Brianna Barnes reporter
Friday, Nov. 8 in McCray Hall, Fayelyn Kmiec, a senior double majoring in vocal and instrumental music education, gave her senior recital. Her repertoire included, “Signore, Ascolta!,” “Air Chantés,” “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen,” and “Goodnight, My Someone.”
“I was nervous, but I think if I wasn’t nervous, I wouldn’t be human,” Kmiec said. “There is something about being able to create that brings it to where I might be scared to do this right now, but it’s going to have such good pay off. I am just super proud of all the progress and hard work. I’ve had some of these pieces for two years, and I have been working on them diligently with other collaborators. I am very proud of the success I’ve had today.”
With her pieces, she sang in Italian, French, German, and English. For her family and friends that came to watch, the French pieces were a common favorite. In English, the four pieces meant, “Romantic Air,” “Pastoral Air,” “Grave Air,” and “Lively Air.”
“I thought it was so beautiful, I absolutely loved it,” said Trinity Duveau, a junior majoring in music education.
For her first piece, she sang, “Signore, Ascolta!” an Italian soprano aria from act one from the opera, “Turandot,” composed by Giacomo Puccini.
“I feel like I have gained so much more confidence and trust in myself,” Kmiec said. “The more I have done this, I feel like I have been becoming more creative. I present whatever kind of role or poetry that is being written into the piece and I feel like I have a deeper appreciation for what I’m singing and for myself.”
“Goodnight, My Someone,” was her last piece of the night, composed by Meredith Willson. The piece was from “The Music Man,” a Broadway musical that was first performed in 1957.
“I wanted to support a friend, and I obviously never disappointed in doing that,” said Joseph Barnes, a senior majoring in vocal music education.
The German piece, “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen,” composed by Franz Schubert, included student Joel Garber, also a senior, playing clarinet. This piece translates to, “The Shepherd on the Rock” and is considered a Lied, a term used for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music.
“I am all for drama and Puccini is just all drama, and it’s just such a beautiful longing and yearning piece and being able to omit that to the audience is so ingrained in my system,” said Kmiec. “I chose the Schubert as well because I really wanted to highlight working with other students and people inside the music department. We support each other, not only with friendly competition, but collaborating. So, I wanted to bring that element in as well.”
Kmiec’s post-graduation plans will be student teaching in the fall, then hopefully obtaining a job teaching younger children music. She will continue to give private lessons as well, and she hopes to go on and eventually participate in either performance or education musical graduate studies.