James DePreist, director of conducting and orchestral studies, received the University of Pennsylvania’s first Creative Spirit Award, which recognizes an artistic leader with an enduring commitment to the arts. 

In December, trombone faculty member Per Brevig (Diploma ’67, Postgraduate Diploma ’67, BM ’68, DMA ’71, trombone) conducted the East Texas Symphony Orchestra and the East Texas Symphony Orchestra Chorus in Handel’s Messiah. In January, he led the orchestra in a concert of songs featuring soprano Angela Brown. Both performances took place at the University of Texas-Tyler Cowan Center. 

In October, E1 Distribution released The Brahms Complete Trios, Volume II, featuring piano faculty member Joseph Kalichstein (BS ’67, MS ’69, piano) with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. 

Harpsichord faculty member Lionel Party (MS ’72, DMA ’76, harpsichord) will be a jury member for the 17th International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition at the Bach Archives in Leipzig, Germany, in July. Party won the competition in 1972.

The Golden Gate, an opera by Evening Division faculty member Conrad Cummings, was presented as a workshop production by American Opera Projects and the production company LivelyWorks. The performance took place in January at the Rose Studio in New York City. 

Chamber music and music history faculty member Joel Sachs was conductor-in-residence at the Banff Center for Creativity, in Banff, Alberta, in November. In August he gave a recital of American piano music at a festival in Céret, France. Sachs is curating this year’s Fromm Foundation new music weekend at Harvard University, February 19-20, where he will conduct the ensemble Continuum in two concerts of music from around the world.

Chamber music faculty member Audrey Axinn (MM ’90, DMA ’98, collaborative piano) performed in the debut of the Salon/Sanctuary Concerts on October 22 at the Abigail Adams Smith Museum in New York City. Axinn played the fortepiano, and Claire Jolivet (BM ’82, MM ’83, violin) also performed. In December, Axinn appeared with soprano Jessica Gould at the Midtown Concert Series at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City. Axinn, the collaborative piano assistant at Juilliard, continues as the assistant dean at Mannes College the New School for Music, and this fall she began teaching a course on instrumental accompanying.  

Monica Huggett, artistic director of historical performance, and historical performance faculty member Gonzalo X. Ruiz were nominated for a Grammy Award for best small ensemble performance for the Avie recording J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suites for a Young Prince, with Ensemble Sonnerie.

Guitar faculty member Sharon Isbin received a Grammy Award nomination for best instrumental soloist performance (without orchestra) for her album Journey to the New World. The album, on Sony Classical, debuted on the Billboard charts in April. In December, Isbin performed with the Pacific Symphony at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Orange County Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. 

STUDENT NEWS

Georgian pianist David Aladashvili, a bachelor's degree student of Jerome Lowenthal, will present a recital on February 19 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The program of works by Bach, Schumann, and Chopin is being presented by the Georgian Association in the U.S.A.

Cello master’s students Matthew Zalkind and Chang Sung Chan participated in the Isang Yun Competition, held in Tongyeong City, South Korea, in November. Zalkind won third place, with a prize of $10,000, and Chan won fifth place, with a prize of $5,000. Cello faculty member Richard Aaron was a jury member at the competition.