Staff Writer- Evangelyn Hill
This Saturday, three Gustavus music department faculty will gather to perform a recital, titled Faculty Pot-pourri. The recital is free and open to the public, but the primary audience is Gustavus students.
The performance will take place in Jussi Björling Recital Hall on Saturday, September 27th. The recital will also be livestreamed on the Gustavus Music Department’s YouTube channel.
Yumiko Oshima-Ryan, a professor, piano instructor, and one of the faculty performing in the recital, said that the recital’s goal is to show students that their professors aren’t just teachers: they love to play, too.
Faculty Pot-pourri will feature Oshima-Ryan on piano, Sharon Mautner-Rogers on cello, and Karrin Meffert-Nelson on clarinet. They will each be playing solos; the recital also includes a trio and duet.
The music featured spans a variety of genres, as hinted at by the recital’s title. The trio piece is by Beethoven, and subsequent pieces are by Spanish, Japanese, and German composers in multiple styles.
For example, Oshima-Ryan’s two solo pieces are vastly different genres of music: the first is an improvisation on Beethoven, and the second is a series of shorter pieces by a Japanese composer inspired by the Pleiades constellation.
Performing an improvisational piece is a new experience for Oshima-Ryan, who drew on her Japanese and classical piano roots for this particular performance. The base of the piece is Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” but the improvisation will feature snippets of J-pop, Japanese folk songs—and jazz. Trained as a classical pianist from the age of four, she actually loves to listen to jazz.
“Next life I’m going to be a jazz pianist,” Oshima-Ryan joked.
Mautner-Rogers, cellist, will be playing in the group’s Beethoven trio, which she calls a “fun and spirited piece… the kind of piece you’d listen to and just smile.” She explained that Beethoven’s music has a clear and defined structure that “just makes so much sense.”
She will also be performing a solo version of the hymn “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” The solo piece was arranged by a jazz cellist, and includes unusual percussive plucking and hitting techniques—representative of the recital’s focus on displaying a “pot-pourri” of music, as the title says.
A cellist for 53 years, Mautner-Rogers is excited to play chamber music, a change from her usual role in a large orchestra. In her words, “music keeps us young.”
Meffert-Nelson, the third member of the trio, has been playing clarinet since fifth grade. “I love the sound of the clarinet and the wide range of dynamics and character that can be created,” Meffert-Nelson said.
She is excited by the variety of music the faculty recital features, and the diverse nationalities of the composers. Meffert-Nelson will be performing a solo by a Spanish composer, as well as a duet with Oshima-Ryan.
Meffert-Nelson had some insight into the impetus for this recital. “Not only were we wanting a chance to perform together,” she said, “but are excited on how this collaboration can help teach students about recitals.”
Oshima-Ryan echoed this sentiment. “I just wanted to play for students,” she said.
All three professors have a deep dedication to their pupils. Oshima-Ryan, typically a classical pianist, learned improvisation so that she could better teach her students—and so she could model for them a willingness to try new things, even in front of an audience.
As a young piano student, she was deeply passionate about music but never felt “good enough.” Now that she’s a professor, she finds it “really rewarding” to encourage students in music while also helping them identify areas they need to improve in.
“I think all of us are passionate about helping students,” she said, speaking about the faculty team putting on this recital.
As well as developing bonds with their students, Oshima-Ryan, Meffert-Nelson, and Mautner-Rogers have grown into a team over their years of teaching together.
Mautner-Rogers said that she’s worked with the other two faculty in multiple scenarios, both inside and outside Gustavus. “I think we play very easily together without a lot of effort,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of fun rehearsing, we’ve had a lot of laughs.”
Oshima-Ryan also highlighted her feeling of being part of a team with her colleagues, and she enjoys the jokes the three of them share.
Faculty: Pot-pourri will be an opportunity to see faculty members perform instead of teach. But Oshima-Ryan once again put the focus of the recital on her students: “I just want students to come… where faculty are working together.” she said.