Premiere performances
Original music compositions of Wheaton students to be played by Arneis Quartet
Imagine this: you’re a college student composing an original piece of music. Within weeks, you hear your composition brought to life by a professional string quartet. For nine Wheaton College students, that dream will soon become a reality.
Thanks to the Evelyn Danzig Haas ’39 Visiting Artists Program, Wheaton has welcomed leading artists—musicians, dancers, painters, sculptors, photographers, writers and directors—to campus since 2003. They teach, collaborate and inspire students as well as perform.
“This is a robust, endowed program that fulfills its vision through a direct connection with the students,” said Delvyn Case, professor of music.
This semester, Case invited the Arneis Quartet to work with students in his Composition course. Led by members of the faculties of Boston University and St. Anselm College, the quartet has worked with music students at several local schools and performs a wide range of programs, including new works and interdisciplinary collaborations.
The semester began with an introductory session in which students met the quartet and listened to them demonstrate and discuss samples of string quartet music. Then, as part of their coursework, the students began to compose their works with guidance from Case
The quartet will return in early April, play each piece and provide feedback and suggestions. “It’s a live workshop where they get to hear their draft come to life, played by professional musicians,” said Case.
After revisions, the quartet will present a world premiere of each piece on April 15 at 7:30pm in a free recital at Cole Memorial Chapel.
“This program is envisioned so students can learn directly from these world class artists,” Case explained. “It’s incredibly rare to have such a robust program at any college—especially a small one like Wheaton. In fact, I didn’t have the chance to hear professional musicians perform my music when I was an undergraduate at Yale or a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania.”
Musical composition experience is not required to enroll in the course, just an ability to read music.
“We take them from 0 to 100 in the span of a semester,” said Case, “but it works because of the commitment and dedication that every student brings to the course.”
Rob Bevacqua ’25, a political science major with a double minor in legal studies and music theory and composition, is among the nine students enrolled this semester.
“I think it’s an amazing opportunity to hear one’s music played and to have a dialectical experience with the musicians performing your piece,” said Bevacqua, who plays guitar, sings in Wheaton’s Gentleman Callers and has experience composing music.
“It is really easy as a composer with modern technology to write music on a computer and listen to the computer play it back to you … but a musician brings the work to life in an inspiring way that the computer genuinely could never do. It becomes real and it is such an important experience to hear the music done the way you want to.”
Bevacqua is studying with Associate Professor of Music Will Mason to compose an original choral work for the Wheaton Chorale and Chamber Singers to perform at their April 29 concert. “As a composer, it is important to talk with the string quartet,” he explained. “Learning and taking criticism is a key component of the compositional process, and the Arneis Quartet are so good at providing that with an expert lens.”
Although Bevacqua is not planning to pursue a career in music, he values growing his education in music so he can continue to sing, play guitar and compose. He said, “I am doing this compositional work because it inspires me and makes me happy.”
Pierce Connolly ’27 is also among this semester’s student composers. A music major working on a minor in education, Connolly has sung in choirs since he was 10 years old and is learning to play piano and guitar, but has little composing experience.
Planning to earn a master’s degree in music education after graduation, then pursue a career teaching music, Connolly sees this as an “incredibly rare opportunity. Composing teaches me music theory, and to have a good ear for something sounding off or strange,” he said.
“Eventually, I hope to teach music at a college or university.”