The sound of melodic voices will fill the PMAC Recital Hall on Sunday, February 17th, as students perform at the annual vocal recital.
The vocal recitals have taken place at Choate since the early 1970s, and the number of students who perform each year varies.
The performers in Sunday’s recital are all students of voice instructor Robin Sellati. Ten to 12 students of Max Ivanov and Wendy Hillman will perform at a later recital in the spring.
A lot of preparation, hard work, and effort go into this much anticipated performance. Dan Pahl ’10 says, “We have been preparing since the beginning of the year because of the large number of pieces we will be performing.” What separates this recital from others in the past is its complete focus on group pieces; past recitals have included group and solo singing . Bailey Bennett ’10 and Miles Cozart ’09 will perform the duet “I Have Dreamed” from The King and I while Pahl is “performing in 5 pieces including a song called ‘All The Wasted Time’ from the musical Parade and ‘A New World’ from the musical Songs for a New World, just to name a couple.”
For some performers, preparation goes beyond simply learning a new piece. Many, such as Lilly Rigling ’10, who has been singing with a private teacher since she was eight years old, are constantly preparing for performances. “Robin [a vocal instructor] started working on two of the songs— ‘I Won’t Say’ from Hercules and ‘At the Ballet’ from the musical A Chorus Line—at the beginning of fall term, and we started working on ‘Mama Who Bore Me’ from the musical Spring Awakening about three weeks ago. But I have also been learning new pieces for Stonatos as well as just working on my technique. It is amazing how much time and effort it takes to prepare for one simple performance!” Rigling explained.
Although many vocal students perform in the annual recital, it is by no means required. “We got to choose as to whether or not we wanted to perform,” stated Bennett. “Obviously my instructor, Robin Sellati, really wanted me to perform, but I didn’t have to do it if I didn’t want to.” The majority of vocal students do love to perform and that is why such a large number of songs are performed at the recital. Pahl said, “I love the adrenaline rush when you’re waiting to get up and start your performance. The wait feels like hours, however, the performance goes by in the blink of an eye.” Many are not as confident as Pahl and feel a bit nervous before the performance, but they agree that in the end it will be a thrilling experience.
