A recital

The day after graduation, Melissa held an encore performance of her senior recital for our family, who had flown in from Ohio to help celebrate her accomplishment. She was, as per usual, stunning in her performance, showing her degree was well and studiously (ha!) earned. She has a pristine, delicate voice that sounds like it could shatter, but it never, ever does. It's quite the edgy experience. I only wish I could post a video!

Her ensemble consisted of her preferred theme: fascination with death. Pieces included David Del Tredici's Lament on the Death of a Bullfighter, John Adams' This is Prophetic!, Igor Stravinsky's No Word From Tom, some others I can't recall, and my personal favorites...songs from Apparition, by George Crumb. This involved amplified piano Particularly striking and possibly the creepiest song in the entire world was Dark Mother Always Gliding Near with Soft Feet. All of the Crumb songs were fantastically chilling, and very spooky; I think my other favorite was called Death Carol, in which Melissa hooted and called like some ominous nightbird. Gorgeous.

As a special surprise to our parents, I joined Melissa at the piano after her main performance and we sang a duet that thoroughly trumped her death theme....The Flower Song, from the opera Lakmé. I think everyone was pleased and surprised, and it was nice to share that experience with my seester!