An Evening of History
On April 24th at 6 pm, Devin Bureau ’22 hosted a concert at First Baptist Church in Shreveport featuring the works of two extraordinary female composers from the 20th Century.
His concert entitled “An Evening with The Boulangers” featured works from Lili and Nadia Boulanger, two sisters who were well-established musicians in France. They both composed a wide variety of music throughout their lives, but their music has not been highly circulated. His love of these two sisters led him to do research on them in hopes of bringing their works into the public’s eye. The concert featured works for orchestra and choir, organ, and solo voices, which is extremely diverse to have in a singular concert.
Bureau has been researching the two sisters for three semesters to satisfy the requirements for Departmental Honors on his Music Composition Degree. Throughout the Fall ’21 and Spring ’22 semesters, he has led rehearsals with a dedicated small group of vocalists who invested in his research. He also pulled many Centenary instrumentalists, both students, and professionals, to fill out his orchestra. It was a long process that was very rewarding for everyone involved. Bureau not only organized but also conducted the entire concert. This was very fitting for him, as he plans to become a choral conductor as his career.
This process was without its trials. Due to the lack of circulation, the style and tonality of the music were very foreign to many of the vocalists involved. This took a significant amount of acclimation in the beginning stages of rehearsals. Bureau also ran into black holes of information, both in personal accounts and finding physical sheet music. He scoured the internet and connected with many other music historians along the way. He was able to create parts of scores to orchestral works, which were lost before now. These parts can now be shared with the world so that their pieces can be studied, performed, and cherished for generations to come.
Fellow musicians and dear friends Keegan Tunstall ’24 and Zane Harper ’24 had many wonderful things to say about the entire experience. Tunstall said, “It was amazing being able to work with one of my closest friends to put together such a beautiful concert”. Harper also noted that, “It has been such an enriching experience working as accompanist and ensemble member under Devin’s baton. His ambition for this project surely paid off with such a successful performance after several semesters of preparation. I believe Devin has a bright future in his pursuit of Choral Music”
Bureau plans to attend Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge to peruse a master’s degree in Choral Conducting after graduating from Centenary in May ‘22. He has been highly involved on Centenary’s campus. Bureau has been involved in: Centenary College Choir, Centenary Camerata, Men’s Volleyball Team, Student Ambassadors, Centenary Theatre Department, President of CODA, a member of TKE, APO, and much more. His talent and leadership precede him, and he will be very missed across all areas of campus.
