Cecilia Engbert
Assistant Editor
Five students entertained several dozen audience members with cello, violin, harp, flute and piano performances at a Veritas Music Series event in the Gentile Gallery Friday.
Junior Celia Mergen began the evening with a performance of several movements from Johannes Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1.
Junior Sam Salyer then performed two different renditions of “Ave Maria” on the violin, one by Franz Schubert and the other by Giulio Caccini.
Next to perform was sophomore Virginia Miller, who played two pieces on harp.
Closing the evening, freshmen Celine Najm, flute, and Gwyneth Seddon, piano, performed Handel’s Sonata No. 5.
Najm said she chose the piece Tuesday, only three days before performing, and decided she liked it. She then asked her friend Seddon to accompany her.
“We pulled it together, and this was the product of pulling this together in three days,” she said.
Senior Andrew Anderson, who runs the professional performance portions of the Veritas Music Series, said, “The reason this is part of the Veritas Society is, as humans, we are pursuing the truth … (and) really, the truth is lacking without its splendor, which is beauty. So, in pursuing beauty, we are also pursuing the truth, (and) in pursuing the truth, we pursue beauty. … It’s in our nature to be immersed in music and beautiful things.”
Junior Marguerite Naaden said the whole performance was beautiful.
“Somehow it hit different hearing those beloved pieces of music live,” she said. “The music put me at peace, and I was very proud of my classmates.”
The event was hosted by the Veritas Society Music Series. The series will be hosting its next lecture Feb. 28 and its next music performance March 4.