An enthusiastic audience experienced “An Evening of Jazz” in late March, as lower, middle and upper school student musicians took to the stage at the Blackford Theater. Louis Hoffman directed the Lower School Jazz Ensemble, which kicked things off with selections from Red Garland, Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton and Nat Adderley. The Middle School Jazz Band then joined in for “Killer Joe” by Benny Golson, which segued nicely into the group’s own set, which consisted of “Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey” by Hughie Cannon and “Caravan” by Juan Tizol, both arranged by the band, which was directed by Dave Hart.
The Harker School Jazz Band, directed by Chris Florio, performed renditions of Freddie Green’s “Corner Pocket,” “Feelin’ Good” by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and “I Be Serious ‘Bout Dem Blues” by John Clayton. Other highlights included an appearance by Harker’s Lab Band, the upper school’s introductory jazz ensemble directed by Hart, and the night’s encore, which featured all of the middle and upper school musicians performing the traditional “Second Line.”
Members of Harker’s varsity and JV dance teams returned today from a four-day dance camp with the United Spirit Association at UC Santa Cruz. Harker received the highest Superior award for choreography, and the team also was honored with the “Hardest Working Team” plaque. Individual awards were given to Emily Pan and Ankita Sharma, both rising juniors, for their drill-down technique. Meanwhile, among the 150 participants, Noel Banerjee, Darby Millard, both rising seniors, and Liana Wang, rising freshman, were recognized as All-American dancers, earning an invitation to perform in London.
While it is always amazing to be awarded for hard work and technique, “the most memorable part of camp was being told by the USA instructors that Harker’s dancers were incredibly polite, dedicated, humble and supportive of both their team members and the other participating schools,” noted Karl Kuehn, dance team coach. “Their passion to learn and grow as dancers fueled the team’s success, and I could not be more proud of this fantastic group of students.” Go Dance Team Eagles!
Rising senior Helen Wu, who was selected to play and travel with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America this summer, embarks on a two-week national tour starting July 24, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall in Massachusetts, Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago, Green Music Center at Sonoma State University, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and more. Wu is one of only three violinists from California who were selected to join the prestigious orchestra this summer! Here is a little background: https://staging.news.harker.org/instrumentalists-honored-by-selection-to-all-state-one-selected-for-national-youth-orchestra/
“This is one of the greatest accomplishments and honors a Harker instrumentalist has ever achieved, so I’m really proud to share it with you,” said Chris Florio, leader of The Harker School Orchestra. The photo was taken last week of Wu and world-renowned violinist Gil Shaham after his first rehearsal with the youth orchestra. Tour dates are on the Carnegie Hall website: http://www.carnegiehall.org/Education/National-Youth-Orchestra-of-the-United-States-of-America/
Congrats to Helen and best wishes for a great summer tour!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Spring break was especially memorable for The Harker School Orchestra, which traveled to Chicago to perform at the Chicago International Music Festival – and came home with a Gold Award. 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 Shostakovich.
The orchestra’s performance earned high praise from Deborah Gibbs, president and CEO of World Projects, the production company behind the festival, who declared The Harker School 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.
In late April, the middle school choir Vivace traveled to Anaheim for the Heritage Music Festival, where it earned third place among the six junior high and high school choral ensembles. Vivace earned high marks from the professors at the festival, who commented on the musicality in their performance. The ensemble also was invited to the 2015 Festival of Gold in San Francisco, an honor reserved only for groups that are rated 90 or higher. To celebrate, the group visited Disneyland the following day. “It was a blast!” said Dave Hart, middle school music teacher and Vivace director.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
In early May, the kindergarten classes of Katie Florio, Kimberly Sandoval, Michelle Anderson and Katherine Chi each performed a special show for morning audiences titled “The Bear Went Over the Mountain.”
Inspired by the popular children’s song of the same name, the show featured kindergarten students dressed up as different animals, each helping their friend Da Bear in his journey over the mountain. The show was directed by music teacher Carena Montany and choreographed by dance teacher Gail Palmer. With each class putting on a separate show, every student got to sing, dance and help carry forward the bear’s efforts to climb the mountain with its friends’ help. The cuteness factor, with all the little ones dressed in furry animal costumes, was off the meter!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Numerous lower school musical groups performed at this year’s Spring Music Concert, held May 8 at the Bucknall Theater. Spanning many genres and time periods, the concert featured notable performances from the Lower School Orchestra, Lower School Jazz Ensemble, Bucknall Choir and more, with a special appearance by the Guitar Group, which performed a classical guitar piece by Ferdinando Carulli, then skipped ahead a few centuries to play Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”
The concert also featured several stand-out solo performances from Harker students, including Maya Franz, grade 5, who performed the Dave Brubeck staple “Take Five,” and original compositions by Theodore Kratter, grade 1, Angeline Kiang, grade 4, and Paul Kratter and Anika Fuloria, both grade 5.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
This year’s lower school dance concert, titled “T.V. Time!” had students moving to the music of classic television shows from multiple eras. Songs were suggested by lower school faculty and staff, and the chosen songs were choreographed by our great faculty dance team!
Students danced to songs from iconic shows such as “Hawaii Five-O,” “The Simpsons, “Friends” and “Modern Family,” with each routine paying homage to the settings and characters from each show. Technical director Danny Dunn provided voice-overs and slideshow images relevant to the shows to which the production paid tribute.
Rising senior and Harker Conservatory student Agata Sorotokin was recently featured on “From the Top,” a radio program that highlights the talents of young musicians aged 8 to 18. Distributed by National Public Radio to 250 radio stations across the country, “From the Top” is recorded in front of live audiences in concert halls from coast to coast. A member of the upper school women’s vocal group Cantilena, Sorotokin performed movements from Sofia Gubaidulina’s “Musical Toys,” including one section thathad the young pianist playing notes with her nose.
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.”