Tonight’s Guest Artists

Tenor Albert Rudolph Lee’s performances have been described as “vocally sumptuous,” “musically distinctive” and even “acrobatically agile.” Having appeared with Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia Orchestra, Saint Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, the Collegiate Chorale of New York City, Caramoor International Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival, Lee’s operatic and oratorio roles include Don Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Almaviva in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore, Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte, and the tenor solos in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s 9 th Symphony, Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, and the Rossini Stabat Mater.

Throughout his performing career he has also worked to preserve and expand the performance of Negro Spirituals in domestic and international performances with the American Spiritual Ensemble. In addition, he performed a recital of art song settings of Langston Hughes poetry in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and is a featured soloist on a recording of works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, George Walker (on Albany Records), singing musical settings of the Walt Whitman poem “When lilacs last in dooryard bloomed,” a poem written as an elegy to Abraham Lincoln after his assassination. Most recently, he appeared as tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Duke University Chapel, joined the British based classical crossover group Vox Fortura in domestic and international performances, and made a debut with the London Symphony singing the tenor solo in Adolphus Hailstork’s I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of Connecticut, a Master of Music at The Juilliard School, and a Doctor of Music degree at Florida State University, with a doctoral treatise titled “The Poetic Voice of Langston Hughes in American Art Song.” He is Associate Professor of Music and the inaugural Director of Equity, Belonging, and Student Life at the Yale School of Music.

Dr. Brian Coffill, D.M.A., is the Founding Director of Instrumental Ensembles and Assistant Professor of Music at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. He is a conductor and pedagogue actively shaping the future of instrumental performance through equity and inclusion in student musical achievement, the performance of works by historically-excluded composers, and the development of twenty-first century performance experiences for musicians and audiences alike.

Since launching RMC’s “Chamber Orchestra” in 2018, Dr. Coffill has shaped the rapid growth of the instrumental music program to include a Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Improvisation Laboratory, Chamber Ensembles, Jacketeers New Orleans Brass Band, and RMC’s traditional Yellow Jacket Pep Band; he also teaches courses in music and coordinates the Music Education program. Prior to arriving at RMC, he earned degrees from the University of Maryland (Doctor of Musical Arts, Conducting), the University of Illinois (Master of Music, Conducting), and the University of Connecticut (Bachelor of Arts, Music; Bachelor of Science, Education), and held positions teaching bands and orchestras at public high schools in Virginia (Yorktown High School, Arlington) and Maryland (Century High School, Sykesville).

Dr. Coffill’s diverse research interests range from inclusive expansion of the instrumental repertoire to investigating the many connections between Baseball and the American Wind Band. He is both a Charles Ives (Yale Class of 1898) scholar and a distant relative, and his scholarship on a variety of subjects encompasses publications, presentations, and performances nationwide, including the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Groups under his baton have been invited to perform at state (Virginia Music Educators Association) and national conferences (College Band Directors National Association), and his published transcriptions and arrangements have been performed by ensembles nationwide. He is also on the teaching faculty of t1he GreenSpring International Academy of Music in Richmond, Virginia, and maintains an active schedule as a conductor and clinician throughout the United States.

Dr. Coffill is a member of various professional, service, and scholarly organizations including CBDNA, VMEA, the Virginia Band & Orchestra Directors Association, the National Association for Music Education, the American Association of University Professors, and the Society for American Baseball Research. He serves on VMEA’s Council for Innovation and Creativity and is the State Chair for the Virginia Composition Festival. He an inducted member of Kappa Kappa Psi and an honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma. A fervent Red Sox fan despite being raised in Litchfield on the New York side of Connecticut’s “Munson-Nixon Line,” Dr. Coffill has also lived across the river from Nationals Park, down the street from Camden Yards, and deep in disputed Cubs-Cardinals territory. He currently resides near the AA Flying Squirrels ballpark in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, Caroline, and their two highly-regarded young prospects.

Makana Medeiros is a percussionist emerging as a musician participating in many genres ranging from jazz to classical to contemporary music.

As a chamber musician, Makana has performed with ensembles and festivals including the Yale Percussion Group, New Music New Haven, Eastman Percussion Ensemble, Eastman Jazz Combos, Nief-Norf Summer Festival, and Chautauqua Festival Orchestra. He has performed with established artists in the contemporary music genre including Pamela Z, Caroline Shaw, and Eighth Blackbird. With a reputation as an advocate of contemporary music, he has held leadership positions and participated in peer-managed ensembles including Ossia New Music at the Eastman School of Music and Versicolor New Music at Yale University, both with a mission to promote innovative music of the last century.

Makana holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he was also awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate and Arts Leadership Certificate. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Robert van Sice.

ROSA KLEINMAN bf ’23, flute