This May, Southeastern will say farewell to performer and vocalist, soprano Sarah Bertrand.
Bertrand, a music major with a vocal concentration, performed her senior recital Wednesday, April 10 at 6 p.m. in the Pottle Auditorium. Friends, fans and family gathered to celebrate Bertrand’s last solo performance at Southeastern.
Bertrand was overjoyed at how the performance went as well as her completion of the long process.
“I’m very excited to be finished,” said Bertrand. “It was a lot of work that went into it, hours and some tears, and I’m just really happy with how it ended and how I performed.”
One of the most important performances of a music major’s college career is the senior recital. Bertrand shared the difficulties of this preparation, saying diligence was a necessity. This is especially important when considering that she had memorized eight pieces written in foreign languages including German, Italian and French.
“I started choosing music last May for my senior recital, and then I picked out four of the pieces over the summer to prepare for graduate school auditions that I did last semester,” said Bertrand. “Then I just continued to add a new song either every week or every two weeks and tried to perfect that as much as possible.”
However, preparation went well beyond remembering the words. Seniors such as Bertrand research deeply into the history, style and mechanics of the pieces they choose to perform as well as meeting the many challenges on the road to their final recital. Her passion truly shone in Libby Larsen’s ‘Try Me Good King,’ which details the final remarks of five of King Henry VIII’s six queens, many of which were executed.
“After you perfect notes, rhythms and the style of the pieces, you have to add so much more as far as character,” said Bertrand. “Especially in the Larsen set ‘Try Me Good King,’ each movement is a different person, and you have to be so involved, and it can be really difficult to switch between each movement so quickly. So that’s the ultimate goal, to have a continuous performance where you are able to change characters instantaneously.”
Bertrand did so successfully as the passion and emotions present in her pieces brought many audience members to tears. After the show, recital attendees formed a lengthy line to present flowers, hugs and congratulations to Bertrand for her performance.
Although Bertrand is graduating this May, she is taking part in one other performance in her last semester, the Southeastern Concert Choir and Women’s Chorale concert, which will take place on Tuesday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. The concert will be focused on the music of Johannes Brahms.