When long-term friends Jacob Lasek and Erin Abrams stepped out onto the stage for what could be their final individual performances for the rest of their lives, they were focused on one thing: eachother.
The University of Connecticut’s von der Mehden Recital Hall hosted the pair’s joint recital, “Milestones,” at 8 p.m. on Nov. 2. Lasek and Abram are both in their seventh semester as music education majors and are both members of the University of Connecticut Marching Band.
Lasek and Abrams have known one another since the seventh grade, having met in a summer music academy for their high school marching band. They were from two separate middle schools in Newington, playing separate instruments. Lasek’s loud, blaring trombone struck a strong contrast between Abrams’s delicate flute, but the two somehow made it work.
For the recital, Lasek and Abrams wore opposing colors — Lasek in blue, Abrams in a dark pink — and presented different attitudes on stage. When Abrams played, her flute was ever moving and fluttering, whereas Lasek’s trombone stayed grounded. This dynamic was reflected in the way Abrams and Lasek spoke to the audience during the recital. Abrams was excited and endearing while Lasek was a little drier and more conversational, both able to draw the audience in.
“We kind of went through a lot of music things together, like all-state, regionals, we were drum majors together in high school,” Abrams reminisced the day after the performance. “And then we ended up both coming to UConn, studying music ed together. So, it’s just been kind of like a ‘bound by the hip’ thing for the last eight years.”
As music education majors in the Neag School of Education, Abrams and Lasek will both be taking a fifth year at UConn, but for now, their time as UConn musicians is nearing an end. Abrams and Lasek will be starting student teaching next semester, which will prevent them from joining ensembles. “Milestones” could be the last time either of them ever get the stage to themselves again.
Lasek began the night with “Romance for Trombone and Piano, Op. 21” by Axel Jorgensen, accompanied by pianist Elisabeth Tomczyk. Tomczyk acted as an accompaniment for Lasek and Abrams throughout the evening, trading off for several songs before Lasek and Abrams played Beethoven’s “Duet No. 1 in C Major” by themselves.
“It was nerve-wracking,” Lasek said about stepping onto the stage for the first time. “For once, all the spotlight is on me, literally. All these people that are out in the crowd, it’s like, these people came for just us two. This isn’t the wind ensemble; this isn’t the jazz band. This is just Erin and Jacob, and there’s all these people here for us.”
Lasek’s favorite piece of the night was “Red Sky” by Anthony Barfield, which he played while accompanied by Tomczyk. “Red Sky” details the story of the Big Bang, which Lasek played as dark and ominous, periodically rising above the piano in a swagger before Lasek came back down for a more melancholic resolve. Lasek first learned the piece for his jury, a semesterly examination where music students are made to play a piece before their professors.
Abrams preferred “Concertino pour flute in D Major, Op. 107,” a piece by Cecile Chaminade that she played with Tomczyk. Chaminade’s piece was highly emotional as the sound of Abrams’s flute rested above that of the piano.
“It’s just the most beautiful flute piece ever, I feel like,” Abrams said. “And I was so honored to perform that on stage. I just love it so much. Anytime I’ve ever heard anybody play it, either live or in recordings, I’ve always just been so blown away. […] To play it on stage was just an amazing experience, and I’m just so glad that I had that opportunity.”
Aside from their favorite songs, Abrams particularly enjoyed getting to speak to the audience, just before she and Lasek played their duet to end the show. The audience was packed with friends, family and other supporters, including the duo’s high school band director, who watched through the live stream.
One supporter who Abrams was surprised to see was one of her students. Over the summer, Abrams teaches young people how to play the flute, and one of them attended “Milestones.”
“I was just so happy to see her,” Abrams said. “I just hope I inspired her with that moment, and she just had the kindest words to say to me. And I was just so grateful that she was there. I don’t think my students realize how much they teach me and how much being their teacher means to me.”
Lasek and Abrams are hoping to follow in the footsteps of their past teachers, with each of them having a particular relationship with education. As they won’t be able to take any music classes next semester, the spring will bring their first full-time teaching opportunity.
“The support systems that we’ve had have really encouraged us to go further into spreading the same joys of music that we’ve experienced for so long,” Lasek said, adding that he and Abrams were fortunate to come from a good music program growing up. “[…] We want to be able to spread that same amount of joy and inspire people to continue music. It’s not everybody’s number one hope and dream, you know, when they’re forced to be in band class in elementary school, but it became ours.”
Abrams echoed Lasek’s statement, saying that her goal is to be someone’s support system for music. From a young age, Abrams had always loved music and always wanted to be a teacher.
“I know that they did their clinicals together, at the same elementary school I believe, that I actually went over to for a [Tau Beta Sigma] event,” attendant M’Lynn Gonzalez said. Gonzalez is a seventh-semester marine science student, and she and Abrams are both members of Tau Beta Sigma, a co-ed sorority based in uplifting women in music.
“They were both super well in-tuned,” Gonzalez said. “They have a strong connection with the kids, and they just seem to know each other almost like they’re siblings.”
Although “Milestones” could be the end for Lasek’s and Abrams’s history as performers, it’s not the end for a pair of best friends. While they struggled to fully illustrate what the recital’s title truly meant, they both knew it had a core theme: it’s about the journey.
“I think one of the quotes I live by is, ‘The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose is to give it away,’” Abrams said.