Trio of USD freshmen receive standing ovation

Freshmen Ian Kocher, Meleah Wright and Emily Weisenburger performed at Colton recital hall Feb. 23. These students performed as an oboe trio and were accompanied by Stephanie Kocher on piano.

During the hour-long program, 14 songs were played. Most were played as solos but some were accompanied by piano.

The performance opened with Wright on oboe and Ian Kocher accompanying on piano. They played two pieces by composer Camille Saint Saëns. Next, Ian Kocher played seven oboe solos by Gordon Jacob. After his solos, Stephanie Kocher accompanied him on piano for a piece called “Élégie” by Francis Poulenc. Following the Kochers, Weisenburger performed three solos by Alyssa Morris with Ian Kocher on piano. The final piece had all three performers playing “Allegro” by Ludwig Van Beethoven as a trio.

Ian Kocher has been playing music for the majority of his life. He has been playing piano since the first grade, oboe since the sixth grade and he plays the saxophone. To him, music holds a special place in his life.

“What I find so special about music is that it is arbitrary and communicates power with the audience,” Ian Kocher said.

Hours of preparation have gone into this performance. All three musicians worked on their respective pieces for the bulk of this semester. Even after practicing for so long, Ian Kocher said he chose not to play Poulenc from memory to be safe. 

Weisenburger and Wright have also been playing music for eight to nine years. Weisenburger was drawn to playing oboe from Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.” Wright chose to play the oboe taking inspiration from her middle school band teacher who also played oboe and having ties to Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” as well. 

“Music has been a part of my life for as long as I could remember. I could sing before I could talk,” Wright said. 

The scholarship opportunities that opened up for playing oboe reinforced Wright’s decision to continue oboe into college. Both Weisenburger and Wright are pursuing music education and that influenced their decision to continue playing oboe at the collegiate level. 

“I didn’t think I was going to do music, but when I hit high school I realized this was where my passion was. I knew I wanted to teach but I didn’t know what but then I landed with music,” Weisenburger said. 

Wright said she got her solo piece really late in the process of this performance. 

“I didn’t take lessons for a semester then started back up this semester and was like ‘I guess I’m performing a solo,’” Wright said.  

Wright said having Ian Kocher accompanying her during her piece was very helpful as he has played that piece before so he offered her many tips for performing and helped her perfect the piece. 

All the hours of preparation from the musicians led them to a standing ovation from the audience as they closed their recital.