Department of Music
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ALUMNI NEWSLETTER From the Department Chair The Department of Music is a busy place, and as we begin the fall semester, we have a record number of 186 undergraduate music majors in the 7 programs we currently offer. There are 22 students enrolled in the graduate program in music education and we work cooperatively with the Department of Theatre to support the Bachelor of Science in Music Theatre, as well as the Creative Arts Therapy Department to support the Master of Science in Creative Arts Therapy with a Music Therapy Specialization. Additionally, our Community Music Program enrolls over 185 students in lessons and classes, as well as 75 students in the Bach Children’s Chorus in residence at Nazareth College. We are fortunate that many of you graciously provide gifts to the Department of Music each year. We use those gifts to send students to professional conferences, support international travel, and provide instruments that are above and beyond
Fall 2009
our operating budget. Your gifts have allowed our students to enrich their Nazareth education with valuable insights into the various professions as they attend conferences with faculty, students, and practitioners from other schools. This year we will be preparing for our reaccreditation from the National Association of Schools of Music. As a part of this process, we have an Alumni Survey that we would like to ask you to complete and return by October 15. Please see the instructions within NAZNOTES. Your participation will not only help us in our efforts to maintain our credentials, it will be a means by which we can develop our curriculum to meet the ever-changing and complex needs in the workplace. Our best wishes for a great year. If you are on campus, please don’t hesitate to stop by for a visit! Dr. James Douthit, Chair Professor of Music
Exchange Program with University of Rzeszów, Poland The Department of Music is excited to announce that the recent trip to Poland featuring the Nazareth Choir and several Nazareth music faculty is now leading to the establishment of an exchange program between Nazareth College and the University of Rzeszów, Poland. The College will be hosting the University of Rzeszów Choir this Fall, and Nazareth has been invited to return for a series of performances in Poland and Hungary in 2011. There are also plans to expand the exchange program to include other departments at both institutions. "Nazareth's Department of Music has long been a place where strong teachers, therapists, performers, scholars and liberal arts students have been educated, nurtured and transformed into musicians who will be leaders in their vocations," said Dr. James Douthit, Chair of Nazareth's Department of Music. "I believe this trip and the impressions made by our department are tangible evidence that more and more people are beginning to discover something we've known for a long time: The Nazareth College Department of Music has a transformational effect on the lives of our students. And in turn our local, regional, and now worldwide, communities benefit as well." The Nazareth College Choir trip occurred this past Spring. It was organized by Dr. Zbigniew Granat, assistant professor of music at Nazareth, a native of Poland. "Dr. Granat organized the trip to perfection," said Douthit. "This was his home turf and he did more than his fair share to make sure the performances were well-received and well-attended, that the audiences understood our texts, that our students experienced the new culture, and that our faculty were introduced to Polish
leaders in the community and in the arts." The Nazareth College Choir, directed by Dr. Mark Zeigler, performed three concerts in Poland at the Theodor Leszetycki School of Music in Lancut, the La Salette Church in Rzeszów, and the Institute of Music of the University of Rzeszów. The repertoire included Mozart's Regina Coeli, Randall Thompson's setting of Robert Frost's poetry, Aaron Copland's Stomp Your Foot, and two gospel pieces presented in authentic style. Douthit and Nazareth voice faculty members, Soo Yeon Kim and JJ Hudson, also performed with the group, along with Nazareth pianist Sarah Rhee. When our Nazareth musicians return to Poland in two years, the choir will join together with the Institute of Music Choral Ensembles to sing with the Rzeszów Philharmonia in its newly remodeled performance hall. Dr. Douthit has been invited to perform two concertos with the Rzeszów orchestra, and Drs. Kim and Hudson have been invited to return as soloists.