Spring Performing Arts Night

The night opened up with an exciting performance from the Senior Ensemble, a group of members of the Class of 2025 playing their instruments and singing, “Careless Whisper” by George Michael. 

Next up was a solo act by Luke Pennell ’26 on piano playing “June” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Performing Arts Chair Steve Cady then joined the stage and welcomed the audience and thanked them for their presence. The Chamber Ensemble then joined the stage and performed three pieces, “Lascia ch’io pianga” by George Frederic Handel, “Lacrimosa”  by W.A. Mozart, and “The Spring” by Antonio Vivaldi.

Angela Shi ’28 performed “Silver Clouds Chasing the Moon” by Ren Guang. The student-led jazz trio, Half Giraffe comprised of Eric Chen ’27, Oliver Norkun ’26, and Luke Pennell ’26, played two pieces, “Solar” by Miles Davis and “Just the Other Night” written by Luke Penell ’26.

The Vocal Ensemble, led by Gwenn Curtis humanities faculty, sang two pieces. The first was “Shule Aroon” traditional Irish arranged by Elaine Scram and Gwenn Curtis, vocal ensemble director and the second piece was “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman”, by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, arranged by Gwenn Curtis. The Vocal Ensemble members of the Class of 2025 stayed on the stage and performed “Homeward Bound”’ by Marta Keen, arranged by Gwenn Curtis. The vocal acts didn’t stop there. Girl Power took the stage with Suki Lambert ’25 and Morgan Studin ’25 on vocals and Caitlin Masure ’25 on piano and vocals. They performed “Good Old Days” by Macklemore and Kesha and an original created for a class assignment after having read Hamlet, “Vengeance” by Caitlin Masure ’25.

There was a music break as the Theater Ensemble, led by Jonathan Barron ’96 theater arts director, took to the stage to perform two improv comedy acts. In the first, titled “Synonym Roll,” actors were interrupted mid-scene and had to think of a synonym for whatever word they just said and continue on. The second act was “Sing It!” In this act, students would improvise a scene based on an audience suggestion, then would turn a phrase that “sounded like a Broadway tune” into an actual music performance. Our talented actors did an excellent job thinking on their feet and entertaining the crowd.

Next, the Jazz Ensemble took to the stage and performed 4 tunes including, “Secret Agent Man” by Johnny Rivers arranged by Steve Cady, “So What” by Miles Davis arranged by Steve Cady, “Busy City” by Luke Pennell ’26, and “Birdland” by Josef Zawinul arranged by Michael Sweeny.

Another student-led group named OTAH (Ode to Amanda Hodgson, humanities faculty) joined the stage with Charlie Hodgson ’25 playing guitar, Ruby Besson ’25 singing, Ana Hernandez-Merkle ’25 playing bass and Hazel Barreras ’25 on drums. The energetic group performed “Since U Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson.

The Senior Ensemble came back to the stage one last time to perform three songs including,  “The House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals, “I Lived” by OneRepublic, and “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds.

The evening concluded with all of the ensembles coming together to perform “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones arranged by Asper Donath ’26 and finished with a sing along of the Vermont Academy Evening Song.  

The Spring Performing arts night was a lively showcase of all of the hard work of the arts department highlighting student groups, soloists and the Class of 2025.

View the full performance here. 

Technical Team

Case Siegel ’25 - Sound Board Operator

Andy Darcy ’25 - Lighting Designer and Livestream Technician

Jonathan Barron ’96 - Light Board Operator and Cueing

Chamber Ensemble

Steve Cady - Director

Asper Donath ’26 - Doublebass

Taylor Gleeson ’25 - Flute

Ana Hernandez-Merkle ’25 - Flute

Suki Lambert ’25 - Cello

Alexander Linnenbringer ’26 - Clarinet

Caitlin Masure ’25 - Flute

Catherine Min ’27 - Flute

Luke Pennell ’26 - Piano

Morgan Studin ’25 - Flute

Vocal Ensemble

Gwenn Curtis, Director

Yehoon Allen ’28

Asper Donath ’26

Nik Dunbar ’27

Yuliang “Raymond” Feng ’25

Ryan Guo ’28

Suki Lambert ’25

Sara Martínez Mateos ’26

Caitlin Masure ’25

Casey Rhodes ’27

Maya Sbardellati ’25

Morgan Studin ’25

Angela Shi ’28 - Accompanist

Jazz Ensemble

Steve Cady - Director

Elliott Carr ’28 - Keyboard

Eric Chen ’27 - Bass

Asper Donath ’26 - Cello/Bass

Ana Hernandez-Merkle ’25 - Trombone

Charlie Hodgson ’25 - Guitar

Aly Lantz ’25 - Saxophone

Alexander Linnenbringer ’26 - Clarinet

Caitlin Masure ’25 - Flute

Evie Meyer ’28 - Saxophone

Oliver Norkun ’26 - Drums/Aux

Marley Odell ’26 - Guitar 

Luke Pennell ’26 - Piano/Trumpet

Darien Rainey ’27 - Drums/Aux

Angela Shi ’28 - Piano

Jacob Studin ’28 - Trumpet

Morgan Studin ’25 - Flute

Oliver Walsh-Fischetti ’25 - Keyboard

Dodge Zaccara ’25 - Guitar/Drums

Theatre Ensemble

Jonathan Barron ’96 - Director

Lincoln Bernardin ’27

Gabby Clavel-McCann ’27

Andy Darcy ’25

Asper Donath ’26

Nik Dunbar ’27

Casey Rhodes ’27

Senior Ensemble

Ruby Besson - Voice

Yuliang “Raymond” Feng - Voice

Taylor Gleeson - Flute, 

Ana Hernandez-Merkle - Bass

Charlie Hodgson - Guitar

Suki Lambert - Voice

Aly Lantz - Saxophone

Caitlin Masure - Voice

Maya Sbardellati - Voice

Morgan Studin - Voice

Oliver Walsh-Fischetti - Keyboard/Keytar

Dodge Zaccara - Drums