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Alumni News
The Alumni News column appears regularly in The
Juilliard Journal. It consists of news submitted by alumni of the
School's Music, Dance, and Drama Divisions. Enjoy reading about recent
activities of Juilliard graduates. The following items are from the
current issue.
Dance | Drama
| Music
Dance
2000s
Laura Mead (BFA ’06) has been dancing with American Repertory Ballet in New Brunswick, N.J., since graduation. She will be performing with the company at Symphony Space on May 4 and 5, in their only performances in New York this season.
Beth Konopka (BFA ’05) is a contributing writer for movmnt magazine. For the spring 2007 issue, she wrote an article about Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, interviewing the company’s artistic director, Benoit Swan-Pouffer, and wrote the text for “Grace & Gravity,” a feature on the photography of Nina J. Chung.
Emily Oldak (BFA ’05) is performing in Las Vegas in Cirque du Soleil’s The Beatles: LOVE. She dances in both the “Lovers” and “Groupies” sections.
Caroline Finn (BFA ’04), Lazaro Godoy (Diploma ’00), and Ryan Lawrence (BFA ’02) were all participants in this year’s International Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany. Ryan Lawrence won first prize for choreography.
Andrea Miller (BFA ’04) was chosen to be one of 12 choreographers presented as part of “Joyce Soho Presents” on May 3-5. Her dance for women, snow, set to the music of composer and filmmaker Tony Gatlif, will be performed by dancers including Harumi Terayama (BFA ’06).
Randy Castillo (’03), a former member of Compañía Nacional de Danza (directed by Nacho Duato) in Madrid, will be rejoining the company this fall after dancing with the Dresden Ballet in Germany.
Frances Chiaverini (BFA ’03) has been performing in her first season with Armitage Gone! Dance. A former member of Nederlands Dans Theater II, she is also now working independently in the U.S., most recently in works by Lucas Crandall of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Italian choreographer Luca Veggetti, and Pittsburgh-based Attack Theater.
Brenna Monroe-Cook (BFA ’02) and Francisco Ruvalcaba (BFA’ 96) are members of the Limón Dance Company, which toured Italy for two weeks before performing at N.Y.U.’s Skirball Center in April with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. The Limón Dance Company, which also includes Carla Maxwell (BS ’67) as artistic director, will appear at the Mondavi Center in Davis, Calif., on May 11-12.
Brian Letendre (BFA ’01) performs the role of Neleus in Mary Poppins, running on Broadway since November. Previous roles on Broadway have included the Baby Boy in Urban Cowboy and James (understudy) in Movin’ Out; in regional theaters, Rolf in The Sound of Music and Tommy in The Music Man.
1990s
In March, the Colorado Ballet presented world premieres of works by Jessica Lang (BFA ’97) and Darrell Grand Moultrie (BFA ’00). Lang’s De Profundis, an ensemble work for 12 dancers, was set to instrumental and choral music by Arvo Part. Moultrie choreographed Second Exposure to a percussion score by Ricardo Romaneiro.
Chad Bantner (BFA ’96), Peter Chu (BFA ’02), and Sunday Shannon-Jackson (BFA ’01) have been performing in Las Vegas in Celine Dion’s A New Day.
Trey Gillen (BFA ’96) appeared in The Pirates of Penzance with the New York City Opera in March. He was the dance captain and performed the role of the Rogue Pirate. This summer he will be dancing with the Glimmerglass Opera Company in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with Kate Skarpetowska (BFA ’99).
Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines (BFA ’95), performs in the ensemble of The Color Purple on Broadway, and Grasan Kingsberry (BFA ’03), and Sumayah McRae (BFA ’98) are in the Chicago cast.
Tony Powell (BFA ’95) created a new ballet for Odyssey Dance Theater, which was premiered in Salt Lake City in March at Kingsbury Hall. The half-hour piece, titled Contredanse, was created for 18 dancers and is set to nine different works by Bach.
Ranardo-Domeico Grays (’92) played Prisoner No. 2 on the pilot Canterbury’s Law, directed by Mike Figgis, in March. He was also seen as the Photographer in the independent film Slow Jam King, shown at the Spaghetti Junction Urban Film Festival in Atlanta in April. Ranardo will appear in the next issue of the Felissimo catalog as a model. His company, Visions Contemporary Ballet, will present a showcase on May 19 and 20 at the Producers Club in New York.
Elizabeth McPherson (BFA ’90) published “A Conversation with Mary Anthony” in the winter 2006 issue of Ballet Review. Ms. Anthony turned 90 last fall and received the Martha Hill Dance Fund’s 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award in November.
1970s
In March, Barbara Mintz (’72) performed and gave a workshop at the International Museum of Folk Art in Santa Fe, N.M., titled “The Dance and Culture of India—Odissi Dance.”
Pamela Knisel (BFA ’71), writing under the pen name Nonnie Augustine, took second prize for her short story “Simple Tillie” in WritersWeekly.com’s 24-Hour Short Story Contest. She had previously been awarded an honorable mention from the same organization for “The Man With the Black Fedora.” She won third prize in the International Mattia Poetry Competition, and will be featured in the Tupelo Press Poetry Project.
1960s
Dennis Nahat’s (’65) production of Romeo and Juliet for Ballet San Jose was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award (known as the “Izzies”) in the category of outstanding achievement in a revival. Nahat is also artistic director of the company. Faculty member Roni Mahler danced the role of Juliet’s Nurse in this remounting.
Marcia Jean Kurtz (BS ’64) directed her play Between Two Worlds at HB Playwrights Theater in New York in March. She also appears in the new independent film Arranged, written and directed by Stefan Schaefer and Diane Crespo.
The Lar Lubovitch (’64) Dance Company’s week-long season at N.Y.U.’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in April featured a pair of world premieres by Lubovitch (Little Rhapsodies and Dvorak Serenade in E), as well as the company premiere of his Love Stories, and a guest performance by the Limón Dance Company in Recordare, which he choreographed for them in 2005. Lubovitch’s company of 13 dancers includes Jonathan Alsberry (BFA ’06), Jay Franke (BFA ’97), Scott Rink (’88), Kate Skarpetowska (BFA ’99), and Harumi Terayama (BFA ’06).
Drama
2000s
Erin Krakow (Group 35) recently appeared in Aeschylus’s Prometheus Bound, directed by James Kerr, at Classic Stage Company in New York City.
Mike Markham (Group 35) appeared last month in a new play called Giants, written by Laura Von Holt and directed by Jen Wineman, at HERE Arts Center in New York.
Daniel Morgan Shelley (Group 35), who appeared last month on an episode of the NBC series Law & Order and on stage in Lewiston, Me., in John Henry Redwood’s play The Old Settler, is currently playing Romeo in a production of Romeo and Juliet for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.
Oscar Isaac (Group 34) can be seen in Central Park this summer opposite Lauren Ambrose in the Public Theater’s new production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Michael Greif.
Group 32 classmates Graham Hamilton and Michael Urie can be seen together at South Coast Repertory this month in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Daniel Sullivan.
David Adjmi’s (Playwrights ’02) latest play, The Evildoers, will receive its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theater next year. The production will be directed by Rebecca Bayla Taichman. Adjmi recently completed a Jerome Fellowship in Playwriting in Minneapolis and a residency at the MacDowell Colony.
Nathan Baesel (Group 31) is in the independent film Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon, written and directed by Scott Glosserman.
Group 30 classmates Steve Boyer and Jenny Ikeda are appearing now Off-Broadway in Theater for a New Audience’s production of Oliver Twist, newly adapted and directed by Neil Bartlett.
Tracie Thoms (Group 30), who continues to be seen each week in the CBS series Cold Case, is now on big screens opposite Rosario Dawson in the Dimensions Films feature Grindhouse, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Adam Rapp’s (Playwrights ’00) most recent play, Essential Self-Defense, received its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons last month. The production was directed by Carolyn Cantor and featured Heather Goldenhersh (Group 24) and Michael Chernus (Group 28). Rapp’s play Blackbird, which he made into a film and directed himself last year, also made its screen debut last month at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Tex. The film features Gillian Jacobs (Group 33) and Group 23 classmates Danny Mastrogiorgio and Dallas Roberts.
Stephen Anderson (Group 29) recently sold his pilot Bitter Sweet, which won best drama at the inaugural New York Television Festival, to the new Joost network, a division of Viacom that will stream online content as well as mainstream TV and film on a new media platform. The pilot stars Will Beinbrink (Group 32), Group 29 classmate Wes Ramsey, and Christopher Grossett (Group 26).
1990s
Kevin Daniels (Group 27) stars opposite Vanessa Williams and Eartha Kitt in the independent film And Then Came Love, directed by Richard Schenkman.
Cathy Caplan’s (Playwrights ’94) latest play, Model, was produced at P.S. 122 in March by the Juggernaut Theater Company and featured Meg Gibson (Group 11) and Mike Markham (Group 35). She co-directed the production with Lisa Dove (Group 20).
James Vasquez (Group 23) can be seen in the independent film 29th and Gay, available now for purchase at Amazon.com. The film was directed by Vasquez’s classmate Carrie Preston and also features Group 27 alumnus Mike Doyle.
Frederick Weller (Group 21) is currently appearing Off-Broadway at Second Stage in the New York premiere of Terrence McNally’s play Some Men, directed by Trip Cullman.
Marla Schaffel (Group 19) appeared Off-Broadway last month in Tall Grass, a new comedy written by Brian Harris and directed by Nick Corley.
1980s
Gregory Jbara (Group 15), who recently reunited with Victor/Victoria creator-director Blake Edwards in workshops of his latest musical comedy Big Rosemary, stars in the independent film Out of Step, written and directed by Eileen Connors and due out this year. Jbara voiced characters for episodes of the television programs Family Guy and American Dad earlier this year.
Anthony Fusco (Group 12) has joined the Core Company of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and will appear in main stage productions, teach and direct for ACT’s M.F.A. program. Mr. Fusco will also participate in artistic planning and development, and next year will be seen in productions of The Rainmaker and The Government Inspector. Most recently, he appeared as Dr. Tesman in Hedda Gabler and this summer he will play the Fool in King Lear at the California Shakespeare Theater.
Kevin Spacey (Group 12) can currently be seen on Broadway in the Old Vic’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon for the Misbegotten, directed by Howard Davies.
1970s
Casey Biggs (Group 6) was recently appointed president of the Greene Arts Foundation and artistic director of the Greene Arts Festival, which will encompass all of Greene County, N.Y. He was also appointed to the board of the American Theater Channel.
Harriet Harris (Group 6) is currently appearing in the Roundabout Theater Company’s Broadway revival of John Van Druten’s 1940 comedy Old Acquaintance, directed by Michael Wilson.
James Harper (Group 3) played Robert in two separate productions of David Auburn’s (Playwrights ’96) play Proof: at La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts and in the summer of 2006 at the Snowy Range Summer Theater and Dance Festival in Wyoming. Harper is currently appearing in the West Coast premiere of David Mamet’s Squirrels at the Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica, Calif.
Robert Score (Group 3) was recently named to the National Advisory Board of the Actors’ Fund.
Jed Sakren (Group 1) directed Romeo and Juliet and The Two Gentlemen of Verona for Southwest Shakespeare Company in Phoenix, Ariz. He will remount both shows for Shakespeare Sedona in June.
Music
2000s
Jasmine Choi (MM ’06, flute) recently won the associate principal flute position with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Her debut recording of the Mozart Flute Concerto in D Major and the Flute and Harp Concerto in C Major (the latter with Xavier de Maistre, the Vienna Philharmonic’s principal harpist) with the Mozart Collegium Vienna was released last September on the Sony BMG label.
Avner Dorman’s (DMA ’06, composition) Mandolin Concerto will receive its American premiere on May 24 with Andrew Cyr, the Metropolis Ensemble, and Avi Avital (to whom the concerto was dedicated) as soloist. Dorman’s Spices, Perfumes, Toxins! will be performed by the Israel Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta at the Verbier Festival in August. His Piano Concerto in A will be performed by the Haifa Symphony this month, and a multi-percussion concerto is to receive a world premiere by the Hamburg Philharmonic and conductor Simone Young in December 2007.
Violist Carol Rodland’s (BM ’04, viola) new CD, Viola Swirl, was released in February on the Crystal Records label and features the works of Kenji Bunch (BM ’95, MM ’97, viola; MM ’97, composition), Dan Coleman (MM ’95, composition), and former faculty member Christopher Theofanidis. Rodland is professor of viola at the New England Conservatory, as well as co-artistic director of Sound Encounters: A Performance Workshop for Contemporary Music. Her recent performances include the Walton Concerto and Weber Andante and Hungarian Rondo while at a residency in Greeley, Colo. in November; the Morton Gould Concertette for Viola and Band with the Ridgewood Concert Band in January; and the premiere of Larry Bell’s Dark Orange Viola Concerto in March with the Jordan Winds in Jordan Hall, Boston. She also gave concerts and master classes in Brazil in January and tours Germany this month.
Morgan (Grunerud) James (BM ’03, voice) won second place in the 2007 American Traditions Competition at the Savannah Music Festival in March, with a cash prize of $5,000. After a month of concert engagements in Hawaii from mid-April to mid-May, she will be seen at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J., in the upcoming production of Pirates! beginning June 13.
Christine Castelli (MM ’02, violin) performed a recital at Ravinia’s Bennett-Gordon Hall in March.
Jeremy Denk (DMA ’01, piano) performed Beethoven’s Sonata No. 21 in C, Op. 53 (“Waldstein”) in April at the Walter Reade Theater as part of Great Performers’ What Makes It Great? series, hosted by Rob Kapilow.
Young-Ah Tak (BM ’01, piano) will give a solo recital at Yamaha Piano Salon in New York on May 2. In March, she won second prize and the audience prize at the International Fulbright Concerto Competition in Fayetteville, Ark., and performed with the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in the Walton Arts Center. She gave a solo recital in Baltimore in April, and will give recitals in Washington and Korea during the summer season.
Paul Stetsenko (DMA ’00, organ) was one of the performers at the 30th Bach Marathon in March at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church in Washington. He performed the works of Louis Couperin, Francois Couperin, and J. S. Bach.
1990s
Arash Amini (MM ’99, Professional Studies ’00, cello) performed a chamber-music concert, presented by the Barbad Chamber Orchestra, in March at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York. Performers also included violinst Cyrus Beroukhim (a current DMA candidate), Miranda Sielaff (MM ’03, viola), and guest artist Eric Huebner (BM ’99, MM ’01, piano). The program included a work by Beata Moon (BM ’90, piano).
Justine Chen’s (BM ’98, MM ’00, violin; DMA ’05, composition) song cycle New York Scenes was presented by Composers Collaborative in March at the Cornelia Street Café. The performers were bass Matt Boehler (AD ’06, opera studies) and pianist Eduard Laurel.
In April, James Ehnes (BM ’97, violin) was joined by pianist Edward Laurel for Mount Royal Conservatory’s final Wyatt Artist-in-Residence concert of the season in Calgary, Canada.
Christine Arand (Professional Studies ’96, voice) performed the role of Konstanze in Mozart’s Die Entfurung aus dem Serail in October with the Crystal Opera Company in Norwalk, Conn. Also in the cast was James Russell (’91, voice) as Belmonte.
Eiji Oue led the NDR Radio Symphony Orchestra-Hannover in the world premiere of Lera Auerbach’s (BM ’96, piano; MM ’99, composition) Requiem for a Poet/Symphony No. 2 in March. Cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton and mezzo-soprano Zoriana Kushpler were the soloists, and were be joined by the NDR Chorus. In January, Auerbach was selected by the World Economic Forum as one of 250 Young Global Leaders for 2007. The nominees include executives, public figures, and intellectuals 40 or younger from around the world.
Wei-Ying Chen (BM ’96, MM ’98, piano) was invited by the New York chapter of the North American Taiwanese Women’s Association to perform two concerts in Taiwan Center in January and February. For one work on the January all-Beethoven concert, she was joined by Kenneth Kuo (BM ’97, cello); the February concert included an appearance by Li-Ling Lillian Hung (BM ’99, viola).
Darren Motise (MM ’96, accompanying) has just completed a concert tour as pianist with the West Point Cadet Glee Club performing in four major U.S. cities, including a performance at Notre Dame University’s Leighton Concert Hall. In December, he performed a joint recital with soprano Catherine Cangiano (BM ’94, voice) at Church of the Holy Trinity in Poughkeepsie, and performed organ works of Bach and Messiaen on a recital sponsored by the American Guild of Organists at the Reformed Church of Poughkeepsie. He recently joined the music staff of Vassar College and serves as pianist at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Jeffrey Savage (MM ’96, DMA ’02, piano) and Karen Hsiao Savage (MM ’96, piano; MM ’99, accompanying; DMA ’05, collaborative piano) won second prize in the Two-Piano Division of the 2006 Concours Grieg International Competition for Pianists in Oslo, Norway, in September, during which they performed with members of the Oslo Philharmonic. They both serve on the piano faculty at Washington State University.
Ilgin Aka (MM ’95, piano) has joined the piano faculty of the Istanbul University State Conservatory as a tenured assistant professor. This month, she will be the soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor with the Kocaeli University Symphony Orchestra in Istanbul, and will also perform as a member of Trio Voce (piano, flute, and cello) with guest artist Christian Plouvier at Kocaeli University. In September, Trio Voce will be performing at the Halic University Concert Hall in Istanbul.
Kevin Gallagher’s (MM ’95, guitar) Electric Kompany, whose members also include Jim Johnston (BM ’97, piano), performed in the first-ever Galapagos Rock Experiment in March at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn.
Stephanie Houtzeel (MM ’95, voice) made her debut at the Opera National de Paris (Bastille) at the end of December singing the role of Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Philippe Jordan. She spent April in Tel Aviv at the New Israeli Opera, singing the role of the Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.
Miranda Cuckson (BM ’94, MM ’01, DMA ’06, violin) and pianist Thomas Bagwell collaborated for a recital in March at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. The program included works by Schubert, Brahms, Copland, and Schoenfield.
Nitzan Haroz (’93, trombone), principal trombone with the Philadelphia Orchestra and a faculty member of Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University, performed with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Luis Biava, in March at Alice Tully Hall.
Franco Pomponi (’93, voice) performed the title role in a new production of the opera Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas in November for Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Also in the cast was Kevin Short (’89, voice) as Claudius and Lauren Skuce (MM ’99, Opera Studies ’02) as Ophelia.
Kyoko Kashiwagi (MM ’91, violin) and pianist Angelina Pashmakova premiered Bulgarian composer Valislav Zaimov’s Second Violin Sonata in February at the Troy Public Library’s Cultural Art Series in Michigan.
Anne Akiko Meyers (Certificate ’90, violin) played specially written cadenzas by Mason Bates (MM ’01, composition) in the Beethoven Violin Concerto when she toured Holland with the North Netherlands Orchestra in April. She also played in February with the Colorado Symphony, conducted by Peter Oundjian (BM ’81, MM ’81, violin), and the California Symphony with Barry Jekowsky (BM ’74, MM ’75, percussion) conducting.
1980s
Gregg August (MM ’89, double bass) performed with the J.D. Allen Trio (also including Allen and Rudy Royston) in April at Louis 649 and at the River Room, both in New York.
Fenia I-fen Chang (BM ’87, MM ’89, piano) played a recital at the Fazioli Piano Store in Chicago in March that was broadcast live on WFMT. She also performed in March at Richland College in Dallas and at Dallas Baptist University.
Daron Hagen’s (MM ’87, composition) Orpheus and Eurydice: Triple Concerto, featuring the Amelia Piano Trio (Rieko Aizawa [MM ’96, piano], Jason Duckles, and Anthea Kreston) as soloists, was premiered by the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra in November. The work received additional performances by the California State University Polytechnic Orchestra (November), Corvallis Youth Symphony (December), Vermont Youth Orchestra (January), Hartt College Orchestra (March), and El Paso Youth Symphony (April). A performance by the Wesleyan Symphony Orchestra takes place on May 5. Other works premiered in November include The Banner of My Purpose by the Western Illinois University Wind Ensemble and the Piano Trio No. 4 by the Finisterra Trio (Kevin Krantz, Kwan Bin Park [BM ’95, MM ’99, violin], and Tanya Stambuck) at the Seasons Music Festival. Hagen’s The Antient Concert: Opera in One Act will receive its premiere at Symphony Space in New York on May 16.
Andreas Delfs (MM ’86, conducting) has been appointed principal conductor of the Honolulu Symphony, beginning with the 2007-08 season.
The Canzona by Victor Kioulaphides (MM ’86, double bass) was premiered by Italian classical mandolinist Carlo Aonzo and Cuban-American guitarist René Izquierdo in Madison, Wisc., and was performed throughout the duo’s tour of the Midwest that concluded in March at Brooklyn’s Bargemusic.
Maria Radicheva (BM ’84, MM ’85, violin) will be on the faculty of the Violins in Valencia ’07 International Violin Master Classes, to be held in Valencia, Spain, from July 22-29. Also on the faculty are Anabel Garcia del Castillo (BM ’87, MM ’88, violin) and Jose-Luis Garcia. Radicheva serves as U.S. liaison for the program, and Garcia del Castillo is executive director.
Harpsichordist Andrew Appel (DMA ’83, harpsichord) and flamenco guitarist Dennis Koster presented a duo recital exploring the Flamenco world of Domenico Scarlatti in April at the New-York Historical Society. This was the second in a three-concert series by the Four Nations Ensemble (of which Appel is director) at the society.
Bruce Brubaker (BM ’82, MM ’83, DMA ’92, piano) and Nico Muhly (MM ’04, composition) played Haydnseek, a collaborative piece combining piano sonatas by Haydn and electronic sounds, as the first public musical performance at Boston’s new Institute for Contemporary Art in February. Brubaker’s article “Questions Not Answers: The Performer as Researcher” appears in the new issue of the Dutch Journal of Music Theory (Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Muziekthoerie).
Máximo Flügelman’s (MM ’81, composition) Dialogues for Orchestra was performed by the Kalamazoo Symphony under Raymond Harvey in February. (Juilliard faculty member Glenn Dicterow (’70, piano) was the soloist for the Bruch Violin Concerto on the same program.) Flügelman’s Concertino for woodwind quartet and orchestra was performed by the Berliner Symphoniker, conducted by Claude Villaret, in April.
John Bruce Yeh (BM ’80, clarinet), a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, visited his alma mater to teach a clarinet master class in December, while in New York to perform at Carnegie Hall with the C.S.O. under Pierre Boulez in Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin. In February, Yeh and his daughter, percussionist Molly Yeh, premiered Michael Burritt’s Duo Concertante with the Northshore Concert Band in Evanston. In March, Yeh and his wife, clarinetist Teresa Reilly, premiered J.M. David’s Fantasy Etudes Book II with Robert Rumbelow conducting the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble. Yeh is a founding member of Birds and Phoenix, an innovative Eastern-Western quartet that debuted in September and will perform on June 28 and 30 at the Fontana Summer Festival in Kalamazoo.
1970s
Cristine (Lim) Coyiuto (MM ’77, piano) was the soloist in Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor with Helen Quach conducting the Manila Symphony Orchestra in April at the St. Cecilia’s Hall of St. Scholastica’s College in Manila, as well as at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
Madeline Frank (B.M. ’76, M.M. ’77, viola) performed a concert in March as part of the Daniel Pearl Music Festival at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. The event supported the Romayne Leader Frank Charitable Foundation and launched a scholarship fund for the college’s Balfour Hillel.
Meral Guneyman’s (Diploma ’76, Post-graduate Diploma ’78, piano) CD Playful Virtuosity, with jazz pianist Dick Hyman, will be released in June. The recording includes Seven Virtuoso Etudes on Gershwin’s songs, transcribed by Earl Wild, as well as Hyman’s own jazz improvisations and an original work. Guneyman also performed at the 92nd Street Y in April at Hyman’s 80th birthday celebration.
Judith Shatin’s (MM ’74, composition) Piping the Earth was given three performances in February, including a live broadcast, by the Richmond Symphony with Mark Russell Smith conducting. Her Why the Caged Bird Sings was commissioned and premiered by the Young People’s Chorus of New York City in March, conducted by Francisco Núñez. A new version of her Penelope’s Song, scored for amplified cello and electronics made from weaving sounds, was premiered by cellist Maxine Neuman on the Cutting Edge Series at the Thalia in New York in April. Other performances in March included Adonai Ro’i, performed by the Albany Pro Musica, conducted by David Griggs-Janower, and Grito del Corazón, presented by Modern-Works and the Electronic Music Foundation at the Judson Church in New York.
Madeline Bruser (BM ’70, piano) will again lead the Meditation for Musicians Retreat, a weeklong program at Tail of the Tiger in Barnet, Vt., in August. The program includes music workshops applying principles from her book The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music from the Heart.
Two CDs by Craig Sheppard (BM ’70, MS ’71, piano) were released on Romeo Records in November: The Six Bach Partitas and the Aufrichtige Anleitung (Two-Part Inventions and Three-Part Sinfonias), both recorded live in Seattle’s Meany Theater.
1960s
Miriam Brickman (MS ’67, piano) will present “A Panorama of Galicia” on May 5 at the Liederkranz Foundation in New York. The program includes music by composers from the old Austro-Hungarian empire, Galicia (what is now Poland, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine).
Morris (Moshe) Cotel (BM ’64, MM ’65, composition), who was ordained as a rabbi four years ago, has been touring the country with his one-man program Chronicles: A Jewish Life at the Classical Piano whenever he can get away from his pulpit at Temple Beth El of Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. The 50th performance of Chronicles took place on a mini-tour of Virginia and North Carolina in March. He will be performing this summer in Atlantic City, Houston, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas. Chronicles II will receive its premiere next season during a mini-tour of Southern California in January 2008.
Aaron Krosnick (MS ’61, violin) and his wife, Mary Lou Wesley Krosnick (BS ’57, piano), gave a chamber-music recital with Juilliard faculty member (and Aaron’s brother) Joel Krosnick in March at Jacksonville University in Florida. Aaron and Mary Lou are retired from the university and presently hold the title of distinguished artists in residence.
1950s
Noel Tipton (BS ’56, MS ’57, piano) has been selected for inclusion in the 2008 edition of Marquis Who’s Who in America.
Elliot Magaziner (’54, violin) conducted the Manhattanville College Community Orchestra in April, in a program that featured the orchestra’s concerto competition winner, David Botik, playing the Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2.
1940s
Gerald Fried’s (BS ’48, oboe) work The Chess Game, a work for chamber orchestra and narrator commissioned by the New York Chamber Soloists, was premiered in April at Bargemusic in Brooklyn.
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