Arts Faculty Welcomes the Revival of In-Person Performances

The winter and spring concerts have been a longstanding tradition at Hopkins, attracting large audiences and displaying wide repertoires from the Orchestra and Concert Choir. However, the music and arts community was hit hard by Covid-19, forcing them to turn to recordings and Zoom performances.

This year’s Spring Concert took place under the graduation tent on May 29, with performances from Concert Choir, the Junior School Choir, the Orchestra, and multiple chamber groups. Arts Department Chair and Director of Instrumental Music Robert Smith described the change in concert venue: “The choir and orchestra have been performing at Battell Chapel and various other churches for years. Our Battell winter concerts attracted the most people and had a beautiful setting. All of that was closed off to us.” Smith, along with other members of the administration, made an informed decision in accordance with the direction of the school and Connecticut state guidelines to hold the concert outdoors, allowing for an audience presence in the safest possible way.

In preparation for the concert, the orchestra and choirs have had to prepare in unusual ways. Like most activities this year, rehearsals were affected by Covid-19, demanding more effort and time from directors and performers. With Hopkins spending a majority of the year in the hybrid learning model, most rehearsals were half-capacity: “Practicing under the hybrid model means that not all of the students can hear each other. Certainly, when you have students over Zoom, you can’t ask them to unmute themselves and play at the same time because there’s a lag and the sound won’t line up. So, we’ve been rehearsing in smaller groups and letting the students at home listen to the in-person students and play along with their microphones muted. The following week we would switch those roles,” said Smith. Director of Choral Music Erika Schroth found that singers have had to work twice as hard to create music this year: “We’ve all had to have a lot of faith. Knowing that if we laid the ground-work, put in the time, learned the notes, and tried to build community as best we could, that in the end, we’d come up with something that feels real and meaningful.”

Schroth said the biggest change for the choir and herself was “proximity. It’s all the moments when people are crammed together in a room and you laugh, cry, and sing together. It’s the actual physical closeness.” Schroth credited staying at home for the immense personal growth she’s seen in her singers this year, and said it “wouldn’t have happened otherwise.” The concert, she hoped, would bring back “that really intense person-to-person connection we crave.” Both Smith and Schroth found that the repertoire they selected for the concert is reflective of the past year.