Kat Simonelli
Staff Writer
Senior music majors Angelica Osorio and Michael Choy presented their senior projects May 18 in Morgan Auditorium in front of family, friends and music enthusiasts alike.
Osorio prepared a PowerPoint presentation on musician Astor Piazzolla who most famously played the bandoneon, a type of accordion, and his composition “Adios, Nonino” which means “Farewell, Grandfather” in Spanish.
After concluding her presentation, Osorio surprised the audience by having fellow senior presenter Choy come out with his guitar and accompany her on her violin in playing their own arrangement of Piazzolla’s “Adios, Nonino.”
“It honestly took us a week to write the arrangement and then we had two days to rehearse and then we had to perform it,” Osorio said. “I could not have finished the arrangement without Michael’s help.”
The audience was filled with proud family members and friends who came out to support their loved ones.
“I came tonight because there were great performers and they were all part of the music department, so I came to support both Michael and Angie, but Angie has always been a huge influence and a role model to me,” junior music major Anayeli Perez said.
“I loved in the end when she performed and I loved how she was able to show her personality throughout the presentation, so every once and awhile I would just be like ‘oh that’s Angie right there,’” said Perez.
After a 10 minute intermission, Choy came onto the stage accompanied by his former band members Jason Stricland and Mujtaba Jaafri and played three songs that they wrote, entitled “Contradiction,” “Never,” and “If.”
Each of the songs sounded like they were written as alternative rock songs, however “Never” was softer and more romantic.
This night was the band’s comeback performance, as they had not played together in more than ten years.
“I became a music major because I pretty much always play music, all of my life and I was pretty good at it,” Choy said. “I stopped for a little while, but when I picked it back up I realized that I should never have stopped.”
The presenters were faced with difficulties throughout the development of their project, which included finding a way to get their point across in terms that everyone would understand.
“I wanted to build a presentation where the audience who were not musicians could understand what I was saying as well as the musicians who were there,” said Osorio.
The final presenter Kehaulani Aspen was unable to attend the senior project presentation due to unknown reasons.
Kat Simonelli can be reached at kathryn.simonelli@laverne.edu.
