ART

Eric Zhu (II) Accepted into National Youth Orchestra

After a highly competitive audition process, Eric Zhu (II) was invited by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute to join the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYOUSA). As a member of NYO-USA, Eric will have the honor to play with some of the most talented young musicians from around the country; learn from top-notch orchestra professionals and guest artists; and serve as a cultural ambassador while traveling and performing nationally and internationally. Eric is one of 14 violists chosen for the orchestra.

The 2023 NYO-USA program will span the month of July and kicks off with a two-week residency at Purchase College in New York. Following the residency, NYO-USA will embark on a North American tour—opening with a performance at Carnegie Hall, then traveling coast to coast, starting at the newly opened Groton Hill Music Center in Massachusetts and ending at the spectacular Rady Shell in San Diego, with an international stop at one of Canada’s leading festivals outside Montreal.

Having started his musical journey at a young age, Eric has been a member of Boston University Tanglewood Institute, NEC Prep Chamber Music Intensive Performance Seminar (CHIPS), Greenwood Music Camp, and Rivers Honors ChamberMusicLab, and is currently part of the Honors Chamber Music at Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and a principal violist for the Boston Youth Symphony. //

Theo Coben (II) On His Unique Way of Making (Award-Winning!) Art

Theo Coben (II) earned awards this winter for his watercolor painting, which is the result of his unique approach to working with the materials. For his painting titled gashéous he earned an Honorable Mention in the National Scholastic Art Awards, and for his painting titled Where the Wild Things Are, he was selected for the Emerging Young Artists 2023 Juried Exhibition.

Theo only began painting with watercolors in Mr. Ryan’s class last year, and his piece that was selected for the Emerging Artists exhibit was the first painting he ever completed. His honed approach to using watercolor is distinctive; rather than enlisting the water to help the color flow and move on the page at the outset, Theo begins by adding a high concentration of pigment to the page, and little to no water. From there he runs a nearly dry brush back-and-forth across the page, which ultimately scratches the paper a bit, causing a line for the small bit of remaining water to flow. The result is a more color saturated and linear painting, with even more depth and shading than one might expect with traditional watercolor.

Theo’s paintings to date are abstract, though from them emerge what the viewer might see as a fish or a flower, a snake or an eye. “The idea of making something that doesn’t exist look real, in a way—where it’s not necessarily representational, but more subconscious—is neat, and kind of eerie. Certainly relatable, allowing or encouraging something to emerge from the mish-mash.” //

Five RL Musicians Selected for All-State

Congratulations to the RL musicians accepted this year to the MMEA All-State Music Festival! Brendan Reichard III (Bass, Chorus); Fin Reichard IV (Tenor, Chorus); Tommy Reichard I (Tenor, Chorus); Justin Yamaguchi II (Violin, Orchestra); and Eric Zhu II (Viola, Orchestra) performed as part of the festival, held on March 3 and 4. //

Experimentalist: Berman Visiting Artist

On February 3, this year’s Berman Visiting Artist— The Experimentalist, Gerard Senehi—captivated students and faculty in the Smith Theater with his unique, mysterious brand of mentalism and mindreading.

Mr. Senehi’s visit—his third to Roxbury Latin over the years—was made possible through the school’s Claire Berman Artist-in-Residence Fund. Established in 2005 by current Board of Trustees President Ethan Berman ’79 and his wife, Fiona Hollands, in honor of Ethan’s mother, the fund brings to the school annually a distinguished figure in the arts. Since 2006, the school has been honored to welcome actors— such as Christopher Lloyd in Death of a Salesman, Tovah Feldshuh, and the troupe of The American Shakespeare Center; as well as poet laureate Billy Collins; jazz artist John Pizzarelli; the rock-androll performers of BEATLEMANIA NOW; singer/ songwriter Livingston Taylor; renowned jazz singer Jane Monheit; and, last year, the wonderful country music group, The French Family Band. //

Love and Information: This Year’s Senior Play

On November 11 and 12, more than 40 actors brought to life the ideas and emotions, conversations and relationships comprising playwright Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information, this year’s Senior Play.

Love and Information is a compilation of 49 short scenes within seven sections, each scene ranging in length from less than a minute to a few minutes long. Each scene has a short title, denoting topics as diverse and far reaching as Climate or Dinner, Mother or Spies, God or Dream. The play includes more than 100 characters, however none of the characters are named or gendered, and any can be double cast—as was the case in RL’s production. The script includes very few stage directions, and the scenes can be ordered in any way that the director wishes.

As the play’s director, Derek Nelson, noted in the show’s program: “Scene by scene, and even moment by moment, Churchill drops us into the middle of a multiplicity of contexts involving, among others: friends, lovers, ex-couples, scientists, interrogators, therapists, fans, censors, doctors, journalists—and even a recluse! And what I think she is asking us to think about is: Does our ‘insatiable appetite for information’ diminish our ‘capacity for love’?” //

Another Season of VEX Success!

Roxbury Latin’s VEX Robotics team found great success at the VEX Southern New England Regional Championship on March 11 and 12. RL had five teams in competition (of 80 qualifying teams), with three Class I teams, a Class III team, and a combined Class V/IV team. All three of the Class I teams qualified for the World Championship—two of them through their “Robot Skills” scores (third and fifth place overall), and one based on their “head to head” performance, winning in the round of 16 and quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals. The Class III team also earned an invitation to the World Championships, having placed 21st overall in skills. RL’s youngest team of Class IV and V students did not advance, but performed very well nonetheless, finishing with a 5-4 record in the qualification rounds.

Roxbury Latin’s Robotics team closed its regular season on February 18 at the Old Colony RVTHS Tournament in Rochester, Massachusetts. The two youngest teams— Class III team and Class IV/V team—competed, ultimately earning an invitation to the Southern New England Regional Championships. The Class III team came away as Tournament Champions and Robot Skills Champions, and the Class IV/V team won the Design award—both teams earning Skills scores that were high enough to qualify for Regionals. With the three Class I teams competing at Regionals, Roxbury Latin had the highest number of qualifying robots “per capita” of any high school in the Southern New England region, which includes Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The following boys were involved in the regional championship competition:

Class I

Semifinalists: Will Grossman, Luke Wilkinson, Nick Frumkin, Tommy Reichard

3rd Place Skills: Kevin Wang, Michael Thomas, Eddy Pan, Eliot Park (Class III)

5th Place Skills: Alex Nahirny, Nahum Workalemahu, Alexander Sanzone, Ethan Dhadly

Class III

Paul Wilkinson, Krish Muniappan, Daniel Stepanyan, Quinn Thomson

Class V/IV

Dylan Pan (IV), Eric Archerman, Casey Chiang, Flynn Hall, Alvin Li //