Sonoritieswinter 2014 the News Magazine of the University of Illinois School of Music
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sonoritiesWINTER 2014 The News Magazine of the University of Illinois School of Music REDISCOVerinG SMitH HALL from the dean The School of Music has completed another great year. Through its innovative teaching, outstanding perfor- mance, exceptional scholarship, and extensive outreach, the School sustains its reputation as one of the best in the nation. Of note was the appointment of Dr. Jeffrey Magee as Published for alumni and friends of the the School’s permanent director following a national School of Music at the University of Illinois at Larry Kanfer Urbana-Champaign. search. An accomplished scholar and teacher, Magee received his PhD in Musicology from the University of Michigan in 1992. The School of Music is a unit of the College of He served on the adjunct faculty at Michigan for five years before joining Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in 1997. He came to the at Urbana-Champaign and has been an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Illinois School of Music faculty in 2006, and was appointed interim director Schools of Music since 1933. of the School in 2012. Magee is an expert in the study of American music. He has been pub- Jeffrey Magee, Professor and Director Joyce Griggs, Associate Director for lished widely in music journals and has written two books, including The Academic Affairs Uncrowned King of Swing: Fletcher Henderson and Big Band Jazz (Oxford, 2005), David Allen, Associate Director for Development named “Best Book in American Music” by the Society for American Music. James Gortner, Assistant Director for Magee has a deep knowledge of the School’s remarkable history and Operations and Finance J. Michael Holmes, Enrollment potential. He is an articulate advocate for the School within the College, Management Director on campus, and beyond. His aspirations as a director are high, and I look Stephen Burian, Interim Director of forward to working with him on initiatives that will enrich the School’s Outreach and Public Engagement impressive record of achievement. I’m confident Magee will provide strong, Ruth Stoltzfus, Coordinator, Music Events effective leadership in the coming years. Managing Editor: Ruth Stoltzfus This leadership is important as the School helps the College of Fine and Associate Editor: Emily Wuchner Applied Arts shape a multi-year strategy. This endeavor aligns with the year- Research Assistant: Lauren Coleman Contributing Editors: Edward Rath, long, campus-wide strategic planning effort led by Chancellor Phyllis Wise, Charlotte Mattax Moersch which identifies new and emerging challenges and opportunities, along with ways in which the campus community can effectively and expertly Contributing Writers: Angela Myles Beeching, address them. Ultimately, we will chart a distinctive course for the College William Brooks, Michael Cameron, Liz Freivogel, John Grashel, Joyce Griggs, Ronald Hedlund, that integrates the performing, visual, design, and environmental arts even J. Michael Holmes, Barbara Hedlund, Hannah more deeply into the teaching, scholarship, creative work, and engagement Jellen, Linda Veleckis Nussbaum, Paul Redman, of this great university. Gunther Schuller, Ruth Stoltzfus, Brian Sullivan, Our work—today and in the future—is strengthened by the generosity Dorothy Williams, Emily Wuchner of our many alumni and friends who support student scholarships, fellow- Design and Layout: Studio 2D ships, endowed chairs, and other needs. Your dedication to the School of Music is deeply appreciated. Cover photo: Emily Wuchner UI School of Music on the Internet: Edward Feser www.music.illinois.edu Professor and Dean, College of Fine + Applied Arts Share your good news! Send photos and submissions to: Sonorities, UI School of Music 1114 W. Nevada, Urbana, IL 61801 or [email protected] by August 31, 2014 from the director By now you may have realized that our cover features a WINTER 2014 detail from the newly painted Smith Memorial Room— once the site of our music library and now a prized, intimate space for recitals and chamber music. The CAMPUS NEWS image is apt. Our cover story on the renovation of Smith 2013 Allerton Music Barn Festival . 2 Memorial Hall provides a metaphor for the entire School Jupiter Quartet Selects First Student Guest Artist Winner . 3 of Music: a venerable structure housing a great tradi- Spring 2014 Ensemble Performances . 3 tion of excellence that now faces renovation in order DoCha Prepares for 2014 Season . 4 to continue thriving in the twenty-first century. The campus strategic plan, Inaugural Fall Convocation Encourages published in mid-August, poses an exciting challenge to the College of Fine Entrepreneurship . 5 and Applied Arts and the School of Music as the University of Illinois seeks The Thomas H . Schleis Memorial Fund . .. 5 to be “the preeminent public research university with a land-grant mission The Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center Arts Project . 6 and global impact.” Hobson Performs Brahms in NYC . .. 6 That short phrase poses a tall order—and it inspires new thinking. We 2014 North American Saxophone launched the new academic year with a convocation featuring music entre- Alliance National Conference . 7 preneurship guru Angela Myles Beeching, whose charge to “write it down” University Hosts Interdisciplinary asks us to commit to the distinctive thing each of us has to offer to the world. Science Fiction Conference . 7 She asks us to think outside the box. That is, if you’re a violinist who loves Bob Stiehl Retires . 8 Magee Hired as New School of orchestral playing and wants to play country music, she has three words: go Music Director . 9 for it. Our faculty members are here to free you to be your musical selves, New Degree Option: B .A . in Music not to be carbon copies of themselves. Technology . 9 We have realized something else: if we are to be the “preeminent public UPDATES research university” we should look like one. Smith Hall is going on 100; the Development Update . 10 Music Building is now more than 40 and looking its age. A major thrust this Smith Hall Reflection . 10 year is to improve our facilities. For starters, the bells signaling the beginning OPE Update 2013 . 12 and ending of classes have been silenced. Our faculty and students need to Brief Musical Moments: A Reminder . 13 work in an environment worthy of their excellence. With your support we FEATURES will sustain that excellence as we move toward a brighter future. A ‘Triumvirate’ Birthday: Celebrating the Lives and Works of We invite you to be part of the School’s renovation, its future. Reading Verdi, Wagner, and Britten . .. 14 this issue of Sonorities, you will see signs and birth pangs of it on every page. Benjamin Britten and the University of Illinois, January 1940 . .. 18 Jeffrey Magee Recognizing Life’s Rewards . 19 Professor and Director, School of Music The Entrepreneurial Musician: YOU . 22 School of Music Wish List . 24 The Manion Papers . 25 Rediscovering Smith Hall . 27 FACULTY NEWS . 37 EMERITI NEWS . 47 ALUMNI NEWS . 48 STUDENT NEWS . 53 IN MEMORIAM . 57 GIVING . .. 60 Partners in Tempo . 60 Planned Giving . 62 winter 2014 1 campus news 2013 Allerton Music Barn Festival Recap The University of Illinois School of Music scheduled this year’s festival later than hosted the 7th annual Allerton Music Barn usual to beat the early September heat . Festival September 19-22, 2013 . This “The amazing talent, great and varied year’s program contained a wide variety repertoire, and mostly cooler tempera- of music, including chamber works, jazz tures made the Barn Festival an especially standards, and a musical, attracting large fine experience this year,” Magee said . crowds nightly . The festival is held each Opening night was titled “Jupiter Plus” year in the loft of a restored nineteenth- and featured the University’s resident century Dutch hay barn on the University’s Jupiter String Quartet with additional Allerton Park & Retreat Center in Mon- artists . The ensemble performed composer Nathan Mandel ticello, about 25 minutes southwest of and hornist Gunther Schuller’s Quintet for marked one of the first public appear- the University . Director of the School of Horn and Strings with Assistant Professor ances of a racially integrated ensemble . The Music Jeffrey Magee said that organizers Bernhard Scully . Schuller delivered the Concert Jazz Band played selections from Spring 2013 com- its new CD, which is devoted to music by mencement address modern jazz saxophonist Pepper Adams . and returned to Solo piano music filled the Barn Sat- campus to coach urday night as Professor William Heiles the quintet on his presented a program featuring works piece, which they by Bach and Schumann . The program recorded . The highlighted Bach’s role as a teacher and concert featured included his A Major English Suite, which pianist Wuna Meng, influenced subsequent composers . Heiles winner of the first also played some of Schumann’s poetic Jupiter Quartet works—Kinderszenen and Carnaval— guest artist award, showing the composer’s skills as musician playing the Franck and narrator . Piano Quintet . The festival closed on Sunday with the On Friday concert version of the musical Of Thee I evening the Concert Sing, with libretto by George S . Kaufman Jazz Band, directed and Morrie Ryskind (best known for their by Professor Joel Nathan Mandel Marx Brothers screenplays), and music by Spencer and joined George and Ira Gershwin . Oozing with by clarinetist Ken political satire, the libretto won the Pulitzer Peplowski, helped Prize in 1932, and follows the plight of a celebrate the 75th bachelor presidential candidate who uses anniversary of love as the platform for his campaign . The Benny Goodman’s performance bridged the Oregon Street Carnegie Hall divide by uniting faculty and student cast Concert . Goodman members from the Department of Theatre and his orchestra and School of Music .