On Tuesday, June 9, the Florestan Chamber Music ensemble performed compositions by student composers at Bellevue College. The performance took place at the Carlson Theatre at BC at 3:30 p.m. Florestan Chamber Music features a group of talented musicians, including Lauren Roth-Gómez on violin, Ruth Marshall on violoncello, and Garret Ross on piano.
The event began with an opening discussion by Florestan Chamber Music and Dr. Brian Cobb, the event coordinator and associate adjunct professor. All pieces performed during the initial performance were composed by students at Bellevue College in the Music Composition Program.
The first piece performed was Piano Trio in A Major, composed by Shelley Keller. Keller started studying music theory and composition at Bellevue College in 2021 and helped write the musical work Cougar Mountain Christmas. In the future, she hopes to compose holiday music geared towards younger listeners. In regards to her piece for this performance, Keller noted that the sonata form was a classic structure taught by Dr. Cobb. She also gained inspiration for the piece from “classical works by composers such as W.A Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Ludwig Van Beethoven, & the song Killer Queen by Freddie Mercury”, according to the event program.
Following Keller’s performance was Winter, composed by Taylor Hill. According to the event program, Hill stated that “Winter was written to evoke memories of moods and environments of the eponymous season… exploring a full day of experiences including the festive warmth of friends meeting and the bitter cold of night.” Hill is currently pursuing his Associates of Arts in Music at Bellevue College and has been writing music since he was in high school. In the future, he plans to transfer to a four-year college in order to get a degree in Music Education to teach high school band.
The next piece was Phobos Castle, composed by Ethan Smith. As Smith explained, Castle is “a ballad about said castle that phases from day to night… as the time of day changes, so does the way the piece is played.” The piece itself is actually inspired by Agniratha – Mechonis Capital by ACE+ from Xenoblade Chronicles (2010). Smith has been composing since he was 17 years old and has been uploading compositions to Youtube under the name GumballFan13, and wants to compose for video games and movies one day.
“Lamplight Upon a Melted Snow” written by Wylan River-Zaviied was performed next. This piece “attempts to invoke the experiences of a snowstorm, as a way to look at, navigate, and grapple with, the passage of time.” The piece was also accompanied by a poem that was written in congruence with the music. Currently, River-Zaviied performs with the Seattle Trans and Nonbinary Choral Ensemble, as well as with the Bellevue College Choir as the tenor section leader. He has performed in multiple Bellevue College chamber concerts and will be finishing a bachelor’s degree in Music Composition at Ithaca college next year.
Following River-Zaviied was Ocean Silverman’s Invocation. The program states that “this peace seeks to find lyrical motions interweaved within dense mathematical constructions, that unveil themselves in ways existing both facilitated by and in contrast to the orchestrations. Silverman is a composer that tries to use abstract structures to reveal the present, future, and past.”
The sixth piece was Cascading Falls, composed by Eliah Kim. Written for piano trio, the piece “centers around a persistent sense of flow, created through recurring ascending and descending patterns in the piano and thematic descending sextuplets that mirror the natural rise and fall or rushing water.” Kim is a running start student who began composing four years ago and hopes to eventually compose for orchestras and larger ensembles.
The final piece was Sonata-Fantasie, composed by Joshua Lardizabal. According to the event program, “the work aims to give a platform to many stylistic influences, from jazz and folk to romantic and impressionist, guided by a narrative which remains personal and emotionally driven”. Larduzabal has composed 3 works for performances by Florestan Chamber Music. He is a guitarist but also knows how to play piano, and has performed jazz in combos and duets.
There was a change to the planned performance on the following day due to an injury sustained by one of the performers earlier in the week. In place of Dr. Brian Cobb’s Iynx, they preformed Dvorak’s Silent Woods, Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, Beethoven’s Romance No.1 in G Major, and Hadyn’s Piano Trio in G Major.
The performance was a great way for Florestan Chamber Music to showcase their musical talent, as well as for Bellevue College student composers to showcase their work. Students who are interested in creating their own pieces are encouraged to join the music composition classes at BC.
