Musicians play for Japan relief

A group of IU Jacobs School of Music students will perform a benefit concert for earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The concert includes music by Samuel Barber, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Sergei Prokofiev and takes place at the First United Church, located at 2420 E. Third St.

The performance is free and open to the public, but audience members are encouraged to make donations to the Japanese Red Cross.

The group Sonat Novo (Latin for new sound) was started by IU graduate
student Benjamin Mitchell.

Mitchell said he decided to bring together a group of friends to play in a conductorless orchestra after gaining some experience with orchestra and chamber music.

“Our goal was simply to have a new experience and play together,” Mitchell said. “It is very different from playing with a conductor. It is more flexible, and everyone contributes in some way.”

The group consists of approximately 30 people, though this is dependent on which pieces they perform.

Some pieces are for strings alone, while others include woodwinds, brass and percussion.

The group started playing together officially by the beginning of February.

“People in the group range from freshmen to people finishing their doctorate degrees,” Mitchell said. “The experience we get out of it is great.”

Due to the high demand of the facilities at the Jacobs School of Music, Sonat Novo is not able to perform on campus.

However, the First United Church is allowing the group to perform there free of charge.

Mitchell explained how challenging this experience has been from the beginning, particularly getting the group together for rehearsals and meetings when everyone had other academic commitments.

Timothy Kantor, who is a doctoral student of violin performance, joined the group because he said he knew some of the people that were also participating and really respected their music.

“Playing chamber pieces without a conductor is unique because we are able to interact more with each other,” he said.

The experience has been worthwhile for some of the members.

“It sounded like a great opportunity,” Rena Kamura, an IU senior studying violin performance, said. “I had never done something like this at IU. It is a very cool and different concept.”