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Las Cantantes, under the direction of Dr. Maxine Thévenot, had a very busy fall semester. In October the ensemble performed on the Lunchtime Series at The Cathedral of St. John in Albuquerque and gave a concert in Keller Hall with Prof. Pamela Viktoria Pyle, collaborative pianist. For the second time this year, the group was invited to sing on the Arts-in-Medicine program at UNM Medical Center’s Bill and Barbara Richardson Pavilion. Additional performances were given at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Keller Hall and Faith Lutheran Church. During these concerts they gave the world premieres of two works written especially for the ensemble—Lo How a Rose, arranged by Richard Hermann, and Cradle Song, by Iain Quinn. In November, the highly anticipated release of the ensemble’s first commercially released recording on the Raven CD label came to fruition. Entitled My Dancing Day: Music for Christmas, the disc includes three works by the ensemble’s founder, Prof. Bradley Ellingboe, as well as the title work by John Rutter, My Dancing Day, with harpist Lynn Gorman DeVelder. Other local artists featured include Jeffrey Cornelius, marimba, Claudia Giese (B.M., 1978), oboe, and Iain Quinn, organ. |
Las Cantantes at Faith Lutheran Church, Albuquerque |
Based on the success of this recording, Las Cantantes has been invited to sing this coming May in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at Grace Church on lower Broadway, at the historic Cathedral of the Incarnation, and at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, where they will replace the resident choir in the worship service. Their itinerary also includes attending a concert of the New York Youth Symphony at Lincoln Centre, a backstage tour of Carnegie Hall and Manhattan School of Music, and a Broadway show. They will also participate in a masterclass at Union Theological Seminary with countertenor and choral director, Robert Isaacs.
The ensemble will perform concerts this spring in Albuquerque on March 13 in Keller Hall and on May 8 at The Cathedral of St. John.
Concerts in the Community
On November 22, the lobby of the Center for the Arts was the location for “Concerts in the Community,” an opportunity for music students to perform as a benefit for UNM’s United Way campaign. Organized by Pamela Pyle, Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Piano, the event involved student musicians performing prior to the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra concert in Popejoy Hall. Donations to United Way were accepted during their performances.
Students also performed on December 7 for a fashion show at Dillard’s as another fundraising event for United Way. Performers for these events included pianists Matthew Stewart, Juliana Jorge and Makiko Kimura, vocalists Ivan Miller and Andrea Kiesling, and violinist Roberta Arruda. Two saxophone quartets also performed: Paul Gibson, Jonathan Robak, Chrissie Whitlock and Amy Oakes in one group and Marcos Colón, Jamie Schippers, Jennifer Macke and John Cristiano in the other.
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Art Song Competition Held The first annual Vocal Artistry Art Song Competition in October brought in fifty singers from throughout the state. Over $4,000 in prizes was awarded, and inspiring masterclasses were offered by Elizabeth Mannion, Grace Jacobson from Western Michigan University, and John Kennedy from Santa Fe New Music. UNM students Rene Sosa-Provencio and Rebecca Knack took prizes in the Music Education category. UNM voice majors Ivan Miller, Michael Stokes, Essence Johnson and Melissa Riedel-Espinoza won prizes in the Emerging Artist division. |
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Vocalist Erik Clack with accompanist Mary Ann Ybarra |
Masterclasses Given for UNM Students
Avant-garde and jazz trombonist Brian Allen presented a solo recital and masterclass in Keller Hall this past November. David Vining, noted trombone soloist, will present a recital and masterclass in Keller Hall on Feb. 5.
The piano faculty was happy to arrange with Jon Nakamatsu to give a masterclass for students of Dr. Falko Steinbach and Prof. Pamela Pyle during his tour to New Mexico in November. Mr. Nakamatsu was the winner of the Gold Medal at the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas.
Robert Morris Visits UNM
November 2-3 featured a residency at UNM by Robert Morris, Chair of the Composition Department at the Eastman School of Music. On Nov. 2, Dr. Morris was a guest on "Other Voices, Other Sounds," broadcast on KUNM with host Christopher Shultis, UNM Professor of Theory and Composition. The following day featured a masterclass for UNM composition students and a Composers Night Lecture by Dr. Morris in the Center for the Arts. Dr. Morris has written music for a wide diversity of musical forms and media and has composed over 160 works, including computer and improvisational music. Much of his output from the 1970s is influenced by non-Western music and uses structural principles from Arabic, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, and early Western musics. He has found much resonance among his musical aesthetics, his experiences in hiking (especially in the Southwest), his study and appreciation of Carnatic music of South India, and his reading of ancient Indian, Chinese, and Japanese Buddhist texts. Among his present compositional projects is a series of works to be played outdoors in a natural setting.
Octubafest Features Guest Demondrae Thurman
Richard White, Assistant Professor of Tuba at UNM, reports that Octubafest 2008 was held October 13-17. This year’s featured performer and clinician was Demondrae Thurman, Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Alabama. Prof. Thurman gave a solo recital on Monday night, and other festival attractions included student solo and chamber performances and the Finale Concert, “Octubaween,” on Friday evening. Octubafest is an annual event sponsored by the Harvey Phillips Chapter of I.T.E.A. (International Tuba Euphonium Association).Dixie Pack New to UNM
Eric Lau, Assistant Professor of Saxophone, announces the formation this fall of the UNM Dixie Pack, a new Dixieland jazz ensemble. The purpose of the ensemble is to provide UNM students with an opportunity to improve their small ensemble and improvisational skills while learning to play in the Dixieland style. The primary performance venue for this ensemble will be home UNM volleyball games. The group will also perform at a number of other UNM events.
Department to be Honored by NMMEA
The New Mexico Music Educators Association has named the UNM Department of Music the 2009 recipient of the Rollie V. Heltman Distinguished Service Award in recognition of UNM’s hosting of the All-State Music Festival and In-Service Conference for many years. The award will be made at NMMEA’s annual Business/Awards Dinner on January 8 during the 2009 All-State Festival at UNM. The Department is happy to have had the privilege of sharing its facilities with New Mexico educators and students and is honored to be chosen for the 2009 award.
John Robb Documentary Airs on KNME
This past summer, public television station KNME Channel 5 (PBS, Albuquerque/Santa Fe) presented a program entitled “The Musical Adventures of John Donald Robb." John Robb served as Dean of the College of Fine Arts from 1942 to 1957. Part biographical sketch of an adventurous musician, and part modern-day exploration with ethnomusicologists and folklorists who look to our musical past for greater cultural understanding, this half-hour documentary revived and celebrated New Mexico’s disappearing folk music traditions. This KNME production aired in June and July on seven different dates, including one simulcast in HD on Ch. 35. The program was made possible with major funding from Sanford N. McDonnell Foundation, New Mexico Arts, a division of the Office of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts. It was produced and directed by Kelly Kowalski, KNME, and edited by David Leach, with videography by Robert McDermott and Paige Thomas.
NASA Conference to be Held at UNM
UNM is proud to be hosting the 2009 North American Saxophone Alliance Region 2 Conference this coming February 22-23. The program will include performances, papers, panel discussions, lectures, lecture recitals, clinics, masterclasses and other presentations that relate to saxophone performance, pedagogy, research and other areas of concern to saxophonists. The origins of the North American Saxophone Alliance date from the First World Saxophone Congress, held in Chicago in December of 1969. Following the lead of the Association of French Saxophonists, which was created in 1971, the North American Saxophone Alliance was established in 1976 under the leadership of Frederick Hemke. Since then, NASA has offered state, regional, and international conferences attracting many important saxophonists to present performances, lectures and masterclasses. NASA is the largest organization in the western hemisphere dedicated to the establishment of the saxophone as a medium of serious musical expression. For more information about the upcoming conference on the UNM campus, please contact Prof. Eric Lau at elau@unm.edu.
FACULTY NOTES
Professor Bradley Ellingboe, Director of Choral Activities, led the Louisiana All State Women's Choir in October. In January, he will lead two days of workshops for the Oregon chapter of the American Choral Directors Association and will also give two days of workshops for the University of Washington choral program. In February, he will lead a graduate seminar in choral conducting at Boston University and will be guest clinician for the Radcliffe Choral Society.
David Schepps, Assistant Professor of Cello, was soloist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in November in three performances of Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo (Hebraic Rhapsody) for Violoncello and Orchestra. Prof. Schepps has been a member of the NMSO since 1999, and has been heard on NPR's Performance Today as a soloist and chamber musician. He was a winner of the NMSO's concerto competition, which allows orchestra members to take a starring role as soloist in a concert, performing a piece of their choice. David chose Bloch’s masterpiece in memory of his late father, who had listened to it often as one of his favorite recordings.
Dr. Karl Hinterbichler, Professor of Trombone, gave a presentation on September 5 at St. John’s College in Santa Fe as part of the Dean’s Lecture Series. His lecture, entitled “Dies Irae Chant from the Middle Ages to the Present,” explored the melody of the chant and its continued significance in western culture, with musical examples from the works of Berlioz, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Ysaÿe, Respighi, Shostakovitch, Crumb and others. In March, Dr. Hinterbichler will be repeating this lecture on the Kansas City Library Lecture Series, and will also give a masterclass at the University of Missouri Kansas City, Conservatory of Music. In January he will lecture for the Cervantes Institute Lecture Series on “Alfonso X and the Cantigas de Santa María: Lessons for Today’s World” at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Dr. Hinterbichler continues to publish musical arrangements for brass as well as reviews for the International Trombone Association Journal, for which he continues to serve as Assistant Editor. His performing activities include playing principal trombone in Opera Southwest’s productions of Fledermaus (October, 2008)and Lucia di Lammermoor (upcoming in March, 2009) and recitals with the New Mexico Brass Quintet in December at Immaculate Conception Church in Albuquerque and at St. James Episcopal Church in Taos.
Dr. Steven Feld, Professor of Anthropology and Contemporary World Music, will be Ernest Bloch Professor of Music at the Department of Music, University of California, Berkeley in the Spring 2009 semester. He will deliver the six Bloch lectures and teach a graduate seminar.
Patrice Repar, Professor of Theory and Composition and Arts-in-Medicine, is working on a new initiative in South Africa entitled South West Meets South Africa: Cross-pollinating Images, Sounds, and Stories for Art and Healing. Current activities include securing funding for the project, presentations at conferences, an article in progress, and a recent trip to South Africa.
Jacqueline Zander-Wall, Instructor of Voice, judged the National Association of Teachers of Singing “Singer of the Year Award” at Oklahoma City University in November.
Falko Steinbach, Associate Professor of Piano, gave an International Mastercourse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He also played two solo recitals for the “KL International Masterclass.” Assisting him were two of his former students at UNM, Yuri Chayama and Shu Ching Cheng. In Albuquerque, he performed for the donors of the UNM Children’s Hospital. Recently he performed the world premiere of his new Etude 53 for piano, and his trio If that helps for piano, oboe (Kevin Vigneau) and viola (Kim Fredenburgh). This fall he was a guest on KUNM’s “Other Voices, Other Sounds,” hosted by Chris Shultis—OVOS is New Mexico's premier radio showcase for contemporary music and sound art with an international perspective. Currently, Prof. Steinbach is busy publishing his 53 etudes for piano with the Edmund Bieler publishing house in Cologne, Germany.
CK Barlow performed at the Galapagos Art Space in New York in November as part of the NWEAMO (New West Electro-Acoustic Music Organization) 2008 Festival. Carla currently teaches Computer Applications courses and manages the Music Computer Lab in the Department.
Regina Carlow, Assistant Professor of Music Education, has been named the 2008-2011 Regents’ Lecturer in the College of Fine Arts. Dr. Carlow was selected for this honor because of her excellence as a teacher, her research in music education, and especially her work with the UNM Children’s Chorus.
In October, Dr. Maxine Thévenot recorded two new organ solo recordings for the Raven CD label (www.ravencd.com). The first was recorded at the Cathedral of St. John, on New Mexico’s largest pipe organ. Titled Fiesta, it includes well-known works, including Suite Gothique by Leon Boëllmann, and will be released in April 2009. The second CD was recorded at Girard College, Philadelphia, on the Chapel’s historic and world-renowned 1933 Skinner pipe organ. The disc will be released in January 2009. Dr. Thévenot may also be heard on the newly released CD Missa Orbis Factor, which features the Cathedral of St. John Choir and Maxine in her role as Associate Organist-Choir Director. Featured on this disc are numerous premiere recordings by David Arcus, Judith Bingham, Gerald Near, Stephen Paulus, Iain Quinn, and Peter Togni. On October 19, the date chosen by the American Guild of Organists as the International Day of the Organ, Dr. Thévenot was the chosen guest artist on the annual Roy A. Johnson Memorial Organ Series at the University of Arizona. She also served as the guest lecturer for the AGO chapter dinner, where she gave a presentation on organs from around the world. In November, Dr. Thévenot performed on Canada’s largest pipe organ, housed in Metropolitan United Church in Toronto. There she gave the Canadian premiere performance of Totentanz by London-based composer Martin Stacey.
Jeffrey Piper, Professor of Trumpet, has been awarded the International Trumpet Guild’s Award of Merit. The ITG’s goals are to promote communications among trumpet players around the world and to improve the artistic level of performance, teaching, and literature. The Award of Merit is given to those individuals who have made substantial contributions to the art of trumpet playing through performance, teaching, publishing, research, composition, and/or support of the goals of the ITG. In October, as president of the ITG, Jeff also had the honor of presenting the organization’s Honorary Award for Louis Armstrong to the Louis Armstrong House and Archives in New York City.
CFA Awards ‘08-‘09 Grants
Patrice Repar, Assistant Professor of Theory and Composition and Arts-in-Medicine, has received a Grant Project Assistance Grant of $2,000 towards developing a proposal to fund a service-learning, transdisciplinary project/course, South West Meets South Africa: Cross-pollinating Images, Sounds, and Stories for Art and Healing.
Falko Steinbach, Associate Professor of Piano, received a Research & Creative Works Grant of $800 towards the publication of a CD of 17 choreographic piano etudes.
Maxine Thévenot, Lecturer, received a $1,000 Research & Creative Works Grant toward expenses for UNM’s women’s chorus, Las Cantantes, to travel to New York City to perform in May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at Grace Church in Manhattan, at Cathedral of the Incarnation on Long Island, and to lead the service at Church of the Heavenly Rest.
Eric Lau, Assistant Professor of Saxophone, will receive $1,000 to attend and perform the world premiere of Backjump for alto sax, flute and digital audio at the 2009 World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, Thailand.
Keith Lemmons, Professor of Clarinet, is awarded $700 towards attending and performing at the 2009 International ClarinetFest in Porto, Portugal, in August 2009.
Paul Lombardi, Lecturer in Theory and Composition received $500 to attend the premiere of his commissioned composition for percussion quartet at Emporia State University, Kansas, in November 2008.
Christopher Shultis, Professor of Theory and Composition is awarded $719 toward expenses to attend the Society for American Music national conference in Denver in March 2009.
STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Vocal student Janice Torres won first place in the regional and state PMTNM (Professional Music Teachers of New Mexico) honors competition. She received the Joyce Walker award in the honors division. UNM students Rebecca Hellbom came in second and Rebecca Knack came in third place. Elysia Myers received an honorary mention. Michael Stokes won first place in the state in the College division competition of MTNA. All are vocal students of Jacqueline Zander-Wall.
Zack Kear, Music Computer Lab manager and current graduate student in Theory and Composition, participated in two workshops on Building a Contact Mic and Circuit-Bending during the 2008 Oscillations electronic music festival held this fall in Albuquerque.
ALUMNI UPDATE
Sharon O'Connell Campbell (B.M., 1997, and former vocal student of Bradley Ellingboe) earned her D.M.A. in voice performance this past August from the University of Kansas. She is now Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Last spring she sang Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and she is currently working on touring a staged concert called "Songs of Pioneer Women" with Sarah Tannehill and Sylvia Stoner, sopranos, and Ellen Bottorff, pianist. She and her husband, Joseph Campbell, have a very tall two-year-old named Eamon.
John Stringer (M.M., 1997) and Jakub Dedina (M.M., 1999), both former students of Karl Hinterbichler, are continuing as members of the trombone section of the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra and have sent the photo below. John is playing principal and Jakub second. The Xalapa Symphony is the oldest full-time orchestra in Mexico. Its members are also on the faculty of the University of Vera Cruz.
Kira Horel (M.M., 2008) has moved back to Kansas to be near her family after earning her master’s degree in conducting last spring at UNM. She hopes to begin D.M.A. studies next year in instrumental conducting. Meanwhile, she has been working with various orchestra ensembles, including a church orchestra, a community orchestra, and the UMKC conservatory orchestra. She will also be performing on a cruise ship (Holland America Oosterdam) playing violin in a string quartet for three hours every day.
Kassey LeBow (B.M., 2001) reports that in May her professional chamber music group, Areon Flutes (www.areonflutes.com), was awarded the bronze medal from the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. They are the first flute group in the history of the competition to ever make it past the quarterfinal round. The members of Areon Flutes are Miyazawa Flute Artists. Kassey also had her Carnegie Hall debut with Areon last September, and they received rave reviews. They are set to premiere a work by and with flute pedagogue guru Robert Dick and to record a full-length CD in 2009. In addition to her busy schedule with Areon, Kassey also has a full private studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her students have won several national, California state, New Mexico state, western regional, and San Francisco Bay Area district solo and chamber music competitions, and hold high-ranking positions in several prominent Bay Area youth symphonies. Kassey’s website has her current bio, résumé and pictures (www.kassey.com).
Ann Baltz (B.M.E., 1976) is currently on the opera faculty of California State University, Northridge. She is also the founder and Artistic Director of nationally acclaimed OperaWorks, teaching performance skills and operatic improvisation for opera companies, conservatories and universities. She is a frequent presenter at the Classical Singer's conventions, and has been a speaker for Opera America's seminar Building a Career: Strategies for Success. In addition to her UNM degree, she holds a master’s in piano accompanying from Arizona State University and studied at the San Francisco Opera, where she received the Otto Guth Award for outstanding coach in the Merola Program. Deeply committed to new and experimental works, Ann has served as music director for new works projects at the Minnesota Opera Institute and Portland Opera.
Since completing her master’s in oboe, MaryAnn Shore (M.M., 2002) has turned her focus to early music, specializing in Baroque oboe and recorder. She has performed with such world-class Baroque orchestras as Musica Angelica, the National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra and the Orchestra of New Spain and appears regularly with Santa Fe Pro Musica. In May 2008, she returned from a year of study toward a Performer Diploma on Baroque oboe at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute. While at Indiana, she worked with the early music faculty and filled in as Acting Director of the School of Music’s Pre-College Recorder Program. MaryAnn is a founding member of Albuquerque Baroque Players, which presents a regular season of performances of Baroque music, and invites some of the finest Baroque performers as guests. In 2006, ABP was invited to participate in the Indianapolis Early Music Festival. ABP members include Susan Patrick, UNM Emerita Associate Professor of Music, and Mary Bruesch, Fine Arts & Design Library music specialist.
After graduating with a degree in composition, Daniel Birns (B.M., 1979) moved to New York with his wife, Joyce, and two daughters so that he could pursue music. In 1987, he earned an MBA from New York University and has been a software programmer ever since, though he plays music daily. He and his family now live in Santa Cruz, California. He reports that he achieved some momentary success during the dot-boom, which allowed him time to teach music at the local Waldorf School for two years, and has since returned to a Silicon Valley job, though he does get to work mostly from home, where he’s never far from the instruments strewn around his workroom. Daniel says that one of his most valued recordings is of John Clark leading the choir in two of his compositions—John, he says, could make even his student work sound impressive. To hear some of Daniel’s recent recordings, visit his website at http://www.danielbirns.com.
In Memoriam
Prof. Emeritus Wesley Thomas Selby, Jr. (1927-2008) passed away on July 3, 2008. Prof. Selby served on the UNM faculty from 1964-1988, teaching organ, music theory, composition and conducting. He was a seminal person in designing and teaching in the first electronic music studios at UNM. He also directed the installations of both the Holtkamp organ in Keller Hall and the Wicks tracker organ in the Alumni Memorial Chapel, and built a harpsichord, which he donated to UNM. Born in Salisbury, Maryland, Wes began his organ music career by playing for Sunday services at the age of nine. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNM and a master’s degree at the University of Colorado. A long-standing member of the Albuquerque chapter of the American Guild of Organists, he held organist and choirmaster positions at several Albuquerque churches over the years, including the Cathedral Church of St. John, St. Paul Lutheran Church and St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. Wes is survived by his second wife Connie Selby, his children Peggy Loftfield, Thomas Selby, Laurie Stanton, Wesley Mark Selby, eight grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, Peggy Ann Howard and Paula Jones.
Scott Allan Ramsey, 67, passed away as the result of a heart attack on June 28, 2008, in Farmington, New Mexico. Born in Salt Lake City, Scott moved to Los Alamos during elementary school and graduated from Los Alamos High School in 1959. He earned a B.A. in music education from UNM and an M.A. in Music Performance from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. He retired from 26 years of band directing in the New Mexico public schools—in Las Cruces, Los Alamos, Aztec and Farmington—and in 2003, he was inducted into the New Mexico Music Educator Association's Hall of Fame. After retirement, he opened Ramsey Music and Art Studios in Farmington, where he taught private lessons and operated a stained glass shop. He performed in several musical organizations, among them the San Juan Symphony, the Four Corners Brass Band, the Jeff Solon Swing Band and the Red Apple Flyer Dixieland Band. He was a founding member of the brass quartet Brassworks 4, which toured the U.S. for almost nine years. He composed and arranged music for a variety of media, including brass quartet and quintet, choir, stage band, and brass band, and more than 70 of his works have been published. Scott is survived by his wife Linda; two children, Sean and Nan; three grandchildren, and two brothers, Ross and Charles.
Photo from Brassworks 4 website
http://brassworks4.com/biographies.html
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