Tyler Tashdjian performs during his clarinet recital, totalling four sets in all. Photo by Anna Meassick.
Music majors performed in their senior recitals last weekend
This past weekend six senior music students held their final recitals to showcase the various skills they have developed throughout their studies.
Two of them were Remy Besson’s percussion recital on March 22 and Tyler Tashdjian’s clarinet recital on March 23.
Besson began his recital with a group piece. Honoring his love of jazz, he had Jacob Brunelle on the alto saxophone, James Himmelmann on the piano and Steve Marcks on the bass join him in a performance of “Groovin’ High” by Dizzy Gillespie.
Besson continued with 11 pieces in total, switching from the snare drum, to the marimba, to the glockenspiel and finally the vibraphone. Every song brought a different feeling to the hall. It was interesting to see the variety of instruments that Besson could confidently play. Besson also had his friend Margret Celico sing as he accompanied her on the marimba for a beautiful performance of “Ave Maria” by Franz Abt.
A special factor of Besson’s performance was the song “Oasis.” This song was written by Katherine Loo, a senior music performance and composition major. Loo wrote the song specifically for Besson to play on the Marimba during his recital. Loo plays the viola, but she does not let that stop her from composing for instruments she doesn’t play.
“It’s a pretty rewarding process,” Loo said. “It was something difficult. It’s new for me writing for the marimba. We actually discussed it; the way I wrote it wasn’t traditionally how a marimbaist would write a piece.”
Besson was able to collaborate with her on the piece, helping it to fit the style of the marimba better and add his own influence to the song.
“It was fun to play it for her with my own little flare, and my own thoughts and my own feelings about how this should go and how this should work,” Besson said. “It was nice to know that it was a piece for me, because a lot of the music you can read about who wrote it, and who commissioned it and why they wrote it. But it’s nice to know that this was a piece written for me to play in front of people.”
Tashdjian’s recital was the following day. His main instrument is the clarinet but he also plays jazz saxophone, piccolo and oboe. He joked about his choice of clarinet as his main instrument.
“My mom told me it was either accordion or clarinet and 10 year old me was like ‘accordion is nerdish,’ but I’m still into music so I’m still kind of a nerd,” he said.
Tashdjian opened his performance in a similar way, featuring Kelsey Foeller and Gia Antolini on the violin, Katherine Loo on the viola and Faares Deeb on the cello for a performance of “Clarinet Concerto in A K. 622” by W.A. Mozart.
He continued to play four songs in total, all filled with difficult techniques that required very quick finger movements and excellent control over his instrument.
Tashdjian was also sure to feature his own trio that was formed last semester, “Red Treble.” This included Peter Kelmelis on the piano and Faares Deeb on the cello. The group closed out Tashdjian’s recital with a performance of “Trio in A Minor, Op. 114” by Johannes Brahms.
Tashdjian reflected on his experience from being a part of URI’s music department.
“The music department has helped me so much,” Tashdijan said. “My first year I wouldn’t be able to play anywhere near how I am now. The department made me an awesome musician, and I feel very ready to go into the world that’s hard for musicians.”
Tashdijian plans to go to graduate school and wants to eventually play in the pit of Broadway shows. Besson is planning on going to graduate school for percussion performance. He hopes to teach at the collegiate level some day.