Winter 2007-2008:
Two recent graduates of the Brandeis Music Department, Grace Allendorf '04 and Megan Bisceglia '07, have successfully taken the next step in their music careers, having been accepted to graduate study in voice performance. Grace has been accepted at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA, and Megan has been accepted at both the Longy School and at Ca. State University, Fullerton, CA.
John Aylward, PhD Composition '08 has been appointed Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at Clark University. Congratulations, John!
Jacquelyn E. C. Sholes accepted a position as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music History and Literature at Williams College for 2008-09
Neal Hampton conducted a performance of Tom Stoppard's and Andre Previn's "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" at Town Hall, New York City on March 14. Info at http://www.bu.edu/cfa/incite/play.html
Composer Seung-Ah Oh (Ph.D 2005 ) has been awarded third prize in the Lutoslawski International Composers’Competition 2007 for her string quartet Crossing (2006). Sponsored by the Witold Lutoslawski Society (Poland), the Competition is open to composers of all nationalities and ages. The prize includes an award of 1250 euros.
Pre-premiere of Elliott Carter's Horn Concerto. On November 14, the students of Professor Olesen's MUS 113a: Introduction to Conducting were special guests at a closed rehearsal by conductor James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra of the Elliott Carter's Horn Concerto. The concerto, which is a commission by the BSO for their principal horn James Sommerville, will have its world premiere on Thursday, November 15. The students also met briefly with Elliott Carter, thanks to the good graces of assistant principal bassist, Larry Wolfe (husband of Vocal Instructor Pamela Wolfe).
Peter Lieberson, Ph.D., Composition and Theory, 1984 has won the 2008 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his Neruda Songs. The song cycle, based on five love poems by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, was chosen for the $200,000 prize among 140 entries from around the world. Neruda Songs was composed for Peter's late wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and was performed by her with the Los Angeles and Boston Symphony Orchestras in 2006. A live BSO performance has been released on CD by Nonsuch. www.newmusicbox.com
www.grawemeyer.org/music/index.html
Some of Davy Rakowski's compositions can be seen/heard on YouTube, here are the links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0uYaPPJ05M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwlxKideqig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57hPzm4DJ7M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGmw9GYdlgU
and more:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rakowski+etudes
http://www.newmusicbox.com/chatter/chatter.nmbx?id=5175
http://www.sequenza21.com/index.php/504
Fall 2007:
Graduate composer Jeff Roberts has been invited to present a paper at the International Society for Improvised Music 2007 Conference held in Chicago in December. His paper will discuss relationships between traditional guqin music and guqin master Li Xiangting’s method of improvisation on guqin. This will include a discussion of the concept of ‘Yi Jing’ (immediate impression made by a work of Chinese art) and how Mr. Li uses ‘Yi Jing’ impressions from Tang, Yuan and Song Dynasty poetry to shape his improvisations. Jeff will also perform a guqin improvisation as part of the presentation.
Musicology graduate student Jacquelyn Sholes is the 2007 recipient of the Karl Geiringer Scholarship on Brahms Studies. The title of her dissertation, which she will be completing this year, is "Transcendence,' 'Loss,' and 'Reminiscence': Brahms's Early Finales in the Contexts of Form, Narrative, and Historicism".
Composition grad student Peter McMurray has been awarded a Barlow Endowment for Composition commission for 2007 to compose a work for the Willow Flute Ensemble. He is one of only 10 composers from a group of 135 applicants to receive this prestigious award this year.
A Welcome Back Party was held for faculty and students on August 29th. Pictures will be uploaded soon!
Kate Housman '07 , undergraduate major who received a May degree in Performance, has just been appointed Registrar for the Cape Cod Conservatory. A fine horn player, Kate has also been appointed fourth horn in the New England Philharmonic Orchestra.
Cellist Joshua Gordon and pianist Randall Hodgkinson have a new cd out Leo Ornstein: Complete Works for Cello and Piano, that has been getting rave reviews. Quoting from the September 16, 2007 NY Sunday Times: "On a fine new disc from New World Records the value of his (Ornstein) powerful works for cello and piano is revealed by the pianist Randall Hodgkinson and cellist Joshua Gordon, admirable chamber musicians who play with passion and sensitivity....these exemplary performances should ensure that Ornstein's cello works will enjoy some of the limelight the composer shunned for so long."
Spring/Summer 2007:
Herman Melville's novel Pierre with its provocative tale of incest and death has not been treated well by history. With its aching prose and powerful emotions it was perhaps always meant to be an opera. Adapted by composer Richard Beaudoin, the cast includes Joseph Kaiser (Kenneth Brannagh's The Magic Flute) and Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne at Paris Opera 2008). Conducted by Christopher Ward (assistant to Sir Simon Rattle), accompanied by Constantine Finehouse (Juilliard), directed by Andrew Steggall (L'histoire du soldat at the Old Vic). This half hour performance is a thrilling opportunity to see the opening act of an opera-in-progress.
The Arcola Theatre, London, E8 2DJ
22 August 2007; 8pm; £10.
www.arcolatheatre.com
Through the generosity of Mrs. Miriam Jencks, the department recently received a gift of a Viennese fortepiano, built in 1835 by Josef Worel. The instrument, restored by Mr. Keith Hill, has a range of 6 and 1/2 octaves, CC – g’’’’ and five pedals (Una Corda, Bassoon, Dampers, Moderator, and Bass Drum with Janissary Bells). Its sound has been described as sweet, resonant, colorful, and powerful overall. It will be premiered at a memorial concert for the late biologist and Brandeis Professor William Jencks in Slosberg Concert Hall on Sunday July 8. Professor Robert Hill from the Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg will perform works by Mozart.
Evren Celimli ’93 composed the score for the feature-length documentary film Beyond Belief, which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival at the end of April. For more information on Evren, go to his website at: www.evrencelimli.com.
Richard Belcastro (MA, Composition and Theory, 1999) was recently appointed Administrative Director of Education and Community Partnerships for the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Scott Brickman (Ph.D. Composition and Theory, 1996) has been promoted to Professor of Music and Education at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Silvio dos Santos (Ph.D. Musicology, 2003) has been appointed Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Jeremy Sagala (Ph.D. Composition and Theory, 2006) has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Music at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Sarah Mead, Associate Professor of the Practice and Director of the Brandeis Early Music Ensemble, is the recipient of Early Music America's 2007 Thomas Binkley Award for outstanding achievement by a university collegium director.
The cd Complete Works of Leo Ornstein for Cello and Piano, featuring Brandeis faculty member and cellist Joshua Gordon and pianist Randall Hodgkinson was recently reviewed online in Fanfare magazine, where it was praised as being “full of interest and beauty. He [Gordon] finds the logic in this music through his sensitive phrasing, and his rich burnished tone.” (Fanfare Magazine, July/August 2007)
Brian Levy (Ph.D. student in musicology) is also a professional jazz saxophone player. This past May he performed at the North City International Jazz Festival in Kosovo. He is spending the summer in Germany thanks to grants from the Brandeis Center for German and European Study and the Max Kade Foundation where he will work on his German language skills.
Richard Beaudoin’s (Ph.D. candidate in Composition and Theory) recent paper “Counterpoint and Quotation in Ussachevsky’s Wireless Fantasy” will appear in this summer’s 12-2 issue of the journal Organized Sound published by Cambridge University Press. Richard is this year’s recipient of the Ira Gershwin Prize in Music from Brandeis.
In June, violinist and faculty member Dan Stepner will offer a one-week workshop at Brandeis entitled Unaccompanied Bach Workshop for Violinists. Participants will receive intensive coaching, master classes, and lecture-demonstrations, and will perform in concert.
Welcome to Wayne Marshall (Ph.D. Ethnomusicology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007) who has just been appointed Florence Levy Kay Fellow at Brandeis.
Wayne’s areas of interest include cultural studies, Hip-hop, Reggaeton, and electronic popular music. This two-year appointment, in collaboration with the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, will enable him to conduct research and offer one course per semester for students in both departments.
Congratulations to the 2007 Graduates!
Doctor of Philosophy in Music Composition and Theory
Derek Wade Hurst
The Classical Tradition and Arnold Schoenberg’s “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, OP 42:” Monothematic Sonata Form, Long-range Voice-leading and Chromatic Saturation “.…ai tempi, le distanze…for piano and electronic sound” (composition)
Jeremy David Sagala
Materials and Form on Davidovsky’s “Flashbacks” “Lumen”(composition)
Master of Fine Arts in Composition and Theory
Peter Collins Bayne
Ashley Nolan Floyd
Royden Emmett Tull
Master of Arts in Composition and Theory
Todd Stephen Hartigan (awarded posthumously)
Master of Arts in Musicology
Zachary Israel Ebin
Janice E. Mercurio
Bachelor of Arts in Music
Naomi F. Graber
Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude with high honors in Music, David A. Greene, M.D., Class of ’71, Memorial Prize in Music, Additional major: English and American Literature
Minor: Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Mary Kathryn Housman
Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude with highest honors in Music
Phyllis and Lee Coffey Award in Music
Micah S. Lewis
Bachelor of Arts in Music
Jonathan O. Mandel
Bachelor of Arts in Music
Roth John Arthur Michaels
Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude with honors in Music
Minors: English, American and Anglo Literature
Graham J. Patten
Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude with highest honors in Music
Dorothy Haas Siegel Music Award
Jeremy S. Schmuckler
Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude with honors in Music
Minor: Yiddish and East European Jewish Culture
B.A. or B.S. with minor in Music
Megan Bisceglia, English and American Literature
Laura Bonaccorsi, Neuroscience, Biology
Yi-Ting Hsieh Chao, Biology
Joshua Klein, Economics, Politics
David Zimmerman, Neuroscience
Winter 2007:
Jeff Roberts is currently a 2006-07 Fulbright Fellow in China, residing as a Senior Scholar in Guqin performance at Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. He will continue his studies leading guqin master Li Xiangting, professor of guqin. In addition to guqin studies and research, he will also compose music that combines western and Chinese instruments. He also plans to study and research minority Chinese folk music in Yunnan and Xinjiang provinces with a trip to Mongolia planned as well. Previously, Jeff was also awarded the 2005 Beijing Outstanding Scholar Award from CET Academic Programs. He used this scholarship to study language in Beijing and begin studies on guqin with Professor Li. www.improvis.org/
Seung-Ah Oh, '05 has received a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship of $15,000 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Endowed in 1978 by the CBS Foundation, this fellowship is given to mid-career composers of exceptional gifts.
Composer Eric Chasalow was awarded the 2006 Sylvia Goldstein Award for his Flute Concerto (2005) in January 2007. The award, administered by the Copland House, was created in 2003 to help support the recording, performance, or publication of one outstanding work each year written at least in part at Copland House by an Aaron Copland Award resident composer. Flute Concerto was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation and premiered in the fall of 2005 here at Brandeis. With the Auros Group for New Music. It received its New York premiere in November 2006.
In December, Composer David Rakowski was awarded a $30,000 grant from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation, in collaboration with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. The grant is in the form of a commission for a 30-minute piano concerto for Marilyn Nonken (she also has to play a toy piano!) and BMOP. The premiere of the concerto is November 2 of this year in Jordan Hall, Boston; and the concerto will be recorded for CD release in the days following. This is Davy’s second commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation; in 1996 he was co-commissioned by them and Ensemble 21 for Sesso e Violenza, a 23-minute piece for 7 instruments, which was also recorded commercially.
The Foundation's web page is www.koussevitzky.org.
Fall 2006:
Graduate student composer Jeff Roberts is spending the 2006-7 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar in Beijing, China where he is studying guqin at the Central Conservatory and also planning some study of folk music in south China and other related projects in the north and far west.
Graduate composer John Aylward is a fellow at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and the Atlantic Center for the Arts this fall. Aylward's new music group, East Coast Composers' Ensemble will perform concerts this fall at the New England Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and The Conservatory of Campinas in Sao Paulo, Brazil. John will be at the MacDowell Colony in the spring.
Seung Ah Oh has an appointment as a visiting lecturer at University of Florida in Gainesville.
In addition to his work as a graduate student in composition, Rick Beaudoin has had an appointment as a Visiting Professor at Amherst College, where he recently helped organize a forthcoming philosophy department lecture series called 'Philosophy and Music'. His appointment at Amherst continues for the spring 2007 term.
Graduate composer Peter McMurray will present a talk entitled Praying Eastward, Rapping Westward: The Rise of Bosniak and Albanian Rap and the Disintegration of Yugoslavia at the Columbia U. Music Scholarship Conference Music and Postcolonial Studies in February, 2007.
And graduate composer Max Dulaney has won first prize in the ASCAP/SCI Commission Competition. He will be writing a piece for the SCI Conference in the coming year.
This past August, Composer David Rakowski was awarded the prestigious Barlow Prize for $15,000 by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University. The award includes a commission to compose a new work for a consortium of five wind ensembles.
Among the many celebrations in honor of Irving G. Fine Professor of Music, Martin Boykan's 75th birthday was the Annual Irving G. Fine Memorial Concert at Brandeis on October 29, 2006. The program juxtaposed works of Fine and Boykan, including Marty's motet Song of Songs, Second Chances for mezzo-soprano and piano, Shakespeare Songs, and the world premiere of Piano Trio #3, "Rites of Passage."
In November Composer Eric Chasalow's Flute Concerto (2005) was given its New York premiere by the Da Capo Chamber players in Merkin Hall.
Ryan Jones, PhD '05 in musicology, has just been appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire. He also recently published "You know what I mean?: The Pedagogical Canon of
‘Cannonball' Adderley'” in Current Musicology.
Katarina Markovich-Stokes, PhD '04 in musicology, recently published an article called "To Interpret or to Follow? Mahler's Beethoven /Retuschen/ and the Romantic Critical Tradition" in the 2004 issue of Beethoven Studies.
On Monday evening July 17, Joshua Gordon and Naomi Botkin became the proud parents of daughter Susannah Adele Gordon. Congratulations Josh and Naomi!
