Fine tuned Fridays
Informal piano performance offers entertainment for students, new opportunities for Fine Arts Academy strand
Junior Isa Pirkey performs her duet piece with junior and fellow piano major Isabella Aleman Ward during the Fine Arts Friday piano recital.
May 10, 2023
Over the past two months, the Fine Arts Academy has put on a series of Fine Arts Friday events to showcase the work of the different programs. The weekly events that take place during lunch began on April 14 and came to a close last Friday.
“The performances are usually very intense and I get super stressed about it because it’s just me and I’m on a big stage,” junior piano major Isa Pirkey said. “But with this one, since it was just in the hallway and people were just walking by, it was definitely more low-key and less stressful, but still very fun.”
Members of the piano program performed in the main hallway on April 21.
“I think it was really enjoyable because letting people hear my music makes me feel accomplished because I did it and people actually saw it,” freshman piano major Kai Jimenez said. “I get really nervous whenever I play in front of people, but it gives me a lot of practice and it allows me to become a better player overall.”
I get really nervous whenever I play in front of people, but it gives me a lot of practice and it allows me to become a better player overall.
— freshman Kai Jimenez
Freshman piano I student Nash Wegner overheard the concert happening in the main hallway and asked if he could join in.
“When I see a piano in public, it just draws me to it,” Wegner said. “I want to play it for people.”
After the piano majors finished their performances, Wegner stepped up and played “Claire De Lune,” the piece he had prepared for his last recital.
“I said, ‘Make sure to let the majors play first’ because I was not sure if they wanted to play anything else,” Jimenez said. “At the end, they were trying to pick up but I insisted that he should play because I know he’s a really good player.”
For Wegner, the event was not only a performance opportunity but a chance to learn from piano majors.
“I mean they’re really good, so I was kind of nervous,” Wegner said. “I went on the New York trip with them. They’re like teachers to all the piano majors. It was really cool seeing how they play and the emotion behind it.”
In addition to displaying the skills of individual piano majors, the event also gave exposure to the whole Fine Arts Academy.
“I think it is really important to get more McCallum students interested in the fine arts program in general,” Pirkey said. “Especially in the piano program. It’s so small and something like this, hopefully, will help inspire students to actually join.”
Videography and photography by Gergő Major and Dave Winter. Reporting by Morgan Eye.
![MAKING MOO-VES IN THE ENSEMBLE: Sophomores Zoe Maxwell and Robin Kulhanek, senior Atticus Adair, juniors Addie Knight and Henry Mayes and sophomore Zalie Mann perform Notice Me on the opening night of Cows: the Moosical.
Maxwell, who was a member of the three-person ensemble, found dancing on Cows to be an especially intimate experience compared to their past experiences with MacTheater.
“I had worked with everyone in the cast before, and it was really refreshing to have fun with something that was so homemade,” Maxwell said.
Not only was Cows a smaller-scale production but also a faster-paced one. According to Maxwell, rehearsals were hectic but still fun.
“There were probably only a few rehearsals where everybody in the cast was there,” Maxwell said. “[Mann] and I spent the week before and of the show running back and forth between Cows rehearsal and Mac Dance rehearsals. It was very much ‘down to the last minute’ kind of rehearsal, but once the adrenaline kicked in, everything came together.”
During this frenzied pre-show period, Maxwell worked closely with director, choreographer and writer senior Anderson Zoll to perfect her performances of the many dance numbers throughout the show.
“I had some prior experience working with Anderson as the choreographer for both Pippin and Descendants, but it was really incredible seeing him work not just for choreo, but writing, staging and managing all together,” Maxwell said. “I think he’s a great choreographer, and he’s super open to suggestions and collaboration.”
Once the lights were on and the stage was set, Maxwell saw the fruits of their, and the rest of cast and crew’s, labor reflected in the audience’s reactions.
“[I loved] watching the cast from the sides and hearing the crowd laugh at all the parts I love in the show,” Maxwell said. “I think also getting to perform in the FABT for the first time was a great experience.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/09_MAKING-MOO-VES-IN-THE-ENSEMBLE-e1683085502678-475x326.jpg)
![MAKING MOO-VES IN THE ENSEMBLE: Sophomores Zoe Maxwell and Robin Kulhanek, senior Atticus Adair, juniors Addie Knight and Henry Mayes and sophomore Zalie Mann perform Notice Me on the opening night of Cows: the Moosical.
Maxwell, who was a member of the three-person ensemble, found dancing on Cows to be an especially intimate experience compared to their past experiences with MacTheater.
“I had worked with everyone in the cast before, and it was really refreshing to have fun with something that was so homemade,” Maxwell said.
Not only was Cows a smaller-scale production but also a faster-paced one. According to Maxwell, rehearsals were hectic but still fun.
“There were probably only a few rehearsals where everybody in the cast was there,” Maxwell said. “[Mann] and I spent the week before and of the show running back and forth between Cows rehearsal and Mac Dance rehearsals. It was very much ‘down to the last minute’ kind of rehearsal, but once the adrenaline kicked in, everything came together.”
During this frenzied pre-show period, Maxwell worked closely with director, choreographer and writer senior Anderson Zoll to perfect her performances of the many dance numbers throughout the show.
“I had some prior experience working with Anderson as the choreographer for both Pippin and Descendants, but it was really incredible seeing him work not just for choreo, but writing, staging and managing all together,” Maxwell said. “I think he’s a great choreographer, and he’s super open to suggestions and collaboration.”
Once the lights were on and the stage was set, Maxwell saw the fruits of their, and the rest of cast and crew’s, labor reflected in the audience’s reactions.
“[I loved] watching the cast from the sides and hearing the crowd laugh at all the parts I love in the show,” Maxwell said. “I think also getting to perform in the FABT for the first time was a great experience.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/09_MAKING-MOO-VES-IN-THE-ENSEMBLE-e1683085502678-300x206.jpg)
