Now in its 38th time, Collage Concert by the School of Music, Theater, and Dance on January 17, 2015 put together another incredible show featuring many departments within SMTD. This unique performance, in which one act followed another without pauses, showed how interconnected different disciplines of art can be.
On a performance style like that of Collage, where works from old and new come together to create one performance experience, Maestro Gustav Meier (former professor at Eastman School of Music and U-M School of Music) states:
“…[A] quartet called the Five Century Ensemble, a soprano, a tenor, cello, and harpsichord, … performed music from every period with the last note of each work overlapping the first note of the next composition. … We were all just stunned. It never occurred to me that such a programming technique could happen. What a contrast — old music, new music — so close together.” (Quoted from The Instrumentalist, February 1980)
At the University of Michigan that night, in our own Hill Auditorium, we created a gigantic Five Century Ensemble — or rather, Five Century and Disciplines Ensemble. We are lucky to be at a school where many departments are top-notch in their fields, and the School of Music, Theater, and Dance is no exception. However different the appearances may be, all performances were tied to the core of artistry.
This kind of performance requires a lot of careful planning, both logistically and artistically. First of all, there are hundreds of performers in Collage, who are all students with different, busy lives. Organizers have to connect with all of them to make sure they are at the right place at the right time. In addition to this, the lighting cues can be complex, and stage setups can require special knowledge. I wonder if the logistics coordinators for this performance got to sleep at all in the past few days with all of this in mind. All of these were executed perfectly, at least to my knowledge.
Artistically, the directors put together a program that just flows. There is no worry about the quality of the performances, as the individual acts are very strong. However, the program — which included various types of music, skits, and dance works — somehow needs to make sense without any gaps for applauses and reset. With that said, the performace order was truly stunning, especially in the first half. My most favorite was a reading and stunt of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” by Ian Johnson and Ben Reitemeier, going into Gandolfi’s Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme, played by the Symphony Band. The music seemed to compliment the Shakespeare play so perfectly. Many other surprising yet understandable combinations happened throughout the two-hour show.
I have been on two sides of the Collage: performer and audience. I performed in the Collage last year as a Symphony Band member, and it was such a wonderful experience. Now, I am happy to see the performance from the other side, sharing the surprises with the general public. It excites me that I share practice rooms with these students, and I can only imagine how great they will become in the future in their arts. (And perhaps me too — hopefully?)
