On Monday, March 31, senior Aiden Gaither will present his uniquely multimedia composition recital “Stories End” as the climax to his time at Asbury in the Jameson Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.
Because of his double interests in both composition and guitar, Gaither split his required senior recital into two parts, allowing for an hour of performance for both. Now, after performing his guitar recital on March 3, Gaither has been able to fully focus his sights on his debut of “Stories End.”
“‘Stories End’ is more than a music recital,” said Gaither. “It [includes] film, poetry and visual art along the way, and the music is just a piece of that puzzle.”
As a combination of many mediums, “Stories End” promises to be a stand out among the music department’s many recitals. On top of Aiden’s role as composer, he and many other contributors have gone above and beyond in creating a novel experience to share with Asbury’s campus.
“There are a lot of credits in the recital,” explained Gaither. “I wanted to make this the most collaborative experience it could be. There are something close to 30 performers [and] five visual artists whose work will be displayed. There are probably more than 60 credits altogether.”
Even with all of the voices involved, Gaither’s composition and artistic vision remain at the heart of the recital. In addition to composing the entirety of the music, he wrote and produced three short films to go along with the performance, deepening the layers of storytelling present throughout.
“My goal is for people to leave with the understanding that storytelling does not require words,” said Gaither. “Even with the poetry in the three films, different stories are expressed visually and musically. The recital as a whole tells a story from start to finish: the onset of an adventure, the fear of it coming to an end and finally closure. To do this, the [performance] will engage with the audience in more ways than just playing notes.”
On top of classical guitar, which Gaither often specializes in, the recital will contain various styles of music from differing genres, including a rock-musical style piece to be performed by the Men’s Glee Club. Together, all of these different expressions and connections help to further the theme at the center of the evening.
“‘Stories End’ captures three ideas that are fundamental to what storytelling means to me,” reflected Gaither. “First, we should be receptive to people expressing their emotions and stories through mediums that we aren’t used to. Second, the way that others receive your art does not weaken the importance of having created it. And lastly, see the title of the recital.”
Asbury University’s music department will be hosting the event as free for all who wish to attend.
Article by Sabina Boyer.
Photo courtesy of Vanessa Fischer.
