Musical Pursuits
Cellist Isabella Moser of Springfield was one of our Profiles of Excellence for Commencement 2018.
As far as anyone in the department can recall, no Holyoke Community College music major had ever been awarded two honors recitals.
Until Isabella Moser came along.
Moser plays cello. Like many classically trained musicians, she plays other instruments too – piano, organ – and sings some, but cello is her specialty. She's been studying since she was 7 years old.
Honors recitals are granted based on a jury exam, that is, a performance before the music faculty. The exams are mandatory for all music majors, but only a few students are nominated for honors recitals, and in some years, none at all.
This year, her last at HCC, Moser was one of four students selected for the spring honors concert; and for 2017, just one of two.
"There's a lot of work that goes into preparing for a recital," says Moser. "It just takes over your life for months. To have your whole life lead up to this one moment on stage is kind of a scary experience, but it's an amazing experience."
Moser certainly made the most of her experience in the Music Department at HCC. On June 2, she will graduate with high honors and her associate degree in music. She received this year's Music Book Award, given to a graduating student for overall achievement in music, including academic achievement – she has a G.P.A. of 3.96 – and the Bobby Wright Scholarship, presented to a music student moving on to a four-year school.
Next fall, Moser will attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst as a cello performance major.
The 20-year-old Springfield resident grew up in a musical family, the fifth of six children. Her father, Stephen Moser, is a pianist and music professional who teaches at the Community Music School of Springfield.
"All my siblings played music growing up, so it was just kind of natural for me," she says.
She did not exactly choose the cello, though. The music school had a Suzuki program with two many violinists. "They asked my father, hey can you help us out and have your daughter come play cello? It won't cost anything. That's how I ended up playing cello," she says, "but I'm glad I did."
Like all her siblings, Moser was home-schooled and serious about music. During the summer, she attended chamber music festivals, such as the famous Credo in Ohio, a kind of camp for aspiring musicians. As a teenager, though, she got discouraged.
"It is very competitive. I was exposed to a lot of really amazing students that were my age or younger but years ahead of my level," she says. "I knew they were prepared to go on to conservatories, and I felt like I wasn't going to be able to catch up."
She didn't quite quit, but decided instead to explore other options. At 17, she enrolled as a liberal arts major at Springfield Technical Community College, just blocks from her family's home.
"I wasn't too happy," she says. "I thought liberal arts would give me a broad experience of different subjects, and I wasn't enjoying anything."
A friend recommended the music program at HCC. Moser took a few classes and transferred those credits to STCC. After two years, she earned an associate degree in general studies, graduating with high honors and two academic awards. But her future was clear.
"I realized I was much happier as a musician," she says, "and I really liked the music program at HCC."
So she enrolled as a full-time music major. Having completed all her general studies requirements, she was free to focus entirely on music and even took composing and improvisation classes with jazz professor Bob Ferrier. "Though I'm a classical musician he really wanted me to try it out, and it was terrifying because I'd never improvised in my life," she says.
At HCC, she could often be found sitting at a table in the first floor hallway of the Fine & Performing Arts building, where, outside the music practice rooms and recital halls, in between classes and practice sessions, she worked as the school's one and only official music tutor.
She doesn't think about giving it up any more. "The professors I've encountered here have really made me feel like it's possible for me to continue in music," says Moser. "Once I came here and I got the first honors recital, I said, oh, maybe I can do this."
And she is.
Moser gives private lessons on cello and piano out of her home. On Sundays, she plays organ at St. John the Evangelist Church in Agawam. She plans to keep teaching and hopes one day to land a job with a symphony orchestra, join some chamber ensembles and string quartets – "just do whatever I can that's involved in music."
STORY and PHOTOS by CHRIS YURKO: Isabella Moser
