Out of the ordinary and into the vaults at the Library of Congress
Shepherd School students make most of rare opportunity

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

Like most doctoral students would, Sonja Harasim began mapping out a plan when she found out she was selected to spend a week during Rice’s winter break in Washington, D.C., for a music project. First and foremost came her research, but she allotted time for the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Smithsonian Institution and the other sightseeing jaunts. She figured she’d have time to sleep and sample the local cuisine. But her careful planning quickly flew out the window as soon as she set foot in the hallowed halls of the Library of Congress.

	Sonja Harasim, second from left, along with three other Shepherd School doctoral students, were invited to D.C. to explore the vast music collections in the vaults of the Library of Congress and create a public music program based on those works.

Harasim, along with three other Shepherd School doctoral students, were invited to D.C. to explore the vast music collections in the vaults of the Library of Congress and create a public music program based on those works, which include original manuscripts with handwritten notes by composers. The Shepherd School students are among a select group of students from the country’s top conservatories to have that honor. As part of the initiative, they will present a free public concert at the library’s Coolidge Auditorium at 8 p.m. March 4. They will offer a preview of that concert Feb. 20 for the Rice community at 8 p.m. in the Shepherd School’s Duncan Recital Hall.  

The concerts, part of the “Insights: Exploring the Collections” program, aim to raise public awareness, understanding and appreciation of familiar and not-so-familiar music and musicians of all genres, with special emphasis on American creativity.

“Our goals were clear: to program a chamber recital that would take full advantage of the library’s rich and unique holdings,” said Harasim, a violinist. “We were warned to hold off on the programming until we got to the library to see what we could find, but we live in the technology age. We began searching the library’s online database assuming that the Web site listed all its holdings.”

A wealth of resources

But it wasn’t until they were in the Library of Congress with its 20 million musical holdings that they realized the wealth of resources not included in the online catalog. Harasim, Lachezar Kostov, Andrew Staupe and Nicolai Jacobsen were shocked to find hundreds of more works and items in the physical card catalog.

After spending time researching and getting to know the librarians, the students were granted an even more extraordinary opportunity: A librarian took them down to the secure stacks and let them explore the many works unlisted in either catalog.

“Our worlds were forever changed from this point on as we held in our hands manuscripts from Monteverdi, Bach, Mozart, Paganini, Bartok, Gershwin, Barber, Bridge and Brahms,” Harasim said. “Holding the manuscripts made me feel a closer connection to the music itself.”

That’s exactly what James Dunham, professor of viola and chamber music, hoped for when he set this collaboration into motion about two years ago. When he served on the board of directors for Chamber Music America, Dunham became friends with one of the head librarians at the Library of Congress Music Division, who told him about the “Insights” concert series.

“It occurred to me that at the Shepherd School, we have the ideal combination of superb artist/scholar students who could both make the most of the library and showcase its wonderful holdings,” Dunham said. “The thought was to help the library promote its commitment to education while allowing our students access to rare works. It seemed like a win-win situation.”

With the support of Robert Yekovich, dean of the Shepherd School, and other faculty members, the collaboration progressed, and the students spent their winter break in Washington to research and put together their spring concert.

“They were hardly in touch (with us). They were immersed in the works and soaking it all up like sponges,” Dunham said. He added with a laugh, “I was so jealous.”

A collaboration grows

Dunham said the librarians quickly took to the students and were floored by how much the students already knew about handling original works. That trust grew and eventually, the librarians extended a nearly sacred opportunity: the chance to play their collection of rare instruments.

“I think most people approach them like ‘We want to play your instruments,'” Dunham said. “(The students) didn’t see it like that. Of course they wanted to play them — everybody wants to play those instruments — but that is a privilege that needs to be earned.”

Harasim was thrilled by the opportunity to work with the rare instruments and is excited to offer a special concert for the librarians in March as a thank you. She was particularly interested in the Kreisler del Gesu, a centuries-old Guarneri violin that was played by Fritz Kreisler, an Austrian-born violin virtuoso.

“This is one of the most treasured instruments not only because of its sound and age but because of the violinist legends who have played it,” Harasim said. “My teacher encouraged me to try it if I ever got the chance.”

Dunham said the collaboration never would have gotten off the ground without the support of the students’ teachers: Harasim studies under Cho-Liang Lin, professor of violin; Kostov under Norman Fischer, professor of cello; Staupe under Jon Kimura Parker, professor of piano; and Jacobsen under Arthur Gottschalk, chair of composition and theory. Dunham said Kenneth Goldsmith, professor of violin, was also instrumental in creating and fostering the collaboration.
   
“The Shepherd School is so supportive of its faculty and students,” Dunham said. “That support makes opportunities available on all levels.

“Everybody here loves what they do so much. That’s something that brought most of us here. It’s supposed to be a cutthroat business, but we manage to get along perfectly well. Almost all of us came here from other places. We take none of this for granted.”

Another thing Dunham won’t take for granted: the opportunity to play one of the library’s rare instruments. He will join the students during their thank-you concert for the librarians.

And a Kennedy Center concert too

Harasim, Staupe and Kostov — who call themselves the Coolidge Trio — will offer another concert while in D.C. They and fellow Shepherd School graduate students Mi Jong Li and Catherine Ramirez will perform at the Terrace Theater of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts at 6 p.m. March 5. It is the seventh straight year that the Shepherd School has been invited to participate in the Kennedy Center’s Conservatory Project, designed to introduce audiences to the best young musical artists in classical, jazz, musical theater, opera and more from the nation’s leading undergraduate and graduate conservatories, colleges and universities.
   
The Kennedy Center concert is free and open to the public; for more information, visit kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/. The Association of Rice Alumni will host a wine-and-cheese reception at the Kennedy Center after the concert to honor the Rice performers. Alumni interested in attending the reception should RSVP by Feb. 26 at online.alumni.rice.edu/default.aspx?Page=EVNTEventDetail&EventID=1181.