Recent News: Faculty, Students

Heather Buchanan (Professor, Director of Choral Studies) guest conducted Firenze 2015, a choral festival in Florence, Italy in June that included twenty-three current students, alumni and two parents. She also guest conducted the Brisbane Contemporary Church Music Festival at St. John’s Cathedral in Brisbane, Australia.

Robert Butts (Adjunct Professor, Introduction to Music) heard his composition, Early Music Suite for classical guitar performed by Stanley Alexandrowicz in London at Schott Recital Hall. In August, he conducted the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey in the premiere of his composition Three Browning Songs for soprano, strings, clarinet and flute, and Concertino Morning by Ting Ho (Professor, Theory/Composition), featuring Andrew Pecota (BMus Performance, Bassoon ’04; MA Theory/Composition, ’12) on Lupophone and Dan Sagi (BMus Performance ’05) on clarinet. An earlier performance of Prof. Ho’s work featured Nancy Vanderslice (Adjunct Professor, Introduction to Music) on oboe.

Barry Centanni (Adjunct Professor, percussion) performed in the percussion section of the New York Philharmonic for their parks concerts and in residencies in Shanghai and Vail (CO).

George Curran (Adjunct Professor, bass trombone) went with the New York Philharmonic to Vail (CO) and then to Santa Barbara to work alongside members of the Music Academy of the West. He also taught at the Southeast Trombone Symposium at Columbus State University, where he premiered the piano reduction of David Gillingham’s Vital Signs of Planet Earth (original version composed for him to be performed with symphonic band). He taught at the Shanghai Orchestral Academy with other members of the NY Philharmonic in September.

This August, Karen Goodman (Professor, Music Therapy) participated in the Eighth Nordic Conference of Music Therapy: “Music Therapy Across Contexts” (Oslo, Norway) and the “Healthy and Unhealthy Use of Music by Adolescents” conference (Bergen, Norway). In Oslo she presented her paper, The music therapy in the music lesson: Historic community in New York City.

Music Education alumna Robbin Gordon-Cartier was one of eighteen music teachers from around the country awarded the 2015 National Artist Teacher Fellowship. This fellowship supports a self-defined project to advance artist-teachers in their career. She currently teaches music at the Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange (NJ).

Kyle Hoyt (Adjunct Professor, French horn) began a run of a new hit show in the pit orchestra of Broadway’s Something Rotten. He played at the Bard Music Festival with the American Symphony Orchestra, in which the theme was “Chavez and his World.” He also performed with Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Caramoor in Donizetti’s La Favorite.

Steve Johns (Adjunct Professor, jazz drums) released his debut CD Steve Johns FAMILY. It received many great reviews one of which was in the August issue of Modern Drummer Magazine.

Soyeon Kim (collaborative pianist and vocal coach) performed at the Jaime Aragall’s Opera Workshop in June at Mozarthaus, Vienna, and in the final Gala Concert at Musikverein, Vienna.

Ron Levy (collaborative pianist) recorded a solo CD, Russian Piano Masterpieces, which includes Tchaikovsky’s Seasons, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Bill Moring (Adjunct Professor, jazz bass, director of Red Hawk Jazz Band) performed three concerts in Russia, including one at Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. He recorded his fifth CD with guitarist John Hart.

Chris Opperman (Alumnus and Adjunct Professor, Music Business) prepared a new full orchestra score and piano/vocal reduction of Pulitzer Prize runner-up composer Charles Fussell’s opera An Astronaut’s Tale for a series of performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in January, 2016.

LeAnn Overton (vocal coach) was artistic director of Respiro Opera, NYC 2015, a program for young singers bridging the gap between student and professional. Montclair student participants included Briana Kupper and John McLean. She was also a faculty vocal coach at Lingua e Canto in Sant’Angelo in Vado, Italy and worked with Cali School student participants Libby Wooton, John McLean, Jason Zacher.

Mark Pakman (Adjunct Professor, piano) taught piano and coached chamber music at the Summit Festival in Westchester. His student Inhye Cho (Artist’s Diploma ’15) received a full scholarship for the DMA program at the University of South Carolina.

Holli Ross (Adjunct Professor, vocal jazz, director of Vocamotion Vocal Jazz Ensemble) appeared in the group London, Meader, Pramuk & Ross at Birdland in September for release of their recording, The Royal Bopsters Project.

Andrew Rossetti (Adjunct Professor, Music Therapy) completed a project entitled:
The Impact of Music Therapy on Anxiety in Patients Newly Diagnosed with Cancer & Undergoing Simulation from Radiation Therapy at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center. It is under consideration for publication in a major medical journal.

Lester Vrtiak (BMus Theory/Composition & Piano, ’09) is working with the NYC-based arts organization Sing for Hope. This non-profit strives to make the arts accessible to everyone through hospital performances, after-school programs and the flagship arts initiative, the Sing for Hope Pianos. As Program Associate and Pianos Project Leader, he brought 50 artist-painted pianos to the streets of NYC for anyone and everyone to enjoy. Following their time in the public spaces of the NYC, the pianos are donated to schools, hospitals and other community organizations where Sing for Hope brings programming to the neighborhoods who need it most. While preparing for next year’s Pianos project, he is performing at hospital bedsides, veteran’s homes, dementia centers, cerebral palsy facilities and schools. He was featured on CBS Evening News.

Stacy Wilson (Adjunct Professor, saxophone) gave two performances at the World Saxophone Congress is Strasbourg, France in July. She was a featured performer on the “Sax and Strings” Chamber Concert that was broadcast internationally in Europe and also gave a full-length recital with the Zzyzx Saxophone Quartet at the conference.

David Wolfson (Adjunct Professor, Theory/Composition) spent his summer composing two new musicals, and playing rehearsal piano and subbing in the pit orchestra of the Broadway production of Les Miserables.