2012 Choral Newsletter - MSU College of Music - Michigan State ...

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF MUSICChoral Activities at MSUFall 2012Dear MSU Choral Conducting Alum,Welcome to our annual choral newsletter—our yearlyreminder that you are still a part of the MSU choralfamily and an opportunity for you to find out what’shappening with your fellow Spartan choral alums.We have a strong group of new and continuing graduatestudents in choral conducting. We have three new DMAstudents, each with previous MSU connections. RandiBolding received her undergraduate degree from MSU,then taught in Texas and did her master’s work at theUniversity of Texas-Austin. Meredith Bowen holdsa bachelor’s degree from West Chester University inPennsylvania and an MM in choral conducting fromMSU. Since her master’s work, she has taught at LansingCommunity College and served as music director ofthe Battle Creek Girls Chorus and Community Chorus.She is also the long-time director of Sistrum, Lansing’sWomen’s Chorus, and has just begun duties as musicdirector of the Holland Chorale. Brandon Ulrich wasan instrumentalist during his undergraduate study atMSU. He went on to receive a master’s degree in windconducting from Southern Oregon University. He hastaught at Stony Creek High School in Rochester Hillssince 2002, where he serves as director of choirs.Our new master’s student is Melissa Arnold, who hastaught in Virginia, South Carolina, Beijing, and SantoDomingo in the Dominican Republic. She holds a MEddegree in curriculum and instruction from ColumbiaInternational University.Our summer master’s program continues to attractstudents from Michigan as well as other parts ofthe country. This summer we welcomed three newstudents: Melissa Arnold, mentioned above; TamiGrove, a graduate from MSU who teaches at TraverseCity Central High School, and Molly Khatcheressian,a graduate of the University of Central Florida and theKodály Institute of the Liszt Academy in Hungary, whoteaches in Fairfax, Virginia.In our continuing effort to save paper and minimizeprinting costs, we are not including a schedule of vocalchoralevents for the 2012-13 season with this mailing.You can find those performances on the College of Musicwebsite (http://music.msu.edu/event-listing/). Or, uponrequest (rayld@msu.edu), I will mail you a PDF of theschedule. It’s an amazing list and serves as a reminder ofthe many fantastic performance opportunities that areavailable at the MSU College of Music.The most exciting news from campus is the completerenovation of the Music Auditorium, now called CookRecital Hall, which opened in early October as a stateof-the-artrecital hall. And, just as exciting, FairchildAuditorium is undergoing a complete ($18,000,000!)renovation and will open in Fall 2013 as the College ofMusic’s primary performance space. These two newfacilities additions are significant steps in moving thecollege forward.music.msu.edu

page 2Performance HighlightsOn Saturday, November 10, the MSU Choral Union,University Chorale, and State Singers will join theLansing Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of DavidRayl, for a program that includes Haydn’s Symphony No.104 and Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem. On Saturday,December 1, Chorale and State Singers, along withthe MSU Children’s Choir and faculty and students ofthe college, will join forces with the MSU SymphonyOrchestra, under the baton of Sandra Snow, for MSU’sHome for the Holidays. This year’s concert will useAct II of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus as the “frame” for anevening of seasonal music for the entire family.On Sunday, April 14, the University Chorale andmembers of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra willperform Monteverdi’s spectacular 1610 Vespers inthe beautiful St. Mary Cathedral in Lansing. Theacademic year concludes on Saturday, April 27, whenthe combined forces of the Choral Union, Chorale, andState Singers join the MSU Symphony Orchestra, underthe baton of Jonathan Reed, to perform Villa-Lobos’sMagnificat-Alleluia and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse.ACDA National ConventionI hope you will be able to attend the ACDA NationalConference in Dallas, March 13-16, 2013. There WILLbe an MSU reception but details are not available at thistime. We will let you know and we will EXPECT you tostop by!!!Helen Bartlett Fellowship in ChoralMusic EstablishedDr. Dale Bartlett, retired College of Music faculty member,MSU alum (BM ’55; MM ’56) and current conductorof the Lansing Arts Chorale, endowed a fellowship inmemory of his late wife Helen, who was a longtimemember of the Choral Union. This year’s recipient ismaster’s student Dwight Jilek. Thank you, Dale!Robert Harris FellowshipDr. Robert Harris, recently retired director of choralorganizations at Northwestern University, a MichiganState alumnus (PhD ’71), and former MSU director ofchoral activities, continues to fund the Robert A. HarrisAward for Excellence in Choral Performance to be givenannually to an outstanding choral musician. This year’srecipient is master’s student Kyle Zeuch. Thank you,Bob!Smith Fellowship RecipientThe Charles K. Smith Endowed Fellowship in ChoralConducting, created upon Smith’s retirement in 2002by members of the MSU Choral Society, is now fullyendowed and provides important financial help tograduate students in choral conducting. This year’srecipient is doctoral student Meredith Bowen. Thankyou to the many donors who have contributed to thisendowment over the years!Guest CliniciansLynda Hasseler, MM ’87, DMA ’90, will be our guestfor the Choral Invitational on October 22, where shewill work with eight high school choirs from aroundthe state. She will spend the following day workingwith our ensembles and graduate and undergraduateconducting students. Dr. Hasseler is director of choralactivities at Capitol University.music.msu.edu

page 3David Puderbaugh, assistant director of choral activitiesat the University of Iowa, will be on campus March 28to work with our graduate students. His appearancewill be funded by the Paul and Martha Niland EndowedLectureship in Choral Music to Honor Charles K.Smith. He spent a year in Estonia as a Fulbright Scholarin 2005-06 and is particularly noted for his work onEstonian choral music.Choral Society NewsThe Choral Society celebrates its 25th anniversary onSunday, November 4 with a reception at Cowles Houseon the MSU campus. Special guests will be the foundingmembers of Choral Society and their families. If you areinterested in attending, please contact me at rayld@msu.edu.The Choral Society will again sponsor a “sing along”Messiah on Sunday, December 9, at EdgewoodUnited Church in East Lansing featuring studentsoloists. This annual event has been well attended andenthusiastically received in recent years.Through its dues and fundraising activities the ChoralSociety provides scholarship assistance to graduate studentsin choral conducting. This year, the society providesassistance for MM students Kyle Zeuch and Dwight Jilek.Keeping Up with MSU AlumniThis section of the newsletter is intended to help you keepup with the careers of our MSU choral alumni. It’s a VERYimpressive list of accomplishments and demonstratesthat our graduates are leaders in our profession. The listis obviously incomplete, so please contact me if you’verecently changed jobs or want to share some aspect of yourprofessional life with our alums.• Maggie Blair completed her MM degree this pastsummer and has begun doctoral studies in choralconducting at the University of Kentucky.• Megan Boyd completed her MM degree last springand will begin DMA study here at MSU in Fall 2013.• Andrew Crane, DMA ’05, led the Chamber Choir ofEast Carolina University in a performance for the NorthCarolina State ACDA Conference this fall. He continuesto sing with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and otherprofessional choruses around the country as well asappearing as vocal soloist with orchestra.• Jerry Custer completed his DMA in summer 2012. Heis the co-author of The Composer’s Craft: A Practical Guide forStudents and Teachers, to be published by GIA Publicationsin spring 2013. He continues on the faculty at WayneState University.• Clint Desmond, DMA ’09, received Dakota WesleyanUniversity’s Presidential Award for Outstanding Servicein recognition of the impact he has made on DWU andthe music community of Mitchell, North Dakota.• Jeff Faux completed his MM this past summer.He continues as director of Sacred Arts at FirstPresbyterian Church, Bonita Springs, Florida, andas artistic director of the Ft. Myers SymphonicMastersingers.• Sarah Graham, DMA ’05, has joined the music facultyat Kaskaskia College in Centralia, Illinois.• Trey Jacobs, DMA ABD, has been appointed artisticdirector of the Turtle Creek Chorale in Dallas.• Michael Hanawalt, MM ’09, has been appointedassistant professor of choral music at Wichita StateUniversity. He recently completed his PhD degree inchoral music at Florida State University.• Ben Henri completed his MM degree this pastsummer. He continues as vocal music director at GrossePointe North High School in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.• Zeb Highben completed his DMA in spring 2012and has been appointed director of choral activitiesat Muskingum University in Ohio. Last fall the ChoralJournal published his article on Tchaikovsky’s Liturgy ofSt. John Chrysostom.• David Howard, DMA ’08, has had an article on thechoral commissions of the Reverend Walter Husseyaccepted by the Choral Journal and two madrigals ofSalamone Rossi published by Alliance Publications. Hecontinues on the faculty at Stephen F. Austin University.• Phil Johnson, MM ’07, has accepted a position asdirector of choirs at Brighton (Michigan) High School.music.msu.edu

Keeping Up with MSU Alumni (continued)• Ryan Kelly completed his DMA in spring 2012 andhas been appointed assistant professor of choral musicat West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Severalof his articles have appeared in the Choral Journal overthe past year. He will appear at the Louisiana StateACDA Conference and at the Texas Music EducationAssociation conference during the coming year.• Kelly Miller, DMA ’10, has been named coordinator ofmusic education at the University of Central Florida inOrlando.• Jonathan Palant, DMA ’07, is completing a book onmen’s choirs to be published by Hal Leonard. He willserve as the interim director of choral activities at theUniversity of Western Kentucky during spring semester.• Chris Redfearn, MM ’04, has been named directorof choral activities at Valley City State University inNorth Dakota. He recently completed the Doctor of Artsin Choral Conducting at the University of NorthernColorado.• Eric Rubinstein completed his MM degree thispast summer. He continues as vocal music director atWesthampton Beach High School on Long Island, New York.• Daniel Singer, MM ’11, has been named assistantdirector of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorusin addition to his responsibilities as vocal music andorchestra director at the University School in Cleveland.• Garth Starr completed his MM degree in summer2012. He continues as vocal music director at LapeerEast High School and conductor of the Lapeer CountyConcert Choir.• Joel Tranquilla, DMA student, is the recipient of theSir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award.This is Canada’s most prestigious award for advancedmusic study.• Christopher Thompson, MM ’08, has been namedmusic department chair at Stone Ridge School of theSacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland.• Brent Wells, DMA ’07, performed with the SantaFe Desert Chorale this past season. He continues asdirector of choral activities at the College of Idaho.• Kristin Zaryski, MM ’09, has joined the faculty atKinewa Middle School in Okemos, Michigan.music.msu.edu