EDMOND—Fourteen students on six instruments took the stage of Armstrong Auditorium May 6 for the spring recital of the Herbert W. Armstrong College music program. Approximately 200 people attended the recital, which also streamed live online at live.pcog.org. The recital included performances on the flute, violin, oboe, guitar and piano, as well as vocal talent, and for the first time, Imperial Academy’s orchestra, including 3rd-11th grade students, contributed to some of the college students’ performances.

The 1½ hour show included the premiere of HWAC music director Ryan Malone’s Song of Songs Concerto for Oboe and Strings. Backed by the IA orchestra strings section, senior oboist Christopher Eames displayed grace and emotion in a stirring rendition of God’s love song to his wayward Church, found in the biblical book of Song of Solomon. The orchestra added intensity to their accompaniment, especially when playing the melody of the words “make haste my beloved” in the acapella work. Eames’s sister Kaitlin, an HWAC violin student, also performed with the Imperial Academy orchestra for the first three songs.

Eames, who played in a youth orchestra in her native New Zealand, said, “I miss being able to play regularly with others in that kind of a setting—it is a special experience to be able to play music as part of a larger group, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing so for Hannah’s Mozart piece.”

Senior flutist Hannah Estebat played a concerto as light, cheerful and bright as the yellow dress she wore onstage. “I have performed in an orchestra, but not as a soloist,” she said. “It was definitely exciting and something new, because I’m used to hearing the piano as the accompaniment, but hearing the strings and wind instruments play behind me filled the theater in a different level. It was definitely challenging as well because there are adjustments that you have to make when you play with 20 or so other people to stay together.” Estebat hopes to continue her musical studies as a music teacher.

Eames returned to conduct the full orchestra in his arrangement of the theme from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. Seventh-grader Jordan Saranga and sixth-grader Jude Flurry accentuated the intense piece with their booming percussion contribution.

Although he has done some arranging before, Eames said he has not done anything on this scale before. It took 65 hours “with a good deal of assistance from Mr. Malone” to complete the arrangement, he said.

“My teacher was there,” Eames said. “He said he thought I should reconsider my age-long dream of becoming a pilot, and focus on being a musician. He enjoyed the performance, as always, and was blown away with how well the orchestra is progressing, and how good of a sound they are making.”

Eames, who works in the PCG music department, has obtained an education not only in performing as a musician but also in leading musicans, including experience conducting adult choirs. “It is an enjoyable thing to do,” he said. “You get to decide how you want the music to be interpreted, and it is a challenge to guide together so many different parts into one fluid machine.”

Eighth-grade trumpeter Zechariah Henderson said his favorite piece to perform was “definitely Pirates. That went really well. It’s just amazing to be able to play here in the orchestra. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

The next five numbers highlighted the progress of students in the third-grade Introduction to Violin and fourth-grade Beginning Winds and Strings classes, which Estebat helps to instruct. “Watching my student perform was inspiring,” Estebat said of her flute student Vanessa Henderson. “With music, you have to start somewhere. It’s exciting because you have to go in there with a vision because beginning stages of playing instruments isn’t always easy to listen to. … Seeing her improvement is very rewarding.”

“It’s awesome to see these children growing up and developing their talents,” said 83-year-old Birgitta Knight, who was visiting from England.

The night ended with hwac solo performances by junior guitarist Reese Zoellner; freshman violinist Kaitlin Eames; freshman flutist Emma Smithies; sophomore flutist Lauren Eames; sophomore singers Jordy Rouzer, David Savage and Lindsy Eagle; freshman pianist Brandi Davis, sophomore pianists Victoria Lancaster, Jessica Dalton and Elyssia Lancaster; and senior pianist Jessie Hester.

For IA and HWAC music students, the spring recital culminated a semester’s worth of practice and even memorization in some cases. Savage joked that it took him “too long” to memorize and adequately perform his peppy, high-speed Italian song, “Che Fiero Costume.”

“First, you have to understand the song’s rhythm,” Savage said. “[Voice instructor Mark Jenkins] tells me to clap my hands to the beat. Next, you have to understand the words. Unless you understand the intent, you can’t grasp how to convey it. Then I break it down and memorize it piece-by-piece.”

“There are a lot of kids up there with some real talent and some real potential,” Edmond member Betty Arthur said. “I really enjoyed it.”

Many audience members said the students’ time and effort to perfect their pieces was well worth it. “It was inspirational and educational,” PCG security manager Joseph Short said. “It was exactly what I needed on this night.”