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The Latest From Faculty, Staff, and Students May-August 2016

♦ indicates performances that readers can attend or enjoy at home

Jossalyn Jensen

Violist Jossalyn Jensen recently received a Fulbright scholarship.

(Photo by Jossalyn Jensen)
Anthony Stillabower

Composer Anthony Stillabower also won a Fulbright.

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Faculty

♦ In February, Kenny Barron worked with jazz students during a weeklong residency at Michigan State University. The week culminated in a concert with the university’s jazz octets and faculty members. His trio’s new recording, Book of Intuition, is out on Impulse.

In March, Phoebe Carrai and Robert Mealy joined Kenneth Slowik to play and record Haydn piano trios at the Smithsonian.

♦ Carols by John Corigliano and six other composers are featured on December Celebration (PentaTone Classics), which features baritone Lester Lynch (’94, voice).

In November, Monica Huggett performed concertos, sonatas, and suites by J.S. Bach at Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium in New York City.

♦ Alan Kay’s (BM ’82, MM ’83, clarinet; Advanced Certificate ’90, orchestral conducting) CD Max Reger: Music for Clarinet and Piano (Bridge Records), which also features Jon Klibonoff (MM ’82, DMA ’88, piano), won the Classical Recording Foundation’s Samuel Sanders Chamber Music Award. In April, Kay conducted the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra in Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto.

♦ Frank Kimbrough’s quintet, which includes trumpeter and alum Riley Mulherkar, has a new recording, Meantime, on Newvelle Records.

In November, Wynton Marsalis (’81, trumpet) performed at A Night of a Million Possibilities, a gala to celebrate the success of the Pittsburgh Promise, which provides college scholarships to children throughout the region.

The American String Teachers Association gave Sylvia Rosenberg (Diploma ’51, violin) its artist teacher of the year award in March.

In March, Tali Roth (MM ’93, guitar) performed music by Albéniz, Brahms, Chopin, Piazzolla, and others in a recital at the Rosen Theater of the Y in Wayne, N.J.

Joel Sachs will perform Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the New York Repertory Orchestra on May 14 at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. 

Staff

Dean and Provost Ara Guzelimian will be one of the jurors in the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, which takes place this month. Other jurors include Barbara Hannigan, Neville Mariner, Jörg Widmann (Advanced Certificate ’95, clarinet), and David Zinman.

James Houghton, director of the Drama Division, is receiving a lifetime achievement Lucille Lortel Award on May 1 for his work as the founding artistic director of the Signature Theatre.

Ira Rosenblum (MM ’76, piano), director of publications, sang with the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah Community Chorus at a ceremony on April 3 to dedicate the synagogue’s new home in Chelsea. Among the dignitaries in attendance were Mayor Bill de Blasio, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Congressman Jerrold Nadler.

Students

In March, master’s student Robert Fleitz (Pre-College ’11; BM ’15, piano) performed at the annual gala at the Harrison School for the Arts in Lakeland, Fla., of which he is an alumnus.

First-year master’s singer Samantha Hankey received a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation and also third prize in the foundation’s Gerda Lissner competition. This month, she’ll be participating in Opera Philadelphia’s composer-in-residency project, Double Exposure.

♦ On June 14 and 15, undergraduate organist Ryan Kennedy; master’s organists Colin MacKnight (BM ’15, organ), Alessandro Pittorino, and Greg Zelek (BM ’14, organ); and Michael T.C. Hey (BM ’13, MM ’14, organ) will compete at the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition in Kennett Square, Pa. In April, Zelek and doctoral candidate Patrick Kreeger played a recital at Community Congregational Church in Short Hills, N.J.

Fuse by doctoral candidate Jared Miller (MM ’12, composition) received its world premiere at Le Poisson Rouge in March. The piece, for 10 players, was performed by Latitude 49 Ensemble and the Attacca Quartet—Amy Schroeder (BM ’06, MM ’08, violin), Keiko Tokunaga (Pre-College ’03; BM ’07, MM ’08 violin), and Andrew Yee (BM ’06, MM ’08, cello). The concert was also live-streamed.

♦ Master’s pianist Joseph Mohan (BM ’14, piano) will play for a Mother’s Day concert on May 7 at Calvary United Methodist Church in Dumont, N.J. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Center for Hope and Safety, which assists victims of domestic violence.

Second-year violist Lisa Sung won the Rotary Club of Rushen and Western Mann Prize in the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, which was held in March on the Isle of Man.

Fulbright Winners

Two second-year master’s students, violist Jossalyn Jensen and composer Anthony Stillabower, received Fulbright awards this spring. Jensen, who’s from Salt Lake City, Utah, will study at the Paris Conservatoire; her project involves bringing modern European masterworks for solo viola to new audiences. Stillabower, who’s from Nineveh, Nev., will pursue studies in microtonality and electronic composition at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy. Congratulations to both of them!

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