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The Latest from Faculty, Staff, and Students May-August 2017

Faculty

In January, the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University awarded piano faculty member Emanuel Ax (Pre-College '66; Diploma '70, Postgraduate Diploma '72, piano) the $50,000 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize. He will have a residence at the school and give a public recital on May 3.

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In April, a ceremony held at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo., to commemorate the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I involved some community members. Faculty member Edward Bilous (MM '80, DMA '84, composition) was the artistic director and faculty member Michelle DiBucci (MM '87, composition), was music director and co-music producer with Graduate Studies adjunct faculty member Greg Kalember. Pianist Reuben Allen (Artist Diploma '15, jazz studies), baritone John Brancy (BM '11, Graduate Diploma '13, voice), Peter Dugan (BM '11, MM '14, piano), Christopher T. McLaurin (Graduate Diploma '04, percussion), Matt Rombaum (Advanced Certificate '89, viola), and Charles Yang (BM '11, MM '13, violin) performed.

Dance faculty member Janis Brenner is presenting her eponymous company at Gibney Dance in TriBeCa from June 1 to 3. The program includes two premieres; among the company members are Sumaya Jackson (BFA '08), Ruth Howard (BFA '15), and Kara Chan (BFA '15).

Deborah Hecht (Drama Division Faculty) is the voice/dialect coach for Groundhog Day: The Musical, which is at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway.

Violin faculty member Ray Iwazumi (Pre-College, '94; BM '98; MM '99; DMA '04) will give a lecture-performance called Expression in Violin Performance; Innovations in the Late 19th Century on May 11 at the New York office of the Friends of University of Tokyo.

Faculty member and organ department chair Paul Jacobs will serve as president of the jury for the first-ever international organ competition in China, to be held September 13–17 in Shanghai. Jacobs will also perform an all-Bach recital as part of the competition.

In February and March, Pre-College and Evening Division faculty member Matthew Odell (DMA '10, collaborative piano) performed the complete piano sonatas of Pierre Boulez at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and the University of Sheffield in England.

New York-based Baroque ensemble House of Time, which includes Historical Performance faculty members Gonzalo Ruiz and Avi Stein and alums Tatiana Daubek, (MM '12), Paul Dwyer (MM '13), and Beiliang Zhu (MM '11), played music by Handel and Rameau at Yale's Sprague Memorial Hall in February.

Faculty member Joel Sachs will conduct the American Contemporary Ensemble and give a piano recital at the Fringe Festival in Brighton, U.K., on June 2 and 3.

The Lark Quartet, which includes Pre-College faculty member Caroline Stinson (MM '08, Artist Diploma '10, cello), will perform with its original members (they formed it in 1985) on May 1 at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. Deborah Buck (BM '93, violin) is also a member. The original Larks included Kay Stern (BM and MM '85, violin), Robin Mayforth (Pre-College '80; BM '84, MM '86, violin), and Laura Sewell (BM '81, cello).

This spring, Drama faculty member Kate Wilson was the voice/dialect coach for the Broadway productions The Glass Menagerie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the Park Avenue Armory's production of The Hairy Ape. She was the voice consultant on Hello, Dolly!, Sweat, and Amélie.

Staff

In March, Jane Gottlieb, vice president for library and information resources, participated in a forum called Music as Cultural Heritage that was sponsored by the International Association of Music Libraries, International Musicological Society, and International Council for Traditional Music in Abu Dhabi. Her paper was called Music Manuscripts; Preservation and Access.

James Gregg, production activities manager for the Drama Division, worked on the Red Bull Theater gala in March.

Will Johnson, digital analytics manager, was a coauthor of a study called "Music Alumni Play a Different Tune: Reflections on Acquired Skills and Career Outcomes" that was published in The International Journal of Education & the Arts (Vol. 18, No. 29).

Joseph W. Polisi, Juilliard's president and an alumnus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts, will get an honorary doctorate there on May 21.

In May, Meg Popick, assistant director of the Office of International Advisement, will be a lead trainer at the conference of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers: Association of International Educators and will give a workshop on immigration. She's also the conference's advocacy coordinator for New York and New Jersey.

In March, Todd Porter, director of Residence Life, served on the NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education annual conference Student Affairs Speak subcommittee.

Rare Birds, a play by Adam Szymkowicz (Playwrights '07), literary manager of the Drama Division and Playwrights Program administrator, was produced by the Red Fern Theatre Company at the 14th Street Y in April.

Students

In March, the ASCAP Foundation named the recipients of the Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. First-year master's composer Yihan Chen, doctoral candidate Paul Frucht (MM '13, composition), second-year master's composer William Healy, undergraduate pianist and composer Tengku Irfan (Pre-College '16), Saad Haddad (MM '16, composition), and Yuri Boguinia (BM '14, composition) were among the recipients. The judges included Martin Kennedy (DMA '05, composition), Lowell Liebermann (BM '82, MM '84, DMA '87, composition), and former faculty member Samuel Adler.

Master's mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey (BM '15, voice) was among six singers who won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in March; master's bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum was one of nine finalists. Quattlebaum also received an award at the George London Foundation Competition in February. Hankey was also among three Juilliard musicians to receive Leonore Annenberg arts fellowships, it was announced in April. The others are cellists Khari Joyner (BM '13, MM '14), a doctoral student, and Jia Kim (BM '11, MM '13).

Master's student Drew Petersen (Diploma '13), a Kovner fellow, won the 2017 American Pianists Award in April. The award, which is given every four years by the American Pianists Association, includes a recording contract with Steinway & Sons, two years of career advancement and support, performance opportunities, and a $50,000 cash prize. Alumni Henry Kramer (BM '09, MM '11) and Steven Lin (BM '11, MM '13) were among the five finalists.

Master's student Tengyue Zhang (BM '16, guitar) won first prize in the Schadt String Competition in March; his award includes a solo performance with the Allentown (Pa.) Symphony next season. Last year, he was a winner of the Guitar Masters International Competition in Poland and gave seven concerts in China as first-prize winner of the Changsha International Competition.

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