Alumni Music Newsletter 9-08

Department of Music

Notes NAZ

ALUMNI NEWSLETTER From the Department Chair Dear Nazareth College Alumni Community: It is hard to believe that three years have passed since I last wrote to you. We have so many activities in the Department that we thought you might enjoy a summary of them. The Department of Music at Nazareth College is a quickly growing program in both quantity and quality. We currently have around 186 undergraduate majors, 20 minors, and 35 graduate students. This fall, we started the new Bachelor of Science in Music/Business degree program, which is an exciting addition to our degree offerings. Our ensembles have also grown. Orchestra and band have over 65 students each. The choirs, also growing, have presented concerts of extremely high quality. In the spring of this year, the choral ensembles will travel to Poland, and the Chamber Singers will be singing with the Rochester Chamber Orchestra.

Your alumni gift contributions have enabled our Department to do many great things. We were able to purchase a Steinway piano for the piano studio. Last year, we instituted a travel fund that students going to professional conferences. As a result, our music educators attended the national conference, music therapy students went to a regional conference, and the student chapter of the America Choral Directors Association attended their regional conference. This has provided an opportunity for students to experience their profession in a way that will allow them to relate their coursework to their future career plans. It also becomes a networking venue as they prepare to seek employment. We’ve also purchased some instruments for the methods courses and a few other equipment needs that our budget does not allow.

I hope you will think about visiting the campus during various Alumni activities. If so, please feel free to stop by my office and introduce yourself. I always enjoy meeting former students and hearing how their education has benefited them and discovering any curricular changes that might benefit our future graduates. In the meantime, enjoy reading about the news of faculty, students, and alumni. Please feel free to send your news for the next issue of our Alumni Newsletter.

Dr. James Douthit, Chair Professor of Music

Fall 2008

Music/Business Program

N

azareth College’s newly instituted Bachelor of Science in Music/Business hopes to offer students the best of two worlds, where they can combine their passion for music with a solid foundation in management studies. Students in the Program will take the courses that normally form the foundation of any degree in Music or Business. In the music area, students will be required to be involved in traditional courses in music performance, music theory, sight-singing, arranging and extensive ensemble work. In the Business core of the program students will be taking courses in accounting, management, marketing, entrepreneurship and business ethics.

Students will also be taking courses specifically designed for the program, including courses in rock and roll composition, web design, music business and music law.

The program also requires that students become wellversed in various digital recording formats and adept in the basics of recording engineering and production.

A high degree of experiential learning, including two required internship placements, round out this innovative and exciting degree.

The Music/Business Program will help students gain access to a variety of occupations in the music industry, such as publicist and artist manager, booking agent, concert promotor, entrepreneur, retail sales, music publishing and sound enginering. The Program will also prepare students for graduate study in the field or for an advanced degree in business or copyright law.

Faculty News Mario Martínez

V

oice faculty member Mario Martinez recently took a leave of absence for the 2007-2008 school year to continue his work in the Doctor of Musical Arts program in Vocal Performance and Literature, with a minor in Stage Directing, at the Eastman School of Music. Professor Martínez expects to conclude work on the degree by the fall of 2009. In addition to the heavy academic load, Mario has kept an active performance schedule. His performances last year included a faculty recital at Nazareth College and performances of the roles of Benoit and Alcindoro for the Mercury Opera Rochester production of La Boheme.

Upcoming performances this year include engagements with Mercury Opera Rochester and the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus.

Kristen Shiner McGuire

K

risten Shiner McGuire, Coordinator of Percussion Studies at Nazareth College, spent her summer travelling, performing and teaching. In June, she and her husband David travelled to Berlin to visit her Nazareth colleague, Mark Maynor, and his wife Jen. Kristen and Mark played marimba on the streets of Berlin for tips! They attended concerts, art exhibits, and visited one of the world’s largest musical instrument museums.

Throughout the summer, Kristen could be heard performing with the RPO Marimba Band, Elle Jazz Trio, and Kind of Blue jazz and blues group. Visit www.kristenshinermcguire.com for more information about her.

Robert Strauss

N

azareth faculty member Robert Strauss has been particularly active this year as performer, actor and director in a variety of area productions. In May he was the featured tenor soloist in the Finger Lakes Chorale’s presentation of Franz Joseph Haydn’s The Creation. For the Rochester Children’s Theatre summer 2008 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Rob made his official debut as an accordion player while in the role of Simeon/Butler. He participated in a staged reading at the Jewish Community Center of a new musical, Raise Your Sword, based upon The Three Musketeers, in the role of Cardinal Richelieu. The school year’s first presentation by the Department of Music was a program of musical theatre repertoire complied by Dr. Strauss.

As he looks ahead to the next several months, he will be equally busy. He has been engaged as Assistant Director/ Assistant Stage Manager for the Mercury Opera Rochester’s fall production of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Seviglia. In December, Rob will reprise his role of King Kaspar in the Mercury Opera’s annual production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. In January he will perform the role of Spoletta in the Mercury Opera Rochester’s production with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra of Puccini’s Tosca.

In this Issue Contributing Writers:

Upon her return home, Kristen played percussion for the Merry Go Round Playhouse production of Les Miserables. The last week of July was spent teaching at the Tritone Fantasy Jazz Camp held here in the Department of Music. Kristen regularly reviews and edits submissions to the manual for New York State teachers and students.

2

James Douthit, DMA Betsey King, Ph.D. Mario Martinez, MM Kristen Shiner McGuire, MM Beverly Smoker, DMA Roy Stein, J.D. Nancy Strelau, MM Robert Strauss, DMA

Editor: Gary Fisher, DMA

Music Therapy

M

usic Therapy now has an on-campus clinic at Nazareth College. Dr. Betsey King and two students worked with the clinic’s first two clients during the spring semester, thanks to the Art Therapy program which loaned them a room in Carroll Hall. Starting in the fall semester, the Music Therapy Clinic will have its own space in the large trailer behind Carroll Hall. The clients served there will be part of the clinical training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate music therapy students.

Clinical training in the community and co-treatment with the other Nazareth Clinics will continue as before, so there will now be even more opportunities for Nazareth music therapy students to learn and grow.

the transition between activities. They were often called upon to facilitate all the other activities led by physical and speech Therapy students. Some of their work was featured on local TV news, and because of its success, Nazareth’s Kids Camp is now anticipated to be a yearly event!

All of our recent graduates have been accepted at internships, some getting placements in very competitive situations.

These students will be training at West Palm Beach Hospice, Florida; Colorado Mental Health Institute at Ft. Logan, Colorado, The Center for Discovery in Harris, NY, and at BOCES1, CP Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital, Strong Ties Community Mental Health Center, and the Mary Cariola Center in Rochester.

Music Therapy students were key to the success of the pilot program of Nazareth’s Kids Camp, a three-morning camp held during the February public school break for children with special needs. One graduate and one undergraduate music therapy student provided opening and closing songs, helping

Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra

T

he 80-piece Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra (NCSO), under the direction of Nancy Strelau, performs a wide variety of traditional and contemporary orchestral literature. The orchestra collaborates with the Nazareth College Choirs and features faculty and student soloists each year. The NCSO meets on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30 PM and is open to all Nazareth College students and community members. The orchestra presents three concerts each semester.

Please join us for the exciting opening of the Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra 2008-2009 season, as the group presents a program of ‘Picture-scapes’ on October 24 at 7:30 pm in Linehan Chapel. From Alaskan mountains to European rivers to our solar system, some of our most popular concert music paints sonic images. Classical favorites The Planets of Holst, Smetana’s Moldau and the first movement of the Sea

Symphony of Vaughan Williams will be performed. Nazareth faculty percussionist Kristen Shiner McGuire will be the featured soloist for this concert. Joining them will be the Nazareth College Chamber Singers.

Nazareth President Daan Braveman at the 2008 April NCSO Pops Concert with our conductor, Nancy Strelau

3

Keyboard Notes

T

he addition of a new state-ofthe-art Roland electronic piano lab and a new Steinway Model L grand piano have greatly enhanced teaching and learning in the piano area here at Nazareth. Practicing is more fun!

Last year piano students practiced and performed Honors, Performance Degree, Senior and Studio recitals.

They collaborated in a recital of Beethoven’s Bagatelles Opp. 33, 119 and 126, a recital for the Sisters of St. Joseph and a Holiday ensemble program at the Friendly Home followed by dinner at Aladdin’s Restaurant.

Other ensemble highlights included a Family Weekend piano quartet performance of “Brasileira” from Milhaud’s Scaramouche and a rousing performance of Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance for two pianos, twelve hands.

Piano master classes were given

by Thomas Rosenkranz from the University of Hawaii and Yin Zheng from Oakland University in Michigan.

Performing students included Tasha

N

George-Hinnant (student of James Douthit), Kristina Klodnicki (student of Beverly Smoker), Matthew Locke (student of Kevin Nitsch), Kristina Knowles (student of Beverly Smoker) David Pacific (student of Brian Preston) Leigh Steinman (student of Beverly Smoker) and Stephanie Tommasone (student of James Douthit). Nazareth College piano students also enjoyed hearing Jon Kimura Parker perform Ravel’s G Major Piano Concerto with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra at the Eastman Theatre. Several of them travelled to the 2007 Conference of the New York State Music Teachers Association at SUNY Binghamton, where they joined Nazareth College piano faculty members who were closely involved with this conference.

Gary Fisher is currently president of NYSMTA, and Brian Preston participated in the Pedagogy Panel presentation, "Understanding Music through Narrative". James Douthit and Beverly Smoker presented “Skills for Success: Pedagogical Strategies for PreCollegiate Music Students.”

We are pleased to present pianist Michael Salmirs in a solo recital to benefit the Robert Hobstetter Piano Scholarship Fund. This event will take place on October 26 at 3:00 pm in the Wilmot Recital Hall.

NEW

Nazareth Summer Piano Camp

azareth College will be instituting a new piano camp for pre-college age students this summer.

The camp will be open to students from the Rochester area and beyond, and will include overnight dormitory accommodations for registrants. It will begin on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, and continue through Saturday, June 27. Daily events will include ensemble activities

4

The Nazareth Keyboard Faculty hosted Rochester-area piano teachers for its fourth annual Nazareth Keyboard Forum presentation, “Reviewing the New Federation Syllabus: Evaluations, Teaching Tips and Performances.”

They also collaborated in a program of solos and ensembles to inaugurate the annual Robert Hobstetter Piano Scholarship Recital. Our annual Summer Piano Pedagogy Workshop, co-sponsored with the Rochester Piano Teachers Guild and NYSMTA District 12, was held on June 23-24 with Ingrid Clarfield as the featured clinician. We hope you will join us for next year’s workshop, June 22-23, 2009. It will be followed by a Piano Camp for high school students.

!

involving both piano and other instruments, master class participation, theory and musicianship instruction, and various performance opportunities. Further details will become available early in 2009. Please contact gfisher1@ naz.edu if you wish to be included on the mailing list for this camp.

Alumni Spotlight: Jessica Ann Best

J

essica Ann Best (BM, 2006), former student of Joan Floriano, is an exciting young soprano with a warm and expressive sound.

Known for her dramatic flair, her vivacious stage presence captivates the audience. Jessica demonstrates solid musicianship, complimenting a mature musical personality. Jessica is thrilled to make her main stage debut with Opera Tampa in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, where she will be singing the role of Nella, as well as Sister Dolcina in Suor Angelica, in February and March of 2009. Jessica began her relationship with Opera Tampa as a 2007-2008 Young Apprentice (OTAP), and is continuing her apprenticeship for the 2008-2009 season. Recently, Jessica performed as an apprentice artist with The Santa Fe Opera, covering Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, singing Musetta in their scenes production of La Bohème and chorus in Le Nozze di Figaro, Falstaff and the American premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater.

This October, Jessica will make her debut with The Florida Orchestra, singing three concerts in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater. Jessica

Student News Julia Broman, class of 2009, a piano student of Dr. Beverly Smoker, spent her spring semester at Osaka University in Japan, studying Japanese Culture.

She also went to Osaka College of Music and studied koto and piano.

x

completed her master’s degree in Vocal Performance from the Northwestern University School of Music in June of 2008. Operatic Roles include: Madame de Croissy, Prioress of the Carmelite convent (Dialogues of the Carmelites) of Mercedes (Carmen) with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Summer Music Festival, Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro), Hàta (The Bartered Bride) and Sister Agatha (Felice). Jessica has performed as a guest artist with the Rochester Festival Singers and Orchestra as well as the Geneseo Festival Symphony and the Greece Symphony. Master Classes include Renée Fleming, Jennifer Larmore, Sherrill Milnes, William McIver, Constance Hass, John Hoomes and Maria Russo. Jessica has also enjoyed being an artist with Geva Theatre in A Christmas Carol, the Rochester Children’s Theater in Seussical and Blackfriars Theater in Cinderella. Jessica is a scholarship and prize winner from the Bel Canto Foundation of Chicago, which enables her to participate in V.O.I.C.E. Experience: Sherrill Milnes and Friends.

x

Sarah Chasey, class of 2009, spent one month of this past summer in Urbania, Italy participating in the Si Parlacanta program, under the direction of Benton Hess, Robert Cowart, and Hugh Murghey. Sara enjoyed having the opportunity to learn the language and roles in opera scenes in local theaters in Italy. For the Fall semester, she will continue her study as a vocal performance exchange student at the Birmingham Conservatory in England.

x

SAVE THE DATE Jessica’s special alumna recital on Sunday evening, September 28, at 3:00 pm in the Wilmot Recital Hall on campus. She will be assisted

by Nazareth pianist Dr. Linda Boianova in a program of Mozart, Dvorák and Puccini.

Evan Meccarello, class of 2011, was an associate at the Conductors Institute of South Carolina, a twoweek program where contemporary and standard orchestral repertoire was studied and conducted under the guidance of professional conductors.

He also attended the Killington Music Festival, a six-week chamber music program, where he assembled a student string orchestra and conducted on a children’s concert program as well as one of the student concerts.

5

 Welcome to our New Adjunct Music Faculty  Marcy Bacon, clarinetist, is active as a teacher and a performer throughout Western New York. Prior to joining the Nazareth faculty, Marcy taught applied clarinet and clarinet methods at SUNY Fredonia, taught general music in the Jamestown City School District and in the Diocese of Rochester. At the Eastman School of Music, where she earned the DMA, she was teaching assistant to Kenneth Grant and a member of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Eastman Philharmonia Chamber orchestra and Musica Nova.

Marcy Bacon holds Early Childhood and General Music Level I Certification from the Gordon Institute for Music Learning.

Michael Callahan has joined the Music Theory faculty for the 20082009 school year. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Eastman School of Music, pursuing a multi-faceted investigation into Baroque thoroughbass improvisation. His research has been presented at a meeting of the Society for Music Theory in Los Angeles, and has he has published papers in scholarly journals. He is graduate of Harvard College, and has served on the faculty of the Eastman School. His interests include music arranging, visual design and free-lance performing as a pianist and woodwind player.

JJ Hudson, bass-baritone, has performed with many opera and concert organizations throughout the United States, including more than twenty opera and lyric theater roles. As a stage director, JJ Hudson has directed several full productions and many opera scenes programs in both professional 6

and academic venues. In December 2008, he will be directing the Mercury Opera’s annual production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. He is currently also on the faculties of SUNY Oswego and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Previous faculty positions were held in Arkansas and West Virginia.

Kathleen Murphy Kemp has been Assistant Principal Cello in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1977. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. She has performed with the Society for Chamber Music, the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, the Skaneateles Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and the Music Academy of the West, among others.

Kathy has been honored with the RPO Volunteer Recognition Award and the Philharmonic League‘s Fanfare Award for Education. She is currently serving on the Board of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Jeffrey Miller is an active performer and teacher of classical guitar.

He is currently a DMA candidate in Guitar Performance at the Eastman School of Music, having received degrees from the Hartt School of Music.

Jeff has performed as soloist and ensemble participant with a variety of groups, including the Tri-C Jazz Festival in Cleveland and the Hartford Chamber Orchestra and the Hartford Symphony Pops. He is a versatile musician, and has arranged and recorded tracks on bass, banjo, mandolin and guitar.

Scott Perkins, a native of Connecticut, is active as a composer, performer, scholar and teacher. His works have been performed throughout North America and Europe, and have won international prizes. As both tenor

and conductor, Scott performs both early and contemporary music. At the Eastman School, he has served as president of Ossia, the School’s studentrun new music ensemble. He is music director of Kairos, a 12-voice Rochesterbased chamber vocal ensemble, and he performs weekly with the Christ Church Schola Cantorum. Scott’s doctoral research at the Eastman School focuses primarily on the compositional process in the music of Benjamin Britten, with a focus on the War Requiem.

Alice Pratt (a Nazareth alum) has joined the faculty as Supervisor of Student Teachers. She taught music for the Rochester City Schools for thirty-three years. Alice is a member of the National Board of Trustees for the American Orff Schulwerk Association.

She is a published composer, and is a frequent presenter for organizations such as AOSA, Canada Orff and the New York State School Music Association. Alice Pratt is winner of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Music Educators Award, as well as being a multiple-year inductee in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

Other new lecturers, Kelly Stevenson, Euridice Izcoa, David Sommerville and Chris Van Hof will be featured in the next issue of our Alumni Newsletter.

For more information about our new faculty, please visit www.naz.edu/dept/ music/faculty/index.cfm

Community Music Program

T

he Community Music Program (CMP) of Nazareth College’s Department of Music has been one of our best-kept secrets. That is rapidly changing, as the surrounding community becomes more aware of the available opportunities for terrific music instruction through the CMP. Started over twenty years ago by recently retired Nazareth Professor Thomas McGary, the Program has established itself as an active educational presence in the Rochester area. We make study available on practically all of the orchestral and band instruments, voice and piano. The faculty has grown over the years, including members of the collegiate Department faculty. They are dedicated to serve as artistic role models for their students, remaining active as performers and scholars, clinicians and adjudicators. Our yearly CMP faculty recital in early May showcases the performing talents of our faculty.

Private lessons make up the bulk of the CMP activities, supplemented by an increasing number of additional programs of interest to its students. Early childhood classes, chamber music groups and introductory instrumental classes in recorder, guitar and keyboard have expanded the mission of the Program.

The acclaimed Bach Children’s Chorus, along with its sister ensemble, the Mozart Children’s Chorus for younger students, has been in residence at Nazareth through the CMP for seven years.

If you or other people you know, young or old, are interested in continuing musical studies, consider looking at the Community Music Program web page. Our website can be found at www. naz.edu/dept/cmp.

Gary Fisher, Coordinator of CMP

CMP students come from a wide area of the community, recognizing the quality of the instruction for which they travel.

Regular recital programs display a range of instruments, ages and levels, and always with a high level of accomplishment.

Voice Area News

T

he Eastern Region of the National Association of Singing held their conference and student auditions this March at SUNY Potsdam, where two of our current students, Zachary Ligas and Nicholas Gerling, both junior music education and vocal performance majors, placed 3rd and 2nd place respectively in their categories. The region includes New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and Quebec.

The Nazareth College Opera Workshop featured over 35 students this past year in its two productions.

Presented first was a scenes recital called “SOME HOT GUY . . . and a deck of cards”. Following that was a full production of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, which was performed both at the Nazareth College Arts Center and at the Memorial Art Gallery Cutler Union in downtown Rochester.

Submit News News items of your current activities are welcomed for publication in the Alumni News. Please submit your news either by hard copy or by e-mail to music@naz.edu. Photos are also welcome.

Please send news items for the Spring 2009 issue by February 15, 2009, to: Naz Notes, Alumni News Department of Music Nazareth College 4245 East Avenue Rochester, NY 14618 music@naz.edu

For additional Nazareth alumni events, visit the college alumni web site at www.naz.edu/music/ alumni.cfm

7

The Heart of Excellence

Nazareth College Department of Music 4245 East Avenue Rochester, New York 14618 (585) 389-2700 www.naz.edu/dept/music

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit #473 Rochester, NY

Fall 2008 Calendar of Music Events Sun., Sept. 7, 3 pm

Labyrinth of Light and Sound, Linehan Chapel

Sat., Sept. 27, 2:30 pm

Family Weekend Student Recital, Wilmot Hall

Sun., Sept. 28, 3 pm

Alumna Recital: Jessica Best, soprano, Wilmot Hall

Fri., Oct. 3, 9:30 am

Keyboard Forum, Rehearsal Hall

Sun., Oct. 5, 3 pm

Paul Smoker Trio, Wilmot Hall

Sun., Oct. 19, 3 pm

Margaret Leenhouts, violin, Wilmot Hall

Fri., Oct. 24, 7:30 pm

Symphony Orchestra, Linehan Chapel

Sun., Oct. 26, 3 pm

Michael Salmirs, piano, Wilmot Hall

Sat., Nov. 1, 4 pm

Concert Band, Linehan Chapel

Sun., Nov. 2, 3 pm

Jazz Combo, Wilmot Hall

Sun., Nov. 16, 4 pm

Choirs & Symphony Orchestra, Linehan Chapel

Tues., Nov. 18, 8 pm

Percussion Ensemble, Wilmot Hall

Thur., Nov. 20, 7:30 pm

Jazz Ensemble, Wilmot Hall

For a full listing of Department of Music events, please call (585) 389-2700 or visit us at www.naz.edu/dept/music/events.cfm