Music Program Concert at AUK, A Spring Delight

The Music Program at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) presented a student music recital at 7pm on Sunday, May 15 in the AUK Auditorium. Both advanced student musicians and beginner groups performed vocal and instrumental solo and chamber works, demonstrating the great diversity and artistic potential that exists in the region. 

Encouraged by the success of previous music concerts at AUK, the concert included challenging compositions by Chopin, Pachelbel, Mozart, Offenbach, among others. The highlight instrumental performers entailed Sara Suliman on flute who inspired with a technically impressive grade eight contemporary composition by Ian Clarke, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar on classical guitar who transformed the hall into the spirit of old Spain, and Sabeeka Al-Fuzai (piano) who warmed the audience with an emotional Chopin nocturne. There was great support for the talented first time recital participants Noura Al-Ajmi (flute) and Sarah Al-Ajmi (piano) who gave notable performances. The "Daring Duo" Salem Al-Mathkour (violin) and Faisal Al-Bahairi (piano) concluded the first half of the program by thrilling the crowd with a tango and the ever-exciting Rimsky-Korsakov "Flight of the Bumblebee." 

The second half of the program was dominated by vocal students. Bashayer Al-Saad, (mezzosoprano) enchanted the audience with the appealing French "Habanera" from the opera Carmen, and the male vocalists Nader Abdullah, Ali Atesh, and Yousef Al-Jenai together charmed all with Italian love songs. The final piece by Offenbach performed by voices, flute, violin, cello, and piano, included music faculty performers who had worked with the solo students all semester. Scattered throughout the evening, for the first time on stage, were the AUK choral ensembles and the introductory Percussion group led by Profs. Anna Karadimitrova and Agnieszka Faga respectively. 

"We were delighted with the success of this Spring concert," said Dr. Lisa Urkevich, the Coordinator of the Music Program, "Along with our highly advanced student musicians, we were able to include a few pieces by our new large ensembles, that is, the introductory choirs and the xylophone ensemble. Of course, it is always a pleasure to hear our long-standing gifted students present more inspiring performances each semester, but this Spring, it was a special treat to see our large beginner groups come together and produce such lovely work. We look forward to our music program and music concerts ever expanding in the future."