In April, music history faculty member Fred Fehleisen presented a paper titled “Thematic Transformation and Rhetorical Design” at the biennial meeting of the American Bach Society in Bethlehem, Pa. In July, he presented an analytical paper on Handel’s Messiah titled “If God Is for Us: Handel’s Rhetorical Summation,” at the 13th International Biennial Conference on Baroque Music, held at the University of Leeds, England.

Pre-College piano faculty member Victoria Mushkatkol spent her second summer as artistic director of the Vladimir Nielsen Piano Festival, which she founded in 2007. The festival, which runs for four weeks and is open to gifted pianists ages 13 to 23, takes place in the town of Sag Harbor on Long Island.

Pre-College piano faculty member Adelaide Roberts performed three recitals and gave one master class in Honolulu, Hawaii, in July.

Dance Division artistic director Lawrence Rhodes will be honored at the 2008 Dance Magazine Awards in December.

STUDENT NEWS

Doctoral student in composition Ray Lustig was among the composers represented on American Opera Projects’ two free outdoor concerts titled “Walt Whitman in Song,” performed in August in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Michelle Yelin Nam, a master’s degree student in piano, won the $15,000 Sylva Gelber Foundation Award in July. The award, presented by the Canada Council on the Arts, is given to talented professional classical musicians under the age of 30.

Dance student Spenser Theberge received a Princess Grace Award for dance and choreography in October.

Andrew Wan, who just completed his master’s degree in violin and is now in the Artist Diploma program, has been appointed co-concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony, effective this fall.