This month, many of the Community School of Performing Arts’s faculty-artists step out of the studio and onto the stage to showcase their skills as performers. It’s an opportunity for audiences to enjoy their superb artistry and for students to see them under a different spotlight.
They are instructors, walking beginners through the earliest stages of learning an instrument. They are mentors encouraging young musicians to keep striving for growth in skills and artistry. They are conductors leading ensembles through learning to listen to and communicate with follow musicians. The faculty at the Colburn School are experienced and dedicated educators; however, they also are highly regarded artists who have performed on prestigious stages around the world and with many of today’s elite musicians. And while you can find our teachers in studios and rehearsal spaces on the Colburn campus every week, on October 10 at 6 pm, several of the Community School of Performing Arts faculty members will be performing on stage in Zipper Hall for the Community School Faculty Showcase.
This year’s event features pieces by both legacy and contemporary composers. The true highlight, however, will be seeing the more than a dozen faculty members set aside their instructor role and resume the role of performer. We asked a few of the musicians to share their thoughts on the interplay between teaching and performing as faculty-artists.
While day to day you are faculty colleagues, for the showcase you are fellow performers and collaborators. How does that exchange enhance collegial relationships?
“We have faculty who are absolutely exceptional, so it’s wonderful to be able to make music together. For me, personally, chamber music pieces are love letters from the composers, so to play with your colleagues, it’s such a beautiful exchange of listening to each other, responding to each other, and interacting with each other. I would not miss it for the world.” —Henry Gronnier, Strings chair for the Community School, violin and chamber music faculty
“I’m playing in a sextet with five other faculty members, including Henry Gronnier who was my teacher back during my time at USC. This will be the second time we have performed together, which is really fun. This spring, my quartet, the Webern Quartet, will do a Faculty Recital and we’ll be asking Community School chamber music students to play in an octet with us. So, you know, performing with my past teacher and then having my students perform with me all in the same year is pretty special.” —Alex Granger, viola and chamber music faculty
“I always feel incredibly fortunate to be part of this wonderful school, and especially this department, where my colleagues are people I genuinely like and respect, both personally and as musicians.”
—Micah Yui, piano and chamber music faculty and co-director of the Colburn Summer Piano Seminar
Many Community School students and their parents will attend the Faculty Showcase. What does it mean to you as a teacher to have them watch you perform as an artist? How does it benefit interactions with your students?
“I remember when my teachers were giving concerts and I was always thinking, ‘I hope one day I can be as good as they are, or even better!’ I think it’s wonderful to put into practice what you teach and for students to see it, and be able to appreciate or understand why you’re asking them to do a certain task, such as being careful with intonation, interpretation, and playing together. I think it’s a wonderful tool of communication.” —Gronnier
“Performing helps your teaching because you have real-world experience. You’re teaching with the mindset of performance, so when you go through that process as a performer, it starts to inform the way you teach. Alternatively, when you perform, sometimes you’re reminded of things that you’re teaching.” —Granger
“Much like seeing a schoolteacher outside of the classroom, this is a way for our students to see us as an artist outside of Colburn classrooms. A recital is a chance for them to see the person they see every week up on stage doing the thing they’re teaching students to do. I think it is a really special opportunity. Also, families get a context for what their kids are striving for; it sort of bridges the two worlds.” —Chelsea Tanner, flute faculty
Each faculty performer chooses their own repertoire to play in the showcase. What excites you about your repertoire selection?
“This concert gives me an opportunity to learn and perform solo repertoire I love. And, of course, it’s always a special experience to perform in the beautiful Zipper Hall.” —Yui
“I’m playing a transcription of a Tchaikovsky aria, which I think has a lot of what I’ve been talking about with my students in terms of interpretation, tone color, and flexibility of sound. That really informed my choice, which happens a lot with teaching.” —Tanner
“It’s simply the most lively concert of the year!” —Granger
Visit our Calendar of Events to learn more about the Community School Faculty Showcase.