Young pianists perform in first recital

Vernon — Piano students of Cherwyn Ambuter, a Vernon pianist and piano teacher, recently performed in their very first piano recital. They gathered at Ambuter’s home, sharing their performance of Christmas carols with each other and with their families. One student also played a clarinet solo, while another sang and played a duet with her mother. After the students performed, Ambuter played a selection of concert-level arrangements of Christmas music, including Tchaikovsky’s own piano transcription of the “Overture to The Nutcracker Suite.” Ambuter has reopened her piano studio after a hiatus of several years. As in the past, she held the recital in her studio because it offers the students a chance to get their feet wet, performing in a less formal, fun environment, playing music very familiar to them. They get to select their favorite carol to play, and even beginners can find something they can play and take with them through the Christmas season to share with others around them. The formal spring recital is a bit more to prepare for, Ambuter said. The music will be more advanced and have to be memorized. This holiday season, Ambuter also gave her students the opportunity to play their music in their lessons on a real harpsichord, the early (Baroque) ancestor of the piano. She is playing the harpsichord in a Baroque orchestra with the 90-member adult Symphonic Chorus of the NJ Conservatory this season (for Handel’s Messiah), and the harpsichord was on loan to her so she could acclimate herself to the instrument before the performances.