Sounds - Georgia State University School of Music

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Sounds THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC FALL 2004 PAGE 6 Faculty News & Notes ROBERT J. AMBROSE, director of bands, conducted the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at both the Georgia Music Educators In-Service Conference in January and the College Band Directors National Association/National Band Association Southern Division Conference in February.The Wind Ensemble gave premiere performances of two wind band works written by composers affiliated with Georgia State: Tempests Are Kind for Viola and Wind Ensemble by Professor Emeritus Charles Knox, with Adjunct Professor Tania Maxwell Clements as soloist, in February; and Amir Zaheri’s [MMu, 2004] Frances et Francis: Mes Deux Amours, in April. Dr. Ambrose served as a clinician for nearly two dozen Georgia high schools and was invited guest conductor at Lassiter High School, McEachern High School and Fayette County High School. He also served as the Georgia Music Educators District 4 Honor Band Conductor. In January, Dr. Ambrose formed the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble (MAYWE) along with Peter Witte, Director of Instrumental Studies at Kennesaw State University. The ensemble has accepted an invitation to perform next spring at Carnegie Hall. The contemporary music ensemble Bent Frequency, of which Dr. Ambrose is co-founder and music director, gave their final concert of the season to favorable reviews on May 10 in the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts. RON BRENDEL, assistant professor of voice, was a presenter at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities in January 2004. His topic was “Benjamin Britten: Style and Eclecticism in Selected Vocal Music for Tenor.” He then turned to performing and sang the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte for South Florida Opera Company. In June, he shared a program of Schumann Lieder with his wife, soprano and School of Music adjunct faculty member Chery Brendel at the Robert Schumann Konservatorium in Leipzig, Germany.While in nearby Berlin, he studied with soprano Renate Faltin, chair of voice at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule fur Musik. Dr. Brendel has recitals slated for future presentation in West Palm Beach, Miami and Minneapolis. MARVA GRIFFIN CARTER, associate professor of music history and literature, has a chapter entitled “The ‘New Negro’ Choral Legacy of Hall Johnson” in the forthcoming Chorus and Community book edited by Karen Ahlquist and published by The University of Illinois Press. The book’s accompanying CD will feature Johnson’s spiritual arrangement of Elijah Rock. Dr. Carter has also written compact disc liner notes for Albany Records’ soon-to-be-released double CD collection of popular songs by Will Marion Cook, featuring tenor William Brown and pianist Ann Sears. TANIA MAXWELL CLEMENTS, visiting lecturer in viola/violin, has been an adjunct instructor with the School of Music for the last six years. Ms. Clements has degrees from Glasgow University and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, both in Glasgow, Scotland. She also studied at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Gstaad, New Faculty Member Switzerland. After finishing her studies she held positions with Camerata Lysy, Switzerland, the Seville Symphony Orchestra, Spain and the BBC Philharmonic in the U.K.This coming year Ms. Clements has strengthened her ties with composer and School of Music faculty member Nickitas Demos in two upcoming commissions: Secret Music, written for Clements and Percussion Coordinator Stuart Gerber, which will be performed at this year’s GMTA 50th Anniversary Annual State Conference in November; and Pocket Concerto, a work written for her and a small chamber ensemble, to be performed in April 2005 at Georgia State with neoPhonia. W. DWIGHT COLEMAN, coordinator of voice and opera studies, was artistic and stage director for the Georgia State production of Massenet’s opera, Cendrillon, in April 2004. He also wrote the English translation that was performed. Mr. Coleman served as artistic and stage director of the 21st Harrower Summer Opera Workshop, which took place June 7-27. The Harrower Workshop was the recipient of grants from the Goldovsky Foundation, the Atlanta Music Festival Association, Fulton County Arts Council, the Laney and Ethel Foundation and the Atlanta Opera Guild. He coordinated the second Gala Opera Dinner at City Grill in support of opera studies in June.This past summer, he served as artistic director of the Artist Division of the opera festival La Musica Lirica in Urbania, Italy, where he taught voice and was stage director for performances of Donizetti’s Rita and scenes from Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, L’Incoronatione di Poppea, Giulio Cesare, Madama Butterfly, L’Elisir d’amore and Falstaff. Performances were in Sant’Angelo in Vado and Urbania. He also performed on a faculty concert during the festival. Mr. Coleman will be directing Cendrillon for Valdosta State University in November and performing the title role in Mendelsohnn’s Elijah with the Pensacola Choral Society and Pensacola Symphony Orchestra in October. NICKITAS J. DEMOS, coordinator of composition studies, was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with Tenure in April, 2004. He was also appointed the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, succeeding Dr. David Blumenfeld, Associate Dean for Humanities and International Programs, who served as acting center director for the past two years. In the April 2004 issue of Gramophone, Dr. Demos’ contributions to new music in Atlanta were cited: “GSU’s…new-music group…neoPhonia covers a range of 20th century classics interspersed with faculty compositions, most memorably by Nickitas J. Demos. Bent Frequency, a self-styled hipster collective which Demos anchors, is one of the brightest ensembles on the scene….” Recent activities include the premieres of Toys & Hammers, commissioned and performed by pianist Laura Gordy, and Slaves to Passion by Bent Frequency. Forthcoming activities include new works commissioned by the Georgia Music Teachers Association, Atlanta Chamber Players and the Georgia State University Singers. In 2004-05, Dr. Demos will be celebrating the 10-year anniversary season of neoPhonia with special concerts and guest artists throughout the year. FLETCHER FOREHAND, instructor of bassoon, is a South Georgia native. He received his Master of Music in bassoon performance from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied with Nancy Goeres, principal bassoonist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He received a Bachelor of Music in bassoon performance from the Oberlin Conservatory New Faculty Member of Music in 2000, where he studied with George Sakakeeny.An active freelancer, Fletcher has performed with the Atlanta Symphony, Augusta Opera, and the Columbus, Greenville, Lagrange, McKeesport, New World, Pittsburgh and Westmoreland Symphony
Sounds THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC FALL 2004 PAGE 7 Orchestras. He is a regular performer with the Atlanta Pops and toured the island of Taiwan with them in 2004. Fletcher received a fellowship to play contrabassoon at the Aspen Music Festival from 2001-2003, and he performed with the National Orchestral Institute in the summer of 2000. He currently performs with the Pandean Players, a wind chamber group dedicated to bringing classical music to diverse audiences through performance and instruction. He has served as the faculty bassoon and oboe instructor at Panama’s Campamento Musical Juvenil, which takes place every January in Panama City. An active private teacher, Fletcher also regularly teaches master classes at schools throughout the Atlanta metro area. DAVID FRACKENPOHL, instructor of jazz Studies, was a contributing arranger to Jazz Guitar Standards II, a joint venture by Mey Bay and Warner Brothers, with various treatments of three jazz standards for solo guitar. He is also a contributing writer/arranger in a series entitled Jazz Guitar Ensembles, published by Mel Bay, with six original compositions (two each for three different levels). PATRICK K. FREER, assistant professor of choral music education, has assumed the position as head of the music education division. During the 2004-05 academic year, Dr. Freer will make research-based presentations at the national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (February; Los Angeles), the College Music Society (November; San Francisco) and the National Middle School Association (November; Minneapolis). He is scheduled to make his formal Carnegie Hall conducting debut with Randall Thompson’s The Testament of Freedom on Memorial Day weekend. Dr. Freer will also conduct several middle school honor choirs in Georgia and the New Jersey Junior High All- State Choir. He presently represents the field of music education on the board of the Southern Chapter of the College Music Society and serves on the Editorial Committee of the Music Educators Journal. STUART GERBER, assistant professor of percussion, spent much of the spring performing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, most notably with the Orchestra for their performance at Carnegie Hall in May. He spent the summer working with four internationally known composers: Kaija Saariaho (Finland), Tania Leon (Cuba/U.S.), Karlheinz Stockhausen (Germany) and Juan Trigos (Mexico). He appeared as soloist in the U.S. at the Music04 festival in Cincinnati and the Oberlin Percussion Institute, and abroad at the Stockhausen Courses in Germany and as soloist with the Texoco Chamber Orchestra in Mexico. In addition, he participated in the Atlanta premiere of Tania Léon’s Duende at the National Black Arts Festival in July. In the fall, Dr. Gerber will be featured on a recording of the music of John Luther Adams. This recording will accompany Winter Music, a collection of Adams’ writings to be published by Wesleyan University Press in November. MARTHA GERSCHEFSKI, artist-in-residence, cello, gave a cello workshop in Gainesville, Georgia in January, and presented a class for the Luigi Silva Centennial Celebration in Greensboro, North Carolina in March. Over 200 cellists from around the world attended the Centennial Celebration event. Recent School of Music graduate Dusan Vukajlovic played for a masterclass and performed in one of the concerts, and was joined by fellow Georgia State students/alumni Nan Kemberling, Mary Beth Hussey and Josip Petrac. OLIVER N. GREENE, JR., assistant professor of music history and literature (World Music/ Ethnomusicology) presented a paper on the John Canoe ritual of Belize at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities. He was the faculty recipient of the M. L. King, Jr. Torch of Peace Award for individuals who promote positive race relations at Georgia State University and the metro-Atlanta community. He served as artistic director of “Celebrating a World of Rhythm and Dance III: The Music of Greece, the Congo and China,” a world music and dance performance at the Rialto Center. Upcoming publications include an article on popular music in Belize for the Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World and the article “Ethnicity, Modernity, and Retention in The Garifuna Punta,” to be published in the Black Music Research Journal. Dr. Greene was awarded a 2004-05 Research Initiation Grant for fieldwork and continued research on Garifuna music and identity in Belize and Central America. KATHRYN HARTGROVE, assistant professor of voice, has been heard as a mezzo-soprano throughout the United States and Europe with such companies as Lyric Opera of Kansas City, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera’s National Tour, Chicago Opera Theater, Lodz National Opera of Poland, Chamber Opera of Chicago, Piedmont Opera Theater and New Faculty Member Opera Maine. She has performed as soloist with the Istanbul National Symphony and Grant Park Symphony, among others, in solo recitals in Europe and the Midwest and has been heard on radio and television in both Turkey and the United States. Ms. Hartgrove received her Masters degree in vocal performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and continued her study at Northwestern University. She has participated in masterclasses with Regine Crespin, Kurt Herbert Adler, Martin Katz, Boris Goldovsky and Brigitte Fassbender and has gone on to work professionally with many of North America’s finest stage directors and conductors. She has also taught at Elmhurst College in lllinois. She is the co-founder and a voice teacher of the La Musica Lirica summer program in Italy. Ms. Hartgrove is also General Director of the repertory Opera Company, Prairie Opera based in Woodstock, Illinois. WARREN HASTON, assistant professor of music education (instrumental), earned a Ph.D. in music education from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He received a Master of Music in performanceconducting and a Bachelor of Music degree in music education from the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Haston has taught elementary, middle and high school New Faculty Member band in the public schools in El Paso,Texas, and Fairfax County,Virginia. He is active as a clinician, adjudicator, and conductor. Dr. Haston’s research interests include teacher education and instrumental pedagogy. He has presented papers for the College Music Society, the MENC North Central Division and the Colloquium for Intercollegiate Cooperation. He has been published in The Instrumentalist magazine.As a saxophone player, he has performed with the El Paso Wind Symphony, El Paso Pro-Musica Chamber Group and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Haston has performed with the University of Texas at El Paso Jazz Lab Bands at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Haag, Netherlands, and with guest artists Clark Terry, Carl Fontana, Chris Vadala, and Bobby Shew.
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Sounds - Georgia State University School of Music

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