The Senior Recital of Rachel Mikol

         

   On September 14^th, I got to see the senior recital of Rachel Mikol, a soprano in the Dawn Pierce studio. For her recital, she chose a theme to all the songs she sang in the hour and a half program. Her theme, “Unveiling the Underestimated: An Exploration of Female Composers,” featured songs from various female composers from various countries. For her recital, she had three violinists along with a pianist.

            Through the recital, she sang in such languages as Italian, English, German, and Norweign. I believe her best performance was with the Norweign and English pieces. She sang three songs by Agathe Backer-Grondahl and three songs by Amy Beach.. At this point in her recital, she had already sang throw a lot of her pieces and, I believe, she left the best for last. She was able to become the character and tell the story throw her acting and vocal dynamics. A quick history of these two authors, they were composing music at the same time, making it interesting to compare genres and composition between the six songs. Both composers where alive during the beginning of the 20^th century, and both sounded very classical.

            A moment that sticks out for me about her performance is her choice of instruments. The first song was accompanied with a harpsichord and three violins. I believe this was a very interesting start for a recital. It gave me the impression that she really wanted to make a statement with this first piece, especially since all of these instruments were only used once in her recital. I loved how the violins began the piece, all-starting off in harmony, followed by the harpsichord, and then her vocals. The entire piece beautifully highlighted all the instruments being played, making the listener very overwhelmed by the end of the song. (AND THIS ONLY THE FIRST SONG).

            I found all the songs to be very repetitive; much makes me think that a lot of the songs were written in a AABA form. Just like the folk music that we are currently looking at, the songs went through many verses with a lot of the same melodies and accompanying chords.

            I thought that Rachel was outstanding! I remember being stunned by the voice that rang throughout the entire hall. Her stage presence was remarkable and her acting really helped deliver the message of the song.  I also really enjoyed the theme of her recital. I thought it was very interesting to perform various selections from different composers who are all woman. Overall, I had a very good time! I walked away from her recital really thinking about different women composers and their influence on music. Great job Rachel!