Ari Herrera
December 1, 2022
Chamber Music Recital
On November 30, 2022 the College of the Holy Cross held the Chamber Music Recital in
the Brooks Concert Hall. This event was put on by the Department of Music and ran by the
Interim Director of Chamber Music, Sergio Munoz Levia. Levia recently joined the Department
of Music at the College of the Holy Cross and currently serves as Music Theory Instructor at
Project STEP in Boston. The recital included all class years ‘23 - ‘26 at the college. The main
instruments that were played at the recital were the piano, flute, and cello. Other featured
instruments were the harpsichord and horn. This concert recital was held to act as an endcap to
the closing weeks of Fall Semester at the college.
The second piece that was performed at the recital was Assobio a jato (“The Jet Whistle”)
by Heitor Villa-Lobos. This piece was performed by Emmeline Lingnowski ‘24, flute and
Julianna Stratton ‘26, cello. This piece stood out to me because of how different it was not just
from the first performance but the entire concert recital. The piece is performed in Allegro non
troppo and begins in mezzo forte. The relationship between the cello and flute were flipped as
the flute acted as the constant melody and the cello was able to accompany the flute more freely.
The flute played a high pitched trill that droned throughout the piece. The cello's low pitch notes
balanced out the piece. The quick tempo of the flute and cello added a degree of excitement to
the piece. As the piece continued the flute would move from mezzo forte to forte drawing more
attention from the audience. Then the flute would descend into piano and the cello would play at
forte. This would continue as they would trade back and forth control of the piece.
The fourth piece that was performed at the recite was Serenade for Piano, Violin, and
Horn, op. 73 by Robert Khan. This piece was performed by Ana Parker ‘24, horn, Emerson
Lyons ‘25, violin, and Xinyang (Lucy) Zhang ‘25, piano. This piece interested me the most due
to the horn. The piece bagan adagio with the french horn droning with piano and violin
accompaniment. It was played at mezzo piano. The low pitch notes of the horn helped to ground
the piece with a nice full sound. The violin and the piano both provided high pitch notes that all
together made it feel as if one was on a boat at night. The texture of this piece was not too thick.
This quality made the piece feel almost malleable. The three instruments were able to work quite
nicely together while showcasing the most interesting instrument: the horn.
In conclusion, I enjoyed the Chamber Music Recital held by the Department of Music at
the College of the Holy Cross. Sergio Munoz Levia ran an excellent show. The student
performances were great to see in person. I am always happy to see hard work at the college
supported by the faculty and student body allike. My favorite piece was Serenade for Piano,
Violin, and Horn, op. 73 by Robert Khan. This was due to the performance by Ana Parker ‘24 on
the horn. The horn has now become one of my favorite instruments and I hope to see more of her
work in the future.