Faculty, Student, Alumni News: March-Oct ’14

Nancy Billmann (Adjunct Faculty, French horn) played concerts with Mostly Mozart. She also taped a PBS performance with Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, featuring songs from their album, Cheek to Cheek, which she recorded with them in 2013.

Elizabeth Brown (MSU Composer-in-Residence) performed traditional and contemporary music for shakuhachi in June at Gallery Sasaya in Tokyo, and at Kawaguchi Asama Shrine in Kawaguchiko, Japan. She also completed Zeppelin for a performance by the MSU Wind Symphony in spring 2015.

Robert Butts (Adjunct Faculty, Introduction to Music) conducted the world premiere of Puccini Suite, composed for the 2014 Baroque Orchestra of NJ Summer Music Festival by Monsignor Marco Frisina, choral music director at the Vatican. Monsignor Frisina traveled to the United States to be part of the performance.

Ardith Collins (Adjunct Faculty, strings technique) was awarded the Beacon Scholarship from the American Center for Elemental Music and Movement (ACEMM) to attend the 16th Orff World Village in Valkeala, Finland.

Steve Colson (Adjunct Faculty, Introduction to Jazz) and his wife, Iqua Colson, performed as part of African American Artists & Abstraction, a historical exhibition of nine visual and plastic artists at National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba.

Lisa DeLorenzo (Professor, Music Education) hosted a national conference in June. The conference, Giving Voice to Democracy in Music Education, was the first of its kind in the United States. Presenters represented states across the nation. The conference was part of Dr. DeLorenzo’s on-going scholarly work to bring democratic practice into the music classroom. She is currently editing a book for Routledge on this topic.

Karen Goodman (Professor, Music Therapy) chaired the roundtable “International Music Therapy Education and Training in Cultural Contexts” (World Music Therapy Congress, Vienna/Krems, Austria, July 2014), which previewed content for her forthcoming book: International Perspectives in Music Therapy Education and Training: Adapting to a Changing World (Charles C Thomas). In addition, she received a career development grant for an academic project with Oxford University Publishing.

Marsha Heller (Adjunct Faculty, Oboe) performed with the Grateful Dead this summer at the PNC Bank Arts Center (NJ). She made a recording with a new group performing on double reed instruments, the Double Entendre Music Ensemble.

Jeffrey Kunkel (Associate Professor, Jazz Studies) attended the ISME Conference in Porto Alegre, Brasil, in July, where he presented a clinic focused on problems of rhythm sections of school jazz ensembles. He also performed music from his recent release Meu Coração Brasileiro in a concert performance, along with his usual colleagues from Rio de Janeiro, Alex Rocha (bass) and Haroldo Mauro (drums), and special guest Ana Krüger (jazz vocalist) from Porto Alegre.

Ron Levy (collaborative pianist) participated in the Manchester (VT) Music Festival’s 40th Anniversary Gala Concert, performing the Thuille Sextet for Piano & Winds. He became Music Director of the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood (NJ) and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra.

Mary Ann Mumm (Adjunct Professor, violin) performed and taught at Alfredo de St. Malo International Music Festival (Panama); held a teaching residency with Filarmonica Joven de Columbia- Santa Marta (Colombia); taught and worked on outreach for the Youth Orchestras of the Americas/Global Leaders (Dominican Republic, Haiti & Jamaica); worked with the ASTA/NJ Chamber Music Institute (Rutgers University); served with the Music for Life International quartet performance and music outreach program at Za’atari Syrian refugee camp; performed chamber music and taught at the American consulate and Royal Conservatory of Amman (Jordan).

Darren O’Neill (Adjunct Professor and Coordinator of Guitar Studies) and flutist, Michelle Brick (MA, Performance ’07), performing as Duo Sonoroso, released Sounds of South America, their second CD. The recording was mastered at Erypsus Studios; owned by Gregg Rossetti (MA, Theory/Composition ’09).

LeAnn Overton (Vocal Coach) founded Respiro Opera, NYC, a 10-day workshop focused on breath (yoga), body work (body mapping and Alexander Technique), in-depth text study, staging and performance, held at the National Opera Center facilities in NYC. She also coached for Vocal Arts Festival (Colorado Springs, CO). She was principal vocal coach for the Midsummer Music Festival (Courcelles, Canada).

Amy Reich (Adjunct Professor, theory/composition) Recent composition premieres/ performances: the Community Intergenerational Action Orchestra (Ciao!) of Williamstown, MA; the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey; the Long Island University String Ensemble with the Kronos String Quartet (in a tour of Ireland); violinist Emily Kalish (in NYC and MA), and music for the play Turquoise by Deb Margolin, which was performed at Dixon Place in NYC in June.

Holli Ross (Adjunct Professor, vocal jazz) performed as a member of a vocal quartet that has been signed by Motema Records.

Chad Smith (Adjunct Professor, saxophone) presented lectures and recitals at the North American Sax Alliance Biennial Conference in March and the International Double Reed Conference in August. In June he coordinated and performed as soloist for the Al Gallodoro 100th Year tribute concert in New York City. He was honored to perform on Al’s saxophone, bass clarinet and clarinet. He recently became a Selmer artist.

Wendy Stern (Adjunct Professor, flute) was a presenter at Suzuki Association of the Americas National Conference (Minneapolis, MN); clinician at Suzuki Institutes at East Tennessee State University (Johnson City, TN); performed new works for bass flute at the National Flute Convention (Chicago, IL); and enjoyed the CD release of a performance with the Cicada Chamber Ensemble, the premiere performance of Listening for Blossoms by composer Lei Liang.

Sondra Tammam (Adjunct Professor, piano) performed and taught at the 3rd Taubman Festival (MSU Cali School, June ’14) and visited Santa Cecilia Conservatory (Rome, Italy).

Paula Unsal (Adjunct Faculty, Music Therapy) was chair of the New Jersey State Task Force on Occupational Regulation (NJSTF). NJSTF collaborates with the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) and Certification Board for Music Therapists (CBMT), seeking state licensure for music therapy and the Music Therapist – Board Certified (MT-BC) credential for which Montclair students train.

Student and Alumni News

Nathan Sonnenfeld (BMus, Music Education ’15) performed at the Eastern Music Festival (Greensboro, NC); Aurora Mendez (BMus, Performance ’16) performed with National Orquesta of Chile and taught with the violin outreach program of a foundation (Santiago, Chile); Beatrice Naumann (BMus, Performance ’15) participated in the Oberlin Historical Performance/ Baroque Violin seminar; Jhi-Eun Gu (BMus, Music Education ’15) served as a counselor/coach at the ASTA/NJ Chamber Music Institute (Rutgers University). All are students of Adjunct Professor Mary Ann Mumm.

In June, Michael Mahadeen (MA, Theory-Composition ’15) performed in a production of Hairspray at the Mayo Center in Morristown, NJ. In July and August, he performed Hairspray Jr. at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA. He continued a year-long project writing conducting excerpts for Connect4Education, a web-based music instruction publisher.

Dayeong Kang (Artist’s Diploma, voice ’14) and Irene Kim. (Artist’s Diploma, voice ’16) participated in the Vocal Arts Festiva (Colorado Springs, CO). The served as understudies for the Festival’s production of The King and I.

Thomas Kurtz (BMus, Music Education ’17), a student of Chad Smith, was a finalist in the Rico Take First Competition.

Minyoung Park (Artist’s Diploma, piano ’14) was accepted for a Masters in Accompanying degree at the Manhattan School of Music.

Tyler Rubin (BMus, Theory-Composition ’14) was accepted into the graduate program at the Tisch School at New York University.