Student Ensembles To Perform At First Friday In Downtown Bryan
Visitors to this week’s First Friday in Downtown Bryan will have two opportunities to catch student ensembles in the Performance Studies program.
Chamber Music and Rare Couch will perform May 3 at Grand Stafford Theater with students in Small Ensembles courses taught by Dr. Virginia Figueiredo, instructional associate professor, and Dr. David Wilborn, associate professor. Rare Couch’s music includes pop, rock, jazz and country. The show starts at 5:30 p.m. and continues until 8:30.
The steelband — made up of Maroon Steel and Small Ensembles students — will perform from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in front of the Carnegie History Center, 111 S. Main St. In case of rain, the performance will take place at Grand Stafford Theater.
Percussion group Brazilian Carnival Ensemble will perform with the steelband on two of the pieces, adding a “unique rhythmic layer not normally heard in this style of music,” according to Dr. Kim Kattari, faculty adviser for Maroon Steel, Small Ensembles instructor and Performance Studies undergraduate program director.
Kattari said First Friday is a great opportunity for students to share steel pan music with the community.
“We take seriously our mission to represent this Trinbagonian cultural performance practice with respect, educate the audience about it, and introduce this music to new audiences,” she said. “It’s really fun to see the crowd moving along to this music, and it’s great to talk to members of the community who come up after the performance to ask more questions about the instrument and the music.”
The steelband will perform 10 songs including calypso classics, complex compositions and classic cover songs. The band will also debut a few new arrangements. Isabella Truong, a student officer for the band, arranged the song “Misteen Ocean” from the video game “Kirby Star Allies.” Sam Payne, the band’s student president and director, made a new arrangement of “Cantina Band” from “Star Wars.”
“Both are a lot of fun to play,” Kattari said. “These students have really gone above and beyond to arrange pieces for the ensemble in their own time, and I can’t wait to showcase their work. It’s a unique experience when you’re playing on the street with a crowd all around you, and it tends to produce a really great type of energy.”
Kattari said she appreciates the support of the school, Grand Stafford Theater and Destination Bryan for supporting the First Friday performance, noting how rewarding it is for students hoping to enhance their skills.
“I think it’s really important that students at Texas A&M engage with members of the local community and vice versa,” she said. “I’m so glad that students have these opportunities to gain professional experience by performing downtown, and that members of the local community can hear what these talented student performers have been working on in their ensemble classes.”
Top photo by Cody Hitchcock/Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications.
