Assistant music professor Astrid Morales-Torres performs during the Día de los Muertos recital on Oct. 30 at Irons Recital Hall. The performers played Piano Sonata No. 2 and Danza de la Muerte, among other songs.
Photo by Elvis Martinez-Cartagena
The lights in Irons Recital Hall cast a steady amber glow, wrapping each performer in a soft warmth.
Under that light, music moved through the room, with the goal of evoking memories.
A few audience members leaned forward, eyes fixed on the stage, chins resting on their hands, as if they were afraid to break the spell.
The Día de los Muertos recital wasn’t just a cumulation of performances; it was a space to sit with loss, to listen, to remember and to celebrate lives once lived through the language of music.
Associate music professor Jack Andrew Unzicker plays the double bass during the Día de los Muertos recital on Oct. 30 at Irons Recital Hall. The performance was live-streamed for those unable to attend in person.
Photo by Elvis Martinez-Cartagena
Astrid Morales-Torres, adjunct assistant professor of piano, said Día de los Muertos is celebrated as a way to remember loved ones who have died, not just during the year, but throughout life.
In many ways, the concert mirrored the spirit of the holiday.
What began as a solo recital by professor of music David Grogan and Morales-Torres blossomed into a 26-member faculty-led tribute memorializing four people once in the Department of Music who have died: Douglas Stotter, Zachary Martin, Carolyn Savko and Peggy Bennett.
The idea for a collective performance took shape following the death of Stotter, former director of bands.
“We were all shocked and saddened a lot by his death, and it seemed like the right thing to do to open it up for anyone who wanted to be a part of it,” Grogan said.
Once the program opened, he said colleagues stepped forward, some even traveling from the University of North Texas to perform; Grogan said he liked collaborating with his colleagues, adding how proud it made him to see how talented everyone was.
Willem van Schalkwyk, assistant professor of collaborative piano and vocal coaching at the University of North Texas, plays the piano during a rehearsal for the Día de los Muertos recital on Oct. 25 at Irons Recital Hall. The recital was a collaboration between faculty from UTA and UNT.
“We’re all connected by our love for and our performances of music,” Grogan said.
Music education senior Karen Morales said most of her professors took part in the recital, which she said had never happened during her time at UTA before.
“It’s so nice to see professionals play in an environment where we always play,” Morales said. “Kind of gives us a boost of morale, it gives us a boost of confidence and just kind of motivates us to keep going.”
As the evening drifted on, attendees were carried through the ebb and flow of grief, each piece revealing its own emotions at unexpected times.
Senior music lecturer Hannah Michelle Chiasson plays the flute during the Día de los Muertos recital on Oct. 30 at Irons Recital Hall. The event provided attendees with translations of each song’s lyrics.
Photo by Elvis Martinez-Cartagena
A quartet of stacked voices captured moments of tension and intensity, a string sextet wove mournful harmonies and a trombone trio offered resonant passages, each performance surfacing different layers of emotion.
“The idea that grief can be expressed in so many different ways — that there can be sadness, there can be emptiness, there can be anger, there can be denial,” Grogan said, “I think is represented in all of the different genres and styles and vibes that the music bring.”
Devlin Deaton, choral music education freshman, saw it much in the same way, pointing out how the singers and strings brought out different emotions.
“At the end, I feel you could also hear grief and sadness, but I feel like it turned to happiness.”
William Joyner, UNT vocal studies associate professor, sings during the Día de los Muertos recital on Oct. 30 at Irons Recital Hall. UTA’s Department of Music organized the performance.
Photo by Elvis Martinez-Cartagena
Even with such weighty material, rehearsal moments carried their own light: Jokes flowed freely between pieces, laughter filling the room after a demanding number.
Glimpses of playfulness offered a reminder that even amid grief, music and human connection, can bring moments of joy.
“We were all grieving back in last semester,” Morales-Torres said. “We lost so many beloved people for us, and I think just bringing everyone together, I think we’re very lucky.”
Grogan carried a sense of purpose into every performance.
Attendees watch musicians perform during the Día de los Muertos recital on Oct. 30 at Irons Recital Hall. The recital honored members of the UTA community who died in the past academic year.
Photo by Elvis Martinez-Cartagena
“I want to do my very best because I’m performing in the memory of musicians, and I want to honor them with the best performance that I can do,” he said.
Grogan said when he is on stage, the people in the audience are the most important thing, and his job is to offer a performance that enhances their life in some way.
“There’s a sense in which you are inviting their spirits back for Día de los Muertos,” he said. “If there’s any sense in which that can be true, I would want that for our audience members, that they can feel like they’re in the presence of those people that they’ve lost.”
As the final chord faded, the amber light still bathed the stage — steady, warm and full of memory. Under that glow, the music lingered like the spirits it honored, refusing to disappear completely.
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