Next in Hamilton’s Encore series of student performances is a May 2019 concert by the Hamilton College Orchestra that featured songs from the Bernstein classic West Side Story. It was the first time that the HCO provided accompaniment for a College theatre production.
But what is Professor of Music and HCO Director Heather Buchman’s favorite piece to conduct? “Sibelius’ 5th Symphony is my top-of-the-mountain piece – fresh, serene and exhilarating,” she says. “It’s also challenging because Sibelius deliberately blurs the rhythms and meters to make it sound more chaotic and unordered, like nature. I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a lift now — and who doesn’t! It’s coming back into our rotation sometime in the next few semesters.”
A special thank you to this year’s HCO seniors: Claire Chang (violin), Yueran “Rina” Ding (flute), Eliza Glaser-Kshensky (trumpet), Ruo Nan Huang (flute), Griffin Kearns (cello), David Sills (clarinet), Emma Stuart (oboe), and Andrew Wheeler (trombone).
