Anna DeMichele opened up Cerritos College’s semi-annual Faculty Gala by welcoming people in attendance and thanking them for showing their support for the school. The money raised for scholarships for students in the spring.
The Faculty Gala took place in the Burnight Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 2 p.m.
The music department faculty performing were:
- Keren Schweitzer, flute
- Jason Lippmann, cello
- Fang-Fang Shi Inouye, piano
- Tammy Tsai, violin
- Gloria Liu Traulle, cello
- Christine S. Lopez, piano
- Anna DeMichele, soprano
- Nathan Board, horn
- David Lopez, clarinet
- Conrad Immel, baritone
- Derek Gordon, piano
- Sung Ae Lee, piano
- Brent Anderson, trombone
- David Betancourt, trumpet
- Stephen Klein, tuba
- Angela Romero, trumpet
The performers displayed their talents through instruments and voice.
The first performance was by Schweitzer and Lippmann, performing pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos.
The performance was followed by Shi Inouye’s piano pieces by Bach and Chopin.
Shi Inouye said, “I hardly think about this as a career, but now I’m realizing that I have this platform that is just, it’s like a spiritual thing, that’s leading me. Whatever I’m doing is my platform. I’m teaching through playing.”
She was born in a musician’s family, though she admitted that she hated it “because practicing is not fun, especially when you’re little.”
She chose Bach and Chopin, because of the contrasting pieces.
She encouraged students who are also studying piano and music in general to keep at it.
“It’s a lonely road and it takes a lot of mental strength … but I think maybe, through a teacher’s perspective, you can’t really force something when it’s not time, you have to nurture it.”
The next performances were by Tsai, Liu Traulle and Lopez in a trio piece by Franz Joseph Haydn.
Followed by a vocal rendition of Franz Schubert’s Auf dem Strom (On the River) by DeMichele, accompanied by Board and Lopez.
Conrad Immel, vocal instructor, sang four traditional folk songs.
“I’ve been on lots and lots of faculty concerts and I’ve always done serious things, so I said, ‘I’m going to do something fun,'” he said.
Immel was really interested in folk songs during college but later went on to perform in Germany and Austria as an opera singer before coming back to teach at the University of Southern California.
The final performance was the Harlem Nocturne, by Anderson, Betancourt, Board, Klein and Romero.
The Gala was followed by a reception in which students were able to meet and greet the performers.
Viviana Ramirez , music major and in the Applied Music program, was in attendance to show support for her professors and for a class.
“Personally, since I’m a vocalist, I learned a lot from Dr. DeMichele and Professor Immel, which is like breath support and posture and feeling comfortable on stage.”
Another music major, Carolina Santillan, said, “What I enjoyed the most is that professors are there in the classroom to teach and help you, but it’s a very rare occasion when you see them perform so you see them as artists.”
