This Spring Break, 13 Hathaway Brown eighth graders will travel to Germany and Austria with HB’s Recorder Consort. The ensemble will tour the cities of Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna to perform music in the places where it was composed. These 14-year-old students have been playing together and preparing for this trip for the last two years. Some of the highlights of the March 15-24 trip will include performing at the home of Mozart’s birth and at the Orff Institute in Salzburg.
Middle School Performing Arts Department Chair Deborah Southard is the program advisor who guides the students on the instrument during the school day an in after-school practice sessions. She educates the girls using the Orff Schulwerk philosophy, developed by German composer Carl Orff. The learning environment empowers girls to create their own music and movement, rather than merely reproduce that which has been created by adults.
“This is a pilgrimage every teacher dreams of making,” Deb says. “Paying homage to these influential composers in the places where they once lived and worked is an amazing and even life-changing experience.”
News of the girls' visit is being spread throughout Europe. Check out these posters hanging in Salzburg and Vienna.
The members of the Class of 2017 making the trip are Elise Baker, Margaret Broihier, Maggie Cha, Lane Chesler, Holly Galbincea, Mae Harris, Alexia Jones, Ananya Kalahasti, Hanna Keyerleber, Kayla Miller, Gigi Protasiewicz, Julia Sabik, and Rachel Wang.