April witnessed a glorious expansion of the free virtual performances Westmont College Music Department has made available to us online.
They have gone for the timed release, rather than simply opening the floodgates, beginning April 2, when they streamed a lovely and heartfelt rendering of Gabriel Fauré‘s heavenly “Requiem in d-minor, Opus 48″ (1887), with singers and musicians under the direction of Michael Shasberger, in an outdoor performance that is literally spaced-out (in a good sense).
The Fauré was followed on line April 9 by the Composer’s Concert, premiering several original compositions and pieces by Westmont students — Matthew Metz (Westmont ’21), Hailey Hoang (’21), Ben Gillmer (’24), Jared Clarke (’21), Nathan Ignacio Carlin (’24), Karis Daley (’23), Gabriel Rojas (’22), Lydia Lubben (’24), and Dylan Monacelli (’21) — under the direction of Steve Butler, Westmont professor of music.
As of April 16, the Westmont Jazz Ensemble can be seen and heard performing a variety of songs spanning history, including pieces by George Gershwin, Antônio Carlos Jobim, John L. (Wes) Montgomery, and Jon Batiste.
From Sunday, April 18, we can watch the Westmont Chamber Orchestra & Wind Chamber Concert, directed by Paul Mori and Andrea Di Maggio, and featuring the music of Ludwig Beethoven, Johann Pachelbel, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Claude Debussy, Georg Frederick Handel, Niccoló Antonio Zingarelli, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Farkas Ferenc and Johann Sebastian Bach.
The Spring Choral Concert, put online April 23, combines the College Choir, Chamber Singers and Choral Union, all co-directed by Karen Janzen and Matthew Roy, includes songs, anthems, and hymns from the 16th to the 21st centuries.
The Vocal Chamber Concert first aired Sunday, April 25, and features works by Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, and Orlando Gibbons, among others.
And Westmont’s virtual April music festival will conclude Friday, April 30, in a streamed String Chamber Concert, with music by Charles de Beriot, Max Reger, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Ludwig Beethoven.
Information on, and access to, the concerts is available at https://westmont.edu/virtual-concert-series, and most, if not all of them, can be viewed hereafter at Westmont’s Vimeo Showcase Page https://vimeo.com/showcase/westmontmusic.
I trust, moreover, that music lovers will continue to check in with Camerata Pacifica’s Concerts at Home; the Santa Barbara Symphony’s Virtual Season; the Community Arts-Music Association’s (CAMA) Cama at Home; and all the other worthy organizations I have overlooked.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.