11 minute read
The Arts AMPLIFIED
By Lorraine S. Connelly
On October 10, 2019, Choate Rosemary Hall’s Board of Trustees dedicated Ann and George Colony Hall. The new space, named in honor of George F. Colony ’72 and his wife, Ann, is an architectural and programmatic complement to the Paul Mellon Arts Center, built in 1972. Besides serving as the venue for weekly all-school meetings, the auditorium is the mainstay for spoken word and musical performances; the facility houses the School’s instrumental music and dance programs. Here students and faculty reveal how the space has changed their daily lives and amplified the arts.
Ann and George Colony Hall
A School That Values the Arts
Ore Tejuoso ’21, an Arts Concentration student from Lagos, Nigeria, spends a good amount of time in Colony Hall every day. She is either in a classroom learning music theory, in a practice room training her voice, or working with the jazz combo in the recital hall.
“Colony Hall is a beautiful and very resourceful building,” she says. “I really love the great amount of sunlight that comes into the practice rooms, and the Bluetooth speakers installed in each room. As a songwriter, the aesthetic of my environment is very important to me. I find that in the practice rooms I am able to compose an entire song. This is because the large windows give the room a very peaceful and serene feel.”
–ORE TEJUOSO ’21
Ore Tejuoso ’21 and Choral Director Charles Evans share a passing conversation as music instructor Matt McLean (seated) catches up with a student.
Ore’s favorite space in the building is definitely the recital hall. “I love the acoustics in there and the microphones are impeccable,” she says. “I also love the organization of the building. Although Colony Hall has a large interior, the sitting area at the bottom of the staircase really pulls everything back together. The attraction of this sitting area is especially shown when you have many students spread throughout the building at the same time.”
Once she takes a break from practice, Ore can be found in the sitting area ready to connect with others also taking a breather. “I am very grateful to be receiving my education at a school that values the arts as much as Choate does,” Ore says. “Music and the arts are very important to me, and it gladdens my heart to know my school feels the same way.”
Music Composition
Music faculty member Matt McLean is in his second year at Choate. He is the lead instructor of Choate’s jazz and wind ensembles and teaches a yearlong Honors Music Theory class. McLean came to Choate after nearly two decades teaching music in New York City at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School. McLean is also the founding director of Young Composers & Improvisors Workshop, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing composition to the music classroom.
Matt McLean holds a wind ensemble rehearsal in the recital hall.
In his Music Theory class, students learn ear training and melodic dictation using iPads to transcribe melodies they are hearing. His classroom has a piano so Matt can play examples he wants students to hear. Tables are movable and can be arranged differently depending on the day’s project, or can be moved into an oval for discussion.
McLean uses a software app, Pear Deck, for project presentation. It allows students to interact with a presentation on their iPads. Each trimester, students put into practice the theory they are learning in composition projects. In the fall, they composed a vocal arrangement that they performed for classmates; this winter they’ll arrange a chamber composition; and in the spring their culminating project will be to create a chamber music piece for the Young Composers concert.
In music faculty Matt McLean’s Music Theory class, students learn ear training and melodic dictation using iPads.
Every Monday afternoon, music Arts Con students gather informally in the Colony Hall lobby. Says McLean, “The meeting sets the students for the week and is a check-in on various projects they are working on. These meetings create a sense of community for them.”
“Our previous space,” he notes, “which was shared with theater arts, was not really suited for this kind of collaboration. The building and practice rooms are open all day until 9:00 p.m.; you can hear sound wafting throughout the building.”
Inspired to Create
On a fall afternoon, Ethan Luk ’20, from Hong Kong, and Naomi Koo ’20, from Seoul, Korea, improvise in Colony Hall’s courtyard. Says Ethan, “It was mostly a feeling of calm and serenity. We were just taking in the architecture of Colony Hall and playing whatever the space inspired us to create.”
Ethan is a member of the Symphony Orchestra, took Dance Composition in the fall, and participated in the Student Choreographers’ Showcase, the first performance in the Colony Hall dance studio this fall. He is also a president of Dance Company and is choreographing for the student production A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Says Ethan: “The PMAC and the old dance studio were both pretty limited in terms of rehearsal space, but now there are a lot of great sources of natural light. I feel much more inspired to work in Colony Hall. I’m definitely more motivated to work hard in the new space. I think that the design of a space really affects how I work creatively. We also experimented with a lot of new collaborations such as the Arts Con music ensemble working with the Dance Composition class in the Student Choreographers’ Showcase.
“My favorite space is definitely the dance studio. I find a lot of my choreographic inspiration in real life and nature, so I take advantage of the many windows and sources of natural light that create patterns of shadows – much like the patterns of formations in choreography or movement phrases. The building ties together the dance community with the music community in such a beautiful way. Dance used to be on the other side of campus in the basement of the WJAC. Now I finally feel like dance is part of the arts community at Choate.”
–ETHAN LUK ’20
A Maestro Settles In
For the past five decades, the Choate Rosemary Hall Orchestra has had the distinction of performing under the baton of a single music director, Philip Ventre. In 1970, then-Headmaster Seymour St. John wanted a music program that was “second to none.” Maestro Ventre has provided that and much more. In recognition of his more than four decades of distinguished teaching, the Board of Trustees awarded him the Karl J. and Augusta O. Monrad Faculty Chair.
Phil Ventre conducts the fall music ensemble concert with Arts Concentration soloist Eliana Kim ’20.
For Ventre, who has conducted in venues around the world, Colony Hall is a dream come true. The orchestra, now with 75 members, rehearses three times a week in its auditorium. The orchestra has performed in China four times and in 12 European countries. The orchestra also performed at the White House in 2009; at Carnegie Hall twice, at Lincoln Center, and at Yale’s Woolsey Hall. This February the orchestra will perform at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in D.C., one of four orchestras selected to perform as part of the nation’s President’s Day celebration.
Says Ventre, “During practice I can now hear students play and, more importantly, they can hear each other. The sound gets better and better each time they play.” The recital hall is a great collaboration space for practice, and space for sectionals to break out and practice repertoires. “The performing experience has been enhanced,” Ventre says. “The PMAC main stage was designed for theater, and the old recital hall for chamber and solo recitals. Colony Hall has upped the musicians’ game.” In many ways the building has also enhanced the equity goal. The four main families of instruments – strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion – now have equal weight and voice. Colony Hall is a more inclusive space where players of all instruments can hear one another. “Students,” says Ventre, “can play duets and trios comfortably.”
Ventre also cites the ample locker space as another draw, as is the vast music library that is shared with the jazz and wind ensembles and the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra. Notes Ventre, “We are truly blessed to have such an outstanding and truly unique performance venue for our musicians and for the entire community to enjoy! I shall be eternally grateful to Mr. Colony and Head of School Alex Curtis for their vision in the creation of Colony Hall.”
New locker spaces
One of several practice rooms that work well for duets.
A Window on Practice and Performance
Piano instructor Tom Martin is working with Hong Kong native Ryan Xu ’22, on a movement from a classical sonata by Beethoven. Ryan is preparing for the 2020 Renee B. Fisher Competition for Young Pianists, one of the most prestigious high school competitions in the Northeast. The practice session occurs in synchronous time to that of cellist Ryan Kim ’23, a freshman from Seoul. Martin has been teaching piano and music theory at Choate since 1986. The recital hall, with a rebuilt 9-foot Steinway, has definitely inspired kids. “For more than four decades, the PMAC was considered the gateway to upper campus. Colony Hall has carved out a whole new vista for the campus and the arts,” says Martin.
Ryan Kim ’23 in a lesson with cello teacher Tom Hudson. Piano teacher Tom Martin works with Hong Kong native Ryan Xu ’22, on a movement from a classical sonata by Beethoven.
Above the first floor music practice rooms is the dance studio. Kalya Yannatos, Director of the Arts and head of the dance program, reports more than 40 students are enrolled in dance this winter term alone – with about 150 students engaged in dance overall between the four dance clubs and the many classes and rehearsals. Says Yannatos, “Colony Hall has given dance a place at the table in the arts complex. It has elevated the entire spirit of the program.” Until 2019, dance classes were taught in the Johnson Athletic Center. Adds Yannatos, “While we loved having that connection to athletics, since dance is a perfect bridge between arts and athletics, it is wonderful to be under the same roof as the music program, allowing for greater collaboration between the two disciplines.”
This fall, nine students in the dance composition class previewed their original work in the inaugural Student Choreographers’ Showcase. Says Yannatos, “We had to turn people away.” The dance program has also expanded and now boasts five dance instructors. There are six Arts Concentration dance students in the program and more in the pipeline.
Director of the Arts Kalya Yannatos and Arts Concentration dance student Di ’Anna Bonomolo ’20 in the new dance studio
The dance studio is Yannatos’ favorite spot. Having a dedicated space for music and dance has also teased out the tension for shared space between the music and theater arts programs, she says. “Every program now has more space. It gives us a chance to spread our wings a little. A dedicated venue for school meetings now allows our stage process to continue uninterrupted.”
Choreographer and educator Pamela Newell joined the Choate faculty in 2018. For nearly 20 years, she was a vital member of the Montreal dance community and a dancer and rehearsal director for Compagnie Marie Chouinard, touring five continents. Newell teaches dance composition and history and modern/contemporary dance technique. In her dance technique classes, she begins with floor exercises. Says Newell, “We’re teaching universal movement principles – anatomical principles strengthening core developmental sequences and connectivity patterns.” Newell’s husband, Robert Bergner, provides drumming integral to the class.
Pamela Newell teaches dance composition and history and modern/ contemporary dance technique. In her dance technique classes, she begins with floor exercises. Newell’s husband, Robert Bergner, provides drumming for the exercises.
Newell says she and her students were struck this fall by the beauty and light of the new space. One of the first composition projects she assigned was site-specific, asking her student choreographers to create a dance piece in a setting outside of a dance studio or stage, engaging with the architecture and objects in the work. Laura Jiang ’21, from Shanghai says, “The unit on site-specific dancing was exciting. The artistic and sophisticated interior spaces of Colony Hall allowed me and my peers to utilize our creativity and create innovative site-specific pieces.”
Jenny Guo ’21, from Hong Kong, created a short piece that was performed on the couches on the first floor of the building. Says, Jenny, “The piece involved movements playing with negative space and the structure of the architecture that would not have been possible if it weren’t for the building’s designs.”
–DIRECTOR OF THE ARTS KALYA YANNATOS
Like Jenny, Laura is in Colony Hall Monday through Friday taking various dance classes in the afternoon, followed by evening dance rehearsal for the annual dance concert. Additionally, she’s in the studio on Saturdays to work on her individual pieces and Sundays with the rest of the student-led dance company. Says Laura, “The new dance studio makes all my dance-related activities more enjoyable. The new studio is a great size, it has beautiful windows, bright lights, which are all crucial enhancements. Whenever I’m in the studio taking class, I’m incredibly grateful for the amount of natural light we get. Also, I’m more motivated to come to the studio to work. The connective flow of the building gives musicians and dancers their separate identities, yet still maintains an interconnectedness.”
Sophia Yang ’22, of Bedford, N.Y., finds the new space has not only enhanced her dancing ability, it has also impacted the overall experience of dancing at Choate. “This new space has reminded me of the art form I love. I have spent many weekends at the dance studio either practicing or exploring new dances. Because of the close proximity of the dance studio to my dorm in Archbold I have been motivated to dance more. The grand windows in the front of Colony Hall have allowed the outside aspects of campus life to influence our creativity.” ■
