Cali School Faculty, Student & Alumni News

In the 2018-2019 academic year, Cali School faculty, students and alumni have been active internationally in all areas of music. Here are some of their achievements:

Faculty
Benjamin Baron (Adjunct Faculty, clarinet) played the Summerscape Opera and Bard Music Festival with the American Symphony Orchestra last summer. This season he performed with the American Symphony Orchestra and the New York Pops, and played principal with the Westchester Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestra of New York. He performed with the Broadway shows My Fair Lady, Wicked and Phantom of the Opera. He performed as a solo guest artist at Temple Beth El. As a chamber musician he performed in the Yale in New York Concert Series and in numerous concerts with Quintet of the Americas.

Patrick Burns (Adjunct Faculty, Theory/Aural Skills/Composition) premiered his composition My Love Is Fairer Than Any in concert halls in Belfast, Dublin, and Cork in February. His Murmurs of the Infinite Sea, commissioned by the Ramsey Wind Symphony, was premiered in May. He conducted the Marywood University Wind Symphony and the PMEA District 5 Band in performances around Pennsylvania. He was contracted as lead orchestrator for The Animist, a new video game backed by Nintendo and Limited Run Games, to be released in Summer 2020. Recording will be next winter with the Prague FILM-Harmonic, one of the premiere film and video game music orchestras in the world.

Lisa DeLorenzo (Professor/Graduate Coordinator, Music Education) published her third book, Teaching Music: The Urban Experience (Routledge Press, April, 2019). The book is based on year-long journals from urban music teachers in middle and senior high schools. Topics include gaining trust with adolescents, working with LGBTQ students, immigrant and second language students, helping troubled students regain confidence in school, racial issues, and hip hop as a democratic vehicle for learning. Written for preservice and novice teachers in the urban setting, the book is one of only a few on the market that addresses these issues.

Soprano Karen Driscoll (Adjunct Faculty, Voice) returned to Worcester (MA) Chorus in the fall to perform as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasia. She was guest artist-in-residence at the University of Windsor (Ontario, CA) in January. She lectured on the business of music, gave a voice masterclass and performance of the one-woman opera Before Breakfast. In April she was a guest lecturer in Sudbury (MA) where she spoke on Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites. In May, she sang as soprano soloist with MSU’s combined choral concert in Ralph Vaughan William’s Dona Nobis Pacem.

Sasha Enegren (Adjunct Faculty, Bassoon/Woodwinds Coordinator) performed concerts with Savannah Philharmonic, gave the world premiere of Raphael Fusco’s Four Sacred Songs (St. Michael’s Church, NYC), presented recitals and masterclasses in Iowa and Minnesota, including a performance of French horn professor Jeff Scott’s composition Elegy for Innocence. In November she toured and taught masterclasses and lessons in Havana, Cuba with Quintet of the Americas. With a NEA grant she gave world premiere of Lev Zhurbin’s For the Sparrows, a collaborative performance with Queens elementary schools PS 69 and PS 149. Her numerous performances in the New York area included performing with the Montclair Orchestra (NJ) and recitals at New York University, Bartow-Pell Mansion, Bronx, NY, Langston Hughes Library, Corona, NY, and Queens Botanical Garden. She also performed with the IRIS Orchestra (Tennessee) and Savannah Philharmonic (Georgia). She recorded Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison with Experiential Orchestra.

Soyeon Kim (Collaborative Pianist) served on Ferro Vocal Program faculty in Chianti, Italy last summer. Her performances in New York City include Seoul in NYC, a concert hosted by the Seoul National University Alumni Association, and the Armistice Day Concert: Music of the World War I Era, hosted by the New York Flute Club.

Youn-hee Kim (Adjunct Faculty, Piano) presented the complete Chopin Études, Op. 10, in solo recitals in NJ and CT, which were hailed by the audience after the concerts. She worked on completing two CDs for fall release, including the complete Chopin Études, Op. 10, the first book of Albeniz Iberia Suite by Albeniz, Brahms Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24 and the Bach French Suite in G Major. In addition, she served as a committee member of New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA) Annual Piano Competition, and started hosting MEA Piano Competition in Leshowitz Recital Hall of Cali School of Music.

Dmitri Korneev (Collaborative Pianist) won Second Prize at the Prokofiev’s Russian National Composers Competition for his composition Arabesque for flute and piano.

Lori McCann (Associate Professor, Voice) presented masterclasses in American vocal music at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music (Milan, Italy) in May.

Thomas McCauley (Professor, Director of University Bands) The MSU Wind Symphony appeared at the 2019 College Band Directors National Association National Conference in February at Arizona State University. This was the first time a large ensemble from the Cali School has appeared at a national conference. New Jersey composer Bruce Yurko recently composed a piece especially for the MSU Wind Symphony and conductor Thomas McCauley. Variations 2019 was premiered in the Kasser Theater on Friday, May 3, 2019.

Deborah Mello (Adjunct Faculty, Choral Methods) was active as a clinician and conductor throughout the United States. Her activities include: guest clinician for NJSMA (North Jersey School Music Association) Middle School Choral Festival (January ’18), guest choral conductor for Virginia District XIII Middle School Honor Choir (February), presenter interest session for ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) National Conference (March), clinician/adjudicator for Heritage Choral Festivals – Boston & Toronto (April), clinician for Choral Workshop Watching Boro Middle School Chorus & Kidder County High School, North Dakota (May), clinician for Professional Service Day for NJSMA – Elementary Choir Reading Session and Rehearsal Techniques (June), and authored an article for ACDA National Choral Journal entitled: “Children’s and Youth Community Choirs: Shifting the Paradigm.” (June/July issue).

Chris Opperman (MA ’10; Adjunct Faculty, Music Industry) recently had a world premiere of his piece Bitter Branches, Taller Trees performed by Dr. Ruth Rendleman. He also began production on his sixth full-length album Chamber Music from Hell which is being produced by Dweezil Zappa’s bass player Kurt Morgan to be released in fall 2019.

Bryan Powell (Assistant Professor, Music Technology/Education) published an article in the Journal of Music Teacher Education titled “Popular Music Pedagogies: An Approach to Teaching 21st-Century Skills.” His presentations and workshops included: State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education: SEADAE Annual Conference; New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Annual Conference; Ball State University (IN); Western University (Ontario, CA); University of Saskatchewan.

Jan Prokop (Adjunct Faculty, Voice/Associate Music Theater Voice Coordinator) served as a master teacher in the NATS Intern Program at the University of Colorado in June ‘18 (Boulder) and as a Body Mapping instructor for RespiroOperaNYC© in June 2018, taught voice at Broadway for All in July, and wrote the Body Mapping chapter for the NATS publication of So You Want to Sing With Physical Awareness.

Gregg Rossetti (Adjunct Faculty, Rap & Rock) presented a chapter from his dissertation in the game studies track at GameSoundCon, in Los Angeles (CA). The talk was on how musical tropes in early console-based role-playing video games are used to establish a cultural and political identity of their respective imaginary worlds.

Marissa Silverman (Associate Professor, Music Education) published Gregory Haimovsky: A Pianist’s Odyssey to Freedom as part of the Eastman Music Studies, and with David Elliott, the 2nd edition of Music Matters: A Philosophy of Music Education, translated for the Chinese audience. She served as interim board chair from September 2018-present on the Board of Directors, Crossing Point Arts: Bringing the Arts to Survivors of Human Trafficking.

Wendy Stern (Adjunct Faculty, Flute) was guest tutor and presented “Work and Play: Creating a Playground for Deep Practice” at the Australian National Teachers Conference, Melbourne Australia in July 2018. She was a guest clinician at Bay Area Fall Flute Workshop, San Francisco (CA), gave premiere performance of Daniel Dorff’s Spirit of the Hudson Sonata for Bass Flute and Piano at the New Jersey Flute Fair, and was a recitalist and guest clinician at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City. She also gave the premiere performance of Russell Scarbrough’s Flute Quartet at Mud-Atlantic Flute Fair, Weston (VA).

Sondra Tammam (Adjunct Faculty, Piano) was awarded the 2018 New Jersey Music Teachers Association Teacher of the Year Award at the State Conference at Rider University. In April, she was a judge for the Leschetizky Association International Concerto Competition in NYC.

Amy Reich (Adjunct Faculty, Theory/Aural Skills) enjoyed new performances of her compositions. These included the premiere of Sea Shanties for violin and viola in Williamstown, MA in the summer 2018, and a concert featuring her music at the DiMenna Center in NYC in February, 2019.

Ereni Sevasti (Adjunct Faculty, Voice) performed in Four Messages, a rock musical about faith, forgiveness, and the possibility of at Judson Church Loft and Joe’s Pub in New York City.

Students
Ellen Ivansson (Artist’s Diploma ’20, Clarinet) was chosen as an alternate for Music Academy of the West.

Michael Prachthauser (BMus ’20, Music Education) a student of George Spitzer, won 2nd Place in the Great Composer’s Series, G.F. Handel International Voice Competition in February 2019.

Alumni
Adam Cavagnaro (BMus, Voice ’08) is president & founder of Promethean Artists, an artist management firm. He holds both a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Montclair State University and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Manhattan School of Music. Fusing skills acquired from his time as a performing artist and his work in the hospitality industry at New York’s fine dining restaurants (Gramercy Tavern, Nobu, Mormimoto), Adam’s approach provides artists with proactive, thoughtful, and innovative solutions to everyday challenges encountered in the classical music industry. A former Vice President, Artist Manager at IMG Artists, Adam began his career in artist management as a Managerial Assistant in 2012, where he teamed with Senior Vice President and Director of Vocal Alec Treuhaft on top artists including Gerald Finley, Christine Brewer, and Matthias Goerne. In 2014, Adam was tasked with developing the west coast presence of IMG Artists, as the only California-based artist manager representing vocalists. He currently resides in San Francisco.

Meredith Foreman (BA ’05, Music Education; Stokes Forest Music Camp: Saxophone, Drums & Percussion/Coordinator of Jazz Studies and Activities) is a music educator, recording artist and freelance musician performing regularly on saxophone, clarinet, flute, trumpet, and percussion. She is a member of the world famous “Chops Horns” and has performed at many venues including the Apollo Theater and Carnegie Hall in concerts featuring artists such as Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, The O’Jays, Anita Baker, Dionne Warwick, Wayne Brady, Doug E. Fresh, Paul Shaffer, Edwin Hawkins, BeBe Winans, Fantasia, Boyz II Men, Jamie Foxx, Mariah Carey, Joss Stone and others. She is the founding conductor of the award winning instrumental program for grades 4-8 at Ronald Reagan Academy in Elizabeth and sits on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Association for Jazz Education (NJAJE). She has had the honor of conducting the New Jersey Region II Honors Middle School Jazz Band (2016), Rockland Junior All County Band (2019) and has worked as a jazz clinician/adjudicator throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Meredith is the recipient of many awards including the Union County Teacher Recognition Award (2012), Edward F. Kappy Merit Award, and an Excellence in Education Leadership Award (2015). She is a published author contributing to Teaching Music – The Urban Experience by Lisa DeLorenzo, Ed.D. (2019).

Lawrence Markiewicz (MA ’15, Conducting; Adjunct Faculty, Brass 2006-18) completed a DMA in Orchestral Conducting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University). He is currently Associate Professor of Music (tenure track) at Independence Community College in Independence, Kansas.