Vanilla Sheet Cakes with Raspberry Frosting at Lulu
The frequency of sunny, clear, short-sleeve-long-pants weather is steadily increasing with the occasional dip back into a chilly gray day like today. It is sweet to see how everyone’s outfits brighten in color and pattern with every sunny day as we ditch hoodies for summer florals and skirts that we haven’t worn in months. Joy is easy to find in small pockets around Wellesley College, from a stranger’s kind smile as you pass by each other to the vanilla sheet cakes with raspberry frosting. And as the Spring Semester finally starts to look a little like Spring, performances and recitals continue to fill my weekends.
Last Saturday, my friend Fuyuto Shigihara – an incredibly talented violinist and phenomenal musician – had her recital at 4:30 PM. She played a program of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven – a wonderful combination of pieces showcasing her talent and welcoming spring with the bright and brilliant Mozart Violin Concerto No.3 and Beethoven’s Spring Sonata. Her program notes looked beautiful and read like professionally written notes in Boston Symphony Orchestra programs, and she even included pictures of her pets, starring her bunny Hoshi on the back cover. Every time I hear her play, I am left in awe. Each chord is so beautiful and each note so carefully considered. There is a story behind every phrase – I hope I could play with the same maturity in her musical expression. I feel so lucky and happy to be able to play with her and learn from her in our string quartet.
On Sunday, the Chamber Music Society Marathon Concert was the highlight of my day. Our string quartet (Fuyuto, me, Giulia Trevellin, and Amy Xuan) played the first and third movements of Borodin’s String Quartet No.2 in D Major. We had started rehearsing this piece this semester at the request of Amy and Fuyuto, and as we rehearsed briefly before our performance, I felt so happy listening to our music come together and to hear us truly play as one quartet. The four of us had become so close over this year, and I really hope that when Giulia and I are abroad next semester, we can tune in on the livestream of Amy and Fuyuto playing Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, Death of the Maiden and cheer them on.
I’m happy with how our performance went. We were dressed in a floral theme ranging from blues to pinks to reds. Though there were the inevitable slip ups and intonation adjustments here and there (mostly on my part), I had a lot of fun playing on stage with them. They all mean so much to me, and being able to cue each other and follow each other through our music was the best thing ever. I’m glad that music has become something that I enjoy creating and performing by myself or with others instead of an assignment to complete with perfection. I hope that in my upcoming performances, I will not scrutinize every mistake I make and instead walk on stage with the goal of having fun with my pieces and the people I am playing with, and to share that fun with the audience.
After performing and visiting the SBOG Roller Rink with Amy, we watched the livestream of our performance from our room. We laughed at each other’s mistakes and gave each other thumbs-ups at our respective solos. I’m glad that with each recording of our performances, we make new memories each time we rewatch them.
Despite the bittersweet feeling of knowing that our semester’s worth of work will soon be set aside for the books after our Wednesday evening concert, I am really excited to work on new material and hear my friends perform insanely difficult but incredibly fun pieces next semester. Flipping through the famous Violin Concertos of Mendelssohn, Sibelius, and Chen Gang, I found myself wishing that I had the skill to play them well. One day, I hope to treat every note of these concertos with care as Fuyuto, Giulia, and Amy do with every phrase of our chamber pieces. If I ever get to perform one of these pieces, I will do so with my friends in mind. <3
A sunny day by Lake Waban