COLLEGE BEATS | SCHOOL OF MUSIC
GRAMMY Awards go to SUNY Fredonia faculty member, alumni
A Fredonia School of Music faculty member and several alumni were among the winners of the 2021 GRAMMY Awards presented March 14. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of JoAnn Falletta, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, prepared by the chorus’ Music Director and School of Music faculty member Dr. Adam Luebke, received the GRAMMY for Best Choral Performance for the recording
of Richard Danielpour’s “The Passion of Yeshua.” Dr. Bernd Gottinger, head of Fredonia’s Sound Recording Technology program, was engineer. Also featured on the album were School of Music faculty instrumentalists including trumpet professor Alex Jokpii, who is BPO principal trumpet, and BPO principal trombone Jonathan Lombardo. Gottinger was nominated for a GRAMMY in the category of Best Engineered Album, Classical for his work on the “The Passion of Yeshua.” Interim School of Music Director Daniel Ihasz noted, “I am so thrilled that such a great number of our Music faculty and alumni were recognized for their outstanding work by the GRAMMY Foundation. I am surrounded by amazing faculty artists/teachers. What a wonderful
Dr. Adam Luebke with his GRAMMY.
20 Statement | FALL 2021
(Photo by Nancy Parisi)
gift that they can share with our students and the entire region. Congratulations to the Buffalo Philharmonic and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, and our music faculty and alumni!” The recording also featured the UCLA Chamber Singers, and additional nominees included James K. Bass of the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. The five featured vocalists included Dr. Bass, J’Nai Bridges, Timothy Fallon, Kenneth Overton, Hila Plitmann and Matthew Worth. In addition, the recording was nominated in the category of Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Another big GRAMMY winner was Fredonia Sound Recording Technology program alumnus Randy Merrill, ’97, of Sterling Sound, who was Senior Mastering Engineer on Taylor Swift’s
