A Musical Showcase

The concert, held in Studzinski Recital Hall on October 28, was a new event designed to highlight the music program’s strength and depth.

“Students often spend much of their musical life at Bowdoin within one ensemble, with limited opportunities to hear what other groups are doing,” said Badie Khaleghian, Bowdoin’s A. LeRoy Greason Assistant Professor in the Creative Arts and one of the concert’s organizers.

“We wanted to bring them together so they could see the broader range of music-making within our department and experience how differently music can be understood, expressed, and performed,” continued Khaleghian, a composer and multimedia artist whose work bridges music, technology, visual art, performance, and neuroscience.

“What I loved about the evening was hearing the orchestra and choir alongside tabla duos, the South Asian Ensemble, the experimental work of the Bowdoin Electroacoustic Ensemble, and a powerful jazz trio. Each brought its own approach.”

A Sonic Extravaganza
Close to fifty students shared the main stage—more than thirty of them belonging to the Bowdoin Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Beckwith Artist-in-Residence George Lopez. A further twenty or so vocal performers occupied the gallery—members of the Bowdoin Chamber Choir, directed by Kari Francis.

“We have wanted to program something like this for a long time, but it is not logistically easy to organize,” said Associate Professor of Music Ireri Chávez-Bárcenas, an early music scholar who also helped put the show together. “As you know, at the end of each semester, we present a series of recitals featuring students involved in lessons and ensembles. This time, however, we wanted to celebrate the joy of making music together and to highlight the creativity and diversity of our music community.”

As students consider what classes to take in the spring semester, the event was also an opportunity to share information about what is being offered academically, remarked Associate Professor of Music Tracy McMullen, who chairs the department. Information on available courses was available on a video screen in the lobby outside the concert hall. The courses cover areas like theory and composition, creative media and sound (including classes on video game music and film scoring), and music and culture (featuring a class on gender, sexuality, and popular music, taught by McMullen). “The event was part of a continuing campaign to create more visibility for the music department,” added McMullen, an acclaimed jazz saxophonist and composer.

Energizing students
The concert was emceed by music theory and composition major Jack Crawford ’27, a member of the electroacoustic ensemble. “The music department has truly shaped who I am now,” he told the crowd, “and it's really inspired me to go out in the world and just make more music, because the world definitely needs more music!”

Tatiana Allen ’27 describes Bowdoin’s music department as one of the “hidden treasures” of the College. “The department is so cool, and not enough students know that!” observed the music and Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies double major. “The diverse range of faculty and topics covered in courses have made me not only a more focused (and happier) student, but also a better thinker and collaborator.

“The music department is not just for those who are advanced in an instrument; it’s  a home for those who are curious about how the sounds of everyday life shape their perspectives.”