Vocalist Kim Dupre and flutist Tara Hymel joined Jesse White in his graduate chamber recital which included a vocalist, flutist and clarinet player. Jalina Fourcade/The Lion’s Roar

Pottle Auditorium held the Graduate Recital of Jesse White.

Advertised with the slogan “Earth, Wind, and Jesse,” this recital was held on Apr. 4 from 7:30 to 8 p.m. Participants described how he held his recital with multiple performers instead of only playing by himself.

 “Part of the graduate degree is to give some kind of recital other than just a solo,” said graduate student and music major Tara Hymel. “It is more of a collaboration, learning about the pieces and it was part of his degree recital. So he chose to do a collaboration with a bunch of different people for chamber works.”

Recitals such as this one allow students to be exposed to creativity and really learn the composers behind the music while expanding the audience’s knowledge of composers otherwise unknown to them.

“It opens the doors to new music,” said Hymel. “Too often we get trapped in solo literature land where we only focus on our instrument and maybe piano or our instrument. It was really nice to have a recital with a variety of chamber works in one location. It was all enjoyable music.”

Instrumentation varied so that each piece appeared fresh to the audience. Performances like this despite a moderately low patron turnout can expose some to new types of musical experiences. 

“Anytime you get exposed to new music, it always has positive effects,” said White. “There was a piece that Kiersten Jonkman and I played that no one had heard of before even though it is by a pretty well known composer. It is always great to show people something they have not experienced before.”

Patrons such as junior music education major Jess Lambert enjoyed the performance and gave White a standing ovation at the end of the performance. Lambert explained how despite this being a requirement for class, he found this recital particularly exciting.

 “I don’t usually go to chamber recitals,” said Lambert. “It was very interesting to see the different types of music they were playing because I feel like it brought in different cultures and origins and that reflected a lot in the music they chose to perform.”

Overall, the musicians were pleased with the recital. White believes it was the culmination of work by a multitude of people.

“It went very well,” said White. “It was a culmination of a lot of work from a lot of people. Most recitals deal with solo music, so clarinet and piano, or clarinet and flute, but not clarinet, flute and piano or clarinet, violin and piano. So, this was all focused on chamber music and each one had unique instrumentation. None of the instrument pairing were repeated. You’re typically not going to find that here.”

Performers in this recital with White were flutist Isabella Basanti, vocalist Kim Dupre, percussionist Evan Lapeyrouse, violinist Marta Turianska, percussionist Travis Henthorn, flutist Tara Hymel, trumpet player Kiersten Jonkman and clarinetist Jang Hyun Thomas Kim.

Recitals in the Pottle Auditorium are free to university students and members of the community. A calendar of recitals can be found on the College of Music’s page.