The Hillsdale Camerata will perform its spring concert in the Mauck Solarium at 11 a.m. this Saturday. The performance, which will feature primarily Classical and Baroque pieces, will showcase senior vocalist Claire Ziegler and junior Mikayla Brown on harp.
Junior Tomas Valle, president of the Camerata, said that the concert should last less than an hour, making it an easy addition to what might be an otherwise busy weekend.
“So if you’re someone who gets up early, it can be a study break,” Valle said. “And if you’re not, it can be the beginning of your day.”
The Camerata provides music enthusiasts with a supplement to the Hillsdale music program, scheduling a series of lectures and panel discussions throughout the academic year in addition to its orchestral performances.
“The music department at Hillsdale is fabulous,” Valle said, “which is manifest in the fact that we have a very large orchestra. But [the orchestra doesn’t] usually play works from the Classical period or the Baroque period, works that necessarily require a smaller setting. What the Camerata is trying to do is fill in some of those gaps.”
According to club treasurer and senior Kirsten Hall, even the largest Camerata ensemble has fewer than 20 members. Their small size gives performances a very distinct feeling for both artists and audience members.
“Going to hear an orchestra play, you’re wowed by the big sounds that are being produced,” Hall said. “But the Camerata, since it’s a smaller and in a more intimate setting, is a completely different type of listening experience.”
The grandeur of a full-size orchestra, while beautiful in its own right, allows for less communication between members of the orchestra. One may expect at the Camerata concert a simpler ensemble and a richer dynamic.
“In a normal orchestra, you have all of the sweeping orchestral sounds,” Valle said. “We have it very stripped-down. It’s much more interactive between players, because it’s not these eight people trying to communicate to these eight people-—it’s one person communicating with two people. And that’s something that I, as a musician, experience. I think it definitely comes through in the sound.”