something that is really important to the Conservatory teachers,” Lang-Ree said.
“While we all understand that passion and joy of performing and we all still perform ourselves, there is something about knowing that there is more to being in the arts than being the one shining star on Broadway – that there is this whole world open to them to remain in the arts their entire lives in directing, casting, stage management or even being that star on Broadway.
“This whole process was so successful from our end, and hopefully from Telsey’s. We all got along so well they may return in February for a workshop and we hope to piggy back on that. This is a home run for us and a home run for them, so we would do it again in a heartbeat,” concluded Lang-Ree.