3 seniors showcase talents

Three seniors—Jerica Rabenberg, of Dickinson, North Dakota; Heather Walls, of Loveland, Colorado; and Ryan Head, of Bushnell—performed their senior recitals this weekend at the Mari Sandoz Center.

Rabenberg started the recital by playing two of three sections, Allegro con spirito and Andante, of Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major by Johann Nepomuk Hummel.  Allegro was an upbeat and happy sounding song, a good opener.  Andante was a slower and mellower song.  It sounded like a song people would slow dance to.

Walls followed Rabenberg by singing four songs all from different operas.  The first song was called “Lascia ch’io pianga,” which translates to “Let me weep” by George Frideric Handel from Rinaldo.  Walls has a beautiful voice.  Although the title of the song is slightly depressing, it was a pretty song.

After Lascia ch’io pianga, Walls sang, “O sleep, why dost thou leave me” also by George Frideric Handel from Semele.  This song sounded sad, but in a beautiful way.  The delivery was amazing.

The third song Walls sang was called “Porgi, amor,” which translates to “Grant, Love” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart out of Le nozze di Figaro.  This was a dark sounding song; it made me feel kind of sad.

The fourth song was a longer song by Mozart called “Batti, batti, o bel Masetto,” which means, “Beat, Beat, Handsome Masetto.”  The way Walls sang sounded like the dialogue was angry;  it was fun to listen to.

After Walls’ fourth song Rabenberg returned to the stage to play “Animal Ditties II” by Anthony Plog.  The “Animal Ditties II” has four parts and a narrator starting with “The Ostrich.”  “The Ostrich” had a wild sound while the narrator explained the scene.  Next is “The Chipmunk” was less wild sounding but also slower. The third part was called “The Canary,” which had a faster beat than the others; it was also fun to listen to.  The last part was called “The Elk.”  This part was a slow confident beat, which had a jazz sort of feel to it.

Walls then took the stage to sing three songs, the first being “Madchenlied” by Johnnes Brahms.  “Madchenlied” translates to “Maiden’s Song.” This song sounded sad, but pretty.

The second song was called “Neue Liebe,” which translates to “New Love,” by Felix Mendelssohn.  This song was fast-paced.  It reminded me of someone being chased through the forest in a movie in the beginning.  Toward the end, it got slow and angry sounding.

The third song of this set was called “Licht und Liebe,” meaning “Light and Love” by Franz Schubert.  This song was a duet.  They were singing to each other as if they were acting out a scene; it seemed happy.

After the duet, Rabenberg played “A Hymn for the Lost and The Living” by Eric Ewazen.  The beat of this song was slow, and it sounded like the piano and trumpet were playing against each other.  It reminded me of the angel and devil on someone’s shoulder.  The piano sounded negative and the trumpet was positive.  This was an amazing piece to listen to.

After that Walls sang two songs by Michael Head.  The first was called “Why Have You Stolen My Delight.”  This song was short and upbeat.  The second was called “Dear Delight.”  This song was kind of sad.  It sounded like she was singing about a problem that was going on that she hoped to fix.

After Walls finished those two songs, Rabenberg went on stage to perform her last set of songs called “Easy Pieces” by Dmitri Shostakovich. “Easy Pieces” had three parts to it, “Dance,” “Nocturne,” and “Clockwork Doll.”  “Dance” was upbeat; it sounded like something that would be played in a Disney movie.  “Nocturne” was a slow song that reminded me of something played at a fancy ball or party.  “Clockwork Doll” had a fast-paced beat.

Once Habenberg was finished with her final piece, Walls took the stage to perform her last two songs.  Her second to last song was called “Serenade Italienne,” which means “Italian Serenade” by Ernest Chausson.  This was an upbeat song but it didn’t sound happy.  The final song Walls performed was called “Romance” by Claude Debussy.  This song was slow and sad.  Walls seemed passionate about this song, it was a good way to end her performance.

Both seniors performed amazingly, and said they were happy with their performances.

Head showcased his 20 years of guitar skills as he played about five classical music songs with artists ranging from Domenico Scarlatti all the way to J.S. Bach.

Head anticipated people not having a vast knowledge of the composers he chose to play, so on the back of his program he gave a brief description of each composer and some of the work that they are famous for. Head said that he feels the recital actually went pretty good, and he liked the turn out that he received.

“These are the songs that I have been listening to since I was a young guitar player,” he said.

The songs took the room over, and every time he played a song, the room was completely silent. Even the younger children in the room sat in awe as they watched him play for minutes at a time without looking up.