Making it Sing

The atmosphere is “feisty,” says first-year student Sam Partyka, talking about the performance forums hosted by the music department.

On the first Thursday of each month, Brooks Concert Hall is the scene of a sophisticated and invigorating exchange of opinions by musicians — both students and professors. The group gathers to hear and critique “works in progress.”

The next performance forum, free and open to the campus community, will be held in Brooks Concert Hall at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 30. The forum will include works of Poulenc, Mozart, Dvorak, Andersen, Copland, Beethoven and Chopin. The performers include Tracy Espiritu ’07, soprano; Cassandra Chapel ’09, soprano; Meghan Quinn ’08, flute; Maureen Gassert ’07, soprano; Eric Culver, music lecturer, piano; Sarah D’Angelo ’07, piano; Harun Rafi ’10, viola; Peter Sulski, music lecturer, violin; and David Ogulnick ’10, cello.

Led by Sarah Grunstein, assistant professor of music, the forums offer students the experience of performing group and solo performances. Once a piece has been performed, willing members of the audience offer opinions and suggestions to the performers in what Grunstein calls a “positive, supportive dialogue about music and music-making.”

Grunstein, an internationally acclaimed pianist who has performed in prestigious venues such as New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and London’s Purcell Room, is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Award for young Australians and a Steinway Concert Artist. She established the performance forums in spring semester of 2002 soon after arriving at Holy Cross to provide faculty and students with the opportunity to perform for their peers and receive constructive criticism.

“I noticed there was a need to establish opportunities for student performances in the department, and a need to create a niche where students could ‘try out’ the works they were studying,” Grunstein says.

Brooks Concert Hall, the main performance space on campus, provides the perfect place for musicians to hone their skills with its excellent acoustics which emphasize the sounds of the performer.

First-year student Michael Simms says the forums are “a good way to introduce yourself to the music realm.” Simms, a clarinet player of eight years, is currently rehearsing Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet before presenting it in front of a performance forum audience. The performers spend significant amounts of time preparing and working on their pieces for the forum, because they want to be able to receive practical advice and commentary on improving their work. The forums provide a way for him to see what he is and is not doing correctly, says Simms.

“I am so delighted that the forums have had a tremendously beneficial impact on the standard of performance among students, the numbers of students who wish to perform, and the level of music-making in the department,” says Grunstein.