ALUMNI + STUDENT NEWS

The Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Choir and Rutgers University Glee Club performed on April 4 at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium in New York City. They were joined onstage by the Riverside Choral Society to perform the Brahms Alto Rhapsody, featuring Grammy-nominated mezzosoprano Margaret Lattimore. The group also performed the Beethoven Mass in C and André Thomas’s “Mass: A Celebration of Love and Joy.” A few days later, 25 members of the Kirkpatrick Choir headed to Newark’s Prudential Center to perform with The Eagles on their “Hotel California” tour.

Theater alum Roger Bart stars as Doc in the Broadway run of Back to the Future: The Musical, opening in previews on June 30 at the Winter Garden Theatre. Bart was part of the West End cast of the show, which won an Olivier Award in 2022 for Best New Musical.

Class of 2022 Art & Design grad Johanna Cordasco, recipient of the Scott Cagenello Memorial Prize at graduation for her demonstrated commitment to helping others in the school and the wider community, joined Americorps to do conservation work across the country. “I’ve always been infatuated by the connection between art and nature, and I’m finding that the skills I learned from sculpture are carrying over a lot,” says Cordasco. “I’m excited to get to work with my hands, be around good people, explore and be a part of something meaningful.”

EdM Dance Education candidate Ally Ferry was selected by the Graduate School of Education to receive a Nancy Higginson Dorr Award for the promise she has demonstrated as a future educator. She has also been selected as one of three Rutgers candidates for the New Jersey Distinguished Clinical Intern Awards.

On April 27, Music alum Amanda Batista made her Metropolitan Opera House debut as the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida. Batista spent this season as part of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. This summer, Batista joins the Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence Vocal Residency in France. She’ll also make her role debut as Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo with the Aspen Music Festival as a Renée Fleming Artist.

Art & Design alum Juan Sánchez was awarded the 2022 Artist Award from the Artists’ Legacy Foundation in recognition of his 45-year career as an artist, activist, and educator.

Theater alum Calista Flockhart has been cast as Lee Radziwill, the younger sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in season 2 of Feud, Ryan Murphy’s historical anthology on FX. The cast also includes Naomi Watts, Chloë Sevigny, Demi Moore, Diane Lane, and Molly Ringwald. Filming began in January.

If you caught the Halloween episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan, you saw costumes designed by Theater alum Tori Sterling Kelly with assistant costume designer/alum Clare Lippincott. Lippincott also is a costume production assistant on the Tony-nominated musical comedy Shucked, which opened April 4 at the Nederlander Theatre. Costume design MFA alum Caity Mulkearns serves as the show’s associate costume designer.

In August, MFA Art & Design alum Jason Baerg was featured on Vogue.com’s list of “15 Indigenous Artists to Know From This Year’s Santa Fe Indian Market,” an annual showcase of the works of Indigenous artists across North America. Baerg was in the exhibition Art of Indigenous Fashion at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe as well.

Last summer, Dance student Amanda Osborne was one of only 100 students across Rutgers selected for President Holloway’s Rutgers Summer Service Internship Initiative. Osborne was at the Raritan Valley YMCA, focusing on wellness programs for seniors and preschoolers.

Theater alum Midori Francis joined ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy as a series regular for the show’s 19th season as intern Mika Yasuda. She also was part of the main cast of HBO Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls, co-created by Mindy Kaling.

Music alum Eric Lindberg tells the Rutgers Alumni Association that his time as a student made him a better listener who became more open to diverse approaches. Now, he and his band Nefesh Mountain have released four albums of Americana roots music and have performed at the Grand Ole Opry. “I learned from my teachers that to really do the music thing, you kind of had to understand it all,” Lindberg says. “You had to know the many different walks, and that it’s all valid.”

MFA Art & Design alum Malcolm Peacock was awarded a Carnegie International Prize. The Carnegie International, established in 1896, is the longest-running North American exhibition of international art. Peacock was awarded the 2022 Fine Prize for two works.

In the fall, the Mary H. Dana Women Artists Series Galleries at Douglass Library hosted Collective Yearning: Black Women Artists from the Zimmerli Art Museum, featuring prints, photographs, and multimedia artworks. The exhibit marked the first time the university has conducted a comprehensive review of its holdings of art by Black women artists. The exhibition was co-curated by Art & Design student Desiree Morales and alumni Kyle b. co. and Grace Lynne Haynes and includes work by late faculty Emma Amos, former Tepper Chair Kara Walker, and alums Atysha Fordyce and Nell Irvin Painter.