Photo by Audrey Powell/The Choate News
Meet Alice Volfson ’19. A two-year sophomore from New York, Volfson is currently the only student studying music composition in Choate’s Arts Concentration program.
Volfson has an comprehensive background in music, with 12 years of playing the piano under her belt. She first became interested in music composition around six years ago, at a summer program where Choate’s Ms. Alysoun Kegel was the choral director. “All the students were required to write a piece at the end of the program,” Volfson explained. “Ever since then I’ve been composing.”
Before attending Choate, Volfson studied composition and piano at a music-focused middle school. During her time there, she wrote pieces for Face the Music, a teenage ensemble that helped cultivate her interest and talent. Volfson described her work in the program, “They commissioned a lot of pieces for me to play, and then I would write a piece that would be played at the end-of-year concert.”
Most recently at Choate, Volfson composed two songs for the fall term main-stage production, The Odyssey. “All Arts Con students are required to do a project every term they’re in the program, so my project for fall term was writing songs for The Odyssey,” Volfson said.
In addition to composition, Volfson works with other art forms. She has sung in choirs from a young age and is a member of the Chamber and Festival Choruses. In her free time, she enjoys drawing and acting.
In terms of musical preferences, Volfson enjoys listening to early turn of the century classical music, citing John Cage and Dmitri Shostakovich as a couple of her favorite artists. “Because I’m a teenager, I also listen to pop music,” she added.
“Whether she is singing, playing piano, composing, or acting, she has a tremendous imagination, as well as a strong intuition for how to connect emotionally,” remarked Ms. Kegel, the Choral Director at Choate . “She loves to put together different types of sounds as well as surprising elements of theater in ways that expand the audience’s idea of what is possible.”
Edie Conekin-Tooze ’19 also praised Volfson’s talent, commenting, “Something that is special about Alice is her musical knowledge and piano technique. She is a really creative person.”
While Volfson isn’t necessarily sure if she wants to pursue a career in music, she does hope to continue developing her passion and skills. “I’m always going to have a love for music and a background in music,” she stated, “so I’m hoping that I’m going to continue doing this one way or another when I go to college.”
