Students in the Applied Music Program (AMP) showcased their work on Thursday in the Performing Arts Building.
The genres of music that students performed on stage included classical, jazz and opera. Students were each able to perform two pieces on stage for AMP’s third and final recital of the semester.
Business and music major Darwin Manansala mentioned the personal connection he had for the performances he saw.
“A lot of them were love songs,” Manansala said. “I found that rather pleasant and I quite enjoyed the classical love songs that are particularly German and Italian.”
The performers that sang at the AMP recital included Nathaly Calderon, Matthew Clark, Naiya Donovan, Herschel Aberson, Jess Tarantelli and Jessica Rae Duarte.
Two people each played piano and guitar at the AMP Recital, which were Lance Merrill, David Mudd, Babak Rostami and Lex Rehfeldt.
Manasala mentioned his favorite performance at the recital.
“The last performance done by Jessica Rae Duarte was quite excellent,” Manansala said. “I really enjoyed her movement alongside her singing today.”
Professor of voice and choral music Garineh Avakian talked about how she got involved in the AMP recital.
“As a full time professor at Pierce, I think it’s kind of a duty and a responsibility to come and support the students’ progress throughout the whole semester,” Avakian said. “I’m also their teacher in their performance workshop class which is on Fridays from 9 to noon and there’s another section that’s on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Avakian also described the process to get into AMP, which includes an application and audition process.
“There’s some guidelines that students need to follow, so for each music type you can think of that’s instrumental and vocal, there’s repertoire requirements they have to follow,” Avakian said. “The deadline is June 6 and auditions are taking place on June 13.”
Symphonic Band and Music Club adviser Ryan Espinosa tells us his goals for students that get ready to perform on stage.
“In the end it’s all to have fun,” Espinosa said. “They need to have fun doing what they’re doing, but of course I would want them to dig into the depth of the music and to tell the story of the pieces, because sometimes music doesn’t have words and you would have to deliver that message to whatever the composer has intended.”
Espinosa also said he is interested in supporting the students throughout the year.
“I love supporting the music students because these are people that have chosen to go and transfer into four-year universities and to pursue music as a part of their journey in college,” Espinosa said. “To me as a performer and an educator, it interests me to see these students succeed and of course hear how their progress has happened over the semesters.”
