Music Honors Performance Theses: Samuel Wright ’23, Composition, Patrick Spoor ’23, Voice

The Amherst College Department of Music presents two honors theses, FREE and open to the public, with general seating.

At 7 p.m. the original composition thesis, The Second Seed, by Sam Wright ’23, tells a story of loss and of love between a sister who is bound to earth and a brother who yearns to fly. In this original song cycle, Wright weaves a surreal fairytale with elements taken from Korean and Celtic stories, featuring folk and contemporary chamber music inspired by these traditions. What happens when fate is not aligned with one’s goals? Why do bad things happen, and what can be done afterward? What will we leave behind after we are gone?

This is followed at 8 p.m. by the voice recital Einheitswanderschaft, by Patrick Spoor ’23. Through a collection of songs, Spoor plays the part of the wandering soul, a desire to branch out and engage with the lives of people from all manners of places toward a greater purpose of Einheit: unity or oneness with the aspirations of all peoples. For the wanderer to truly understand the people they meet, they must undertake an empathetic journey through experiencing the real lives of regular peoples. Through the feelings of Romantic and Modernist composers, Patrick explores the desires and fears involved in searching for and cultivating a fulfilling space to exist.

PROGRAM:
Franz Schubert –– “Der Wanderer,” D. 493
Franz Schubert –– “Abschied,” from Schwanengesang, D. 957
Maurice Ravel –– Don Quichotte à Dulcinée
Armando Gentilucci –– Canti da Estravagario di Pablo Neruda
Hugo Wolf –– “Nachtzauber,” from the Eichendorff-Lieder