northwesternfanfare university Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music

FALL 2013 first chair

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

Throughout its history, the Bienen School of Music has built on the foundation of the old while embracing the new. The school has been a pioneer in a wide range of areas, from curriculum innovation to music technology to library acquisitions. “New” is even part of the name of one of the school’s most recent initiatives, the Institute for New Music, which puts Northwestern at the forefront of new-music performance and scholarship. Since its groundbreaking in May 2012, the school’s most highly anticipated new development has been the building that is rising on the lakefront adjacent to Regenstein Hall. Scheduled to open in fall 2015, this state-of-the-art facility promises exciting new vistas for students, faculty, and audiences. New compositions are the lifeblood of music, and this issue highlights an exciting new work with significant ties to the school. The Saxophone Concerto by renowned com- poser John Adams—inaugural winner of Northwestern’s Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition— was written for Bienen School saxophone professor and Institute for New Music codirector Timothy McAllister, who premiered it to great acclaim at Australia’s famed Sydney Opera House last month. This fall we are proud to welcome two new faculty members, Robert Sullivan as professor of trumpet and Ryan Dohoney as assistant professor of musicology. And every fall we are excited by the arrival of a new class of students, destined to bring further distinction to the Bienen School. This annual influx of talent continually renews the school from year to year. The time could not be more ideal to give our alumni magazine a new look as well. Initiated in 1972 by then dean Thomas Miller, Fanfare has gained pages and color over the years, serving effectively as the school’s primary avenue of communication with alumni and friends. Design refinements have been introduced from time to time in recent issues, but with this issue we unveil a new Fanfare—with a more musically appropriate title treatment, more inviting page layouts, more readable type, and a more contemporary feel. With this new design and Fanfare’s new twice-a-year publication schedule, we hope alumni and friends will enjoy staying connected with the Bienen School more than ever.

Toni-Marie Montgomery Dean

b 10

6 13 17 fanfare Features Departments

A SAXOPHONE MILESTONE FIRST CHAIR fall 2013 Timothy McAllister Premieres A Message from the Dean Opus 49 Major John Adams Composition .....10 Northwestern University NOTEWORTHY...... 2 Bienen School of Music IN SEARCH OF FLORENCE PRICE’S STUDENTS...... 23 SYMPHONY NO. 1 Reviving a Prize-Winning Work FACULTY ...... 27 by a Forgotten African American Female Composer ...... 13 ON THE CONCERT STAGE...... 32

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE FROM THE MUSIC LIBRARY ...... 33 Voice and Opera Alumni Achieve ALUMNI...... 34 International Success ...... 17 DONORS ...... 40

Dean Photo credits Fanfare is the official magazine Other correspondence Toni-Marie Montgomery Jun Sung Ahn, Marck Bailey, of Northwestern University’s Fanfare Editor, Bienen School Pam Becker, Devon Cass, Bienen School of Music. of Music, Northwestern Staff Chicago Board of Tourism, University, 711 Elgin Road, Editors Jane Dempster/Sydney Symphony Address changes Evanston, Illinois 60208-1800, Will Kazmier Orchestra, Luke Andrew Gay, Director of Development, [email protected] Kingsley Day Justin Knight, Bruce Powell, Bienen School of Music, Notes Editor Sally Ryan, Todd Rosenberg, Northwestern University, ©2013 Northwestern University. Marck Bailey Jaclyn Simpson/Lyric Opera 1800 Sheridan Road, All rights reserved. Produced by of Chicago, Annaliese Sloves, Evanston, Illinois University Relations Designer Ben Symons, Cory Weaver, 60208-1200 9-13/10.5M/KD-GD/1500-1 Grace Delcano Jesse Weiner noteworthy

School Receives Major Grant from Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation

As one of the nation’s leading institutions of its kind, The Cheney Foundation included the Bienen School in the Bienen School of Music not only educates outstanding its new grant initiative “because the school has long been a young artist-scholars but also offers performances of the main pillar in Chicago’s cultural community and is poised highest caliber. Each year the school presents more than 100 to raise its stature as a major performance center in the com- concerts, many featuring internationally acclaimed artists ing years,” says Drebin. “The 2015 opening of the new music who attract audiences from the Northwestern community, building and its stunning recital hall will be a major event the North Shore, Chicago, and beyond. With the support of within the Chicago-area cultural community. This venue will a five-year, $500,000 grant from the Elizabeth F. Cheney undoubtedly increase attendance at Bienen School concerts Foundation, beginning in 2015 the school will enhance its and other performances. In the process it will strengthen the performance offerings with an international brass festival, Bienen School’s reputation as one of the area’s leading cultural an augmented schedule of master classes, and commissions institutions.” of new works for its major ensembles. The grant will also Equally important, says Drebin, is the array of inter- support the highly regarded Winter Chamber Music Festival. nationally acclaimed talent that the Bienen School will bring to its recital hall stage. “I am very excited that the foundation “At a moment when resources for the arts are decreasing, we wanted to will support the school’s efforts ensure that our funds—and the institutions we are supporting—positively to expand its master class series, influence as many people as possible.” –Allan R. Drebin which has previously featured many major artists, notably The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation’s grant to the Renée Fleming,” says Drebin. “These are enormously valuable Bienen School is part of a broader initiative to increase events because they have an immense educational impact on support for five prominent Chicago-area cultural institutions. students and are fascinating as public performances.” Similarly In addition to Northwestern, the foundation will provide appealing to Drebin is the school’s plan to commission new grants to the Art Institute of Chicago, classical music radio works for major ensembles such as the Northwestern University station WFMT, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Patrick G. and Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, University Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, and the Civic Orchestra Chorale, and Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble. of Chicago. According to Allan R. Drebin, treasurer of the “Here again the Bienen School has proposed a project that foundation and professor emeritus at Northwestern’s Kellogg will benefit students, who will have the opportunity to perform School of Management, the reasoning behind the initiative new compositions, and the public, which will be exposed to is simple. “Within the Cheney Foundation, we recognize that the classical music of the present day.” Of the Winter Chamber arts institutions are currently experiencing great difficulties Music Festival, which has thrived with longtime Cheney Foun- with their fundraising efforts due to the country’s ongoing dation support, Drebin says, “Each year it features top inter- economic difficulties,” he says. “Consequently, we are seeking national performers who are enthusiastically welcomed by to remedy some of this problem through a new funding large audiences.” program that will allow our grant recipients to retain their Dean Montgomery is equally optimistic about the potential identities as vital sources of cultural activity.” In requesting impact of the foundation’s grant, saying, “I am deeply grateful grant proposals, the Cheney Foundation challenged all five to the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation for its past support and organizations to present ideas for raising their profiles with look forward to the future opportunities that this new funding the general public. “At a moment when resources for the arts will make possible.” ] are decreasing, we wanted to ensure that our funds—and the institutions we are supporting—positively influence as many people as possible,” Drebin explains. “To do so, we encouraged prospective grant recipients to sponsor public performances that have the potential to reach new audiences.”

2 Brass Program Featured in Annual Millennium Park Concert

Every year since 2007, the Bienen School has presented a spring concert in one of downtown Chicago’s premier performance venues, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park. This annual performance marks one of the highlights of the Bienen School’s music calendar. On Sunday, May 26, the Bienen School used this high-profile event to celebrate its renowned brass program, recognized as an “area of distinction” in the school’s strategic plan. “The Millennium Park concert was a great success,” says The concert featured performances by two student Williams. “Our students played extremely well, demonstrating ensembles: the Northwestern Brass Ensemble, conducted by the high quality of our brass program to a Chicago audience Gail Williams, professor of horn and a former member of the and thereby enhancing its reputation. And the concert pro- Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestras; vided our students with the invaluable educational experience and the Northwestern Trombone Choir, conducted by Peter of performing before a large audience in a culturally signifi- Ellefson, a Bienen School lecturer who has performed with cant venue.” Over the past four decades the school’s “The concert provided our students with the invaluable brass program has been widely recognized for consistently producing young musicians of educational experience of performing before a large audience the highest order. Brass program alumni cur- —Gail Williams in a culturally significant venue.” rently hold seats in some of the world’s most prestigious ensembles, including the New the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philhar- York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco monic. Among the works presented were Johannes Brahms’s Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Allen Chase’s Reflections, Jeremy Houston Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Dibb’s Excalibur, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Fire of Eternal Glory, and Philharmonic Orchestra, United States Army and Navy Bands, Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries. and the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band. ]

fanfare FALL 2013 3 noteworthy

Musicology Students Awarded Fulbright Fellowships

Bienen School doctoral musicology students Brian Oberlander and Elizabeth Przybylski have been awarded Fulbright Fellowships for research outside the United States. Their honors are especially impressive given how rarely Fulbrights are awarded to two students from the same program in the same year. Oberlander’s fellowship has taken him to southern Spain’s Andalusia region, where he is studying a genre of flamenco fusion that blends flamenco styles, instruments, and aesthetics with various Arab (specifically Moroccan) music repertoires. He is analyzing how flamenco fusion attempts to reconceptualize Andalusian identity and the extent to which it successfully intervenes in prevailing intercultural

discourses. He is also examining economic and social factors, Brian Oberlander and Elizabeth Przybylski with adviser Drew Edward Davies (center) noting that “because the Andalusian government has an economic interest in presenting itself as a multicultural, Drew Edward Davies, associate professor of musicology cosmopolitan society, it appropriates this music for its and faculty adviser for both Oberlander and Przybylski, own purposes.” Ultimately Oberlander is striving to under- regards the fellowships as “a significant endorsement of the stand how musicians negotiate their personal and political groundbreaking work Liz and Brian have undertaken. By differences in making music and how the music affects the uniting the methodologies of ethnomusicology and historical different cultures involved. musicology in response to complex questions about culture, Przybylski is pursuing research on urban indigeneity in Liz’s and Brian’s work stands at the leading edge of the field. Winnipeg, Canada—home of Streetz FM, which she identifies Their research reveals not only contemporary music cultures as “the first and only urban indigenous hip-hop radio station.” in their specific destination countries but also how music can operate transnationally and transhistorically. “This work is completely novel and demonstrates the latitude students have “Liz’s and Brian’s in pursuing research that interests them, regardless of whether a faculty Fulbrights are especially member studies the same area or not.” —Drew Davies significant for the musicology program because they were As part of her research, Przybylski is interviewing important awarded for projects that don’t bear a direct relationship members of Winnipeg’s indigenous hip-hop subculture, to research being conducted by Bienen School musicology including recording artists, music club owners, Streetz FM faculty,” adds Davies. “This work is completely novel and staff, and listeners. “While there is a wealth of scholarship demonstrates the latitude students have in pursuing research discussing the function of traditional music in indigenous that interests them, regardless of whether a faculty member life, little attention has been devoted to understanding how studies the same area or not.” hip-hop has been appropriated by indigenous people,” Linda Austern, associate professor of musicology and says Przybylski. “My work will investigate Winnipeg’s rich coordinator of the musicology program, notes that “Brian urban indigenous culture to determine how indigenous and Liz represent the best of what our musicology program people both resist and embrace hip-hop as a strategy for stands for: thoroughness, originality, and a willingness to unify forging a modern identity.” methodologies from multiple academic approaches to music and from cultural studies to ask and answer cutting-edge questions about music in a wider context. Receipt of these prestigious fellowships will allow Brian and Liz to complete the dissertations they envisioned by having access to material and interview subjects available nowhere else.” ]

4 Let Freedom Swing Howard Reich Delivers “A Day with Northwestern” Keynote Address

On Saturday, April 20, a standing-room-only crowd 20th century. “Prior to the emergence of mass social pro- of more than 500 Northwestern alumni and students in test movements, jazz musicians created a form of music that Norris University Center’s McCormick existed outside the boundaries of Western aesthetics,” Reich Auditorium heard Bienen School alumnus says. “In several important ways, the birth of jazz signaled a Howard Reich (77) discuss the history of jazz change in the way African Americans related to their social and its relationship to American society. circumstances.” Reich’s lecture, “Let Freedom Swing: The Reich’s presentation also considered the significance Sound of Jazz,” was one of two keynote of jazz beyond the struggle for racial equality, arguing that addresses at the Northwestern Alumni as jazz developed, it became important in a variety of new Association’s 44th annual “A Day with political contexts. “Simultaneous with rising opposition to Northwestern” seminar, a 12-hour event featuring presenta- authoritarian rule in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and tions by Northwestern alumni and faculty who have achieved 1980s, political dissidents were smuggling the music of Ella the highest levels of distinction in their professions. Fitzgerald and Dave Brubeck into Eastern Bloc nations,” Reich observes. “People living under totalitarian regimes sensed that jazz cap- “Effectively, jazz musicians were using one of the few tools at their tures the thirst for freedom in ways that disposal—cultural expression—to rebel against the discriminatory no other music does. As a result, it rose social practices of the day.” —Howard Reich to prominence within a variety of anti- communist subcultures.” The jazz and arts critic for the Chicago Tribune, Reich has Today jazz continues to be socially relevant because it earned numerous professional accolades during his 35-year resists the homogenizing effects of consumer culture. “There’s journalism career, including the 2011 Chicago Journalist of a reason that young audiences continue to fill jazz clubs in the Year Award from the Chicago Journalists’ Association; major cities across the United States,” Reich argues. “When you two Deems Taylor Awards from the American Society of hear jazz performed live, you are hearing something that will Composers, Authors and Publishers; and seven Peter Lisagor never be played again in exactly the same way—that’s the nature Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2007 of this improvisational, spontaneous music form. The relent- Reich received the Northwestern Alumni Association’s Alumni less complexity and creativity of jazz resist the music industry’s Merit Award. equally relentless attempts to commodify the human spirit.” During his hour-long lecture, Reich linked the emergence For Reich, the large and enthusiastic showing for his lec- of jazz to the politics of social protest. “Jazz was created by a ture further testifies to the ongoing vitality of jazz. “The atmo- group of people, African Americans, who were marginalized sphere in the auditorium was electric,” Reich says. “Audience within American society through legalized racial subjugation members were extremely attentive and asked a variety of ques- from the time of slavery through the Civil Rights era,” says tions throughout the talk. There was an obvious desire among Reich. “My presentation argued that jazz arose in response to those in attendance to learn as much as possible about this this oppression as a way of asserting the importance of African music.” This widespread curiosity, says Reich, suggests that American identity, the strength of the African American spirit, jazz has become an essential part of American culture. and the power of the individual voice in the face of social “I was thrilled by the response to my lecture because it is inequality. Effectively, jazz musicians were using one of the few one indication that people recognize the importance of this tools at their disposal—cultural expression—to rebel against the singularly American art form,” he says. “I would argue that this discriminatory social practices of the day.” recognition is also signaled by the fact that many top universi- According to Reich, several notable features of jazz ties boast outstanding jazz programs. I am pleased to observe aesthetics—group improvisation, the novel application of that the Bienen School of Music is one such institution. The traditional instruments, and the emphasis on developing fact that the Bienen School’s jazz program is directed by Victor unique performance styles—reflect African Americans’ extreme Goines, one of the world’s great jazz musicians, gives me one dissatisfaction with their social standing during much of the more reason to be proud of my alma mater.” ]

fanfare FALL 2013 5 noteworthy

The Fate of Classical Music in the 21st Century Claire Chase Delivers Convocation Address

Claire Chase, a celebrated flutist and arts entrepreneur, delivered the Bienen School’s convocation address on June 22. Credited with forging a new model for the commis- sioning, recording, and live performance of contemporary music, Chase was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Fellowship in 2012. Shortly after completing her undergraduate studies at Oberlin in 2001, Chase founded the International Contemporary Ensemble on a $500 budget. Today Chase serves as executive director for the group, which generates annual revenues exceeding $1 million. Under Chase’s leadership, the 30-member ensemble has premiered more than 650 new works, released 10 albums, developed a thriving education program for public school children, and won numerous Creativity, Entrepreneurship, and the prestigious prizes. The New York Times has Rebirth of a “Dying” Art Form called ICE “one of the most adventurous Thank you, Dean Montgomery, and thank you to the faculty, administra- and accomplished groups in new music.” tion, and graduates of the Bienen School of Music for the opportunity to Chase has also established a repu- speak to you at this enormously exciting point in your lives in music. You tation as an accomplished solo flutist by have each worked so hard to reach this juncture, not just in the last few years premiering more than 100 new works— as students of this wonderful institution but, really, since that very first day many composed specifically for her—and when you embraced music as your calling. Many of you were only toddlers winning the 2008 Concert Artists Guild when you made this discovery; you had barely learned to speak before you International Competition. Her recent learned to draw a bow across a string. Some of you came to music later, appearances include critically acclaimed after exploring other fields, drawn back to music over and over again by the solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital magnetic pull of something so much larger than you are. All of you chose to Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Walter follow this bright star not once but many, many times, through setbacks and successes, and now, on this special day, you continue to choose music, the Reade Theater (as part of the Great Per- noblest and most abstract and the most necessary of all art forms. I commend formers Series at Lincoln Center). She has and I revere every single one of you. Your choice is bold, it is hard, and it also released two highly regarded solo is beautiful. albums featuring both contemporary flute masterworks and several world premiere Commencing with Groundlessness recordings. Enthusiastically received by the Bienen While this morning might feel like an affirmation or an endorsement of the School’s convocation audience, Chase’s choices you’ve made in your musical lives, I would like to invite all of you speech provides remarkable insight into to look at your commencement truly as a new beginning, a place and time the present and future of music. to commence what is and what can be. The choice to embrace music as the engine of your lives is one that will doubtless get harder to make once you leave the safe walls of this school. It also will become more rewarding. Never

6 forget that choosing to make music is one of the most optimis- self-motivating, producing, inventing, and creating. Whether tic things we can do as human beings. you’re a composer making a new work out of stardust, or a So, a commencement, a new beginning. You might ask, pianist breathing fresh life into a 350-year-old masterpiece, “Haven’t I just accomplished something that puts me on a path, you are exercising entrepreneurial skills. that gives me ground on which to run?” Yes, you have indeed Given that musicians are some of the most highly skilled achieved something enormous, something of which you, your individuals of any practice known to humankind, there is quite families and mentors and peers are justifiably proud. But this an arsenal of unleashed opportunity within you and around important accomplishment does not give you ground; it does you in this room. not provide a clear, solid path. Let’s look at a few ways that this idea of natural entre- News flash! There is no such thing as a path in music in the preneurship manifests itself in our time for the artist as a early 21st century. It’s no secret, my friends, that you are grad- collaborator, the artist as a producer, the artist as an organizer, uating into a world with very few traditional job prospects. You and the artist as an educator. can open the paper any day of the week and you will read about the supposed death of classical music, about the implosion of The Artist as Collaborator symphony orchestras and the bankruptcy of opera companies, about the narrowing number of jobs available to an exponen- You all know what real collaboration feels like when it’s set on tially growing workforce—you in this room some of the bright- fire in your soul: to make music with a chamber music partner est and most accomplished among them. You will read and who knows what you’re going to do before you do it; to sit in hear all this as if it’s a tragedy, as if the difficulties concomitant the middle of a string quartet and not know what instrument with a career in music are insurmountable, and as if musicians you’re playing because the blend is just so astonishingly good; had never been confronted with challenges like this before. to be blissfully lost in a bath of sound in the middle of an We, all of us here today, are artists, and our sacred duty orchestra or a chorus. It moves you on innumerable levels, and is to create, to show the way to others, to think more widely to be moved is to be changed. To move another human being and creatively, and to be more daring than the rest. So let us with music is to change that person in that moment. not mourn a tragedy; let us use our gifts for free and creative Emerson reminds us, “We are not strong by our power to penetrate, thinking and our broad vision to seize this tremendous, one but by our relatedness.” There is no fuller embodiment of this state- could argue, historically unprecedented moment of opportu- ment than in the collaborative—and effortlessly entrepreneurial nity as young artists in the year 2013. —act of making music. Classical music isn’t dying—it’s just now being born. It’s Music is a group endeavor. Composers need performers; being born by you, with new performance practices that put performers need composers; and we all need an audience. creators, interpreters, historians, educators, and theorists We need each other now more than ever before. If the 20th in the same entrepreneurial spaces. It’s being born through century was the century of specialization, the 21st is the century the intersections of science, literature, technology, and visual of integration—a new renaissance in which lines between and conceptual art, and in ways that we haven’t seen since the disciplines, fields, and aesthetic frames dissolve. Renaissance era. Silos of musical styles—jazz, improvisation, classical, pop, Whether we like it or not, the calling of our generation is electronica, performance art, you name it—are increasingly not to occupy positions created for us. Our calling is to create irrelevant classifications of the past. We are living in a time positions for ourselves and others, to improvise and blow the when information and ideas can travel and transform at the ceiling off of anything resembling a limitation. In a word, our speed of light. We can rehearse online; we can host improvi- calling is to be entrepreneurs. sation concerts online, and we can put groundbreaking minds in Chicago, Shanghai, and Rio together in a virtual room that Entrepreneurship reaches thousands of people in an instant. Entrepreneurs?! Yes, entrepreneurs. A word whose most The Artist as Producer ancient root is the Sanskrit word anthaprerna, which means self-motivation or “inspiration from within,” and whose We also find ourselves in an interesting place historically, a more recent French coinage describes “getting up” and place in which the ability of an artist to be her own producer “undertaking” musical acts. is a defining characteristic of our generation. Certainly, artists Considered this way, you cannot separate the act of have always produced their work, from the ancient Greeks— playing music, even very old music, from entrepreneurship: the first truly transdisciplinary artists!—to the DIY downtown

fanfare FALL 2013 7 noteworthy

experimental music scene in New York in the ’70s. But the the dear friends who will champion you. This bond of learning capacity that we have today, in this room, with the number of together, of forming a lasting community, is one of the greatest people calling themselves composers and musicians in the year gifts you take from your time here. One way or another, you 2013, with the technology that can potentially connect us—the will make organizational work part of your hybrid life in music. capacity that we have to produce our own and one another’s The music that we are making today doesn’t have a name work is staggering. (yet). The businesses that we are creating do not have names The traditional classical music and arts management (yet). How marvelous! We get to make them up. We get to has dissolved. The traditional record label structures have change. We get to change ourselves, we get to change each crumbled. You now don’t need a producer to make a record; other, we get to change the field. you don’t need a promoter to find fans; you don’t need a As the great Charles Ives said, somewhat crustily but with presenter to put your work on. his irrepressible idealism: “When we’re finished changing, we’re finished.” What happens when the line between artist and producer has disappeared altogether? When the artist needs no outside The Artist as Educator entity to legitimize or stamp approval on her work, but when she can simply give it to the world, based on her own impulses? Somewhere along the way in the 20th century—the 20th century What happens to the work that we will produce? What will was a long time ago, wasn’t it?—we adopted the idea that there it sound like? What will it look like? What will withstand were artists who were artists and artists who were educators. the test of time? This is our era, this is your stage. Anything This is a false dichotomy. We are all educators. We must be. It is possible. is our responsibility to pass on everything that we have learned, everything that we know, everything that we dream; and it is The Artist as Organizer our responsibility, especially as musicians, to make sure that our students play better than we do, that they create better We are in an incredibly fertile time in the evolution and devel- organizations and stronger communities than the ones that opment of young, upstart, artist-led organizations. We are in sustained us. I’d love for every single one of you to put me out the midst of an activist movement led by you and me—where of business; then I will know that I will have done my job. people who have entered a world with no jobs are creating jobs. We learn to walk by failing, by falling down. We learn to I see before me the founders of new kinds of organiza- speak by failing, by trying out sounds, later by using words that tions, builders of new and undreamed-of musical models. I we can’t quite pronounce yet, whose meaning we don’t quite see also the friends and supporters and cheerleaders of these yet grasp. In these painful and joyful processes we cultivate ventures. We all need support and encouragement, and in this the courage to experience ourselves fully, we discover that new chapter of your lives, you have only to look around you to humility and empowerment are flip sides of the same coin. see both the women and men you should champion and also Whether we’re aware of it or not, we also learn music the same

8 way, by changing, by commencing. Mastery, even for those of ourselves, only there are we making the choice, for perhaps you receiving master’s degrees today, is an illusion. As John the millionth time, perhaps for the first, to make music. Cage said when asked what his purpose in life and music was: When I navigated my own fear in tackling Pauline’s piece, “I am trying to be unfamiliar with what I’m doing.” I realized that she wasn’t requiring me to invent another To be unfamiliar with what you are doing. To be willing to extended technique or to terrorize the Chicago police another accept the groundlessness of your invitation into this complex, time. Maybe, just maybe, she was asking me, and all of us noisy, crowded, and marvelous world. To be willing to change. by extension, to simply show up and accept the enormous This is the entrepreneurial act. And it’s the one that you are possibility of our own presence in a given moment. starting today. Every sound you make is unique, your own, a one-time- only event—not just your tone, your voice; like the palm of Make a Sound You Have Never Made Before your hand, those of course are yours and yours alone—but every time you play that C at the beginning of the C major I had the great privilege of spending some time recently with scale that starts your day. That’s an event that happens once one of the most generous artists I know, the 81-year-old com- and only once, no matter how many times you repeat it poser and philosopher Pauline Oliveros. Pauline arrived with a throughout the day and throughout your life, no matter how piece of music she had composed for me on the drive over. The adept your muscles become at memorizing precisely what you score consisted of two instructions. The first: “Claire, make a need to do to get it “right.” I ask you to consider, then, the next sound you have never made before.” The second: “Claire, make time you play that C, what a privileged and unique moment another one.” Then there’s a little repeat sign ad infinitum. it is each time we get to do this. This is what Pauline is asking Now, I make a lot of strange sounds—I’ve dedicated much us to do, to make a sound we have never made before. of my life to making noises on the flute that many people find wretched. I can’t tell you how many times the Chicago police Sound Is More Privileged Than Words have showed up at my doorstep while I was practicing, asking if someone was in grave danger. Daniel Barenboim, another hometown hero here in the Windy As I thought about how in the world I was going to play City, writes about this moment, the moment just before the this piece, where I was going to find this new sound, I remem- beginning of a concert, being “more privileged than the begin- bered the advice that the late, great Dorothy Delay gave to her ning of a book because sound is more privileged than words.” students: “Every technical problem is rooted in a fear.” Our There is no more divine human transaction than the task, then, in the study of music, inside and outside of school, temporal arts, the arts that live in time. There is no more whether it’s Tchaikovsky or Oliveros, is to examine our own luminous space for the elusive experience we call presence fear as the potential source of our very wisdom. Only then than the space inspired by sound. And of all the time-based can we accept the wonderful and singular challenge of being arts, music is the most sublime because it is the most ancient. Cavemen carved a flute out of bone 43,000 years ago and beat sticks on stones many moons before that. This was the calling not just of cavemen and women but of Bach, of Messiaen, of Stravinsky, of Schoenberg, of Cage, of Oliveros, of Ives, also of Milstein, Callas, Gould, and of every one of your professors here. It is my calling. It is your calling, celebrated today with joy and solemnity, and with hope that this uncertain time affords us more possibility for adventure than ever before. So go ahead, make a sound you have never made before. And then make another one. Thank you, and congratulations. ]

fanfare FALL 2013 9 Jane Dempster, courtesy of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Symphony of the Sydney courtesy Jane Dempster, A Saxophone Milestone Timothy McAllister Premieres Major John Adams Composition

by Will Kazmier

ver the past 15 years Timothy McAllister, associ- St. Louis Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, ate professor of saxophone and codirector of the and Brazil’s São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra. Even the OInstitute for New Music, has amassed an impressive concerto’s premiere transcended national boundaries: When record of artistic achievement. He has premiered McAllister took the stage in the iconic Sydney Opera House more than 150 works by prominent and emerging composers, under the composer’s baton, he performed not only for a given featured performances on 20 recordings, led the Prism capacity crowd in the auditorium but also for a global Internet Saxophone Quartet to international acclaim, and established and radio audience numbering in the hundreds of thousands. a reputation as one of the nation’s leading saxophone virtu- Although McAllister acknowledges that expectations for osos. None of his many professional highlights, however, his performance were “extremely high,” he found the pressure has equaled the significance of his August 22 appearance in a source of inspiration rather than a cause for anxiety. “This Australia with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. On that date premiere was the most exciting performance of my career so far McAllister found himself at the center of the classical music because it has many far-reaching implications,” says McAllister. universe when he premiered the 30-minute Saxophone “Not only does it mean a lot to me individually, but it will also Concerto written for him by John Adams, one of the world’s have a significant effect on the broader saxophone community greatest living composers. and my students at Northwestern.” A recipient of the most prestigious honors in his field, In premiering an Adams composition written specifically Adams has won the Pulitzer Prize, the Grawemeyer Award, for him, McAllister fulfilled a major personal and professional four Grammy Awards, and the Bienen School’s inaugural aspiration. “I’ve wanted John Adams to write a composition Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition. for me since my days as a graduate student at the University Reflecting the composer’s international significance, his of Michigan,” McAllister recalls. “During my doctoral thesis newest work has been commissioned by four major ensembles defense in 2002, one of my advisers asked me to name the on three continents: the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the composer I would most like to commission—assuming that

10 Saxophonist Timothy McAllister and composer-conductor John Adams premiering Adams’s Saxophone Concerto money was no object. While I explained that there were conducted by leading Adams interpreter Marin Alsop. In many composers with whom I’d like to work, there was never mid-October he will join the St. Louis Symphony for a series a question that John Adams would be at the top of my list. of performances and to record the concerto for Nonesuch. In He’s remained in that position for the past decade.” 2014 McAllister will present the South American premiere of Even as he dreamed of premiering a new Adams work, Adams’s concerto with the São Paulo State Symphony as well however, McAllister realized the chances were slim. The as the European premiere with the BBC Proms Symphony creative force behind numerous celebrated works—including Orchestra in London’s Royal Albert Hall. the operas Nixon in China and Dr. Atomic and the Pulitzer Prize– “I can confidently state that it is a remarkable piece, one winning On the Transmigration of Souls—Adams receives far more that I believe will be widely played in the future and one that I commission offers than he can accommodate. “Every musician was thrilled to premiere,” says McAllister. “On the one hand, it in the world wants John Adams to write for them, so he has is heavily influenced by the sound of legendary jazz saxophon- the luxury of choosing his collaborators very carefully,” says ists like Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, Phil Woods, McAllister. “For any artist, the odds of working with John and Stan Getz. On the other hand, it is also unmistakably a are extraordinarily small.” classical composition that contains passages reminiscent of the McAllister had already beaten those odds as one of the blues and improvisational music. In many ways it is a protean six featured soloists in the 2009 premiere of Adams’s City Noir composition that emphasizes a variety of crucial developmental with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. He continued to perform the work on the orches- tra’s subsequent 10-city US tour and on many occasions when Adams himself has conducted it. “City Noir requires a virtuoso Critical Acclaim for the John Adams performance on saxophone,” says Adams. “And that’s what Tim Saxophone Concerto Premiere has consistently provided. It’s difficult to imagine anyone play- ing the part better than he has. Simply put, Tim is one of the “A very special moment indeed. John Adams’s saxophone few instrumentalists in the world who can play anything. As a concerto is written for classical saxophonist Timothy composer, I sometimes worry that my music will be too diffi- McAllister. He gave an astonishing performance. Adams cult for an artist or ensemble. But with Tim there are no such has thrown down the gauntlet with a solo line which concerns, and so there are no limits to what I can write for demands speed, flexibility, musicality and, above all, him. He is a remarkable musician and artist.” stamina to keep going with barely a bar’s rest. McAllister It was after one of their joint performances of City Noir—a delivered, punching out the ‘nervous bebop’ sound March 2011 concert in Miami—that Adams offered to write a (Adams’s description) with manic intensity, like a Charlie piece for McAllister. While McAllister immediately expressed Parker or Stan Getz solo sustained across 30 minutes.” his enthusiasm for the possibility, for a year afterwards Adams —Harriet Cunningham, Sydney Morning Herald didn’t mention the idea again. “Frankly, I suspected John had “The concerto did not disappoint, with the orchestra joined forgotten about his offer,” says McAllister. “But then in March on stage by American saxophonist Tim McAllister, whose 2012 he emailed me to say that his next project was a saxophone jazz-style meanderings splendidly showcased the instru- concerto that would premiere in August 2013. And he wanted ment’s power and agility in the first movement. The to know if I was still interested in working with him on it.” second and final movement saw an explosion of energy. . . . McAllister instantly rearranged his schedule to prepare for the McAllister remained supremely in control of the work’s premiere because, as he says, “Who in their right mind would demanding semiquaver passages; octave leaps were turn down John Adams.” frequent and jarring.” —Hallam Fulcher, Limelight magazine The opportunity to premiere the composer’s Saxophone Concerto significantly raises McAllister’s already prominent “John Adams’s new concerto has an appealing blend of artistic profile. “The exposure I will receive as a result of bright colors and astringency. Saxophonist Timothy performing this groundbreaking composition is incredibly McAllister was the outstanding soloist, channelling Stan exciting,” says McAllister. “I have been given the amazing Getz in the smooth lyrical passages. In the relentless, opportunity to perform and record with top orchestras in bebop-like figurations—stunningly executed—it recalled important venues on four continents. From a professional the frenetic solos of Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, perspective, I couldn’t ask for more.” Four weeks after the and John Coltrane.” —Murray Black, The Australian concerto’s Sydney world premiere, McAllister gave its North American premiere with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,

fanfare FALL 2013 11 12 3

Scenes from the alumni reception in Sydney in connection with the premiere 1 Rachel McLarin (GBSM ’97), AJ Benson (BSM ’03) 2 Timothy McAllister, Dean Montgomery, Luke Andrew Gay (BSM ’08) 3 Christopher Pidcock (GBSM ’12), Simon and Yoko Narroway (parents of Richard, BSM ’13), Ian Dyson (KSM ’96)

periods in the instrument’s history. And like City Noir, it is helping expand the saxophone repertoire, they have become extremely demanding from a technical standpoint, especially permanently intertwined with the history of the instrument. considering its relentless nature and a duration that runs My hope is that someday others will offer a similar judgment roughly 10 minutes longer than most wind concertos.” about my career.” While McAllister describes the concerto as “a major McAllister’s work with Adams has already had a positive artistic statement by a preeminent composer,” he also views effect in one area—his saxophone studio. “My students have the composition as a significant declaration about the impor- been very curious about how it came to pass that a towering tance of the saxophone. “Given the extent to which John has figure like John Adams wrote a composition for me,” he featured the saxophone in City Noir and the concerto, he is tell- says. “My response is simple: I tell them not to focus on the ing the world that the instrument can have a prominent—and Saxophone Concerto itself but to think about the work leading permanent—place in classical music,” says McAllister. This to it. Since my graduate student days, I have actively culti- message is particularly important because the saxophone is a vated strong creative relationships with emerging composers, relatively young instrument (dating to the 1840s) whose poten- performing their work whenever possible. Over time they tial hasn’t been fully explored in the concert hall. “Within began to write pieces for me, and these premieres allowed me the standard orchestral repertoire, only a few compositions, to form relationships with additional composers and develop like the Mussorgsky-Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition and Debussy’s a reputation in the new-music community. Eventually, that Rhapsodie, contain demanding and highly expressive solo parts,” ever-expanding network of collaborations helped position me McAllister explains. “Over the past 20 years, however, the to connect with John Adams.” saxophone has ascended in importance because many highly For McAllister, then, success as a concert saxophonist has respected composers—including dozens of Pulitzer Prize depended as much on entrepreneurial spirit as on technical winners—have written major solo works or ensemble parts and artistic achievement. “Since professional orchestras don’t for the instrument. By demonstrating his commitment to employ full-time saxophonists, and professional wind bands the saxophone through City Noir and his Saxophone Concerto, are rare outside of the military, we must define our own John might accelerate this trend. I anticipate that both of these career paths,” he observes. “Through my collaboration with compositions will receive significant attention from many John, I believe I am providing a credible model for my stu- top orchestras and prove to be a major breakthrough for the dents to emulate, one that is based on my own professional classical saxophone community.” experiences.” As the saxophonist chosen to premiere Adams’s City Noir McAllister gratefully describes the new concerto as “in so and Saxophone Concerto, McAllister should also figure many ways, a truly unimaginable gift.” But it is also a gift to prominently in raising the instrument’s stature. “Perhaps the Bienen School of Music. As McAllister begins only his these performances of John’s compositions will be my defining second year on the Northwestern faculty, his performances contributions to the field I hold dear,” says McAllister. “By of the concerto will significantly contribute to the saxophone introducing these staggeringly imaginative pieces to the music community and the broader concert world. After a half- world, I am striving to follow in the footsteps of the legend- century when the Bienen School became a major center ary saxophone artist-teachers of the past 50 years, such as my for saxophone performance and instruction, the school is eminent predecessor at Northwestern, Frederick Hemke, and poised through McAllister to enhance its legacy of saxophone my mentor at the University of Michigan, Donald Sinta. By excellence and leadership. ]

12 AfK]Yj[`g^>dgj]f[]Hja[]kKqeh`gfqFg&) J]nanaf_YHjar]%Oaffaf_OgjcZqY >gj_gll]f9^ja[Yf9e]ja[Yf>]eYd];gehgk]j

by Will Kazmier

n keeping with the Bienen School’s mission they are playing, grapple with the complex ideas that to educate outstanding young artist-scholars, often inspire these works, and use their analytical skills Robert G. Hasty—associate director of orchestras to draw connections between disparate compositions. and conductor of the Northwestern University Last spring Hasty pursued his dual pedagogical objec- IChamber Orchestra—consistently challenges his tives by developing a concert program featuring three ensemble members both musically and intellectually. composers—Charles Ives, Florence Price, and Peter For Hasty, the NUCO rehearsal room is not exclusively Schickele—who express a distinctly American classical a place where his students (primarily freshmen and style by incorporating folk music into their works. In sophomores) learn to master new repertoire as they selecting music by these composers, Hasty intended begin preparing for professional orchestra careers. It to familiarize his students with the American classical is also an environment where they are encouraged to tradition while also demonstrating that the concept learn about the historical context underlying the music of “American music” is itself constantly shifting.

CONTINUED >

fanfare FALL 2013 13 Adding to the artistic and intellectual challenges of cultural history, I began thinking one of her compositions NUCO’s spring concert were unforeseen complications that might make an excellent addition to the spring program.” made preparations for one work on the program—Florence Eventually locating a recording of Price’s Symphony No. 1 Price’s Symphony No. 1—far more difficult than the conductor online, Hasty was impressed by what he heard. “It’s an inven- anticipated. “We came across a major real-world obstacle in tive work that uses Antonín Dvo˘rák’s ‘New World’ Symphony as rehearsing this composition, namely that we were unable to a starting point for its exploration of American musical iden- locate any performance parts for the work prior to its inclusion tity,” says Hasty. “I was interested in the piece because it was on the NUCO spring program,” says Hasty. “Consequently, the written by an American composer who was using a variety of task of assembling the parts fell to orchestra librarian Susan folk idioms, including spirituals, gospel music, and elements Stokdyk, NUCO members, and me. Together, we spent an of the antebellum-era juba dance.” When Hasty discovered inordinate amount of time and energy formatting and editing that the work had also won the $1,000 first prize in the 1932 the parts just so we could practice the symphony properly.” Wanamaker Foundation Competition, a national contest for For Hasty, however, the time-consuming, tedious, and African American composers, his decision to add Price’s Sym- occasionally frustrating process of tailoring satisfactory parts phony No. 1 to the program was sealed. “Symphony No. 1 is for Price’s work paved the way for new learning opportunities. historically important, musically interesting, and technically “The problems we experienced in putting together the parts challenging,” says Hasty. “I really wanted NUCO to perform it.” for Symphony No. 1 call attention to the difficulties Price, an After consulting with Hasty in early January about NUCO’s African American woman composer of the 1930s, encountered spring program, Susan Stokdyk as orchestra librarian initiated in gaining acceptance from the major orchestras and cultural the process of acquiring instrumental parts for the symphony. institutions of her day,” Hasty observes. The inclusion of her She first consulted David Daniels’s Orchestral Music: A Handbook, symphony on the spring program and the labor required to widely considered the definitive source for planning concert programs and identifying publishers of orchestral works. “The problems we experienced in putting together Respected for its comprehensive repertoire listing, the source- book contains information about 900 composers and 6,400 the parts for Symphony No. 1 call attention to compositions. Price’s Symphony No. 1, however, is not one of the difficulties Price, an African American woman them. “As I quickly learned, Price’s symphony was never pub- lished, and so Daniels’s guide doesn’t mention it,” says Stokdyk. composer of the 1930s, encountered in gaining Not to be deterred, Stokdyk quickly contacted colleagues at the acceptance from the major orchestras and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. “Because the CSO premiered Price’s Symphony No. 1, I suspected the orchestra’s archives —ROBERT HASTY cultural institutions of her day.” might contain parts for the composition,” she explains. “But the librarians there were unable to locate any materials. perform it thus convey an even more important message than Instead, they referred me to Philadelphia’s Fleisher Collection, the one Hasty originally hoped to impart to his students: Not which they considered a likely repository for Price’s work.” only is the definition of “American music” an evolving concept The world’s largest lending library of orchestral perfor- among composers, but the question of which music this tra- mance material, the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection contains dition includes may depend on historically governed concepts more than 20,000 compositions and boasts vast archives of of social identity and racial equality. And that realization, says rare and out-of-print 20th-century American works. It was no Hasty, “is the most powerful lesson of all.” surprise to Stokdyk, then, that the collection includes parts for Hasty’s interest in Price first surfaced over a year ago when Price’s symphony. Less expected, however, was their decrepit he began planning NUCO’s spring 2013 concert. “I knew I condition. “Because they hadn’t been used in more than 70 wanted to develop a program based on 20th- and 21st-century years, the parts had apparently deteriorated to the point that American compositions that engage the folk tradition, and they are no longer suitable for lending,” says Stokdyk. With Florence Price’s name emerged early in my research,” says rehearsals for the spring concert set to begin in mid-April, Hasty. “While reading biographical information about her, I Stokdyk and Hasty began to wonder if they would be forced discovered that her Symphony No. 1 was the first work by an to abandon plans for presenting Price’s work in June. “It was African American female composer to be performed by the late February and we were running out of time to locate the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and that she had been a long- parts,” Hasty recalls. “I started considering alternatives for the time resident of Chicago. Due to her importance in Chicago’s spring program.”

14 Below: orchestra librarian Susan Stokdyk Right: Robert Hasty conducting NUCO

In early March, Stokdyk intensified her efforts. She Stokdyk completed her project just in time for the beginning connected with Columbia College’s Center for Black Music of NUCO rehearsals. “Susan’s efforts to prepare these parts Research, a Chicago-based initiative devoted to promoting were truly heroic,” says Hasty. “Her knowledge and persistence scholarship on black music and site of a voluminous archive were vital to uncovering the parts in the first place, and her documenting the full spectrum of black music idioms. expertise in tailoring them for NUCO proved invaluable.” Following a conversation with CBMR deputy director Morris Even after Stokdyk’s skillful refashioning of the parts, Phibbs, Stokdyk believed she would at last secure the elusive however, a new set of difficulties emerged at the first rehearsals. prize. Although the center’s archives include no parts for “Many of our rehearsals were a bit rough,” Hasty observes. the symphony, Phibbs referred Stokdyk to Rae Linda Brown, “Once we began to play Price’s music, it was clear that the con- the leading scholarly authority on Price, who had previously ductor’s score—and therefore all of the parts—were riddled with used the composer’s handwritten score to engrave parts for errata. There were wrong notes everywhere, and at times the the symphony. After learning of the Bienen School’s plans to composition sounded more like an avant-garde 21st-century perform Price’s work, Brown—a musicology professor and vice composition than something from the 1930s. As a result, we president for undergraduate education at Loyola Marymount were forced to interrupt rehearsals on more than 20 occasions University—immediately shipped the parts to Stokdyk. With to correct the parts.” But Hasty adds that “this is one of the that, Stokdyk thought, NUCO would soon begin rehearsing risks inherent in working with an unpublished composition, Price’s symphony for its spring concert. especially one that hasn’t been performed in decades. Until The arrival of the parts in late March, however, brought Susan gave us the parts, no musicians or conductors had seen new concerns. Brown is a musicology professor, not a conduc- them, so they hadn’t been edited or vetted. That job was left tor or orchestra librarian, and she had engraved the parts for to the students and me.” scholarly study, not for performance. “The parts were stapled Hasty acknowledges that the process of correcting the parts together on single-sided, letter-sized paper, and the formatting was frustrating for many NUCO instrumentalists. “Naturally, dictated that many page turns would have taken place in the students want to play the music during rehearsals, not try to middle of phrases rather than during rests,” Stokdyk explains. figure out whether the note that’s written down is accurate or Consequently, Stokdyk immediately began racing against not,” he says. Nevertheless, the conductor believes that all the the clock to transform Brown’s scholarly documents into effort required to prepare the parts—including rehearsal time 28 performance parts by her mid-April deadline. Over the spent correcting errors—had significant educational value. next two weeks, she studied, scanned, enlarged, darkened, “The unique formatting and editing work Susan and the stu- and painstakingly reformatted Brown’s printouts, extensively dents completed prior to NUCO’s performance of Symphony reconfiguring layouts to ensure that page turns corresponded No. 1 helps raise complex questions about Florence Price’s with rests for each part. After more than 50 hours of work, place in American society and culture during her time,” says

fanfare FALL 2013 15 Hasty. “There we were, preparing to perform a musically and had little interest in including her works on their concert historically significant work, yet it was never published and programs,” Brown explains. “Given the financial constraints has been largely forgotten. Why is it that we had to expend so under which orchestras operate, the lack of enthusiasm for her much time correcting the parts before we could perform this music was predictable. In many ways, orchestras succeed by piece? And why isn’t the piece itself regularly performed by playing familiar works, and performing the compositions of orchestras?” These questions may prompt students to explore an African American woman would have challenged the con- how their understanding of American music is influenced by ventional expectations of orchestra patrons. To perform Price’s larger social factors, especially prevailing conceptions of racial work—regardless of its outstanding quality—would have consti- and gender identity. “The obstacles that they had to overcome tuted a major risk on the part of any major orchestra.” Although in order to perform the symphony,” he adds, “make these Price’s biography is largely a story of racial transcendence, issues more concrete for them.” her inability to win widespread acceptance for her orchestral music reveals how institutional barriers—as well as the biases reinforcing them—circumscribed her career and subsequently “By including Price’s Symphony No. 1 on its marginalized her position in 20th-century American music. program, NUCO is expanding the definition of If Price’s place in American music history has long been 20th-century American music for many people.” unjustly ignored, NUCO’s performance of her work may help initiate a reexamination and revision of that history. “Because —RAE LINDA BROWN my students have been introduced to Price’s music and the story behind it, they know that Price is an important figure in Hasty believes Price’s life and career are particularly the evolution of American music—regardless of whether they compelling because they illuminate both the possibilities and have a positive opinion of her work or not,” says Hasty. “My the limitations experienced by talented African American hope is that they won’t look at music from the 1930s the same artists of her time—a view shared by Rae Linda Brown. “In so way again.” Equally important, Hasty adds, is that the parts many ways, Florence Price was a heroic figure,” says Brown. Stokdyk produced for NUCO’s spring concert will be used by “She possessed extraordinary musical gifts and a steely deter- ensembles beyond Northwestern. “Chicago Sinfonietta will mination that allowed her to elude the social constraints she borrow our parts for its summer performance of the symphony,” encountered as an African American woman and gain national says Hasty. “So we are beginning to see that our revival of recognition as a composer.” Price’s work may have a domino effect. In the future, many Price’s unique combination of superior talent and strong more people may learn about Price’s compositions due to the will manifested itself early in life. After graduating from her efforts of Susan Stokdyk and the members of NUCO.” Little Rock (Arkansas) high school as valedictorian at age 14 in From Brown’s perspective, the importance of NUCO’s 1904, she was admitted to the prestigious New England Con- contributions to a reevaluation of 20th-century American servatory, where she graduated with honors as her class’s only music is difficult to overstate. “Performances like the NUCO double major (in organ and piano performance). Although concert are the kind of events that change lives,” she says. Price returned to Little Rock after receiving her degree, she “When people hear beautiful music like Price’s, they want eventually moved to Chicago to escape the escalating racial to learn about the person who wrote it. By including Price’s tension that had gripped her hometown during the 1920s. Symphony No. 1 on its program, NUCO is expanding the In Chicago, Price quickly established a reputation as a prolific definition of 20th-century American music for many people. and accomplished composer whose creative output spanned It is changing the conventional perception of who has made orchestral, chamber, choral, solo vocal, and organ music. classical music in the past and, therefore, who can make it in Through the support of the National Association of Negro the present and future.” This message, she adds, will only be Musicians, her work was widely performed by some of the most amplified by the Bienen School’s willingness to share its parts talented instrumentalists and singers in the country, including with outside performance groups. “Ultimately, NUCO’s deci- celebrated African American contralto Marian Anderson. sion to perform Symphony No. 1 may have a positive impact Yet despite the unanimously positive newspaper reviews on hundreds or thousands of people,” she observes. “That’s for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 1933 premiere of her a major achievement.” Indeed, by pursuing both artistic and Symphony No. 1, none of Price’s music was performed again by intellectual goals for NUCO, Hasty has not only provided his a major orchestra until the CSO presented another Price work, students with a valuable educational experience but may also the Mississippi River Suite, last May. “While Price sent her composi- have positioned the ensemble to help reshape long-standing tions to conductors throughout the country, it appears that they perceptions of the American classical music tradition. ]

16 All the World’s a Stage Voice and Opera Alumni Achieve International Success by Will Kazmier

or five alumni of the Bienen School’s voice and opera program—Victor Benedetti (90, G92), Evan Boyer (07), FPaul Corona (06), David Govertsen (G10), and Amanda Majeski (06)—much of the world has indeed become a stage. Although most of these artists have only recently embarked on promising operatic careers, many of them have already acquired a broad range of performance experience that has brought them to Chronicle, the Financial Times, internationally renowned venues across Frankfurt’s Allgemeine Zeitung, North America and Europe. Collectively, and other publications. the group has performed with New “There are so many talented York’s Metropolitan Opera, Lyric performers who want to sing Opera of Chicago, Washington National professionally and so few Jaclyn Simpson Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Munich Opera, roles available that the odds Semperoper Dresden, Madrid’s Teatro are stacked against anyone pursuing Semperoper Dresden, Majeski made two Real, Operhaus Zurich, the Canadian this line of work.” A student of senior 2013 debuts on renowned stages—as the Opera Company, and many other pres- lecturer Theresa Brancaccio at the Goose-Girl in Humperdinck’s Königskinder tigious companies. While their careers Bienen School, Majeski says that success at Oper Frankfurt and as Countess have thus propelled them in a multitude depends on “a certain amount of luck Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro of directions, all of these graduates attri- and the best preparation possible. I feel at England’s Glyndebourne Festival. bute their professional success to a com- very lucky to have attended the Bienen She also recently returned to Chicago mon origin: their outstanding education School and to have participated in as Eva in Lyric Opera’s production at the Bienen School of Music and their the young-artist program at the Ryan of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg invaluable preprofessional training at the Center. These are teachers and artists and will appear in a major role at the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera who are at the very top of their fields Metropolitan Opera during the 2014–15 Center, the artist-development program and who have incredible insight into season. “Over the past three years I of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. how to succeed in professional opera.” have become increasingly familiar with “Pursuing a career in opera can While Majeski made her profes- professional opera companies across be a nerve-racking undertaking,” says sional debut only a few years ago, her the United States and Europe,” she says. Majeski, a soprano whose performances growing resumé has positioned her “This experience has only strengthened have been praised as “angelic,” “beau- as a rising operatic star. After playing the high regard I have for the Bienen tiful,” and “powerful” by Musical America, featured roles in five productions during School and the Ryan Center.” Her the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Francisco her 2011–12 residency at the prestigious fellow Bienen School and Ryan Center

fanfare FALL 2013 17 “Regularly interacting with Lyric stars has been a powerful influence on my development as a singer.” —Amanda Majeski alumni echo her sentiments, concurring prominent opera com- with Victor Benedetti’s observation that panies, and many, like “Northwestern and the Ryan Center Majeski, achieve inter- combine to act as a terrific launching pad national acclaim. The Ryan for singers pursuing a career in opera.” Center’s stature as a lead- Established in 1974, the Ryan Opera ing incubator for young Center is named in honor of Patrick G. operatic talent ensures that Ryan (EB59, H09), a former chair of admission into the program the Northwestern University Board of is highly selective. Because Trustees, and his wife, Shirley W. Ryan participants generally remain in the Center and Lyric Opera put a lot of trust (WCAS61). Benefiting from its Lyric center for three years, only four spaces in their young singers—and expect them Opera affiliation, the center helps are available each season to the 400 to perform at a very high level. Taking initiate careers by providing high-level or more singers who audition. the stage to sing a major role can be a performance experience and training According to bass Evan Boyer, who crucial turning point for a performer in to some of the nation’s most talented completed his residency in May, the the early stage of his or her career.” young singers. “Our goal is to facilitate Ryan Center is generally considered For Boyer such a pivotal moment the professional advancement of emerg- the top choice among the nation’s pre- arrived when he twice played the ing opera performers by affording them professional opera training programs demanding role of Sarastro in the the resources and exposure they need at because of its “amazing variety of perfor- Lyric’s 2012 production of Mozart’s The a crucial stage in their artistic growth,” mance opportunities.” During his tenure Magic Flute. “When I entered the stage as says Ryan Opera Center director and at the center, Boyer appeared on the Sarastro, I was terrified,” Boyer recalls. Bienen School alumnus Dan Novak (89). Lyric stage in 15 operas, a typical number “But as the opera progressed, I realized Toward that end, the center offers each of credits for a Ryan Center artist; his I really could sing a huge part alongside of its 12 ensemble members instruction small to mid-sized roles included Pietro some of the world’s great opera talents.” in language, acting, and voice from a in Simon Boccanegra, Luther in The Tales of Galvanized by his success, Boyer adopted renowned faculty; master classes and Hoffman, and Mitiukha in Boris Godunov. a new career outlook. “The experience other interactions with major opera Appearances such as these provide young of performing such an important role figures; and, starting early in their one- singers with crucial performance experi- gave me much more confidence in my to three-year residencies, a variety of ence, a significant asset for any aspiring ability,” he says. “It was at that point high-profile performance opportunities professional. that I felt like I completed my transition on the Lyric Opera stage. Throughout Yet Boyer believes the Lyric’s policy to becoming a true professional opera their residencies, all are supported by of casting program participants as singer.” This increased self-confidence a stipend that allows them to concen- understudies for major roles contributes has set him on a path leading to contract trate exclusively on their professional even more to their artistic development. offers for Salome and Dialogues des Carmelites development. “Inevitably, the stars in any production with the Canadian Opera Company. “It’s In the highly competitive world of will cancel a few performances, making almost impossible to convey the impact professional opera, the center’s record it possible for Ryan Center artists to performing with the Lyric Opera has of success as an artist-development assume a leading role for one of the had on my career development,” he says. program is unparalleled. Upon con- world’s great opera companies,” he “After I held my own with world-class cluding their training at the center, all explains. According to Boyer, such performers on a legendary stage, I felt alumni typically receive contracts from opportunities are unique to the Ryan like I could succeed anywhere.” Center. “In other top training programs, Of course, performing with Lyric resident artists will cover major roles, Opera provides Ryan Center artists but they are never allowed to sing them for an audience. In contrast, the Ryan

18 with more than confidence; it also gives these aspiring singers the exposure that is crucial to advancing their careers. “Just about everyone who’s involved in ongoing relationships with major per- professional opera attends Lyric pro- formers, the center is paving the way for ductions, so there are many occasions an accompanist in each location would its members to acquire a high level of that allow Ryan Center participants to simply be too much for me or most professional knowledge in a narrow time be noticed on the Lyric stage by artis- other singers to afford.” Consequently, frame.” In particular, Majeski credits tic directors of major opera companies these private performances provide the mentorship of soprano Ana María and talent agents,” says bass-baritone preprofessional singers with a major Martínez as exemplifying the degree of David Govertsen, who completed his advantage as they begin their careers. “I professionalism and preparation that is Ryan Center training in May and will have received contract offers and other essential to operatic success. “My expe- return to the Lyric as a mainstage artist calls of interest as a result of singing for rience with Ana María and many other in three 2013–14 productions. “Even visitors to the Lyric,” he says. “These are mainstage performers was extremely pos- more important, though, the center also opportunities only a handful of artists in itive,” she says. “They were very generous frequently arranges for ensemble mem- the country receive, and there’s simply with their time and were willing to help bers to sing privately for these visiting no question that they play an important me and the other young artists in every professionals.” As Govertsen explains, part in helping unknown singers estab- way possible. Learning from singers with such performances represent a rare lish a reputation in the opera world.” international reputations has proven opportunity for young artists to impress The center also cultivates infor- to be a major asset to my professional important figures in the opera world. mal relationships between young and advancement.” “In the past year alone, I have sung established artists. “One of the ways that Further enhancing this develop- for over 30 artistic directors and agents,” we capitalize on our connection to the mental process is the language, acting, he says. “If I had to travel to their offices Lyric is by creating what we call a ‘buddy and vocal coaching provided by the Ryan or opera companies to audition for system,’ in which the center’s ensemble Center’s faculty. Expressing a sentiment them, I would quickly find myself filing members routinely meet on an individ- uniformly shared by his fellow Bienen for bankruptcy. The expense of traveling ual basis with Lyric stars,” says Novak. School and Ryan Center alumni, bass- around the United States and paying for “On some occasions the mainstage baritone Paul Corona says that “the performers might have lunch Ryan Opera Center employs some of the with the young artists, provide best coaches in the world, highly skilled coaching or lessons, or simply instructors and accompanists who are talk with them about what it’s experts at teaching repertoire, improving like to be a working profes- musicality, and bringing out the best in sional. All of these activities give each singer’s voice.” Although Corona our singers valuable insights benefited from what he calls a “remark- into the opera world and help able collection of artistic and pedagog- dissolve the invisible but formi- ical talent” at the Ryan Center, he most dable barrier separating emerg- vividly recalls his work with Gianna ing and established artists.” Rolandi, the center’s lead vocal teacher, Majeski confirms Novak’s and coach Alan Darling, who has worked view of the importance of these with many top opera performers and is contacts. “Regularly interacting also a Bienen School faculty member. with Lyric stars has been a pow- “My time at the Ryan Center was erful influence on my develop- a period of enormous growth for me,” ment as a singer,” she says. “By says Corona, a grand prize winner in the helping young singers establish 2006 Metropolitan National Council Auditions. “Entering the Ryan Center shortly after finishing “After I held my own with world-class performers on a legendary my undergraduate degree was a stage, I felt like I could succeed anywhere.” —Evan Boyer big step because I was the only

fanfare FALL 2013 19 professional manner possible, that I master the details of three or four parts simultaneously, and that I consistently deliver high-level performances. To do ensemble member without a master’s so, one must have received an extremely degree and therefore the youngest high degree of artistic and professional performer there. But Gianna and Alan training over a period of many years.” Like Corona, Evan Boyer attributes enthusiastically welcomed me to the While Corona considers himself much of his early-career success to the program and pushed me to elevate every “very fortunate” to have worked with Bienen School’s dynamic educational aspect of my performance. It was their setting, which “These are opportunities only a handful of artists in he most closely identifies with the the country receive.” —David Govertsen school’s stellar faculty. “I origi- outstanding coaches and nally decided to attend Northwestern instructors at the Ryan because it is outstanding in music and Center, he goes on to say academics, a combination that can’t be that “if the Ryan Center found at other prestigious music schools,” provided me with the essen- Boyer explains. “When I first matricu- tial finishing touches on my lated at Northwestern, I was uncertain artistic training, it was in whether I would sing professionally, the Bienen School where and I knew that the Bienen School’s I was first fully introduced dual-degree and double-major pro- to the world of music. I grams would allow me to pursue multiple entered Northwestern as career options. As a result, I considered someone who could sing Northwestern the perfect school for me knowledge and support that helped and play the trumpet—but I left the because I was confident that no matter me make a smooth transition to a Bienen School as a true musician.” what professional plans I decided to professional career.” As Corona explains, as an under- follow, I would be taught by outstand- Since leaving the Ryan Center four graduate he encountered a “tremen- ing faculty members who could help me years ago, Corona has begun establish- dously exciting learning environment” achieve my objectives.” By the end of ing himself as an emerging force in the where he was engaged both intellectually his freshman year, Boyer knew that his opera world. Although still very young by and creatively. “I am sometimes asked to goals would revolve around opera. “After bass-baritone standards, he has already describe my favorite part of my experi- studying in the Bienen School for a few sung in more than 35 professional ence at the Bienen School, but this is not months, I realized that music was my opera productions, including appear- a question I can easily answer,” he says. calling and that singing was the medium ances with Lyric Opera of Chicago, “Every one of my courses was challeng- in which I could express myself most New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and ing in one way or another, and so many fully,” he says. “At that point I decided England’s Glyndebourne Festival. Last of my teachers were excellent. Whether to focus solely on my voice major and fall he became one of only 10 singers in I was taking a class focusing on aural a career in opera—and I knew that the the world to secure an exclusive perfor- skills, music theory, or music history, Bienen School faculty would place me mance contract with the Metropolitan I was learning difficult but fascinating in a position where I could succeed.” Opera, where he has appeared in 27 material at a rapid pace—and I was being In the Bienen School’s voice and productions. While Corona calls his taught by faculty members who cared opera teachers and coaches, Boyer found “plan artist” status with the company a deeply about both their subject matter mentors who would support his ambi- “tremendous honor,” he explains that and their students. Their expertise and tion, shape his talent, and provide what the position is extraordinarily demand- passion helped me discover both who I the singer describes as “an unbelievably ing. “I am typically rehearsing two or was and who I could become as an artist. challenging and rewarding” undergrad- three operas at a time during the day and I found the atmosphere in the Bienen uate experience. “Many of the terrific performing an additional show at night,” School stimulating and rigorous—and my faculty members in the voice and opera says Corona. “The work is wonderful, experiences there provided me with the program had a formative influence but it requires that I understand how fundamental tools necessary to succeed to prepare in the most efficient and at the Ryan Center and beyond.”

20 The Bienen School is also a place where faculty help students discover on my professional development, but their artistic identities. Victor Benedetti the individual teaching and coaching says this is achieved through a creative I received from Bruce Hall and Alan atmosphere that embraces taking risks. Darling were especially important,” he “I often describe the Bienen School as says. “Bruce Hall, my studio teacher an extraordinarily safe place to develop and a former faculty member, provided as an artist,” says Benedetti, who has them find a creative voice. Handled this both great technical insights during our appeared in more than 70 professional way, risk becomes a necessary part of many memorable lessons and invaluable opera productions across the United professional development rather than guidance throughout my initial stages as States, France, and Germany. “Studio something to be avoided.” a singer.” Boyer adds that “his advice and teachers strongly encourage their According to Benedetti, his career encouragement played a crucial role in students to explore the wealth of per- trajectory exemplifies how important facilitating my eventual admission to formance opportunities available at creative risk taking is to artistic advance- the Ryan Center.” Similarly, Boyer also Northwestern—which is known for its ment. “While I began my undergraduate credits Darling with advancing his artistic terrific theater program in addition to its studies seeking a career in music theater growth. “Alan has earned an outstanding premier music school—and throughout and even performed professionally in reputation as an opera coach due to his the culturally vibrant city of Chicago. musicals throughout the Chicago area, high level of expertise and professional At the same time that students are being I completed my graduate degree as an experience,” he says. “I began working prompted to challenge themselves by opera specialist because my voice teachers with him during my junior year at exploring new artistic terrain—which helped me recognize that I could excel in Northwestern, continued to be coached might encompass art song recitals, this area. It was through their encourage- by him at the Ryan Center, and collab- Broadway revues, or opera productions— ment and teaching that I steadily improved orate with him to this day. Over the past they are nurtured in their development on the opera stage and, as a result, was nine years, he has helped me learn how by an internationally renowned faculty. eventually invited to audition for the to sing opera from the ground up—note In many senses, faculty members accom- Ryan Opera Center. And 20 years later, by note—and has more recently been pany their students in these explorations I’m incredibly grateful that my primary essential to my preparations for roles by supporting their experimentation, voice teacher, retired faculty member on the professional stage.” expertly identifying their strengths and Elizabeth Fischer-Monastero, advised Boyer contends that his experiences weaknesses as performers, and helping me to give opera a try even though I were scarcely unique. “In my grad- knew very little about it.” uating class alone, there are at least In many instances faculty members six alumni who have been signed to help define not only their students’ exclusive performance contracts with professional paths but even their lives. European opera houses as well as This far-reaching influence is clearly another graduate, Amanda Majeski, illustrated by Amanda Majeski’s operatic who now regularly appears on major career. “I entered the Bienen School as stages across the United States and a double major in music education and Europe. While these achievements voice with the plan of becoming a high testify to the high level of operatic school music teacher,” says Majeski. talent that can be found among “While I loved singing, my parents Bienen School students, they also thought I needed to pursue a career illustrate the excellent teaching and option that provides more stability than coaching that are provided by the the high-risk world of professional voice and opera faculty.” singing. It was Terry Brancaccio, how- ever, who told me that I should drop my second major to concentrate on voice “I entered Northwestern as someone who could sing and because I was destined to excel in opera play the trumpet—but I left the Bienen School as a true and would one day perform on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. Terry musician.” —Paul Corona felt so strongly about my professional prospects, in fact, that she contacted my

fanfare FALL 2013 21 “I often describe the Bienen School as an extraordinarily safe place to develop as an artist.” —Victor Benedetti

knowledge has only increased as I’ve pro- gressed in my career.” But Govertsen’s continuing collaborative relationships with Bienen School coaches Alan Darling and Laurann Gilley are not motivated solely by professional interests. “Aside parents and persuaded them to support Similarly, Majeski relies on two from any career considerations, Alan my exclusive commitment to opera.” Bienen School faculty members to assist and Laurann have been vital to my artis- Without what Majeski calls Brancaccio’s her continued ascent in the opera world. tic development,” he says. “I continue “incredible level of emotional support,” “I consider almost all of my former to work with them because they are great the singer’s life would have followed a Bienen School teachers—particularly coaches.” much different course. “I have no doubt Stephen Alltop, Richard Boldrey, and Situated in the same metropolitan that I would be very happy teaching Sherill Milnes—to be outstanding at what area, the Bienen School of Music and the music at the elementary or high school they do,” Majeski says. “But my one- Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera level,” she says. “But it was due to Terry’s on-one training with Alan Darling and Center are connected by more than instruction, guidance, and encourage- Terry Brancaccio has had an especially geography. The two institutions not only ment that I am now leading the life I feel strong impact on me. Alan is a remark- share several vocal coaches and alumni was meant for me. She saw something able coach and has been a major factor but also foster the same type of learning in me that even I didn’t recognize—and in helping me win and prepare for roles environment. As Corona observes, helped me give substance to my dreams.” with the Lyric Opera and other compa- “There is a similar feeling at the Bienen Although these alumni speak nies. And I’ve never stopped taking voice School and Ryan Center, one that is enthusiastically about their experiences lessons from Terry Brancaccio because defined by an almost familial connection in the voice and opera program, their I feel certain that she is simply the best between artists and mentors, students ongoing professional relationships with voice teacher anywhere.” and faculty.” This degree of closeness, current Bienen School faculty mem- Govertsen finds it unsurprising says Corona, arises from the “vast quan- bers represent an even more powerful that he and fellow Bienen School and tities of resources, talent, and energy” endorsement. “The greatest compliment Ryan Center alumni have maintained that both institutions expend in posi- I can give to Alan Darling is that I make strong connections with voice and opera tioning young operatic talents to advance it a point to work with him whenever I program faculty. “Part of the reason I artistically and professionally. Such am in the Chicago area, which is quite chose to attend the Bienen School in commitment powerfully explains why frequently since I grew up in a nearby the first place was that so many teachers the Bienen School and the Ryan Center suburb,” says Corona. “He continues to and coaches had strong connections to have been effective in launching opera have an enormous impact on my profes- the professional opera world,” he says. careers that send young artists from both sional development, and his presence on “This experience is a significant asset institutions to prominent positions on the Bienen School faculty speaks to the for any young singer because it means the international stage—and why their very high quality of training provided in that the faculty are familiar with the way alumni recall their artistic training with the voice and opera program.” professional opera companies work and such enthusiasm. ] are consequently well positioned to have a highly positive impact on the career development of their students. And for me, the value of this professional

22 students

Emanuele Andrizzi, a doctoral candidate Jarrett Bastow, a Evan Bravos, a master’s voice student of in conducting, has been appointed the master’s double bass Karen Brunssen, received the Marvin new director of the orchestra program at student of Andrew & Bruna (Bergonzi) Stevens Memorial Chicago’s Roosevelt University. He will Raciti, landed several Award at the 2013 Chicago Bel Canto also serve as an assistant/cover conductor orchestral positions Foundation Vocal Competition. for the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2013–14 starting this fall. He season. will serve as principal Autumn Chodorowski, bass for the Symphony a master’s violin Yoshiko Arahata, a master’s piano student of Northwest Arkansas, student of Almita Vamos, of Alan Chow, won the $10,000 Jerome section bass (third chair) for the Tulsa was a member of the and Elaine Nerenberg Foundation Schol- Symphony, section bass for the Fort Tanglewood Music arship in the piano division of the 2013 Smith (Arkansas) Symphony, and substi- Center Orchestra this Musicians Club of tute bass for the Arkansas Philharmonic summer. Women Scholarship and the Amarillo, Topeka, and Wichita Competition. She Symphonies. Maya Cohon, a sophomore violin student also won the college- of Almita Vamos, was a member of the postgraduate division Kelsey Boesche, a master’s voice student Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan of the 2013 Union of Pamela Hinchman, placed second this summer. League Civic & Arts and won the Li Puma Scholarship in Foundation Schol- the 2012 Casa Italia Vocal Scholarship Anna Cooksey, a senior clarinet student of arship Competition, Competition. Steven Cohen, was the recipient of the which included a $6,000 award, and Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award, took second place in the collegiate- professional solo division of the Bradshaw VOICE STUDENTS WIN AWARDS & Buono International Piano Competi- tion. Arahata spent the summer studying Bienen School voice students won a number of awards in two competitions sponsored by at the Garth Newel Music Center in Warm the National Association of Teachers of Singing. In the Chicago Chapter College Classical Springs, Virginia, as part of its Young Competition’s division 1, freshman Natasha Nassar, a student of Theresa Brancaccio, took third Artist Fellowship Program. She continues place, and freshman Kaileigh Reiss, a student of Pamela Hinchman, received an honorable to serve as an associate member of the mention. Bienen sophomores swept division 2, with Gabriel Wernick (a student of Brancaccio), Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Patrick Lynch (a student of Kurt Hansen), and Elizabeth Banaszak (a student of Brancaccio) placing first, second, and third, respectively. Junior Helaine Liebman and senior Harrah Julie Bannerman, a Friedlander, both Hinchman students, took third place in their respective divisions (3 and 4). doctoral student in Master’s student Elisa Sutherland (a student of Brancaccio) won first in division 5, and music education, master’s student Rachel Sparrow (a student of Hinchman) placed second in division 6. In presented “Elemen- the NATS Illinois State Competition, Friedlander placed second in division 5, and in division 7 tary Music Teacher as Sparrow placed first and master’s student Angela Harrington (a student of Hinchman) Change Agent” with placed third. former Bienen School music education professor Carlos Abril last May at the Mountain Lake Colloquium for Teachers of General Music Methods in Pembroke, Virginia. Bannerman recently joined the music education faculty of the Crane School of Music at SUNY-Potsdam. From left: Patrick Lynch, Elizabeth Banaszak, Harrah Friedlander, Rachel Sparrow

fanfare FALL 2013 23 students

ARIA/CONCERTO COMPETITION

The Bienen School’s annual Aria/Concerto Competition was held in April, and the 2013 winners are senior Matt Baker, a trumpet student of Charles Geyer; master’s student Hillary Hempel, a violin student of Almita Vamos; master’s student Xuan He and doctoral student Xia Jiang, both piano students of Alan Chow; and master’s student Claire Werling, a clarinet student of Steven Cohen.

presented by the Presser Foundation to an and religious studies while minoring in undergraduate music major of high merit composition and commercial music, was and achievement. featured in the summer 2013 issue of Northwestern magazine as one of 10 standout graduating seniors. The profile noted that as a student Bayan studied flamenco Roy McGrath, a master’s jazz saxophone music in Spain, volunteered at the Bahá’í student of Victor Goines, was third World Center in Israel, researched the runner-up in division 3 of the Union intersection of samba and community League Civic & Arts Foundation Jazz building in Brazil, and studied sitar and Improvisation Competition. Eastern philosophy in India. Bayan’s debut album, Do I Know You?, a project that Kamila Hines Justin Copeland, a master’s jazz trumpet involved more than 30 Bienen School Muhammad, a student of Brad Mason, was first students, was funded through a Kick- freshman clarinet runner-up in division 3 of the Union starter campaign and will be released student of Steven League Civic & Arts Foundation Jazz this fall. Cohen, was awarded Improvisation Competition. a fellowship for the Danny Lai, a senior viola student of Roland National Symphony Parker Gaims, a master’s clarinet student Vamos, won a viola position with the Orchestra’s Summer of Steven Cohen, won a clarinet position Colorado Symphony. He and Lauren Music Institute in Washington, DC. in “The President’s Own” United States Manning, a master’s violin student of Marine Band and joins the band this fall. Almita Vamos, traveled to the Middle Nasim Niknafs, a East this summer to give lessons, work- doctoral student in shops, and concerts for refugees and music education, has underprivileged children. accepted an assistant professorship in the Daniel Lawlor, a senior trombone student department of music of Michael Mulcahy, was the recipient education at the Benjamin Hjertmann, a doctoral candidate of the 2013 John and Marietta Paynter University of Toronto. in music composition and technology, Award for Outstanding Musical Contri- Her article “Free Improvisation” was won first prize in the 2013 Frank Ticheli bution to the Waa-Mu Show. published in a recent issue of the journal Composition Contest. General Music Today. Stephanie March, a master’s cello student Ethan Hoppe, a junior violin student of of Hans Jensen, won first prize in the Brian Oberlander, a doctoral student in Almita Vamos, was a member of the string division of the 2013 Music Teachers musicology, was awarded a Fulbright Kneisel Hall Music Festival Orchestra National Association Young Artist Perfor- Fellowship to study in Spain, where in Blue Hill, Maine, this summer. mance Competition. he will research a flamenco genre that blends flamenco styles, instruments, Sasha Bayan Khadivian, a senior dual- Richard Mazuski, a sophomore cello and aesthetics with various Arab music degree student who triple-majored in student of Hans Jensen, won the instru- repertoires (see page 4). guitar studies, international business, mental division of the 2013 Evanston Music Club Scholarship Competition.

24 Cora Palfy, a doctoral student in music 2013 NATIONAL TRUMPET COMPETITION theory and cognition, presented a paper in July at the Embodied Music Cognition Members of the Bienen School trumpet studio took second place in the ensemble division of the Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. 2013 National Trumpet Competition, held at George Mason University in March. The ensemble consisted of seniors Matt Baker, Anthony DiMauro, and Zack Thomas; juniors Matt Barker Elizabeth Przybylski, a doctoral student and Ansel Norris; first-year master’s student Billy Gerlach; and second-year master’s students in musicology, was awarded a Fulbright Chris Larios and Stuart Stephenson. The ensemble performed Barker’s arrangement of music Fellowship to study in Canada. Basing from Verdi’s La Forza del destino. her work in Winnipeg, Manitoba, she will research the mediation of indigenous hip- hop music and how hip-hop functions as Elisa Sutherland, a Cara Trask, a master’s flute student of John “musical speech” (see page 4). master’s voice student Thorne, won the combined position of of Theresa Brancaccio, principal flute in the Evansville (Indiana) Jing Qiao, a master’s violin student was a finalist in the Philharmonic and adjunct flute instructor of Almita Vamos, won first prize in Handel Aria Competi- at the University of Evansville. China’s Yang Tong Liu International tion, held in Madison, Violin Competition last September. Wisconsin. Analiese Trimber, a senior flute student of The previous June she was a semifinalist John Thorne, placed third in the National in Denmark’s Carl Nielsen International Julie Tabash, a master’s voice student of Flute Association’s Orchestral Audition Violin Competition. Pamela Hinchman, was selected for a and Masterclass Competition. young artist position with Milwaukee’s James Reese, a sophomore voice student Florentine Opera for its 2013–14 season. Thadeus Tukes, a dual-degree jazz studies of Kurt Hansen, became the music direc- This summer she was a young artist and journalism major and a student of tor for the Undertones, a Northwestern with the Pine Mountain Music Festival’s Jeremy Kahn, won first prize in the sec- a cappella group that toured California opera company. ond division of the Union League Civic in March during spring break. & Arts Foundation Jazz Improvisation Competition. Olga Sánchez-Kisielewska, a doctoral student in music theory and cognition, Beth Ann Turner, a doctoral student in presented a paper in August at the annual music education, gave the presentation meeting of the Society for Music Percep- “Individual and Intra-individual Dif- tion and Cognition in Toronto. ferences in Interest during Instrumental Music Classes in Suburban High Schools” Rachel Sparrow, a master’s voice student at the 2013 Social Psychology in the of Pamela Hinchman, accepted a soprano Addison C. Teng, a master’s violin student Classroom International Conference position for the Indianapolis Opera of Almita Vamos, joined the faculty of the in Auckland, New Zealand. At the 2013 Ensemble’s 2014 season. She won the Music Institute of Chicago in February. California All-State Music Education vocal division of the 2013 Evanston Conference, she gave a clinic on fostering Music Club Scholarship Competition and Hillary Tidman, a interest in the choral classroom. took second prize in the Nicholas Loren senior flute student Vocal Competition. This summer she of John Thorne, Jeffrey van den Scott, a doctoral candidate covered the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor won the second flute in musicology, was nominated for the with La Musica Lirica in Italy. position with the Des American Comparative Literature Associ- Moines Symphony. ation’s Horst Frenz Prize—awarded for the Stuart Stephenson, a master’s trumpet She is also a first-call best paper presented by a graduate student student of Barbara Butler, has been substitute for the New at the ACLA’s annual conference—for named principal trumpet of the Atlanta World Symphony. his “Arctic Dreams: Musical Imaginings Symphony Orchestra beginning this fall. of the Canadian North and its People,” presented in Toronto last April.

fanfare FALL 2013 25 students

Shawn Jaeger Wins Edes Prize

For the third time in four years, a Bienen School graduate Kentucky. Widely considered self-reliant heroes in the mold student or alumnus has claimed Northwestern’s $30,000 of Henry David Thoreau, the Hubbards rejected the values Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for of an increasingly pervasive American consumerism in favor Emerging Artists. This year’s recipient is Shawn Jaeger, of a “simple life” governed by fulfilling basic human needs. a doctoral candidate in music composition. Commissioned by the Bard College Conservatory of Music, The annual Edes Prize was established in 2010 at where Jaeger also teaches in the preparatory division, the four Chicago-area institutions (Northwestern, DePaul opera will premiere in spring 2014. University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Jaeger anticipates that the Edes funds will rapidly the University of Chicago) by Nik Edes to help support the advance his project. “Most important, the prize money careers of rising will give me time and space to write,” he says. “But it will creative talent. At also allow me to hire a top-notch librettist, purchase audio Northwestern the equipment to record nature sounds that will become part prize is offered of the score, and travel to meet with the director and set for practitioners designers.” in such fields as Although Jaeger has barely embarked on his composing music composi- career, his works have already won significant attention. tion or perfor- The New York Times has praised his music as “evocative,” mance, creative “unpredictable,” and “introspective,” while the Washington writing, cinema, Post has applauded its “warmth and quiet beauty.” More theater, and the significantly, Jaeger has begun collaborating with renowned visual arts. The Bienen School, the Weinberg College of soprano Dawn Upshaw, for whom he is writing a song cycle Arts and Sciences, the School of Communication, and commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. the School of Continuing Studies may each submit a single According to Lee Hyla, Jaeger’s faculty adviser and nominee, one of whom is selected for Northwestern’s the Harry and Ruth Wyatt Professor of Theory and award. In capturing the prize, Jaeger joins two prior Bienen Composition, the growing recognition for his student’s School recipients, saxophonist Ryan Muncy (2010) and work is well deserved. “For several years Shawn has been pianist Nolan Pearson (2012). effectively and creatively mining the riches of Appalachian Jaeger will use his award to complete a one-act opera folk music and combining that tradition with a truly con- inspired by the lives of Harlan and Anna Hubbard, who temporary vision,” says Hyla. “His opera represents the retreated from modern society in the 1950s and spent 34 culmination of this work and shows great promise musically years together living off the land along the Ohio River in and theatrically.” ]

Katherine Werbianski, a master’s voice Bethany Wiese, a doctoral tuba student Katherine Young, a doctoral student in student of Pamela of Rex Martin, won a tuba position with music composition and technology, was Hinchman, covered the New World Symphony starting this profiled in newmusicbox, the American the role of Desdemona fall. This summer she played tuba with Music Center’s online journal of new in Otello, conducted the Tanglewood Music Festival Orchestra. music. In May, Northwestern’s Contem- by Lorin Maazel, this This past spring she won the $10,000 porary Music Ensemble premiered her summer at Virginia’s Jerome and Elaine Nerenberg Foundation chamber orchestra piece Diligence Is to Magic Castleton Festival. She Scholarship in the winds division of the as Progress Is to Flight. She traveled to Europe also sang the title role 2013 Musicians Club of Women Scholar- in April with composer and string instru- in Suor Angelica with Chicago’s Main Street ship Competition. mentalist Jessica Pavone for eight perfor- Opera in August. mances in Switzerland and Germany as part of their “Solos” tour.

26 faculty

Richard Ashley (music theory and cogni- Jonathan Boen (horn) was a featured solo- Cantata Series at Grace Lutheran tion) was named associate editor of the ist in Frank Martin’s Concerto for Seven Church in River Forest, Illinois. journal Music Perception Wind Instruments, performed at the Brunssen was named a lifetime member and appointed to the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago’s of the distinguished American Academy National Science Millennium Park. of Teachers of Singing—40 selected Foun dation college of Boen is principal horn singing specialists, teachers, and per- reviewers. He currently with the Lyric Opera formers dedicated to furthering ethical, chairs the Society for of Chicago and Grant musical, and intellectual excellence in Music Theory’s publica- Park Orchestras. He voice teaching. tion awards committee. This summer also gave two premieres he presented his research at the Inter- at the International Mark J. Butler (music national Conference on Music and Horn Symposium in theory and cogni- Emotion in Jyväskylä, Finland. He also Memphis: Pamela Marshall’s Walden at tion) presented his coauthored the article “Art and Science: Evening for chorus, two percussionists, research in an invited How Music Shapes the Brain,” published and solo horn, and his own horn-piano talk at the symposium in Frontiers, with Nina Kraus, professor of arrangement of Scriabin’s 24 Preludes. “Music, Digitization, communication sciences and disorders, Mediation: Towards neurobiology, physiology, and otolaryn- Theresa Brancaccio Interdisciplinary Music Studies” at gology; Karen Chan, a doctoral candi- (voice and opera) Oxford University in July. date in music theory and cognition; and performed a recital Dana L. Strait, a research associate at the with Kurt R. Hansen Vasili Byros (music University of Maryland’s department of (voice and opera) theory and cogni- electrical and computer engineering. in June at St. Paul’s tion) authored the United Church of article “Trazom’s Linda Phyllis Austern (musicology) gave Christ in Chicago. This summer she Wit: Communicative the keynote address at the international conducted a vocal master class for the Strategies in a ‘Popular’ Shakespeare, Music and Performance Opera Training Institute of Chicago. Yet ‘Difficult’ Sonata,” Conference, held at London’s Globe published in the September issue of the Theatre in May. She was Karen Brunssen (voice and opera) was academic journal Eighteenth-Century Music. among the guest faculty the guest master teacher and adjudicator The article deals with musical humor in for “Music and Travel for the West Central Mozart’s first piano sonata, K. 279. in Europe and the Division of the National Americas, 1500–1800,” Association of Teachers Alan Chow (piano) recently presented the Newberry Library’s of Singing in November recitals and master classes at the Okla- NEH Summer Institute 2012. Her activities last homa Music Teachers for College and University Teachers, in winter included the Association annual Chicago during July and August. presentation “The conference, Bowling Evolving Voice: Profound at Every Age” Green State University’s J. Lawrie Bloom (clarinet) continues his as part of the North Shore Choral summer piano festi- work with his chamber ensemble Civitas, Society’s workshop “A Lifetime of val, and the Classical which also includes Singing,” a master class at England’s Music Festival in pianist Winston Choi Eton College, a weeklong teaching Eisenstadt, Austria. He also adjudi cated (G02, G08). The group residency at Cambridge University, and for the Canadian Music Competition in is dedicated to expos- teaching at the Tonhalle Zurich, home Montreal and was a faculty member at ing young people and of the Zurich Symphony Orchestra. She the New Orleans Piano Institute. underserved popula- also sang the mezzo-soprano solos in tions to classical music. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Bach

fanfare FALL 2013 27 faculty

Drew Edward Davies (musicology) lec- conducting members of the Chicago at North Carolina’s Eastern Music tured this summer at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and alumni of Festival and the Colburn Academy Early Music Festival and the Steans Vocal Institute. Summer Festival in Los Angeles. the Newberry Library’s summer institute Emily Ellsworth (conduct- Robert Gjerdingen (music seminar “Music and ing and ensembles) theory and cognition) Travel in the Americas, has served as artistic presented a keynote 1500–1800.” His essay director of Anima address at the Midwest- “Where’s the Local in Singers since 1996. ern Music Cognition Colonial Music from Mexico?” recently The group received a Symposium at Ohio appeared in Early Music America. 2013 ASCAP Award State University in May. for Adventurous Programming at the Michael Ehrman (opera) taught master Chorus America national conference Amy Gwinn-Becker (music classes in June for the Opera Training in June. She conducted an honor choir education) continued Institute of Chicago and the Westchester at the American Choral Directors her 23-year association Summer Vocal Institute Association’s Voices United Festival in with the Chicago Sym- at New York’s Sarah Virginia in August. phony Chorus. She gave Lawrence College. In the presentation “Rites July he made his Santo James Giles (piano) of Passage in a Music Domingo (Dominican served on the artist Education Career: Reinventing Identity” Republic) Symphony faculty of Italy’s Amalfi in May at Virginia’s Mountain Lake Orchestra directorial Coast Music Festival and Colloquium for Teachers of General debut. In August he returned to the Spain’s Gijon Inter- Music Methods. Ravinia Festival to direct Britten’s The national Piano Festival. Burning Fiery Furnace, with James Conlon He was also guest artist

NEW FACULTY

Robert Sullivan joins the Bienen School as professor of trumpet. Since released by Summit Records. A frequent recitalist, Sullivan has commis- 2008 he has been principal trumpet and a frequent soloist with the sioned several works by major US composers, including Eric Ewazen, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductors Paavo Järvi and Louis James Stephenson, Jack Gallagher, and Joseph Turrin. He has also been Langrée and with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under Erich Kunzel and an active studio musician, frequently recording for film and television. John Morris Russell. He previously held Sullivan is a Yamaha performing artist and has been involved in develop- positions with the Cleveland Orchestra ing two Yamaha trumpet models as well as the “Bob Sullivan” signature under Franz Welser-Möst (2003–08) and mouthpiece. the New York Philharmonic under Kurt A native of Norwood, Massachusetts, Sullivan earned a BM in Masur and Lorin Maazel (1993–2004). trumpet performance at the University of Michigan, where he studied Sullivan has taught at several con- with Armando Ghitalla and won the Armando Ghitalla Fellowship to servatories and colleges, including the attend the Tanglewood Music Center in 1984. As a member of the Manhattan School of Music, Charleston US Air Force Band in Washington, DC, he was a frequent soloist and Southern University, the College of occasionally performed with the National Symphony Orchestra. He then Charleston, the Cleveland Institute of joined the Chicago Chamber Brass quintet and toured for two years with Music, and the Mannes College of Music. the trumpet-organ duo Toccatas & Flourishes. He also has been an instructor for several Sullivan has received a citation from the US Congress in recognition young-artist programs, including the Rafael Méndez Brass Institute of his outstanding contribution to community service for his volun- and Japan’s Hamamatsu Instrumental Music Academy. teer work with several New York public schools, where he led classes, Sullivan’s varied performance career includes appearances with presented minirecitals, taught lessons, and performed with student the Summit Brass, Canadian Brass, Empire Brass, and German Brass. ensembles. He has also served on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra His two solo recordings, Treasures for Trumpet and Kaleidoscope, were board of directors.

28 Robert Hanford (violin) of Wisconsin–Parkside. He also taught Pamela Hinchman (voice spent July and August at in the singers program at the Ravinia and opera) gave master the Aspen Music Festival Festival’s Steans Institute. classes and a recital this as concertmaster of summer at the Music in the Opera Orchestra Maud Hickey (music education) was the Marche Summer and the American awarded a fourth year of funding from Festival in Mondavio, Academy of Conducting the Chicago Community Italy. at Aspen Orchestra. Trust to continue her research and teaching D. J. Hoek (musicology, Kurt R. Hansen (voice and at the Cook County head of music library) opera) taught at the Juvenile Temporary authored the article Castleton (Virginia) Detention Center. “Beyond Bebop: Dial Opera Festival in July. Hickey and music Records and the Library education PhD students visit the center of Contemporary weekly to teach music to 11- to 17-year- Classics,” published in old adolescents. the spring 2013 issue of the Association for John Henes (Alexander Recorded Sound Collections Journal. He also technique) gave master Timothy Higgins (trom- wrote an editorial on the costs and classes this summer at bone) released his first benefits of contemporary libraries for the American Society solo recording, Stage Left. the March-April issue of American Libraries for the Alexander Recorded in summer magazine. Technique annual 2012, the CD features conference and for the pianist Sophia Kim Fifth House Ensemble at the University Cook.

Ryan Dohoney begins his appointment as assistant professor of from the Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (2006–07), musicology this fall. Previously an assistant professor at the University the Reid Hall Institute for Scholars in Paris (2005), and the Paul Sacher of Kansas, he has also taught at Maine’s Colby College, where he was Foundation (2010). His work has appeared in the Journal of the American faculty fellow in music and director of Musicological Society, Journal of the Society for American Music, and the early-music ensemble. Women and Music, and his essays have been published in the collections Dohoney’s research and teaching New York School Collaborations: The Color of Vowels (Palgrave Macmillan) focus on 20th- and 21st-century musical and Tomorrow Is the Question: New Directions in Experimental Music modernism and experimentalism, popular Studies (University of Michigan Press). music, musical aesthetics, sound studies, An active vocalist specializing in early and contemporary music affect theory, and gender-sexuality performance, he is also a composer of collaborative experimental studies. He is currently working on two music theater works that have been presented at the School of the Art book projects, a historical ethnography of Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, Portland Center Stage, the premiere of Morton Feldman’s Rothko Performance Works Northwest, and Robert Wilson’s Byrd-Hoffman Chapel and a study of New York City’s Watermill Center. He has given numerous solo performances in New 1970s and 1980s music scene through the York City at venues that include Bargemusic and Galapagos Art Space. musical networks of experimental composer-performer Julius Eastman. Dohoney holds a BM in music history and vocal performance from Dohoney has given presentations at numerous conferences and Rice University and PhD, MPhil, and MA degrees in musicology from colloquia. His research has been supported by dissertation fellowships Columbia University.

fanfare FALL 2013 29 faculty

Rex Martin (tuba and euphonium) spent Festival. Prism also performed in International Saxophone Competition much of his summer in Europe, where the US premiere of Nick Didkovsky’s in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, where he also he performed and evening-length Ice Cream Time at New York performed and gave master classes. In taught at Sweden’s BIBA City’s The Roulette. Prism’s creative August he joined saxophone professors brass festival and activities continue to receive broad from Indiana University, the Eastman Switzerland’s Ticino support from a variety School of Music, the University of Iowa, Musica Festival; con- of foundations and and the Hartt School as faculty for the ducted concerts and organizations, includ- inaugural American Saxophone Academy led master classes and ing the Pew Center in conjunction with Eastman’s summer workshops with Norway’s Stavanger for Arts and Heritage, programs. In late August he gave the Symphony Orchestra; and judged the Presser Foundation, world premiere of John Adams’s Saxo- Aeolus Solo Competition in Düsseldorf, New Music USA, phone Concerto under the compos- Germany. In Japan he presented master National Endowment for the Arts, er’s baton in Australia’s famed Sydney classes and recitals in Osaka and Tokyo. American Composers Forum, Mid- Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Atlantic Arts Foundation, Foundation Orchestra (see page 10). Timothy McAllister (saxophone) recently for Contemporary Arts, USArtists performed with the National Symphony International, and Andrew W. Mellon Christopher Millard (bassoon) gave a four- Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, fol- Foundation. In June, McAllister directed day master class at the Curtis Institute lowing appearances in China with the a weeklong saxophone workshop at in June, followed by a weeklong master Prism Quartet at the Beijing Modern the Interlochen Center for the Arts class at Quebec’s Domaine Forget Inter- Music Festival and the Tianjin May and served on the jury for the Seventh national Festival. After performing and

NEW FACULTY

Steven M. Demorest will join the Bienen School as professor of music Demorest’s scholarly work has been published in Music Perception, education in fall 2014. Currently he is the Ruth Sutton Waters Endowed NeuroImage, Journal of Research in Music Education, Music Educators Professor of Music at the University of Journal, Council for Research in Music Education Bulletin, Psychomusicology, Washington, where he is codirector of the and the International Journal of Research on Choral Singing. His research Laboratory for Music Cognition, Culture, into music and brain function with colleague Steven J. Morrison has and Learning. He teaches graduate and appeared in NeuroImage, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, undergraduate courses in choral music Progress in Brain Research, and the Annals of the New York Academy of methods, research methods, psychology Sciences. Currently a member of the executive committees of the Society of music, and the cognitive neuroscience for Research in Music Education and the International Conference on of music. Music Perception and Cognition, he serves or has served on the editorial Demorest’s research interests include boards of the Journal of Research in Music Education, Music Educators cross-cultural musical understanding, Journal, Musicae Scientiae, Empirical Musicology Review, Reviews of music cognition, sight-singing pedagogy, Research in Human Learning and Music, and the International Journal and the application of neuroimaging of Research on Choral Singing. techniques to music research. His recent publications include the A nationally known clinician, Demorest has lectured at the second edition of Choral Music Methods and Materials (Cengage, American Choral Directors Association National Conference, the Music 2013), coauthored with Barbara Brinson, and articles on comparative Educators National Conference, and many state and regional confer- research in music cognition, enculturation effects on music memory, ences. He is the author of Building Choral Excellence: Teaching Sight- singing accuracy, sight-singing instruction, and neuroimaging studies Singing in the Choral Rehearsal (Oxford University Press) and the editor of of cross-cultural musical understanding. He has contributed to The Creating the Special World (GIA), a series of lectures by Weston Noble. Grove Dictionary of American Music (second edition), Diana Deutsch’s In 2007 Demorest received the Weston H. Noble award for out- The Psychology of Music (third edition), The Oxford Handbook of Music standing contributions to choral music from Luther College, where he Education, and the MENC Handbook of Research on Music Learning, earned a BA in music. He also holds an MM in choral conducting from volumes 1 (Neurosciences and Music) and IV (Learning and Memory). Westminster Choir College and a PhD in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

30 recording with Canada’s Marlene Rosenberg (jazz studies) Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Arts Centre appeared in June as a guest artist at Music Festival. Also this Orchestra in July, he the International Society of Bassists summer he taught at returned to the Grand Convention at the the Aria International Teton Music Festival, Eastman School of Summer Academy at joined by Bienen Music in a concert Mount Holyoke College School faculty col- featuring three of her and performed at the leagues Gail Williams (horn) and Michael original compositions. National Flute Association Convention Mulcahy (trombone). Also in June she music in New Orleans. directed and performed Donald Nally (conducting and ensembles) in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered conducted Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf at Evanston’s Ensemble and the Cincinnati Chamber Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre. She con- Orchestra in May. In June his ensemble tinues to perform on Monday nights at The Crossing presented its annual Andy’s Jazz Club in Chicago. “Month of Moderns” program, featuring new works by Joby Talbot, Chris Jonas, W. Stephen Smith (voice and opera) and Gene Goleman and funded by the directed his second annual Naked Voice Almita Vamos (violin) and Roland Vamos Philadelphia Music Institute at the Bienen School in (viola) gave June recitals in New York at Project at the Pew early summer; the Concordia College and the Chautauqua Center for Arts and weeklong seminar Institute, where they also teach. On Heritage and a Knight for 10 singers and 10 September 1 the couple was honored at Foundation Arts teachers focuses on Chicago’s Orchestra Hall with a celebra- Challenge Grant. The Smith’s book The Naked tion of their 40 years of teaching; the Crossing also won the Voice: A Wholistic Approach event included many solo performances Dale Warland Singers Commission to Singing (2007, Oxford by former students. Award and is using its $5,000 prize to University Press). He also returned for commission a new work from Joel his 18th summer as a member of the Gail Williams (horn) Puckett. This summer Nally guest Aspen Music Festival and School faculty. premiered David conducted Chicago’s Grant Park Sampson’s What the Living Orchestra in John Adams’s Harmonium. Mallory Thompson Do for violin, horn, (conducting) taught and piano in April at Inna Naroditskaya conducting workshops Northwestern’s Lutkin (musicology) chaired over the past academic Hall. This summer she the roundtable panel year at the University was a guest teacher-performer at the discussion “Minorities, of North Texas and Sarasota (Florida) Chamber Music Music, and Power” University of Missouri– Festival and principal horn with at the International Kansas City and gave a symposium for Wyoming’s Grand Teton Music Festival. Council for Traditional the Music Educators of Bergen County Music’s 42nd annual conference in (New Jersey). In June she presented Shanghai. Naroditskaya contributed lectures at the Missouri Bandmasters a chapter on Azerbaijani jazz-mugham Association’s annual convention. to the book Jazz Worlds/World Jazz (edited by Goffredo Plastino and Philip V. John Thorne (flute) gave classes and a Bohlman), forthcoming from the recital in June as a guest artist at the University of Chicago Press. third annual Texas Summer Flute Symposium. In July he performed at

fanfare FALL 2013 31 on the concert stage

EXPLORING MUSICAL CONNECTIONS by Richard Van Kleeck Director of Concert Activities

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” —Aristotle

Although Aristotle offered the above observation more than 2,000 years ago, its validity was never more evi-

dent than on the Pick-Staiger stage this past April. During Clockwise from left: Todd Rundgren, Asphalt Orchestra, Kurt Elling, Greater the Bienen School’s spring festival “Side by Side: Exploring Harvest Missionary Baptist Church Mass Choir Musical Connections,” several singular musical talents joined forces in a series of performances that revealed previously unseen dimensions to their artistry and cast their instrumental A captivating collaboration between celebrated guitarist skills in new light. Jason Vieaux and accordion virtuoso Julien Labro featured A festival highlight was the collaboration forged by music by Piazzolla, Albéniz, and Brouwer, with a few addi- adventurous contemporary string quartet Ethel and rock tional surprises along the way. Renowned percussionist Colin icon Todd Rundgren. This combination provided a captivating Currie teamed with the exquisite Miró Quartet for intriguing and diverse program that included music by Lou Harrison, interpretations of music by Schubert, Barber, Steve Martland, Arvo Pärt, and Rundgren himself. and Steve Reich. Legendary jazz singer Kurt Elling joined the Chicago Jazz The one-of-a-kind 14-member Asphalt Orchestra, a Orchestra to celebrate the music of Cole Porter. A perfor- marching and choreographed contemporary music ensemble, mance of the underappreciated Porter masterpiece “Miss Otis delighted its audience with performances of several newly com- Regrets” proved to be a particularly unforgettable moment in missioned works and such traditional tunes as the Laneville- an evening filled with musical gems. Johnson Union Brass Band’s “Wild about My Daddy.” The “Chicago Reflections,” featuring gospel, Celtic, Mexican, orchestra also presented two campus “flash” performances, Eastern European, and klezmer ensembles, underscored the one at the construction site for the Bienen School’s new rich cultural landscape that undergirds Chicago’s identity as building and the other at Norris University Center. a world-class metropolis. The concert helped illuminate Alex Closing out the festival were brilliant guitarists Sérgio Kotlowitz’s Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago, the 2012–13 and Odair Assad, who took the stage with jazz legend Paquito One Book One Northwestern selection, and the author served D’Rivera on clarinet. Like the preceding “Side by Side” as host for this celebration of great Chicago music. performances, this beautiful partnership added up to much more than even its audience anticipated. ]

32 music library

SUPPORTING RESEARCH AND RESEARCHERS RECENT BOOKS AND RECORDINGS DRAW ON MUSIC LIBRARY COLLECTIONS by D. J. Hoek Head of Music Library and Lecturer in Musicology Bruce Powell Bruce Bienen School of Music faculty and students regularly check out thousands of books, scores, and recordings from the Music Library to further their research, prepare for perfor- mances, discover new repertoire, or simply enjoy. The Music Library’s reach, however, extends well beyond campus. Each year hundreds of scholars and artists across the globe explore the library’s renowned collections, which include rare manu- scripts, original correspondence, personal journals, and other Detail from the manuscript of Stanford’s Rondo in F Major for Cello and Orchestra unique materials. In recent years this research has resulted in (top); Cage biographer Kenneth Silverman speaking at Northwestern in April several major new books and recordings, enhancing the Music Library’s reputation as a vital resource in the advancement of CD The Complete Works for Cello and Orchestra by Charles Villiers Stanford knowledge and the enrichment of our culture. (Hyperion, 2011) features the premiere recording of that Home to the John Cage Collection, a vast archive docu- composer’s 1869 Rondo in F Major for Cello and Orchestra, menting Cage’s life and career, the Music Library is especially transcribed from the Music Library’s manuscript. The 1828 active in assisting those researching the history and develop- vocal score for Gaetano Donizetti’s solo cantata Saffo, previously ment of 20th-century music. While writing Begin Again: A unrecorded in this version, was performed in 2012 by the Biography of John Cage (Knopf, 2010; Northwestern University German ensemble I Virtuosi Ambulanti at Austria’s Esterházy Press, 2012), Pulitzer Prize winner Kenneth Silverman drew and then issued on CD (Home Music, 2013). extensively from Cage’s personal correspondence—held by Researchers from outside Northwestern typically take the Music Library—to reveal new details about Cage’s creative advantage of the Music Library’s resources in one of two ways— development and relationships with a broad range of artists either by traveling to Evanston and investigating the full range and intellectuals. Two new books by University of Leeds musi- of our collections or by requesting photocopies of unique cologist Martin Iddon, John Cage and David Tudor: Correspondence items. In both cases the Music Library’s staff takes pride in on Interpretation and Performance (Cambridge University Press, providing the same high-quality assistance that we offer the 2013) and New Music at Darmstadt: Nono, Stockhausen, Cage, and Boulez Northwestern community. In so doing we seek to increase the (Cambridge University Press, 2013), also cite the Music impact of the Music Library’s holdings, enhance the reputation Library throughout. Books engaging other 20th-century music of the Music Library and the University, and advance the topics have also relied on our collections, including Benjamin mission of one of the world’s great research institutions. Piekut’s Experimentalism Otherwise: The New York Avant-Garde and Its Delivering the Library Board of Governors Lecture on Limits (University of California Press, 2011), Steve Swayne’s the Evanston campus last spring was Kenneth Silverman, with Orpheus in Manhattan: William Schuman and the Shaping of America’s Musical whom the Music Library staff has become well acquainted Life (Oxford University Press, 2011), and Lita E. Miller’s Music because of his frequent use ofthe Cage Collection. “I have done and Politics in San Francisco: From the 1906 Quake to the Second World War research in libraries and archives all around the country, all (University of California Press, 2012). around the world,” he said. “But of all those, my two favorite While the Music Library is best known for its holdings places are the Smithsonian Institution and Northwestern. in modern music—which include the world’s largest collec- These are libraries that really understand what research is, and tion of printed music composed since 1945—our archives also what researchers need.” Having helped advance a wide array contain important material from earlier periods. Two newly of scholarly and creative projects recently conducted by visiting released recordings hint at the depth of the library’s holdings researchers, the Music Library looks forward to sharing our in eras predating the 20th century. Cellist Gemma Rosefield’s expertise and resources even more broadly in the future. ]

fanfare FALL 2013 33 alumni

1940s recognized her cultural and edu- James South (79) was appointed cational contributions as founder dean of the College of Arts Ernest A. Miller (49) earned a of Les Amis, a French colonial and Sciences at Southwestern standing ovation for his perfor- heritage preservation group that Oklahoma State University, where mance of “The Star-Spangled supports the Creole Corridor. he previously served as director Banner” at the Asheville (North The region’s former French set- of bands and chair of the music Carolina) Tourists’ minor-league tlement sites along the Mississippi department. baseball game on July 4, 2012. River (from Sayad’s hometown Miller is a former professional of St. Louis to Ste. Genevieve, 1980s singer and a retired colonel in the Missouri, and from Cahokia Salvation Army. He served aboard to Chester, Illinois) have been Wiley Hausam (80) was named the troop transport USS Mifflin nominated for UNESCO World Kurt Dietrich (74) received the executive director of Stanford during World War II. Heritage Site status. 2012 James Underkofler Award Live and Bing Concert Hall for Excellence in Undergraduate at Stanford University in June 1950s 1960s Teaching from Wisconsin’s Ripon 2012. He led the launch of the College, where he is professor new 842-seat concert hall in L. John Lambros (G50) teaches of music and holds the Barbara January with an opening-night violin at his home studio in Baldwin DeFrees Chair in the gala featuring master of ceremo- Charleston, West Virginia. In Performing Arts. nies Anna Deavere Smith, con- 2005 he retired from the West ductor Michael Tilson Thomas Virginia Symphony as concert- Gene Cho (G75), and the San Francisco Symphony master emeritus after 55 years a professor of with mezzo-soprano Frederica of service, 32 of them as concert- music at the von Stade, the St. Lawrence master. In the 1950s Lambros University of String Quartet, the Stanford also taught at Morris Harvey Karen Szymanski Bauer (65, G66, North Texas Chamber Chorale, and mem- College (now the University of G98) of Evanston is voice depart- College of bers of the Stanford Symphony Charleston), where he pioneered ment chair and director of the Music, was hon- Orchestra and Stanford Suzuki string teaching in the area. master’s program in vocal perfor- ored for his 40 Philharmonia Orchestra. Before mance at North Park University’s years of service to the school. He joining Stanford, Hausam Dixie Lou (O’Connor) Morris School of Music. Her book The continues to teach full-time. was the executive director of (G52) received Essentials of Beautiful Singing: A Three- the Performing Arts Center at the Dorothy Step Kinesthetic Approach was released Alan Heatherington (G75) was Purchase College in Westchester, Whinery Special by Scarecrow Press in August. named music director emeritus of New York. Leadership the Lake Forest Symphony in May Award at the Richard L. Jorgensen (67) has when he stepped down after 13 Sigma Alpha retired from music teaching years as music director. He con- Iota Music after leading the music program tinues as music director of the Ars Fraternity’s 2012 at Bayshore High School in Viva Symphony Orchestra and the national convention in Atlanta. Bradenton, Florida, for 12 years. Chicago Master Singers. She has served SAI on local, state, and national levels for 71 years. 1970s Ralph Hepola (78) plays cimbasso with the Minnesota Opera Orches- H. Royce Saltzman (G54) of Hollis Thoms (G73) was invited tra in St. Paul. The company Eugene, Oregon, was one of to submit 11 of his major musical recently commissioned and 25 international choral leaders scores for a special collection at premiered Silent Night, for which Philip Orem (81, G83) saw his invited to the 2012 World Choral the Maryland State Archives in composer Kevin Puts was awarded Requiem performed in November Summit, held in Beijing in con- Annapolis. Thoms has written the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in music. 2012 at St. Mary’s Episcopal junction with the 111th China more than 125 works for a vari- Among Hepola’s colleagues in Church in Park Ridge, Illinois. International Choral Festival. ety of ensembles. His Symphony 2 the orchestra are Bienen School Fellow alumni performing in will be premiered in January by alumni Charles Hodgson (G84), the orchestra included flutist Ed Elizabeth Gentry Sayad (G58) was the Londontowne Symphony horn; Susan Janda (G93), viola; Senechal (83), clarinetist Sean named a chevalier (knight) of Orchestra under the direction Karrin Meffert-Nelson (G93), McNeely (95), hornist Sharon L’Ordre des Palmes Académiques of Anna Binneweg. clarinet; David Mickens (G80), Jones (G94), and conductor Kevin by the French government in violin; and Michael Watson McKelvie (80, G82). A recital of September 2012. The honor (G03), double bass. Orem’s music, including two song

34 cycles and a solo piano piece, was from Boston University. He and Don Ross (G88) Educators Association’s All-State performed in May in Park Ridge his wife, Judy Madison Brame (86), teaches clarinet Conference and the National and Highland Park, Illinois, live in Libertyville, Illinois. at the University Association for Music Education’s featuring soloists Warren Fremling of Alberta and North Central (G88) and Elizabeth Gray. Amy Jo Wayne (86) was pro- the Alberta Conference. moted to senior vice president College Conser- McCracken’s David Evan for national advertising sales at vatory of Music Symphonic Band Thomas (81) Crown Media Family Networks, at MacEwan has received was awarded a which oversees the Hallmark University. During summer 14 invitations 2013 McKnight Channel and Hallmark Movie 2012 he toured Taiwan with to the Illinois Composer Channel. She was previously the Katie Calverly Dancers. SuperState Fellowship. senior vice president for eastern His Saint Crispin’s Chamber Concert Band Festival and has Honoring excel- advertising sales. Ensemble performed at last year’s been selected as Honor Band lence in music Edmonton New Music Festival. five times; this December it will composition, the award includes James Crowley Ross also wrote the score for give its second performance at $25,000 in unrestricted funds. (G87, G93) is John Osborne’s animated film the Midwest Clinic. De Stefano A recording of Thomas’s Thrum associate profes- Lines for Clarinet. has also served as director of the was released by the Minneapolis sor of music at University of Chicago’s Wind Guitar Quartet in March on the the University of 1990s Ensemble since 2010. Innova label. Wisconsin– Parkside. His Amy Duran (85) recently con- composition ducted an HMS Media Tele- Tableaux Vivants was commissioned vision performance of Bob by the East Coast–based Duo Christianson’s A Christmas Carol, Montagnard, which performed the Concert at the North Shore the piece throughout the Center for the Performing Arts in Americas and Europe and Skokie, Illinois. Featuring a full recorded it for a recent CD. symphony orchestra, rock-pop His piano trio From the Earth was rhythm section, choir, narrator, a prizewinner in the Ravinia and three soloists, the perfor- Festival’s first composition com- Arthur Campbell (G91, G95) mance will air on Chicago PBS petition and was performed on and his wife, Helen Marlais affiliate WTTW this December. tours across the East Coast and (G95), were nominated as a Duran is currently coach and throughout Illinois. Most clarinet-piano duo for the 2013 Sharon Jones (G94), a hornist, conductor at New Jersey City recently, pianist Eun-Joo Kwak International Classical Music joined the touring production University’s music theatre depart- (G96) presented Crowley’s Awards. In 2012 the couple of Les Misérables in May for per- ment and can be heard at the complete solo piano works at released the recording Music for formances in the United States piano around the New York City the World Piano Conference Clarinet & Piano, vol. 1. and Canada. area in chamber music concerts, in Serbia. vocal recitals, and Broadway Rodney Dorsey (92, G06) was Curtis Moore (95) collaborated shows. She has performed with Timothy Roberts appointed director of bands at with Northwestern alumni Eric the New York Pops and New York (87) recently the University of Oregon. He Rosen (GC93, GC99) and Matt City Opera. completed a previously served as associate Sax (C06) to develop Venice, a solo saxophone director of bands at the University hip-hop-infused musical inspired Dan Brame (86) presented “Seven world tour, of Michigan, where he taught by Shakespeare’s Othello. The pro- Steps to the Blues” at the 2013 with perfor- undergraduate conducting and duction was part of the 2012–13 Illinois Music Education Con- mances at Italy’s conducted the Concert Band and Public Lab season at New York ference; the session outlined a Conservatorio Michigan Youth Band. City’s off-Broadway Anspacher systematic approach to teaching di musica di Milano and the Theater. jazz improvisation. Brame has Hong Kong Academy for the Christopher “Chip” De Stefano (94, served as director of bands at Performing Arts. Roberts is asso- G96) completed his 17th year as Amanda Clarfield Newell (95), a Deerfield (Illinois) High School ciate professor of saxophone at director of bands at McCracken general music teacher for the since 1988 and recently earned Shenandoah Conservatory in Middle School in Skokie, Illinois. last 17 years, gave a presenta- his doctorate in music education Winchester, Virginia. His bands have made several tion at the National Association appearances at the Illinois Music for Music Education Eastern

fanfare FALL 2013 35 alumni

1990s continued and Refugees: 20th-Century maintains a Rob Ryndak Migration and Memory,” the busy schedule (G03), a jazz Division Conference in Hartford, three-week Harriman Institute at of recitals, pianist and Connecticut, in April. A resident Columbia University. In June she orchestral composer, of Dayton, New Jersey, she has was part of an interdisciplinary appearances, released A presented clinics for the Franklin group of scholars discussing and and residen- Wonderful Township music department, researching the topic. Zelensky cies. In 2011 Thing, his Rider University’s Westminster will apply the work to her book she was artist fifth record- Choir College, and Rowan project on Russian music making in residence ing of original jazz, last January University. in New York and its influences on at Georgia Tech University and on the Pacific Coast Jazz label. discourses of Russianness within served as a webcast host for The CD features bassist Rob Andrew Palmer the diaspora, American popular the International Tchaikovsky Calhoon (G09). Todd (95, G95) culture, and Cold War politics. Competition in St. Petersburg, was recently Zelensky is an assistant professor Russia. Warren Haston (G04) was awarded appointed exec- of music at Maine’s Colby College. tenure and promoted to associate utive director Michael Duffy (G02) recently professor of music education in of the Grand Tim Fawkes (01) is orchestra coauthored Basic Music Reference: A the Hartt School at Connecticut’s Teton Music director at Glenbard East Guide for Nonspecialist Librarians, Library University of Hartford. Festival. Now in (Illinois) High School. During Assistants, and Student Employees. It is its 52nd year, the festival presents his tenure the school’s orchestras the eighth volume in the Music Joelle Lamarre (G04) performed seven weeks of classical program- have performed on Elmhurst Library Association Basic Manual the lead role in an adaptation of ming at the foot of the Teton Symphony Orchestra subscrip- Series. Puccini’s Madama Butterfly produced Mountains in Jackson, Wyoming. tion concerts and at the Illinois by the American Chamber Opera Additionally, Todd released the Music Educators Association Ingrid Keller (03) has been Company in collaboration with recording Looking Back: The Complete conference. At the 2013 ILMEA appointed assistant professor of Aid for Africa and Opera Moda Late Piano Works of Johannes Brahms, conference, Fawkes also presented collaborative piano at Northern last February. The adaptation set available on iTunes. the clinic “Different Is Good: Kentucky University. An active the opera in Kenya, and some Rehearsal Strategies for Actively recitalist, collaborative artist, proceeds from the production David Vonderheide (96) served as Engaged Ensemble Students.” He and teacher, she has performed benefited the education of principal trumpet of the Atlanta is host and curator of the classi- in such venues as the Kennedy Kenyan women and children. Symphony Orchestra for the cal music podcast “Uncommon Center, the Banff Centre, Jordan 2012–13 season. Previously he Time.” Hall, and Tanglewood’s Seiji Timothy Smith was principal trumpet with the Ozawa Hall and in such festivals (G05) has Virginia Symphony. Christin Schillinger (01) recently as the Music Academy of the played second released her second solo CD, West, the Tanglewood Festival, trombone for Scott W. Carter (G98) directs Bassoon Transcended. Like her first, the Banff Summer Music Festival, the Buffalo choirs and coaches singers Bassoon Surrounded (2009), it was and the Baldwin Wallace Art Philharmonic in musicals at St. Francis produced for MSR Classics by Song Festival. She has served as Orchestra since High School in Traverse City, Swineshead Productions and fea- resident coach and accompanist 2009. Last Michigan. He is in his 12th tures world-premiere recordings for the Indianapolis Opera and November, with two other BPO year at Farm Bureau Insurance of works by living composers. is currently on the faculty of the trombonists, he performed a Company. Indiana University Press will Oberlin in Italy program. As a triple trombone concerto by soon publish Schillinger’s book Tanglewood fellow she appeared Eric Ewazen. Smith also performs 2000s on reed-making pedagogy. A Fox as soloist with the Mark Morris in a chamber ensemble and performing artist, she is a mem- Dance group. She recently teaches privately. ber of the music faculty at Miami performed with the St. Cloud University in Ohio. Symphony and, as a chamber Travis J. Cross musician, with members of the (G06, G12) was Jade Smalls Simmons (01), a Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, appointed asso- concert pianist, returned to the the Dayton Philharmonic, and the ciate professor of Ravinia Festival in August 2012 Oklahoma City Philharmonic. A music and wind as part of its “Paganini Project” frequent adjudicator for compe- ensemble con- concert. While there she also pre- titions and festivals, she is joining ductor at the Natalie Zelensky (00, G02, sented “Effortless Arts Integration the College of Examiners for University of G09) received a 2013 National in the Mainstream Classroom” to the Royal Conservatory of Music California, Los Angeles. He pre- Endowment for the Humanities participants in Ravinia’s Musical development program. Keller viously served for five years in a summer fellowship for “America’s Discovery program. Simmons maintains a private teaching similar position at Virginia Tech. Russian-Speaking Immigrants studio in Cincinnati.

36 Northwestern Alumni Association Merit Award: Genevieve F. Thiers

Last March the Northwestern Alumni Association selected 12 distinguished graduates to receive the Alumni Merit Award, one of the University’s highest honors. The award recognizes alumni for outstanding achievement representing Northwestern’s highest ideals. Bienen School winner Genevieve F. Thiers, a voice and opera alumna who received her MM in 2004, was honored with the following citation.

Genevieve Thiers is an accomplished opera singer who has appeared on The Today Show and performed in a wide array of productions, yet her talents extend well beyond her musical skills. She is also the forward-thinking entrepreneur behind Sittercity.com, which became the first US company to take caregiving services online. She is the founder and former CEO of the online data- base that features more than 2 million members nationwide and serves such organizations as the US Department of Defense, Avon, and MasterCard. With background checks, references, and reviews, the service has helped parents find babysitters and nannies since 2001. Sittercity.com has created more than a million jobs and expanded to the United Kingdom and Canada.

A former babysitter herself, Thiers envisioned the Genevieve Thiers with President Morton Schapiro idea for the company when she was an undergraduate at Boston College. She saw a pregnant woman struggling up stairs to After launching Sittercity.com, Thiers returned to her distribute flyers in an effort to find a babysitter. musical career, earning a master’s degree in opera perfor- “I just remember thinking how amazing it was that— mance in 2004 at Northwestern. She has performed with the other than paying $2,000 to a nanny agency—moms had Longwood Opera, Elgin Opera, Chamber Opera Chicago, no other alternative than to flyer a college campus alone Fulcrum Point, and the Northwestern student opera initiative on foot,” says Thiers. Operatunities. Her roles have included Lucy in The Telephone, As Sittercity.com gained popularity, she moved the com- Beth in Little Women, Sarah Good in The Crucible, Dorine in pany from Boston to Chicago in 2002. She also cofounded Tartuffe, and Lola in Gallantry. She has also recorded commer- OperaModa, a Chicago company that produces modern cial background tracks for such corporations as Lowe’s Home American operas, showcases young talent, and has hired Improvement and Fiat and performed “The Sound of Music” more than 300 performers, as well as ContactKarma, a on NBC’s The Today Show. social recommendation engine that lists business vendors “I love opera,” says Thiers. “I think it’s the pinnacle of with client ratings. where music can go and the greatest exploration of a musical In 2006 President George W. Bush recognized Thiers instrument a person can do.” as the Small Business Administration Young Entrepreneur Thiers lives in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood of the Year, and her companies have won more than 18 major with her husband, Dan Ratner, and their one-year-old awards, including the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center identical twins. ] Momentum Award, the Women’s Business Development Center Rising Star, and the UPS Out of the Box Award.

fanfare FALL 2013 37 in memoriam

Gertrude Martha Sayles Ambrose Kathleen Iyone Mulcahey Post (38), in Nevada, Iowa, on March 5 (50), in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, on June 12 Eileen Stonich Stock (39), in Lisle, Illinois, on June 18 Loretta Recht (50), in Sun City West, Arizona, on May 24 Mary L. Gray Brooks (40, G42), in Santa Barbara, California, Daniel Robert Teare (50, G51), in on January 11 Chelsea, Michigan, on April 25

Kathryn Olsen (40), in Dubuque, Eugene Hoyne Clark (51, G52), Iowa, on April 1 in San Francisco on March 2

Elizabeth K. Ray (42), in Green- Huel Davis Perkins (G51, G58), ville, South Carolina, on June 14 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on April 15 Jane Hay Wood (42), in Skokie, Illinois, on May 24, 2011 Earl Mortensen (52), in Santa Rosa, California, on May 4, 2012 Marjorie Cutler Harding (43), in San Luis Obispo, California, Mary Jane Snyder (53), in Fort DAVID BURGE (1930–2013) on April 25, 2012 Myers, Florida, on May 10 David Burge (51, G52), a champion of contemporary Georgia Bettes Norlin (47), in Lake Bertina Corsgen Hill (54), in piano music and a longtime faculty member of the Barrington, Illinois, on May 8 Hopewell Borough, New Jersey, Eastman School of Music, died at age 83 on April 1 on September 26, 2012 John W. Pozdro (48, G49), in in Warwick, Rhode Island. Born in Evanston, Burge Austin, Texas, on January 1, 2009 Norma Eilene Willoughby (55), graduated from Evanston Township High School in Williamston, Michigan, on before attending Northwestern, where he earned a Elizabeth Bauer Kaminski (49), June 18 bachelor of music degree in 1951 and an MM in 1952. in Santa Clara, California, on After serving in the US Army during the Korean War, July 16, 2012 Donald G. Larson (G56), in he earned a DMA and artist’s diploma at Eastman and Decatur, Georgia, on February 26 Robert L. Lee (49, G49), in studied in Italy as a Fulbright fellow. Renowned as Milwaukie, Oregon, on Henry D. Anderson (G57), in one of the world’s leading interpreters of contempo- February 5 Orlando, Florida, on April 5, rary piano music, he was particularly associated with 2012 the music of George Crumb and was the dedicatee of Caryl Bader Emerson (50), that composer’s 1972 Makrokosmos, volume 1. Burge in Benicia, California, on taught at various colleges and universities, including November 4, 2012 the University of Colorado (1962–75), before joining the Eastman faculty, where he served from 1975 until his retirement in 1993. Author of the 1990 book Twentieth-Century Piano Music, Burge was also active as a composer, notably as composer in residence with the San Diego Ballet.

fanfare FALL 2013 39 alumni

2000s continued Karin Bliznik We want to hear from you! Jay Dorfman (G06) is an assistant (G08) was Please email your news to [email protected] professor of named principal or submit your news online at music education trumpet of the music.northwestern.edu/alumninews. at Boston Uni- St. Louis versity and the Symphony in current presi- June. She was in music theory and pursue dent of the previously asso- research investigating how listen- Technology ciate principal trumpet of the ers perceive themes and support- Institute for Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and ing parts in chamber music. Music Educators. Oxford Univer- has held principal positions with sity Press recently published his the Charlotte and Charleston Andrew Goodlet (G11) won the first book, Theory and Practice of Symphony Orchestras. Bliznik assistant principal bass position Technology-Based Music Instruction. continues to serve as principal with the Winnipeg Symphony trumpet of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. Erik Anstine (07), a bassist, is a Orchestra. member of the Zürich Opera’s Kangmin Justin Kim (11) covered permanent ensemble and will be Yoni Kahn (09, WCAS09) is a the role of Menelao (and musi- featured in productions of Don cofounder of Grand Harmonie, cally covered other castrato roles) Giovanni, Faust, Alcina, and Il ritorno an ensemble performing 19th- in Cavalli’s recently rediscovered d’Ulisse in patria as part of the com- century music played on original opera Elena at France’s Festival pany’s 2013–14 season. or replica period wind and brass instruments. Grand Harmonie Aix-en-Provence this summer. In November he will sing the role Brittany Hendricks performed in June as part of on tour throughout Europe. (07) has been the Boston Early Music Fringe appointed assis- Nomi Epstein (G08), a composer Festival. Ryan Beach (G12) was named tant professor of and performer, is busy in two 2010s principal trumpet for the trumpet at Ball ensembles: NbN Trio, a Chicago- Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra State University. based acoustic, experimental in June. She received her improvisational group that Christian Gero DMA from the includes Nora Barton and Billie (10) won the Gillian Kraus- University of Alabama in May. Howard; and a.pe.ri.od.ic, an Joseph Jefferson Neale (G12) was all-female acoustic improvisation Award in sound chosen as the group. The Chicago Tribune pub- design for his soprano in the lished an interview with Epstein work on Flare Path Madison in June before a.pe.ri.od.ic per- at Chicago’s (Wisconsin) formed at Constellation, a new Griffin Theatre. Opera’s young Chicago venue for experimen- artist program tal music. In fall 2012 Epstein Scott Seyfarth (10) received a for its 2013–14 season. appeared on a composers panel National Science Foundation East for the Bienen School’s John Cage Asia and Pacific Studies Institute Festival, the kickoff event of the grant to conduct research at Josephine Lee (G07) is president school’s Institute for New Music. New Zealand’s University of and artistic director of the Canterbury this past summer. Chicago Children’s Choir, which Kirsten Broberg (G09) was serves more than 3,200 children appointed to a tenure-track Lee Weisert (G10) was appointed through programs at 60 Chicago position at the University of to a tenure-track professorship in Public Schools and other after- North Texas. Broberg is the composition at the University of school programs. The choir reg- founder of the Chicago-based North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ularly performs with area cultural Ensemble dal Niente, which won organizations such as the Chicago the Kranichstein Prize at the 2012 Ben Duane (G11) has been Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Darmstadt Summer Courses and appointed assistant professor Opera of Chicago, and River completed a weeklong residency of music at Washington University North Dance Company. at the Bienen School this spring. in St. Louis. He will teach courses

38 donors

John Evans Circle Andrea (GBSM95) and Mark We are grateful to all who have made contributions to the (GBSM95) Amdahl Taylor ($5,000–$9,999) She-e Wu Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music. The following Michelle Miller Burns (BSM90)* Jack Nelson Young (WCAS48) donors have given $1,000 or more from September 1, 2012, Fidelity Investment Charitable Connie and David E. (KSM00)* through August 31, 2013. We also thank our many valued Gift Fund Zyer/George and Arlene Rusch donors and friends who have given gifts of less than $1,000 Marshall K. Grossman Memorial Foundation during this period. (WCAS70) Rose Ann Grundman (WCAS47, G48) Members Founders Circle President’s Circle Northern Trust ($1,000–$2,499) Frank H. Philbrick Foundation Holly Aaronson (BSM89) ($50,000 or more) ($25,000–$49,999) Rice Family Foundation Janet and Paul Aliapoulios Anonymous Glenn H. Anderson† Charlene (WCAS70) and Association of American Neil G. Bluhm (L62)/Bluhm Leigh B. and Henry S. Bienen Robert E. (McC70, KSM81) Railroads Family Charitable Foundation Jane Ann (C69) and Richard H. Shaw/Shaw Family Supporting Jean and John C. (WCAS63, John A. Canning (EB69) Dean* Organization L66) Berghoff Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation Margee and Scott H. (McC65, Gail (SESP70) and William C. Melanie L. Bostwick (WCAS04) Chicago Community Trust KSM67) Filstrup* (KSM74)* Steinmetz Boone Brackett (FSM66)* Davee Foundation Mae Sisler Stemple† Charitable Joy S. Brassington (BSM64, Selme and Shaun (KSM95) Dean’s Circle Trust GBSM65)† Finnie* ($10,000–$24,999) Suzanne and James B. Margaret A. Gerber (WCAS39, Rosemary and John W. Croghan Fellows (WCAS77) Bronk FSM44) Ellen and Allan R. Drebin* Canning Foundation ($2,500–$4,999) Ellen J. (WCAS70) and Byron L. Gregory (WCAS66, Lisa and E. Michael* (WCAS59) Kenneth Cahn/Winning Ways Howard C. Katz L69) Carney III Foundation Carol and David McClintock Sara and John Hendrickson Linda (BSM68, GBSM69) and Sandra (BSM62) and Russell Trust Carol (GBSM85) and Joel D. Peter (BSM68, GBSM70) (BSM61, GBSM62) Dagon Jr. John W. Meriwether (EB69)/ Honigberg*/Joel & Carol Crisafulli Sally S. and Bernard J. Meriwether Foundation Honigberg Fund Joanne Kriege Cruickshank (GBSM81) Dobroski National Christian Foundation Elizabeth S. and Alexander I. (BSM57, GBSM58) Michelle M. Gerhard (McC82) William A. (WCAS69, KSM73) (C74, G75) Rorke* Robert E. (EB56) and Sally Hagan/Bertha Lebus and Cathleen McCurdy Trine Sorensen-Jacobson* Mrs. Robert E. Curley Charitable Trust (WCAS72) Osborn and Michael Jacobson Laurence D. Davis Nancy Witte Jacobs (BSM52) Cari B. and Michael (KSM88, Rosemary J. Schnell (WCAS54) Elizabeth K. Dean Kip Kelley* L88) Sacks/Sacks Family Securitas Foundation Thomas Doran Jr. (BSM57, Sherry (GBSM85, KSM90) Foundation Carole (WCAS62) and Gordon I. GBSM59, GBSM68) and Walfrid Kujala Schwab Fund for Charitable (EB60) Segal/Segal Family Anne W. Eagleton (BSM58) Eric A. Lutkin Giving Foundation Barbara Seablom Edwards Mary L. (BSM73) and Michael S. Kimberly Querrey and Louis A. Marcia Lynn Friedl and Todd A. (BSM55) (BSM72, GBSM73) Mark (WCAS58) Simpson (KSM73)* Smith/Smith Family Rebecca and Julius E. (GBSM68, Sharon and R. Eden Martin Helen and Richard L. Thomas Foundation GBSM72) Erlenbach Patricia S. and Clyde E. Betty Alexander Van Gorkom Wayne Gibson (GBSM62, (BSM40)† Miller (BSM42)* GBSM72) Presser Foundation Todd M. (WCAS87) and Ruth Jerry W. Glennie (BSM53) Price Water House Coopers Warren Scott G. Golinkin (BSM74, Helen J. (BSM86, KSM90)* GBSM75) and Guy J. Raymaker Kay Griffel (BSM60) Carole M. (BSM61, GBSM62) Philip H. Hagemann (BSM54) and Jerry Ringer* Cynthia and Jonathan Hann Evelyn M. (SESP59) and Sheldon M. Harnick (BSM49) Joel S. Siegel Mark D. (WCAS73) and Janet Strunk Hassakis

40 𝄌

Graduate student Jing Qiao practicing before her April 15 performance in the Kennedy Center Conservatory Project

Donald E. Hassler (BSM50) Nancy T. (GBSM86) Patricia (BSM49) and Henri B. Michael B. Wallace (BSM91, Margaret (G75) and Robert and R. Hugh Magill (BSM50, GBSM51) Pensis WCAS91) Hastings Marilyn McCoy and Charles R. Kay L. Pick* Jon D. Wenberg (BSM90, Sally Madden (SESP61) and Thomas Jeanne and Carl Rudiger GBSM92) Thomas Z. (WCAS62, L65) Amy and John McHugh Mary Ann (BSM61, GBSM62) Dorte and Lewis J. (WCAS52) Hayward Jr.* Nancy L. (BSM57) and and Dennis (WCAS52) Sadilek West Marilyn Riggs Heath Fred C. Meendsen Patricia Schaefer (BSM51) Mary A. (BSM61) and Cecil B. Arthur J. Hill Thomas W. Miller Jeannette J. (BSM70) (BSM60, GBSM61) Wilson Dr. A. John Holstad (GBSM62, Alice S. Mills and Harold Segel Luann M. H. Wolf GBSM73) Thomas E. Mintner (BSM72) Marjorie F. Shansky (BSM70) Janice G. Yingst Karen L. (GBSM76) and Harriet M. Mogge (BSM49, Louise K. Smith* Ling Zhao-Markovitz (GBSM89)* Jeffrey F. (WCAS73) Johnson BSM59) Jennifer M. and James R. (L77) and Michael C. Markovitz Phillip and Janelle Johnson Bill Muster Foundation Stevens Jr. Gail J. (SESP58) and Thomas R. Sharon Lenz Nix (BSM68, Janet M. and Kenneth R. Talle (BSM56) Kasdorf/Kalamazoo GBSM70) Jacalyn and William Thompson For information on donating to the Bienen Community Foundation Elizabeth R. and William I. Vanguard Charitable Endowment School of Music or to report errors, please Katherine Levy (BSM82) (McC79) Nowicki Program call 847/491-4509. David Loebel (C72, GBSM74) NTI Americas Adair Waldenberg (WCAS72) Sheryl D. (BSM81) and Robert A. Nancy Pritchard Orbison and Jon K. Peck *Member of the Bienen School (McC81) Long (BSM75, GBSM81) Avonelle S. Walker (GBSM62) of Music Advisory Board †Deceased Bienen School of Music Nonprofit organization Northwestern University U.S. Postage PAID 711 Elgin Road Permit No. 205 Evanston, Illinois 60208-1200 Evanston, IL music.northwestern.edu

Opening Concert Thursday, October 10, 7:30 p.m. Pick-Staiger Concert Hall Composer Roundtable Readings, lectures, and presentations by guest composers and Bienen School faculty Friday, October 11, 4 p.m. Lutkin Hall Closing Concert Friday, October 11, 7:30 p.m. Pick-Staiger Concert Hall

NED@90: A TRIBUTE TO NED ROREM More details at pickstaiger.org