Cali School News

Faculty:

In spring 2010, Valerie Bernhardt (Voice faculty) was the soprano soloist in Schubert’s·Mass No. 6 in E Flat with St. Cecilia Chorus; Verdi’s Messa di Requiem with Greenwich Choral Society; and sang the title role of Aida with Coro Lirico.

Nancy Billman (French horn faculty) played for the short-lived, but Tony-nominated production and recording of Finian’s Rainbow on Broadway, performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s with John Adams, Roger Norrington and Christian Zacharias, and toured with Peter Gabriel.

Heather Buchanan (Director of Choral Studies) and University Singers:  recorded on ECM  in November 2009 with Meredith Monk & Company Songs of Ascension due for release in early 2010-11. The project was engineered by the legendary producer Manfred Eicher. Meredith & Company rehearsed on campus with the choir as part of the preparations.

Patrick Burns (Theory faculty) completed his 24th year as founding director of the Bloomfield Youth Band. He premiered commissioned works with the Montclair State University Wind Symphony, the Ohio Northern University Symphonic Band and the Bel Air (MD) Community Band. He appeared as conductor with university, public school and adult community bands in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and throughout New Jersey.

Robert Butts (Introduction to Music faculty) conducted the Brahms Second Symphony with the Berlin Sinfonietta in Berlin. He is active as an artistic director and conductor in New Jersey with Opera at Florham and the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey. He filmed a segment for the independent film 100 Years Too Late, ECM Enterprises, as consulting musicologist. In April, he premiered his composition Five Movements for Mixed Consort at In Mid Air Productions performance: A Little Madness in the Spring and was named Music Director for In Mid Air Productions.

Paul Cohen (Saxophone faculty) and the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet performed the premiere of Robert Sirota’s  Diners. Prof. Cohen also performed works by Steve Cohen and the original version of Copland’s Quiet City.

Lisa DeLorenzo (Professor, Music Education) gave presentations to harp students at Cicely Tyson High School (E. Orange) Shostakovich:  The Man and His Life; New Jersey Music Educators Association in E. Brunswick, Masterclass for Music Teachers:  Teaching as an Artistic Process; to the Montclair State Collegiate Chapter of the Music Educators National  Conference:  Red Riding in the Hood; in the Paramus School District, A Practical Look At the Orff Approach; and in April, sponsored an on-campus “Teachers Day” with visitors from Cicely Tyson and Newark Arts High School.

Laura Dolp (Professor, Music History) published an article, “Viennese ‘Moderne’ and its Spatial Planes, Sounded” in the spring issue of the Journal of 19th-Century Music. She gave several conference presentations on her work concerning the music of Arvo Pärt and the contemporary choreographer Mark Morris, including two papers for the east and central chapters of the American Musicological Society.

Peter Gillis (Voice faculty) adjudicated the Senior Voice Division of Canada’s New Glasgow Music Festival in April.

Karen Goodman (Professor, Music Therapy) and Diane Kaufman published “Cracking up and back again: Transformation through music and poetry” in Li & Long, (Eds.) The Meaning Management Challenge: Making Sense of Health, Illness and Disease (Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press). She was a consultant at the Berklee College of Music, Music Therapy Program (Boston, MA – Spring 2010). She presented “Music Therapy in the Behavioral Health Care Setting with Children and Adolescents” at UMDNJ, Address to Medical Faculty.

Ting Ho (Professor, Theory/Composition) organized the “Composers In the House” series, which this year include a concert featuring performances of works by two Cali faculty composers (Joe Turrin and Ting Ho) and two graduate composition students (Martin Sedek and Chris Opperman).

Lisa Hogan (Introduction to Music and voice faculty) Appeared in Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” May episode as a winning team member and jingle singer. In March her work was featured in the IUP Indiana University of Pennsylvania Ninth Festival of Women Composers.

Soyeon Kim (Vocal Coach and Staff Pianist) performed in February 2010 on the Princeton Symphony Orchestra Chamber Series; in March in the Water for Haiti Benefit Concert, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. She was an Olympic Challenge Competition judge in May and served as Manhattan Summer Voice Festival vocal coach and pianist coordinator in May.

Jeffrey Kunkel (Professor, Jazz) was selected to direct the 2010 New Jersey All-State Jazz Ensemble.  The rehearsals and concerts will take place in November 2010 in Atlantic City and at NJPAC in Newark. In March 2010, he hosted vocalist Jean Rohe, flutist Mark Weinstein and Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Boccato, along with Montclair State jazz bass instructor Bill Moring, in a program of Dr. Kunkel’s original compositions, and classic Brazilian jazz. He directed the Jazz Band I, featuring jazz trombone artist and composer Alan Ferber in a program of Ferber’s original music, in performances on-campus and at Cecil’s Jazz Club in West Orange.

David Lopato (Jazz and Music History faculty) released a solo piano CD of all original compositions entitled Many Moons on Global Coolant Records.

Anthony Mazzocchi (Trombone faculty) was a soloist with the Wind Ensemble, performing Joseph Turrin’s Fandango with Charles Bumcrot (trumpet faculty). He performed and offered a masterclass at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Mr. Mazzocchi spent three days in residence at Ridgewood High School, giving clinics and performing with the ensembles. The residency ended with a concert consisting of three trombone concerti with the Ridgewood High School bands.

Lori McCann (Professor, Voice) performed as soprano soloist for Laudate Dominum, from Mozart’s Vespre di confessore with the University Singers in November and a Cinco de Mayo Concert sponsored by the North-South Consonance Concert Series, Christ and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Manhattan, NY, a recital of vocal music from Latin America and Spain.Prof. McCann and Heather J. Buchanan, (Director of Choral Activities) gave a presentation in November at the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) Conference at Yale University titled:  The Dynamic Relationship Between the University Choral Director & the Voice Faculty. She also directed several National Association of Teachers of Singing performances, auditions and events, including Psychological Issues in the Voice Studio, with author and therapist Steven Levenkron, Dr. Stephen Oosting (Professor, Voice), and Dr. Rose Oosting (Columbia University, Teacher’s College. March, 2010) She served as adjudicator for the New York Lyric Opera Competition. Dr. McCann was also artistic producer for the Sister Cities Concert:  Montclair, NJ and Graz, Austria 60th Anniversary gala performance at the Cali School’s Leshowitz Recital Hall.

Linda McKnight (Double Bass faculty) appeared as guest double bass soloist with the Midland Park (NJ) High School Band, conducted by Montclair State alumnus David Marks (BA Mus. Ed – ‘97), at the winter band concert.

Darren O’Neill (Music Literature and Guitar faculty) published a featured article in the latest edition of Soundboard magazine (Vol. XXXVI (36), No. 1 -2010): Darren O’Neill: A Survey of Select Nineteenth-Century Chamber Works by Guitarists of the Period  Soundboard is a magazine published quarterly by the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA). The GFA is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering interest and knowledge of the guitar – primarily the classical guitar and classical guitar music. The magazine features academic research, interviews, listings of upcoming master classes and conventions, and more.

Marissa Silverman (Professor, Music Education) published and lectured widely this past year. Her publications included “Sites of social justice: Community Music in New York City” (Research Studies in Music Education, 2009); “Rethinking Music ‘Appreciation’” (Visions of Research in Music Education. Volume 13, 2009). She was the invited guest lecturer several times at New York University, Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions. Her topics included “Music Education Curriculum and the Aims of Education,” “Research in Music,” “Stravinsky, Taruskin and Aesthetics in Music Research,” and “The Values of Music and Music Education.” At the March 2010 College Music Society, Northeast Chapter Annual Conference (University of Vermont) she lectured on “Urban Music Education: Student Transformation Through Democratic Music Listening.” She also spoke at the 2010  New Jersey Music Educators Association State Conference East Brunswick, NJ on “Teaching Music Listening,” and at Temple University (PA) on “The Praxial Concept of Music Education.”

Ruth Rendleman (Cali School Interim Director, Professor, Piano, Theory) performed the Stravinsky Piano Concerto with the MSU Wind Symphony under the direction of Thomas McCauley. She was appointed as Interim Director of the Cali School for 2010.

Tanya Witek (Flute faculty) was featured in March in renowned flutist Carol Wincenc’s Ruby Anniversary concert celebration at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at the Juilliard School. They performed a work for two flutes and piano by Yuko Uebayashi. Steve Smith of the New York Times wrote: “The flutist Tanya Dusevic Witek elegantly shadowed and soared with Ms. Wincenc.”

Meg Zervoulis (Piano faculty) was selected to be a part of the inaugural Musical Direction Intensive at Goodspeed Opera House (East Haddam, CT).

Students:

Jessie Smith Edwards, age 17, a Preparatory Center for the Arts student of Terrence Thornhill and incoming Cali freshman, placed second in the NAACP-ACT SO competition performing Lalo’s Cello Concerto in D-minor.

Angela Ferraiuolo-Thompson is the new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) therapist for Beth Israel and St. Lukes Roosevelt (New York City) and is working to complete her license.

The MSU Horn Quartet (Jon Groszew, Matt Lemmel, Brad Robinson, Matt Searing) performed at the NJMEA convention in February, 2010.

In April 2010, the jazz vocal students of Holli Ross (Vocal Jazz faculty) performed an evening of standards at Trumpets Jazz Club in Montclair.

Jon Groszew was accepted to the Colorado College Music Festival in Colorado Springs for the second year.

Thomas Oltarzewski won the Cali School Composer Award.

Matt Searing and Matt Lemmel (BMus ’10) were both members of the New York Youth Symphony.  They performed the Rite of Spring and Ein Heldenleben in Carnegie Hall with the group.

Alumni

Rachel Camp (BFA’ 10) is currently performing with the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia, understudying the lead female role in Sunday in the Park With George.  In September she will be playing the role of Olive Ostrovsky in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, with the Theatre Horizon in Philadelphia, PA

Student Kelly Karcher (BFA ’10) will be working with Ocean City Theatre Company over the summer.  In August she will be part of the ensemble and performing for the Prather Entertainment Group.

Matt Lemmel (BMus ’10) is attending Summer Trios and was accepted to the Hartt School of Music for graduate study with a scholarship. Matt Searing and Matt Lemmel were both members of the New York Youth Symphony.  They performed the Rite of Spring and Ein Heldenleben in Carnegie Hall with the group.

Michael Mahadeen (BA ’10) was chosen as one of just 15 student teachers statewide to receive the state’s annual Outstanding Student Teacher award. There were more than 20 nominees from Montclair State, and the Center Of Pedagogy was permitted to send 3 on to the state level for review. The state received 54 applications from which to select the 15 winners. He also won the Cali School Composer Award.

Double bassist David Marks (BA Mus. Ed ‘97), the Midland Park High School Director of Bands, has been teaching in the Midland Park public school system for the past thirteen years and is currently the 2009-2010 Knights of Columbus Teacher of the Year.

Ashley Picciallo (BFA ’10) and Aaron Catano (BFA ’10) will spend the summer with the Mt. Washington Valley Theatre Company performing leading roles in Hair.  Ashley is also working as an extra in a new movie called “Something Borrowed,” starring Kate Hudson.

Alumna Catie Shelley (AD ‘10), student of Dr. Peter Gillis, has been chosen for Opera New Jersey’s Apprenticeship Program this summer.

Ashlen Udell (BA ‘10) was accepted into the ARIA 2010 International Summer Academy at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts. She will be studying with Keith Underwood, Amy Porter, Judith Mendenhall, and Jonathan Keeble.

Masterclasses
The Cali School hosted many masterclasses by guest artists including Georg Beckmann, Simonetta Heger, Tellef Juva, Reynaldo Reyes, Catherine Schneider (piano); Paul Pollard, Weston Sprott (trombone); Jennifer Higdon, O’Neal Douglas (composition); Agathe Kania (voice); Angela Cordell, Richard Hagen (French horn); Christian McBride (jazz bass) and Gary Schocker (flute).

Conferences/Clinics Held at Montclair State, with faculty sponsor
(10/18/2009) Music Therapy Conference—Brian Abrams
11/21-22/2009—Wind Sym Conducting Symposium Thomas McCauley
1/23/2010—American Musicology Society Greater NY Meeting—Laura Dolp
1/31/2010—ASTA Quartet Festival—String faculty
1/31/2010—Leschetizky Competition—Mark Pakman
2/20/2010—NJ-NATS Audition Day—Steve Oosting & voice faculty
3/20, 3/27 and 4/10 2010—Band Clinics—Thomas McCauley
6/17-20/2010—Mayday Research Colloquium XXII: “Music Education and Ethics: Theoretical and Practical Concerns” (Keynote Speaker: “Happiness and Education” by Dr. Nel Noddings, Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, Stanford University)—Marissa Silverman

Preparatory Center for the Arts
Marla Meissner, Director

Students of Mansoon Kim (Piano faculty) performed impressively at the Music Educator Association’s Piano Competition this past March.  Leigh Wang, age 7, placed second in the Concerto Division and third in the Solo Division.  Katherine Kaminski, age 14, placed second in the Solo Division.

Michael Parsons, age 13, a Preparatory Center for the Arts composition student of Patrick Burns, had his composition The Planet of Six Glaciers selected for performance by the New York Philharmonic for their May 19 School Day Concerts.   Michael’s composition was one of three selected.