Showcasing Creative and Vibrant Performances
Late-spring performances shine each year, and this season is no exception. Here’s a wrap-up, beginning with last month’s Choir and Orchestra concert, which featured works by George Gershwin, Antonín Dvořák, and Johann Strauss—works that students on the Music in Europe Abroad heard during their winter-break trip to Paris, Prague, and Vienna. The performance also included English choral music celebrating everything from the beauty of William Byrd's sacred music to the poignant Romanticism of Gustav Holst to John Rutter's jaunty rendition of Shakespeare.
This year’s Dance Production, held during Parents’ Weekend, featured 41 student dancers performing contemporary, hip-hop, tap, and African dance styles. Nine of the 13 pieces were choreographed by students. Also among the dances was the ensemble piece Jhivumary, choreographed by former American Ballet Theatre dancer John Gardner, the fifth original ballet he has created for Principia dancers.
More recently, students delivered a series of one-act shows, which theatre majors oversaw entirely—from selecting the pieces to casting and directing them. And students enrolled in piano, violin, composition, organ, and voice lessons performed pieces they’ve been studying this semester.
Coming up, at next week’s Baccalaurate service, which kicks-off Commencement activities, the choir will present William Byrd's "I Will Not Leave You Comfortless" and H. Walford Davies’s "Pilgrim on Earth." Professor Laura Parker, on the violin, and Dr. Rose Whitmore, on the organ, will perform Jean-Philippe Rameau’s "Gavotte" from his opera Le Temple de la Gloire (The Temple of Glory). (The Baccalaureate service, held on Friday, May 12, at 8:00 p.m. in Cox Auditorium, will be broadcast on Principia Internet Radio.)
Take a look behind the scenes of this year's Dance Production in this short video.