On Sunday, May 5th, 2024, over 100 members of the Vassar and greater Poughkeepsie community gathered in Skinner Hall to attend Avery Duer’s ‘24 senior organ recital. The acclaimed musician, who has gathered numerous accolades—such as winning the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra Concerto competition and first prize for the Connecticut Bach Competition—is well-known around Vassar for her musicianship skills. She has music directed numerous theater productions, toured Europe with the Vassar choir and played organ for the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church. Occasionally, she even appears with her famous keytar at house shows. To say that her senior recital, a culmination of her musical ventures at Vassar, was highly anticipated, would be a drastic understatement.
There was raucous applause as Duer entered with her organ teacher, Gail Archer, at the beginning of the program. On the Paul Fritz organ, Duer played four pieces, including the four part “Magnificat VII Toni” by Heinrich Scheidemann. The perfectly-parallel notes delicately chased one another in this piece; her performance felt destined for the rainy Sunday afternoon. To close out the first part of the program, Duer played Bach’s magnificent “Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” which lit up the room with trills and ecstasy-ridden chord progressions.
The attendees and I walked to the chapel for the second part of the program, where Duer played the Romantic section of her program. Two pieces in particular nodded to her Russian Studies major, written by Russian Composer César Cui and Ukrainian composer Svitlana Ostrova, a Ukrainian composer. Duer played the final piece, “Martyrs” by Kenneth Leighton, alongside a close friend and fellow musician, Maria Cusick ‘26. It was the perfect way to end a brilliant program.
To argue that I am an unbiased critic of Duer’s work would be futile. By chance, we were roommates turned partners-in-crime our freshman year, and we have never looked back since. We made it through the pandemic together, writing borderline absurd songs about things we spotted around campus during the days that we were confined to the COVID-19 bubble. One notable song was about a night Duer saw a cat, a dog and a mouse in quick succession. It became a smashing hit on Soundcloud, amassing a shocking three hundred plays (about two hundred and ninety more than we expected).
Yet no personal connection to Duer could possibly lead me to overstate the talent she demonstrated in her final recital at Vassar, because everyone in the room was truly blown away. As she stepped forward for her bow, the crowd was thundering with applause. Upon reflection, it is moments like this which make college so special; witnessing such blooming talent and celebrating afterwards with a cluster of friends and family. As I took in the music, my heart could not help but swell at the chords, and most importantly, the great pleasure I have had in knowing Duer for the past four years.