Music faculty performed in Christ Chapel last Friday.
Courtesy | Ethan Greb

Last week, three music professors at Hillsdale College played a selection of music for a faculty recital.

Christopher McCourry, Brad Blackham, and Emily Douglass performed several musical arrangements combining the trumpet, piano, and voice in the recital on Friday.

According to McCourry, a music teacher and trumpetist, working with Blackham and Douglass was a humbling experience.

“It’s been my pleasure to be able to work with Brad, who has been doing this for a long time,” McCourry said. “It’s also a great honor for me to share the stage with Emily Douglass. I am standing next to these guys who are such great players.”  

Emily Douglass, soprano and music teacher, said she was also honored to perform alongside her collaborators. 

“I’m most excited to perform with my amazingly talented colleagues, Chris McCourry and Brad Blackham,” Douglass said. “They are both world-class, supportive musicians and I’m honored to be able to perform with them.”

Freshman Ellia He, who attended the recital, said that she appreciated the choice of music for the concert. According to He, the music was both beautiful and meaningful.

“The music was interesting to listen to,” He said. “I really liked the choices, especially the pieces by Gustav Mahler and Giacomo Puccini.”

According to Douglass, the latter of these pieces, Puccini’s aria from “Suor Angelica,” is even more powerful within the context of the opera.

“‘Senza Mamma’ is an aria of a mother who lost her son,” Douglass said. “She is pregnant out of wedlock and is put into a convent to cover the shame. She is separated from her son, and just before this aria, she finds out that he has passed away from an illness. She begins to picture him and talk to him, and she questions when her own death will come so that she might see him.”

According to freshman Turner Callaghan, both the music and the performance were stunning and powerful.

“I enjoyed Professor Douglas’s performance a lot,” Callaghan said. “The aria was beautiful, and I would like to further research the song and the opera. The performance was very moving.”

Douglass said the ability to communicate stories through music is one of her favorite aspects of vocal performance. 

“Opera offers the ability to explore many facets of human emotion through storytelling,” Douglass said. “The marriage of text and music in opera provides a unique performing experience.”

According to McCourry, the beauty of the Christ Chapel complemented the power of the music.

“It’s a beautiful place to play in,” McCourry said. “I am so grateful to Hillsdale College that I can realize these opportunities in such a beautiful place.”