Fall 2005

The Fall, 2005 semester marked our last with Susan Bess Patrick, AssociateProfessor of Music History. During her undergraduate days, Dr. Patrick briefly considered a degree in French language and literature.  Fortunately for us at UNM, however, she decided that music and musicology were more reflective of her broader interests.  She subsequently earned a B.A. in music from Sophie Newcomb College (Tulane University) and her M.M. and Ph.D. in musicology from the prestigious University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Dr. Patrick came to UNM in the fall of 1974, and proceeded to teach the various period history courses and applied harpsichord, as well as perform on harpsichord in various faculty concerts.  Those of us who took her classes quickly noticed the high level of expectation that she demanded of her students.  Some of us thought perhaps we should buy stock in red ink pens, in view of the amount of that color that regularly appeared on our corrected exams and homework papers.  And we were dismayed that Dr. Patrick took it upon herself to correct not only our musical facts, but also our grammar!   We thought that wasn't quite fair, since we were not taking English classes.  As one can imagine, however, our protests went unheeded, and of course, years later we have to admit that we now appreciate her thorough approach to teaching.

She also coached the UNM Early Music Ensemble, together with Floyd Williams, the professor of clarinet who was also a virtuoso performer on the recorder.  Under the direction of the Patrick-Williams team, the Early Music Ensemble flourished and gave a number of well-received performances, including a collaboration with the UNM Opera Studio in the production of the medieval Play of Daniel in the early 1980's.  Dr. Patrick also served as Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts for five years or so in the 1990s–she referred to herself as a "Deanlet".

Dr. Patrick has always professed a love for performing, and has played continuo with the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and the Desert Chorale, as well as on faculty and student recitals at UNM.  Since 1997, she has performed on harpsichord with the ensemble she helped to found, the Albuquerque Baroque Players.  The group consists of Baroque oboe/recorder, Baroque violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord, and gives a regular concert series in Albuquerque and Corrales. 

Among Dr. Patrick's fond memories of her time at UNM are the "Musical Jokes and Diversions" concerts that the faculty used to give as fundraisers for the Friends of Music.  These included two of the high points of her performing career–on Hoover vacuum cleaner and on paper bag.  She also remembers a wonderful performance of Marin Marais' Le Tableau de l'opération de la taille, a programmatic work describing a gall-bladder operation.  She played harpsichord, Kevin Vigneau (Prof. of Oboe) was the surgeon, and Patrick Hughes (Prof. of Horn) was the unfortunate patient.

She also remembers a number of all-night recording sessions in Keller Hall on the Opus One label, produced by Max Schubel.  Many of the faculty were involved in those sessions, and of course nighttime was the quietest time in the hall.  Max liked recording in Albuquerque, she says, because the faculty were all such excellent performers.

Other memorable events are the medieval dinners that she used to host for her medieval history class students.  Once she had a Baroque dinner, and all the students came in rented period costumes—except for shoes.  She said it was really humorous to see all the period lace and brocade with tennis shoes sticking out underneath.   She also had forgotten, until this interviewer reminded her, that during one of her first couple of years at UNM, she sewed peasant shirts for all the male members of the Early Music Ensemble.  At least one of those shirts is still hanging in the Sheinbergs' closet.

Dr. Patrick plans to continue performing during her "retirement."  Baroque Players will give concerts in February and April (the latter will be a special presentation of Lenten and Easter music with guest soprano Elizabeth Ronan) and the group will perform on the Indianapolis Early Music Series next July.  On March 17, Dr. Patrick will perform with Baroque oboist MaryAnn Shore and Baroque cellist Joel Becktell at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, and on April 23, she will appear as guest performer on the Placitas Artists Series with soprano Joanna Morska-Osinska.

What she will miss most in her retirement is her colleagues, and she hopes that she will be able to continue performing with them.  She also misses those colleagues who have passed on, especially Rita Angel and Frank Bowen.

UNM has been Dr. Patrick's first and only college teaching job, although she did teach one summer school Music Appreciation course at UNC right after graduation.  She says that over the years, she has a taught "a million and one" courses, including those she co-taught with other faculty across campus in history, language, and medieval studies.  She is, by her own description, passionate about teaching. 

She is also passionate about learning, and has always availed herself of one of the perks of full-time faculty, and that is being able to take classes herself.  She has taken many so-called "serious" courses, but has also taken classes in bread-making and French pastry-making, as well as tailoring, and all of them have been great experiences. Last summer, she attended the Boston Early Music Festival (as she has many times since its inception in the early 1980s) and participated in the Baroque Institute at the Longy School of Music in Boston.  The year before, she attended a continuo workshop at Eastman School of Music, and last August she took part in the Double Reed and Continuo Workshop here in Albuquerque.  Her own interest in learning is one reason she likes teaching.  She has always felt that students should take courses in broader fields, if for no other reason than we never know which way the winds will blow in life, and we can't predict what we'll end up doing or being interested in after we graduate.

­A special note for all those who valiantly struggled through Dr. Patrick's Bibliography & Research class:  When asked whether she ever questioned her course requirements when she was a student herself, she admitted that she did in fact object to having to take Bibliography in graduate school!  Later, of course, she had to acknowledge that the course was an invaluable experience.

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Chad Simons recently joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico. His duties as Associate Director of Bands include directing the Spirit Marching Band, Soundpack, Symphonic band, and teaching various courses in music education.  

Before coming to UNM, Mr. Simons had been the Associate Director of Bands at Idaho State University.  His duties in Pocatello included directing the ISU “Bengal” Marching Band, teaching courses in music education, theory, student teacher training, and music appreciation.  He also directed the basketball band, second jazz band, and the concert band. Periodically, he also directed ISU’s first jazz ensemble and taught undergraduate conducting.  Before going to ISU in 2001, Mr. Simons taught in the public schools in Forsyth, Montana.  He also served as a teaching assistant at Oklahoma State University, where he assisted with and conducted the athletic bands, concert bands and chamber winds and taught various undergraduate courses.  Mr. Simons holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Montana, Missoula, and a master's in Wind Conducting from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater.

Since April of 2000, the UNM Wind Symphony has been associated with Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic.  Mr. Alessi has recorded two internationally-distributed CDs with the Wind Symphony, performed several concerts on our campus, and taught a number of masterclasses.  In August, the Department continued its association by hosting the 2005 Joseph Alessi International Trombone Seminar.  The event attracted some 60 professional and college-age trombonists from around the world for ten days of intensive coaching, concerts, and workshops taught by Mr. Alessi and his staff. 

Included in the seminar were free public concerts featuring soloists, trombone quartets, and trombone choirs.  Highlights were a solo recital by Mr. Alessi and a Trombone Concerto Concert in Popejoy Hall featuring soloists from the Buffalo Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra, United States Marine Band, and Mr. Alessi, accompanied by the Wind Symphony under the direction of Eric Rombach-Kendall, Director of Bands.

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Eric Lau has been hired this fall as assistant professor of saxophone.  He has been on the faculty UNM since 2003 as a visiting assistant professor of saxophone.  He has a D.M.A. and M.M. from Michigan State University and an undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University.  Dr. Lau has taught on the faculties of the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, at Olivet College in Michigan, and at Hope College in Michigan as both saxophone professor and jazz band director.  As a member of the Great Lakes Saxophone Quartet, he recorded Urban Requiem by Michael Colgrass and Three Blues for Saxophone Quartet by Charles Ruggiero on the Arizona University Recordings label.  He has also been involved with the commission of new saxophone works by Gunther Schuller, Javier Arau, Michael Conti, John Richards and Phanos Dymiotis.

Jennifer Lau is teaching applied flute this year while Valerie Potter is on sabbatical.  She is also performing with the faculty woodwind quintet, New Mexico Winds.  Ms. Lau has a D.M.A. from Michigan State University, and has been teaching Music Appreciation courses at UNM for several years.  This spring she will also be teaching music theory

UNM's first-ever endowed scholarship in choral music has been created!  Named for the famous composer, the Morten Lauridsen Choral Scholarship was announced at a benefit concert of his music, with the composer present, in April of 2004.  The $20,000 goal was reached this fall and the first awardee is Roberto Gómez-Sánchez, a graduate student in vocal performance.  Endowments named for long-time Director of Choral Activities John Clark, as well as for African-American composer (and visiting guest director) Robert Ray, will be launched in the 2005-06 school year.

This semester's Opera Studio presentation was Giulio Cesare, featuring an all-student cast in a staged production of Handel's famous Baroque opera.  The work was sung in Italian to a duo-piano accompaniment provided by UNM faculty members Pamela Pyle and Brady McElligott.  Performances were given October 28-29 in Keller Hall, with a special additional performance for the Music Appreciation students of Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute.  All three performances enjoyed packed houses, proving that opera is alive and well in the Southwest.  Prof. Marilyn Tyler is the director of the UNM opera program.

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September 23rd was the date of UNM's celebration of the Albuquerque Tri-Centennial, with many of the public presentations held in the lobby of the College of Fine Arts.  Students from all the CFA Departments participated in the day's events via performances and exhibits.

	Keiko Shimono, student of Pamela Pyle, performs at Tricentennial Day
	Opera Studio performs for students during Tri-Centennial Day

ISACOFF LECTURES ON TUNING

In October, noted author Stuart Isacoff gave a lecture in Keller Hall on the history of temperament, based on his book, Temperament:  How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization. A pianist and composer, Mr. Isacoff is founding editor of Piano Today, Executive Editor of Sheet Music Magazine, and a recipient of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing about music.  He has also contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of American Music and has written for the New York Times.

David Schepps, Professor of Cello, reports that cello students were treated to a recital given by Evan Drachman on October 18th at Robertson & Sons Violin Shop. Mr. Drachman is the grandson of the late Gregor Piatigorsky, legendary Russian cellist.  His program included Bruch's Kol Nidrei and the Dvorak Cello Concerto (with piano).  The following day, he gave a 3-hour masterclass in UNM's Keller Hall.

In September, cello students had the opportunity to play in another masterclass, this one given by Gregory Sauer, professor of cello at the University of Oklahoma.  Prof. Sauer also gave a recital in Keller Hall.  He is assistant principal of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and performs in Quartet Oklahoma.

Renowned British bass trombonist Jonathan Warburton will be performing a recital in Keller Hall on February 6th and presenting a masterclass for UNM brass students.

The UNM Choral and Vocal areas, in collaboration with the Music Education area, provided an all-day workshop for Albuquerque area high schools on Friday, September 23.  The clinic was geared toward helping prepare students for their 2005 New Mexico All-State choral auditions. Sectional rehearsals and sightreading clinics were led by Regina Carlow, Assistant Professor of Music Education, and Bradley Ellingboe, Director of Choral Activities, assisted by Music Education instructor Erica Otero and conducting graduate student Ethan Smith.  Leslie Umphrey, Associate Professor of Voice, presented a session on breathing and vocal technique.  Participants in the workshop were treated to performances by the UNM Concert Choir, under the direction of Prof. Ellingboe, and the Opera Studio, directed by Professor Marilyn Tyler, as well as vocal performances and masterclasses led by voice faculty members Leslie Umphrey, soprano, and tenor Sam Shepperson.  Lunch was provided for all participants.  Over 170 students attended, representing 17 area public and private high schools.

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String Day was held October 5 in the Center for the Arts.  This annual event helps high school string players work on their All-State audition music.  Students were able to participate in small classes with UNM faculty members Cármelo de los Santos (violin), Kim Fredenburgh (viola), David Schepps (cello) and Mark Tatum (doublebass).

	The Spirit Marching Band gears up for the new season with a rehearsal al fresco in front of the Center for the Arts, August, 2005
	Students relax after a successful final class performance in Leslie Umphrey's "Fundamentals of Singing" class, Summer, 2005
	Scott Ney leads a timpani fundamentals session at UNM Percussion Day

SPRING COURSES OF INTEREST

Guest lecturer Rahim Alhaj will present Introduction to Middle Eastern Music, a 3-hour course offered as Music 436/536 Topics in Contemporary World Music.  The course will cover the history and background of music from Turkey, the Near East, Iran, and North Africa, including instruments, musical styles and forms, modes, and rhythms.  The course will also feature lectures and performances by guest musicians. Latif Boulat and Farzad will demonstrate and discuss the Turkish saz and the Persian violin, respectively.  UNM Music alum Ken Battat will give a lecture-demonstration on Middle East percussion.  Prof. Steven Feld will speak on the importance of improvisation in Middle East Music.  For more information about this unusual course, contact Mr. Alhaj at Rahmalhajj@aol.com.

A special course offered by guest lecturer Amy Greer will explore practice and performance issues.  Students will learn to evaluate their habits and assumptions and discover ways of building on their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.  This course will be offered as Music 435.  Contact the instructor at greers@copper.net for more information.

This course will cover the design of interactive real-time algorithmic music.  Taught by UNM theory faculty member Panaiotis, it is titled Sound and Music in Virtual Reality Environments, Data Visualization, Simulation, and Gaming Topics and will be offered under course number 439/539.  The curriculum will include MIDI communications, command structure and device architecture, the Max family of digital audio and real-time algorithmic software tools, digital signal processing as it relates to music, and interactive real-time music composition.  The course is project-based, including the study of advanced algorithmic processes and the use of semi-predictable external data structures; it also includes design of real-time sound and music in virtual-reality immersion and gaming systems.  Students will create public multi-media works as part of their final project.  Informal music and/or computer experience is highly recommended, but not required.  Contact the instructor at panaioti@unm.edu for more information.

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Dr. Patricia Repar will be offering Arts-in-Medicine I, a service-learning course exploring connections between the creative experience and healing process. Offered as Music 487/587, it is designed for healthcare professionals, community members, educators, musicians, dancers, actors, and artists and students in all disciplines who are interested in exploring the transformative power of the creative process. Contact Prof. Repar for more information (repar@unm.edu).

FACULTY NOTES

Bruce Dalby, Professor of Music Education, has had an article published in the September edition of the Music Educators Journal.  Entitled "Toward an Effective Pedagogy for Teaching Rhythm: Gordon and Beyond," it is a commentary on and extension of Edwin Gordon's ideas on audiating rhythm.  Prof. Dalby's Tune Assistant, a software program for playing, displaying and organizing hundreds of tunes from throughout the world, is being published this fall by GIA Publications of Chicago.  See the GIA website listing at http://giamusic.com/scstore/P-652.html; information is also available at http://www.tune-assistant.com.  Dr. Dalby is the developer, author, and administrator of the official website for Music Learning Theory and the Gordon Institute for Music Learning (http://www.giml.org).

While on sabbatical this fall, Dr. Karl Hinterbichler, Professor of Trombone, attended string masterclasses at the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes in New York City.  Prof. Hinterbichler was a contributing co-author for Solos for the Student Trombonist, published by BIM in Switzerland, and has just completed a series of orchestral etudes for bass trombone and tuba.  His preface to the Violin Concerto by Frederick Delius has also been accepted for publication by Musikproduktion Jürgen Höflich in Germany.  Dr. Hinterbichler's arrangements have been performed by a number of artists:  The Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet recently performed and produced a radio recording of his arrangement of Spanish Renaissance Villancicos (published by Mark Tezak Verlag),the Manhattan Brass Quintet has given a number of performances of his arrangements of Aaron Copland's Cuban Overture and Shostakovitch's Preludes and Fugues, and his bass trombone edition of John LaMontaine's Conversations was recently performed by British trombonist Jonathan Warburton.  In addition, his arrangement for trombone choir of a Mexican folk tune was performed by more than fifty trombonists at the Alessi Seminar held at UNM last summer.  After completing an advanced course in mediation, Dr. Hinterbichler continues to be involved in the campus mediation process as a coach for mediation students.  He was a recent participant in the CASTL-sponsored Small Group Instructional Diagnosis Workshop, and on October 26, he delivered a lecture on Igor Stravinsky as part of the "Unlocking the Classics" series.  On January 25th and 26th, he will deliver two lectures on the life and music of Mozart for the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Mozart Festival.  In February, he will be performing as principal trombonist in the Opera Southwest production of Madama Butterfly.

Steven Feld, Professor of Anthropology and Music, has recently been promoted to the rank of UNM Distinguished Professor, the highest rank bestowed on faculty.  Distinguished professors are individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievements and are nationally and internationally renowned as scholars.  Prof. Feld is a scholar in music, language, sound, and contemporary world music.  He received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship in 2003-04 and is the founder and director of VoxLox, a documentary-sound art label that produces CDs advocating for human rights and acoustic ecology.  He has also received grants from the International Community Foundation and from UNM for research and recording in Japan and Africa.  The third CD in his series, The Time of Bells, is now available; it istitled "Musical Bells of Accra, Ghana."  This fall he gave the Ethel V. Curry Distinguished Lecture in Musicology at the School of Music, University of Michigan, and was a featured artist at the Earth To Earth Acoustic Ecology Concert at Frederick Lowe Theatre in New York, sponsored by the Electronic Music Foundation.

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Bradley Ellingboe's "Be Music, Night," written for the Desert Chorale, was featured last March on NPR's "Performance Today."  His new piece for men's chorus, entitled "Innisfree," will be premiered by the Harvard Glee Club on their tour to the southern U.S. in March, and will be published by Oxford University Press.  As director of the Senior Choir of St. Paul Lutheran Church, he reports that the choir has been asked to sing at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to represent New Mexico on its "State Day" this coming June.  Prof. Ellingboe was recently elected to the national Board of Directors of the Chorister's Guild.

Jeffrey Piper, Professor of Trumpet, performed at the International Trumpet Guild Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, June 21-24, 2005.  He will return to perform and present masterclasses when the New Mexico Brass Quintet travels to China this coming April 3-10.  The Quintet will perform at the Central Conservatory of Music and participate in the first annual trumpet conference hosted by Dai Zhonghui and the International Trumpet Guild.  The other members of the Quintet are Spencer Aston, trumpet, Susie Fritts, horn, Debra Taylor, trombone, and Paul Carlson, tuba.  Fritts is Assistant Professor of Horn; Aston, Taylor and Carlson are all graduate students in music.

Pamela Pyle, Professor of Collaborative Piano, taped a performance on the "Martha" (Stewart) show this fall, accompanying young violinist Caroline Goulding.  In September, Prof. Pyle was the pianist for the first Robert McDuffie and Friends Fall Festival for Strings held at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Masterclasses were given by Mr. McDuffie, concert violinist, David Halen, concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Sabina Thatcher, principal viola of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Rex, principal cello of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Andreas Diaz, concert cellist.  In September, Prof. Pyle gave a piano masterclass at the University of Arizona, and was invited back in November to adjudicate at the Presidential Concerto Competition.  On February 4, she will be performing with faculty bassoonist Denise Taylor and on February 6, she will be performing with guest artist Jonathan Warburton, bass trombone.  On February 7, she will give a recital with guest artist Daniel Avshalomov, violist of the American String Quartet, as a benefit for the Friends of Music.  Prof. Pyle has also received a grant from the College of Fine Arts to tour Taiwan with Nancy Tsung Hau, violinist at the Taipei National University of the Arts.

In August, Falko Steinbach, Associate Professor of Piano, performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the "Koelner Kammerphilharmonie" under Michael Willens in Brauweiler, Germany, as part of the "Classic Nights " series.  In September, he chaired the jury of the International Piano Institute's Competition Internationalé, held at UNM.  The contestants, including sixteen semifinalists and six finalists, performed for seven judges from Mexico, the U.S. and Germany.  This competition was the pilot project for more international piano competitions that Prof. Steinbach hopes to establish at UNM.  Prof. Steinbach also played a recital with colleagues David Schepps and Cármelo de los Santos.  His composition "Spero Lucem" and the "Halleluja" from his Thomasmesse were published in the book Patentloesung oder Zankapfel, available from Verlag Peter Lang.  Prof. Steinbach will be on sabbatical during the Spring 2006 semester, during which time he will be giving a mastercourse in Heek at the Landesmusikakademie in Germany.  He will also be a judge for the Texas Music Teachers Association Piano Competition in Midland, and will be working on his sabbatical project–seventeen innovative etudes for piano.

The new edition of the Grout History of Western Music (edited by J. Peter Burkholder) contains a section titled "For Further Reading" that includes, under the "John Cage" heading, a book about John Cage, Silencing the Sounded Self: John Cage and the American Experimental Tradition, written by UNM Regents Professor of Music Christopher Shultis.  It also includes a book edited by David Patterson, John Cage: Music, Philosophy and Intention, that contains Shultis's essay, "No Ear for Music: Timbre in the Early Percussion Music of John Cage."

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NM violin professor Cármelo de los Santos, viola professor Kimberly Fredenburgh and oboe professor Kevin Vigneau traveled in May, 2005, to Lisbon, Portugal, as the guests of the Academia Nacional Superior da Orquestra (National Academy of Orchestral Studies).  There they gave three days of instrumental masterclasses to the talented students of the academy, considered the best conservatory in Portugal, with an enrollment of over 500 students. This academy is part of a larger project, in which the professors of the academy also perform in a chamber orchestra and give many solo and chamber music recitals as part of the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon (Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa), an ensemble that services the whole metropolitan area of Lisbon.  The UNM musicians were joined by Cármelo's sister, cellist Lisiane de los Santos, a graduate of the National Academy of Orchestral Studies, in two chamber music performances in Lisbon.  These performances included works of Britten, Mozart, Handel and Villa Lobos.  The trip was something of a homecoming for the trio–Prof. de los Santos was the winner of the Julio Cardona international violin competition sponsored by the academy in 2003, and Vigneau was a professor at the academy and principal oboe of its associated orchestra from 1993-96.  Plans are underway to establish an exchange program between the UNM Department of Music and the Academia Nacional...stay tuned!

Kevin Vigneau, Kimberly Fredenburgh, Cármelo de los Santos and Lisiane de los Santos in Portugal

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS

The Piano Competition Internationalé, held in September in Keller Hall, attracted international competitors of all ages and backgrounds.  Yuri Chayama, current graduate piano student of Falko Steinbach, tied with Boston pianist Mana Tokuno for first prize.

Several music students were award winners in this year's Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium, held in November.  Violist Rafael Howell-Flores (student of Kim Fredenburgh) and pianist Makiko Kimura (student of Pamela Pyle) presented a lecture and performance of the music of Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla.  Their project was called “Astor Piazzolla and Le Grand Tango" and was mentored by Prof. Fredenburgh.  The Undergraduate Woodwind Quintet also won an award for their lecture-presentation entitled ”Contemporary Versus Classical."  Amanda Kober (flute), Erin Warren-Sams (bassoon), Jen Shark (oboe),  Stephanie Akau (clarinet), and Sabrina Carrillo (B.M., 2002, bassoon) were mentored by Denise Turner, Lecturer in Bassoon.

After a rigorous selection process and intensive rehearsals, master's students Dan Kinsman (tuba) and Jason Sulliman (bass trombone) are currently on a year-long national tour with the cast of BLAST. 

Tuba master's student Scott Beaver has completed his basic training and is now a member of the West Point Band.  He is scheduled to solo with the band this coming season.

Beth Yip, master's degree student in Theory and Composition, won a Student Creative Research Grant Award this fall for her project "Harvesting Local Soundscape."  Her grant is in the "Expressing Community" category, and the project will involve pedestrians co-creating soundscapes from the environ, with these to be transmitted real-time to another environ where seeds will be given away to honor local roots.  Beth is a composition student of Prof. Christopher Shultis.

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Edward Wolfe (B.M.E., 1968; M.M., 1973) teaches instrumental music in California and is in his 35th year as a public school teacher.  At San Dimas High School, he is responsible for three concert bands, two jazz ensembles, drum-line, color guard, music theory and two jazz combos.

Maia Draper, former concurrent enrollment student of Falko Steinbach, has been accepted to the undergraduate program for Arts and Music in piano at Stanford University.  Another of Professor Steinbach's former students, Katharina Lambeck, won the "Nachwuchspreis of the NRW Ria-Fresen-Stiftung in Germany.

Javier Mendoza (M.M., 2003) has been named music director and conductor of the Metropolis Youth Symphony in Arlington Heights, Illinois, replacing Dr. Robert Hasty of Northwestern University.  Mendoza is also Music Director and Conductor of the Chicago Arts Orchestra, a professional chamber orchestra in residence at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago.  He was recently invited to conduct at the Young People's Chorus of New York City as part of the Transient Glory Festival, which showcases works for treble choruses composed by leading American composers.  Composers in attendance included David Del Tredici, Bright Sheng, Michael Torke and Benjamin Lees.  Mendoza conducted Lees' The Nervous Family, with lyrics from Edward Lear's poem of the same name.

Former UNM trombone student Abbie Conant is currently Professor of Trombone at the Trossingen  Hochschule in Germany.  She has toured throughout the United States and Europe as a soloist.  This last September she appeared as part of UNM's Keller Hall series with her husband, composer William Osborne (B.M., 1973), who supplied music, video and direction.  The program was Cybeline, a quadrophonic surround sound mini-opera with computer-generated accompaniment, video, and live electronics, and featured the Egyptian goddess Maat, a vengeful opera singer, cyborgian attack dogs, Psalms, Schubert lieder, a country western song, Native American poetry, Hildegard von Bingen, Mother Nature and a tribute to Joni Mitchell.

After being on tour for the past nine months with the Tommy Dorsey band, bass trombonist Jason Oliver (M.M., 2004) has recently returned to the University of North Texas to complete his D.M.A. 

Trombonist John Stringer (M.M., 1998) has returned to his position in the Xalapa  Symphony Orchestra after spending time at the University of North  Carolina at Greensboro working on his D.M.A.

Erik Ettinger (M.M., 2005), former piano student of Falko Steinbach, has been accepted into the doctoral music education program at the University of Florida, Gainesville, with a piano assistantship.

Cody K. Wesner (M.M., 2005), former vocal student of Leslie Umphrey, is currently free-lancing in Albuquerque.  In September, she performed to critical acclaim as Aldonza/Dulcinea in the Albuquerque Little Theater's production of Man of La Mancha.

Philip Moody (M.M., 2000), former conducting student of Bradley Ellingboe, will receive his D.M.A in conducting from the University of Houston in May of 2006.

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Deborah Weagel (M.M. in Theory and Composition, 1997; M.A. in French, 2001) is currently a doctoral student in English Language and Literature at UNM. Her paper “Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in Seventeenth-Century New Spain and Finding a Room of One’s Own,” published in CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 7.1 (March 2005), can be viewed at http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb05-1/weagel05.html. Another essay, “Musical and Verbal Counterpoint in Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould,” was published in Word and Music Studies 7 (Rodopi, 2005). In addition, Weagel’s book review of Surveying the Literary Landscapes of Terry Tempest Williams: New Critical Essays, edited by Katherine R. Chandler and Melissa A. Goldthwaite, was included in The Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature 58.2 (2004). She also received funding from the Office of Graduate Studies and the Department of English that enabled her to conduct biographical research this past February in Paris and Bayonne, France. Most of her work on the French violinist Jean-Delphin Alard took place at the Bibliothèque Municipale in Bayonne. Her article “Shedding Light on Jean-Delphin Alard: 19th-Century Violinist, Pedagogue, and Composer” was published in VSA Papers, a journal of the Violin Society of America and the Catgut Acoustical Society. Weagel has also presented papers at professional conferences this year in Santa Barbara, California, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and Albuquerque. She will be included in the 25th edition of Who’s Who of American Women and in the 2005-2006 edition of Madison Who’s Who.

Deborah Weagel in Biarritz, France, 2005

Craig Russell (B.M., 1973, M.M., 1976) visited campus last March to lecture on composition. Craig earned his Ph.D. in historical musicology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and since 1982, has been a professor of music at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.  In 1994-95, Dr. Russell has received the California State University Trustees' Outstanding Professor Award, as well as the Outstanding Professor Award at Cal Poly.  Among his compositions are two musical comedies, two symphonies, the orchestral suite Middle Earth, a piano concerto, a bass concerto, numerous chamber pieces, sets of songs, choral music and several solo guitar works.  His Concierto Romántico for guitar and orchestra has been recorded by José María Gallardo del Rey and has been performed widely.  Both the Concierto and his Rhapsody for Horn and Orchestra were performed in Carnegie Hall, and his string quartet ¡Al Zócalo! was premiered in the Kennedy Center in 2000.  Last March, the Santa Fe Women's Ensemble gave the world premiere of his Seasonal Dances, four unaccompanied songs for women's voices based on texts by New Mexico poet Stephanie Sydoriak.  Dr. Russell is also steeped in the choral literature of the Hispanic New World; he has published many articles on 18th-century Hispanic studies, Mexican cathedral music, the California missions, and baroque guitar music.  In addition, he has authored 26 entries for the newest edition of The New Grove Dictionary.  He has collaborated with the ensemble Chanticleer on three CDs, two of which were nominated for Grammy awards.

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Frederick Christopher Williams
1953 – 2005

Fred Williams, 51, passed away on May 20, 2005.  Fred was born December 20, 1953, and graduated from Sandia High School in 1971.  He attended the University of Indiana for a year on scholarship, then returned to study at UNM, where he took courses in music education.  Fred became fluent in Russian and visited the then Soviet Union with groups of young people on several occasions.  After a terrible accident on the highway south of Isleta Pueblo, where he was walking his bike and was struck by a hit-and-run driver, he was hospitalized for a grave injury to his left leg.  He later lost the leg to osteomyelitis.  Seven years ago, Fred developed acute renal failure and had been on dialysis until shortly before his death.  He is fondly remembered by his family and friends for his kindness, sense of humor, and joyful personality, as well as for his love of music and composition.  He is survived by his son, Sam Williams of Albuquerque, granddaughter, Alexis Stern-Williams of Little Elm, Texas, parents, Dr. Ralph C. Williams, Jr., and Mary Williams of Santa Fe, sisters, Cathy P. Williams of Albuquerque and Ann C. Williams of Overland Park, Kansas, and brother, Michael T. Williams of Austin, Texas.

taken in part from the obituary published in the
Albuquerque Journal, May 23, 2005

Music Alums, inquiring minds want to know what you’ve been doing!

Send your news to Colleen Sheinberg, Newsletter Editor Department of Music, MSC04 2570 1 University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001 (or e-mail:  colleens@unm.edu) Photos are welcomed and will be used on a space-available basis.

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