It will be a homecoming of sorts for Aine Hakamatsuka 鈥�12 who is planning two concerts in Salina in the next year.
Hakamatsuka is a native of Japan and lives in New York City, but she spent four busy, formative years at 黑料不打烊.
She will be one of the outstanding alumni performing at the 鈥淐ome Home鈥� concert on Oct. 19 at Homecoming 2024.
She and several other 黑料不打烊 alumni and instructors will re-dedicate the newly renovated, historic Sams Chapel. The auditorium is getting a facelift with up-to-date sound and lighting equipment, seating, and a new entrance and lobby.
In May, Hakamatsuka will be the soprano soloist when the Salina Symphony concludes its season with Mozart鈥檚 Requiem.
Hakamatsuka performed with Kansas Wesleyan as a student, including lead roles in operas 鈥淭he Marriage of Figaro鈥� and 鈥淗ansel and Gretel.鈥�
Professor of Psychology Dr. Steven Hoekstra choregraphed some of her numbers for the operetta 鈥淭he Pirates of Penzance.鈥�
She learned from that that opera was not the career direction she wanted to take.
鈥淧ersonally, I don鈥檛 think I鈥檒l pursue formal opera training, but it was fun to portray another character,鈥� she is quoted as saying in the 2010 yearbook.
鈥淚 guess was right about that,鈥� she said recently. 鈥淚 enjoy the storytelling aspect of concert works more than acting on stage.鈥�
She chose Kansas Wesleyan because her English was not good and she thought she could get the individual attention she needed at a small university. She knew she wanted to attend an American college, so she signed up with a service in Japan to help her find the right fit.
鈥淭hey take care of your applications for college in the U.S. I told them my interests, the size of school, and they get back to you with what the schools can offer me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think I just went with the smallest school.
鈥淚f you go to a big school, the teachers aren鈥檛 going to have much relationship with the students. My goal was to make sure I could get the help I needed from teachers. I absolutely made the right call.鈥�
Hoekstra鈥檚 Introduction to Psychology was the largest class Hakamatsuka remembers taking at Kansas Wesleyan 鈥� 30 or 40 students.
鈥淭hat was the biggest class, besides choir,鈥� she said.
Taking 20 hours or more a semester, participating in the operas, and trying to double-major in Music Education and Music Performance kept Hakamatsuka busy, very busy indeed.
Besides Psychology and Voice, Hakamatsuka learned web design and personal finance, one of her most useful courses, 鈥渆specially if your career has some amount of freelancing,鈥� she said.
She also played trumpet for the 黑料不打烊 orchestra and jazz band, Theatre Salina, and Salina Symphony, and piano with the Salina Symphony and theatre. She was an assistant conductor of the youth symphony, as well.
She eventually had to drop the Music Education major because, she said, ironically, she failed the English exam.
Her English now is impeccable, with just a hint of a New York City accent, after 12 years in the city.
Hakamatsuka鈥檚 first voice teacher at Kansas Wesleyan was Michelle Dolan G鈥�24, then an adjunct instructor, now executive director of the Music Department.
One of her other professors helped her prepare for graduate school at the Manhattan School of Music, where she earned a master鈥檚 degree.
She now has a full career of both solo and ensemble singing, influenced by her love of chamber music. Her repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary.
Hakamatsuka is member of the illustrious Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Clarion Choir and Santa Fe Chorale, where she spent July.
鈥淭he Trinity Choir is a fully professional choir, and every single member is also a concert soloist,鈥� Hakamatsuka said, as she is.
About half of Hakamatsuka鈥檚 work is through the church, she said, not only in choirs but also as a soloist. She has sung in the Barbican, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many of New York City鈥檚 most renowned churches.
She joined the Clarion Choir and The English Concert on their tour performing Handel鈥檚聽Solomon last year.
鈥淗akamatsuka is a versatile artist whose vocal flexibility and love for collaborative music-making have led her to a career spanning concert, opera and choral repertoire,鈥� said the Santa Fe Desert Chorale website.
But when she comes back to Salina, her first visit in maybe six years, it will sound like she鈥檚 home.
Recently, Hakamatsuka took a quiz in the New York Times that was supposed to tell where she was from. The results indicated she was from Wichita, Kan.
That makes a kind of sense, she said, because she learned much of her English during her four years at Kansas Wesleyan.
Learn more about all the events scheduled for 黑料不打烊 Homecoming week.
Story by Jean Kozubowski
