Class Notes
Laura Kaminsky ’78
1900s
The complete piano works of Canadian-American composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor Nathaniel Dett 1908 have been recorded by Clipper Erickson for the album My Cup Runneth Over (Navona Records), which garnered a Critic’s Choice nod from Gramophone Magazine. Dett’s piano compositions were the subject of an interview with Erickson on The Cunningham Piano Show in May 2018 and were performed numerous times in the past year.
1940s
1960s
Jan Ewing ’62 is a former voice
major who transitioned from an early career in theater to desktop publishing. He created textbooks and reference books for New York publishers until retiring in 2014. Now he produces, directs, and reviews 50
Producer and club owner Todd Barkan ’68 earned the nation’s highest honor in jazz—the NEA Jazz Master Award—in April 2018. He was also presented with the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Master Award for Jazz Advocacy at a Kennedy Center celebration. Barkan returned to Oberlin twice in the past year: In May 2018, he emceed and co-produced “Oberlin Overture —Synergies: Gown, Town, World” during Commencement Reunion Weekend. In April 2019, he joined jazz students, faculty, and other guests for “Marking 30 Years: A Celebration of Oberlin’s Jazz Studies Degree.”
1970s
Cincinnati Opera is the latest presenter of As One by composer Laura Kaminsky ’78. Inspired by the experiences of film director Kimberly Reed, it tells the story of a transgender woman’s journey to selfacceptance. Scored for string quartet and two singers, As One has been performed by more than 20 companies worldwide.
Viola da gambist and barbershop singer Marcy Jean Zimmermann Brenner ’79
performs these days as a member of Savannah Baroque, with whom she participated in a January 2019 residency at the Savannah Classical Academy, a project supported by an Engagement Award from Early Music America. The ensemble worked with students from second grade through high school on the importance of musical, historical, and cultural literacy. Since 2015 Brenner has also been a member of RareSong, a Florida-based group that plays early Spanish music from the time of the founding of St. Augustine. She performs and participates in barbershop singing competitions with the Sapphire Quartet. Tenor and voice professor Colenton Freeman ’79 was invited by the Conservatoire de Musique in Lyons, France, to serve as guest juror for voice exams in June 2018. Freeman is on the faculty of the University of Kassel in Germany. Community choirs from Binghamton, N.Y., united in May 2019 to celebrate the work of famed composer, arranger, organist, pianist, and choral
director Moses Hogan ’79. Countertenor Derek Lee Ragin ’80, Hogan’s Oberlin classmate, also performed. Beth Orson ’79 has been the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s assistant principal oboe and English horn since 1990. She also teaches on the faculty of the University of British Columbia School of Music. In February 2019, Orson and fellow members of the VSO performed on the Candlelight Concert Series at Westacres, a farm in Maple Ridge, Vt.
1980s
Cellist Steven Isserlis ’80 and pianist Olli Mustonen released Shostakovich & Kabalevsky: Cello Sonatas (Hyperion) in February 2019. Praised for its “stylish playing, bursting with character throughout,” the album made Gramophone’s monthly list of the best new classical recordings. George Preston ’82 was named VP and general manager of Chicago classical music station WFMT in March 2019. Tim Riley BA ’83, BM ’85 has
collaborated with music theorist Walter Everett on a new book and multimedia
REBECCA ALLAN (KAMINSKY), COURTESY VANCOUVER SYMPHONY (ORSON)
The Montclair Orchestra presented a concert in memory of composer and Montclair, N.J., resident George Walker ’41 in March 2019. Kenneth Bannerman ’72 and Judith Wildman hosted a post-concert reception for friends of Oberlin.
plays and musicals. His comedy Nursery Rhymes was performed at the Hudson Guild Theatre as part of the NY Winterfest 2019 Play Festival.
Beth Orson ’79