Sunday night’s episode of Arts on the Hill included music, art and a very special performance of the “Good Old Song.”
This is the fifth episode of the digital show, which University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and aide Matt Weber launched last month to help keep the UVA community connected during the coronavirus pandemic. It opened with a bang, as students in the McIntire Department of Music’s “Learn to Groove, Advanced” course provided a rousing percussion performance. Then, journalist Katie Couric shared “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop, a poem that Couric had discussed in a recent episode of American Public Television’s “Poetry in America.”
The Sil’hooettes a cappella group performed a rendition of “Feeling Good,” UVA fourth-year and singer-songwriter Kate Bollinger shared one of her original songs, and 2017 graduate Jingqi Zhu and 2019 graduate Chuanyuan Liu offered a classical performance of “Frülingsglaube” by Franz Schubert, while 1999 alumna Christen Borgman Yates completed a beautiful floral watercolor on camera.
The episode closed with a special performance by the UVA Chamber Singers, honoring the 250th anniversary of Ludwig Beethoven’s birth. Beethoven once arranged “Auld Lang Syne”; the group performed the first verse of the arrangement, along with a version of the “Good Old Song.” They were originally scheduled to perform the piece as part of their spring concert on Grounds.
A new edition of “Arts on the Hill” is released each Sunday at 8 p.m. Anyone interested in submitting a performance or making a recommendation can email uvaarts@virginia.edu.
