the 2009 Da Capo - TCU | The School of Music

Transcription

A Newsletter from the School of Music | Texas Christian University
November 2009
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Isn’t technology wonderful? Instead of waiting for a week or more
TCU School of Music Alumni and Friends:
for our hand-written letters to reach their destinations, we now
Each August we are privileged to welcome new students
know that our quickly typed e-mails and text messages will reach
and new faculty members into our TCU School of Music
their intended recipients in seconds. Or we can snap a photograph,
family. This is truly a special time for us because we literally
download it to a computer, and send it to anybody we want in a
infuse the school with new life on every front. This year
matter of one or two minutes. Compare this to waiting until we finish
we welcome a total of seven new faculty members (four
a whole roll of film, developing it, and sending a print in the mail.
full-time and three part-time) and perhaps our largest
Today, with new technology, we can do things much more easily and
new student class ever—approximately 60 new freshmen
faster than before.
music majors, 21 new graduate majors, and 8 new artist
diploma students.
However, this comfort comes at a price! Our e-mails no longer bear
Da Capo | TCU School of Music
a print of our personalities, like hand-written letters did. We have lost
New faculty and new students blend quickly with continuing
I would like to draw special attention to our Faculty and
some of the romanticism of waiting for a reply by post, finally getting
faculty and students, at once coming up to speed on
Friends Chamber Music Concert scheduled for November
Richard C. Gipson, Director
Misha Galaganov, Editor
Paul Cortese, Production Manager
Laura Samuel Meyn, Copy Editor
Design by Ardent Design
Contributing Photographers include:
Glen Ellman, Jon Uzzel, Kimberly Grogan, Paul Cortese
it, and reading and re-reading it many times. The electronic storage
who we are, how we do things, and generally what we
23, 2009. That evening, seven of our faculty members will
of our photographs and messages is not as reliable as old-fashioned
are all about. The act of communicating this information
be featured in a preview performance of their forthcoming
boxes full of letters or albums full of photographs and negatives.
to this new infusion of faculty and students results in a
concert in Shanghai Concert Hall. I hope you can join us
healthy rethinking of our mission, goals, and values. The
on that special evening. Be sure to visit us regularly on
These thoughts were going through my mind as I received electronic
combination of their new ideas and fresh perspectives
the web at www.music.tcu.edu. This is a great time for the
Please submit your announcements online via
www.music.tcu.edu/dacapo.asp or send your
correspondence to:
forms with your submissions for inclusion in the 2009 issue of Da
creates an ongoing cyclical renewal that helps keep us all
School of Music and a great time for TCU. TCU alums and
Capo. On the one hand, I love the electronic format because it makes
vibrant, challenged, and rewarded.
friends can be justifiably proud of their university and their
the other hand, I hate technology when it malfunctions. Some of
This year we welcome new full-time faculty in the areas of
colleagues on the faculty to represent you and work with
your submissions arrived incomplete, and some of the forms arrived
musicology, music education, and trombone. You will read
our outstanding students.
blank. While I followed up with many of you, I could not locate people
elsewhere in Da Capo about these and other new faculty
whose forms were missing contact information. I hope that I included
members, but please know that these musicians are stellar
materials from everyone who made submissions; all the same, I am
and represent a wonderful addition to an already superior
very concerned that some of the material got lost in the electronic
faculty base.
jungle. If you notice that your news for this issue (or previous issues)
was not included or was severely shortened, please let me know.
The School of Music student body has grown by 67
Meanwhile, we will work on improving our electronic form.
percent over the past seven years, and this coming year we
Sincerely,
Richard C. Gipson
Director, TCU School of Music
estimate enrolling close to 300 music majors—our largest
One of the things I love about being editor of this newsletter is that I
enrollment ever. The new doctoral program begins this fall
acquire really broad knowledge about everything that is going on at
with our first doctoral class of five students. In addition,
TCU’s School of Music. I feel honored to be a part of our school, and
the recent expansion of our faculty has resulted in record
I hope you enjoy reading this edition of Da Capo.
enrollments in a number of applied music areas. As I
mentioned in my note to you last year, this could not have
Dr. Misha Galaganov
been possible without the support of every office at TCU,
Editor
from the chancellor and provost to the Admissions Office,
to Financial Aid, and to the Physical Plant.
3 | Da Capo
Da Capo
TCU School of Music
Dr. Misha Galaganov, Editor
TCU Box 297500
Fort Worth, TX 76129
School of Music. It remains a privilege for me and all of my
my job of collecting and editing the materials so much easier. On
November 3
7:30PM PepsiCo Recital Hall
Guest Recital Series
Jessica Matheas, violin
Misha Galaganov, coordinator
November 4
Ensemble Concert Series
New Music Ensemble
Gerald Gabel, director
November 6
Saxophone Chamber Ensemble
Joe Eckert, conductor
November 9
7:30PM Ed Landreth Auditorium
Percussion Ensemble I
TCU Steel Drum Band I
Brian West, conductor
November 10
Jazz Combos + Brass, featuring
Morris Repass
Curt Wilson, conductor
November 18
Latin American Music Festival
Percussion Ensemble from Cali, Colombia
TCU Percussion Ensemble
November 19
Maria Luisa Harth-Bedoya, guitar
November 20
TCU Wind Symphony
Bobby Francis, conductor
November 20 - 22
Caminos del Inka Phase II
Bass Hall
November 20 – 21
TCU Band Weekend
November 13 - November 19
www.latinarts.tcu.edu
November 21
Collegium Musicum
H. Joseph Butler, conductor
November 13
7:30PM Ed Landreth Hall
Colombian Typical Trio
Colombian Tenor
November 22
Cello Studio Recital
Jesús Castro-Balbi, artistic director
November 15
Columbian Piano Duo
November 22
Double Bass Studio
Yuan Xiong Lu, director
November 15
Colombian Bandola, Guitar and Tiple Trio
November 16
Caminos del Inka Phase I
Guest Artist
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November 18
Latin American Electronic Music Recital
November 17
Caminos del Inka Phase II
TCU Chamber Groups
Guest artists, Miguel Harth Bedoya,
guest conductor
November 22
7:30PM St. Stephen Presbyterian
TCU Concert Chorale
Ron Shirey, conductor
Janet Pummill, piano
November 23
Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series,
Jesús Castro-Balbi, artistic director,
$10 ADMISSION;
$5 students and seniors
Free with TCU ID
www.music.tcu.edu/facfriends
Fall 2009
November 24
Chamber Music Recital
Curt Thompson, director
November 30
Percussion Ensemble II
Brian West, conductor
December 1
Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Allison Whetsel Ward and Ron Shirey,
conductors
December 2
Jazz Ensemble Concert
December 3
7:30pm PepsiCo Recital Hall
Cello Ensemble Concert
Jesús Castro-Balbi, conductor
December 4
3:00PM and 7:30PM
Music Building South, 3050 Rogers Ave.
TCU Opera Studio Scenes
Admission FREE
December 6
Harp Ensemble Concert
Laura Logan, director
December 7
TCU Choir and Wind Symphony
Christmas Concert
Ron Shirey and Bobby Francis,
conductors
December 8
TCU Symphonic Band
Brian Youngblood, conductor
Spring 2010
January 25
Faculty Recital Series
David Begnoche, trombone
March 23
Mitchelmore Master Series
Cavani Quartet
Januray 29
Carol Williams, organ
H. Joseph Butler, coordinator
March 26 & 27
7:30PM PepsiCo Recital Hall & Ed Landreth
Auditorium
Jazz Festival
February 1
Harold Martina, piano
February 8
Jackie Lamar, saxophone
Joe Eckert, coordinator
February 15
Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series
Jesús Castro-Balbi, artistic director;
$10 ADMISSION; $5 students and seniors
Free with TCU ID
February 22
TCU Wind Symphony
February 28
Faculty Concert Series
John Owings, piano
March 1
Colleen Mallette, voice
March 2
Ensemble Recital Series
Chamber Music Ensemble
March 8
Double Bass Studio
Luan Yu, director
March 11
TCU Symphonic Band
March 29
TCU Percussion Ensemble II
April 5
Choral Union
April 6
Jazz Combos
April 7
Student Composers
Gerald Gable, director
April 8
John Solomons, piano
Harold Martina, coordinator
April 9
Women’s and Chamber Choirs
Sherri Neill, conductor
April 10
Trombone Symposium
David Begnoche, coordinator
April 19
Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series
Jesús Castro-Balbi, artistic director;
$10 ADMISSION; $5 students and seniors
Free with TCU ID
April 20
Cello Studio Recital
Jesús Castro-Balbi, conductor
April 22
Double Bass Studio Recital
Yuan Lu, conductor
April 23, 24 & 25
TCU Opera
Richard Estes, director
April 26
Chamber Music Recital
April 27
Percussion Ensemble I
Brian West, director
April 28
Concert Chorale
All events are subject to change.
Please visit www.music.tcu.edu
for up-to-date information.
April 12
TCU Wind Symphony
April 13
TCU Symphonic Band
5 | Da Capo
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
AN EVENING WITH THE TCU SCHOOL OF MUSIC:
ANOTHER FULL
HOUSE
AT BASS PERFORMANCE HALL
For the second time, TCU School of Music students had the pleasure and
privilege to perform not only in one of the most stunning performance venues
in Texas, Bass Performance Hall, but also to give an outstanding concert to a
sold-out audience of thousands. On the evening of February 9, more than 300
students, alumni, and community members were part of this unforgettable event
that brought the audience to their feet. The concert included performances by
the TCU Jazz Ensemble, TCU Wind Symphony, and the combined forces of the
Fort Worth-TCU Symphonic Choir, TCU Symphony Orchestra, and Texas Boys
Choir.
The TCU Jazz Ensemble started the evening with two toe-tapping tunes “Kenton
Kollage” and “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” led by their conductor, Curt Wilson. This
rousing performance was followed by a contemporary piece by David Maslanka,
“Give Us This Day: Short Symphony for Wind Ensemble” performed by the TCU
Wind Symphony and led by its conductor, Bobby Francis. The music was both
powerful and filled with emotion, which paved the way for the evening’s closing
composition—Carl Orff’s legendary Carmina Burana.
This piece is easily regarded as Carl Orff’s most notable and monumental work
for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. The performance featured three alumni from
the TCU School of Music: soprano Ava Pine, baritone David Grogan, and tenor
Jay Smith. For this performance, the Fort Worth-TCU Symphonic Choir and TCU
Symphony Orchestra were also joined by the Texas Boys Choir. Germán Gutiérrez
led the impressive gathering of musicians on one of the most dramatic musical
portrayals of life’s many pleasures and perils. With its challenging vocal solos,
barbaric rhythm, and seductive melodies throughout, the audience immediately
rose to their feet at the close of the powerfully recognizable “O Fortuna.”
7 | Da Capo | Articles
The night was an overwhelming success. Numerous people made the event
achievable; special gratitude and appreciation go to Provost Nowell Donovan
for his support and for making this concert a true accomplishment for TCU and
the School of Music.
UKRAINIAN
MUSIC FESTIVAL AT TCU
The School of Music was host for a Festival of Ukrainian
Chamber Music October 28–31, 2008. Three guest
composers from Ukraine attended rehearsals and
concerts of their compositions, as well as participating
in a panel discussion and meeting with classes. There
were also five concerts of music featuring the TCU
Symphony Orchestra and the TCU New Music Ensemble,
in addition to faculty and student soloists.
The following three guest composers were featured at
the festival:
MYROSLAV SKORYK is a leader of the
older generation of Ukrainian composers. He presented
a film for which he composed the soundtrack. Entitled
Shadows of Ancient Ancestors, the film has been hailed
as a classic of Slavic film production. Skoryk was recently
given the title of Hero of Ukraine, the highest honor
bestowed on its citizens by the government of Ukraine.
LUDMILA YURINA is one of the leading
female composers from Ukraine, whose music has been
performed extensively in Europe, Canada, and United
States. In addition to having four of her compositions
performed while at TCU, Yurina also presented a lecture
in two parts on recent music of Ukrainian composers.
SERGEY ZAZHYTKO is an officer of
the Kiev branch of the Ukrainian Composers Union
and represents the avant-garde of younger composers
from Ukraine. His theatrical work Zbigniew Batjuk was
extremely well received, as was one of his orchestral
compositions.
Festival Director Gerald Gabel called the event a great
success artistically. It served its purpose of exposing the
TCU community to the music of a country with which we
were most likely unfamiliar.
CHAMBER MUSIC ROUNDUP
AND ROUNDUP ACADEMY
TCU CELLOFEST
TCU Cellofest took place March 3–7, 2009. This event featured distinguished artist cellists and faculty in five concerts
and eight master classes, including cellists Chris Adkins (Dallas Symphony Orchestra), Andrés Diaz (Southern Methodist
University), Mu-la Na (China Central Conservatory, Beijing), Eugene Osadchy (the University of North Texas), Aldo and
Elizabeth Parisot (Yale University), Dennis Parker (Louisiana State University), Carlos Prieto (Mexico), and Bion Tsang (the
University of Texas at Austin) in concerts and master classes. Also featured were the New Conservatory of Dallas Chamber
Orchestra and its director/violinist Arkady Fomin, the SMU Cello Ensemble, the TCU Cello Ensemble, and the TCU String
Orchestra, as well as TCU faculty members German Gutierrez, Yuan Xiong Lu, and Harold Martina. For more information
please visit www.cello.tcu.edu/cellofest.
Chamber Music Roundup Festival is an annual weeklong event that gives
amateur players and students of all levels the opportunity to rehearse and
perform chamber music pieces in the same ensembles with professional
artists; to attend and participate in classes, lectures, and master classes;
and to attend a faculty chamber music performance. The accompanying
Chamber Music Roundup Academy offers amateur players regular chamber
music coaching from TCU faculty members throughout each semester.
The biggest news of the festival is that starting in 2010, the Chamber Music
Roundup Festival will always take place during the second full week of May.
The very next festival will start on May 10, 2010, and will conclude on May 15.
The biggest news of the Chamber Music Roundup Academy is that now it
includes a summer semester, so it has truly become a year-round program.
For more information and to sign up for the programs, please visit:
www.music.tcu.edu/roundup.asp
www.musicprep.tcu.edu/chamberacademy.asp
or contact Misha Galaganov at 817-257-6619.
SPANISH ART SONG
SUMMER INSTITUTE
we had rodeo, and instead of tapas we had Tex-Mex, but for a week the soul
of Andaluz pervaded Ed Landreth—la musica d’España. Watch for news of
the next year’s version. Olé!
The first TCU version of Project Canción Española, a summer institute in
the interpretation of Spanish song, took place July 25–August 1. The TCU
program, directed by Sheila Allen, was an outgrowth of her attendance at the
program held in Granada, Spain last summer. Participants at TCU’s Summer
Institute of Art Song in Spanish enjoyed a concert of flamenco guitar and
song presented by Juan Miguel Giménez and Antonio Vallejo of Granada,
Spain, and a recital of piano music performed by Jorge Robaina from Madrid,
Spain. Arden Hopkin (retired TCU faculty) taught voice, Spanish diction, and
repertoire. Participants spent the week in intense coaching and took daily
classes in flamenco dance. The final concert by the participants included the
second “Miguel Zanetti” International Competition in the Interpretation of
Art Song in Spanish. Daniela Guzman ’08 was a finalist in the competition.
Jenifer Mahler ’77, ’84 also participated in the institute. Instead of bullfights,
SCHOOL OF MUSIC’S
INTERNET2
INITIATIVE
MAKES PROGRESS
By Paul Cortese
Perhaps you’ve heard that there’s more than just great
music-making going on in the School of Music. In addition
to its growing program, the school has become a leading
developer in the global Internet2 Initiative that promises
to change the way in which educational institutions
communicate. This powerful new technology allows users
convinced and was eventually able to rewrite a section of
the program’s code to provide uncompressed, stereo CDquality audio while sending a compressed video stream.
This substantial software tweak has been included in the
new version of Microsoft ConferenceXP 5.0, and is currently
the only video conferencing program with this advanced
to send and receive DVD-quality video and audio in realtime across a dedicated, high-bandwidth network. This
network is a worldwide pipeline that’s much faster than
the conventional Internet and is reserved for scientific
research and educational use. Championed by School of
Music Director Richard Gipson and his visionary spirit, José
Feghali’s technological expertise and wizardry, and my
own project planning and management, the TCU School
of Music continues to collaborate with the I2 community
and help move this exciting technology forward.
audio capability.
Members of the performing arts community that share
this limitation have been waiting for a hardware/software
solution that would provide a compressed video stream
while offering high quality audio. This is especially
important to convey the nuances of classical music. Feghali
had been in talks with Microsoft Research for over a year,
trying to persuade them to adapt their ConferenceXP
program to meet the needs of professional musicians, but
Microsoft maintained that CD-quality audio was impossible
to implement in their software. However, Feghali wasn’t
Equipped with this enhanced software and several new
pieces of equipment, including two powerful video cameras
permanently installed in PepsiCo Recital Hall, the School of
Music is prepared to cover a variety of event scenarios. In
addition to Internet2, the school can also webcast events
over the conventional Internet, thus making its concerts
and master classes available to the public at-large. Last
October, almost all of the events for the Ukrainian Music
Festival were webcast, allowing people to watch the festival
worldwide including in Boston, New York, California, and
Brazil.
Of course, the strength of this technology is in its interactive
video presentation and conferencing capabilities. One of
the highlights of the Ukrainian Music Festival was a panel
discussion in which students and faculty from the Juilliard
School in New York were able to participate remotely in
the discussion with the guest composers on stage in
PepsiCo. Similarly, the School Of Music was involved in a
virtual videoconference last spring between six different
music schools on the topic of Hearing Conservation for
Musicians. This, too, featured an interactive question-andanswer session that allowed TCU School Of Music students
and faculty to partake in the event using our Internet2based technology. These interactive distance-learning
collaborations are beneficial and enhance the students’
educational experience.
Going forward, with the invaluable assistance of TCU’s
Technology Resources, the School of Music anticipates
using Internet2 technology for both long-distance master
classes and remote auditioning on a regular basis. There
have already been successful master classes between TCU
and the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Juilliard School
in New York, and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Two of TCU’s percussion students successfully auditioned
for the Royal Academy’s graduate program without leaving
the TCU campus, saving them both considerable time and
money. The possible uses of this technology are vast and
are only limited by the current resources available in the
school. With more student and faculty involvement, the
Internet2 Initiative will become an even more viable and
integrated part of the TCU School of Music.
Recently, one impressive contribution made by José
Feghali is an update to Microsoft’s ConferenceXP
program. ConferenceXP is one of the software programs
used to broadcast audio and video from one computer
to others across a network. The program’s strength is that
it can do this over both Internet2 and the conventional
Internet. Since there are institutions without access to the
very high bandwidth necessary to view an uncompressed
video stream, this program provides the ability to watch a
compressed version of the broadcast.
In January Feghali was invited to present his ConferenceXP
findings to the Internet2 Conference held at the New
World Symphony in Miami, Florida. Accompanied by
Richard Gipson, the duo demonstrated the advantages
of the updated ConferenceXP audio-enhanced program
by conferencing with me as I participated remotely from
TCU. It was a showcase for the innovative work Feghali has
accomplished and a proud moment for TCU’s Internet2
Initiative.
COUNTRIES CONVERGE AT TCU
AND THE CLIBURN COMPETITION
PianoTexas International Academy & Festival concluded its 28th
year this June. As with each and every year, the applicant pool
included talented young artists, amateurs, and teachers from
across the globe. In the end, 23 young artists, 12 teachers, and
nine amateurs were invited to attend. Participants represented
13 countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic,
Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United
States, among others. The 2009 PianoTexas also included
the much-anticipated quadrennial collaboration with the Van
Cliburn Foundation and the 13th Van Cliburn International
Piano Competition. In collaboration since 1981 with the Cliburn
Competition, PianoTexas (formerly the TCU/Cliburn Piano
Institute) has endeavored to allow participants the opportunity to
not only receive superior hands-on instruction from distinguished
guest artists, but also acquire daily doses of inspiration from
the Cliburn competitors and their outstanding performances.
Participants young and old immersed themselves daily in piano
music—both at TCU and at Bass Performance Hall.
This year’s PianoTexas guest artists featured some of today’s most
inspiring performers and pedagogues, including Dmitri Alexeev,
Michel Beroff, Hung-Kuan Chen, Frederic Chiu, Joseph Kalichstein,
Yoheved Kaplinsky, Menahem Pressler, and Jin Zhang. Maestro
Miguel Harth-Bedoya served not only as juror for the Young Artist
Concerto Competition, but also gave a master class to the winners
of the Concerto Competition on their repertoire selections and
how best to collaborate with both orchestra and conductor. TCU’s
notable piano faculty offered numerous private lessons, as well
as master classes, on not just the piano, but, in the case of José
Feghali, in a lecture entitled “Hands-On Advice on Audio & Video
Recording.” In addition,TCU’s piano technician James Williams
presented an informative lecture entitled “Communicating
with your Piano Tuner.” Despite the densely packed schedule,
participants prepared and presented several free recitals to loyal
and eager audience members in PepsiCo Recital Hall.
The 29th PianoTexas International Academy & Festival will be
held in June 2010. Save the date for incredible distinguished
artist recitals, concerto performances with the Fort Worth
Symphony, master classes with legendary pianists, and evenings
filled with your favorite piano music from outstanding talents from
across the globe.
MIMIR
CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
The 2009 Mimir Chamber Music Festival, its
12th anniversary, was once again a successful
season. Each of the five sold-out concerts
featured exciting performances of well-known
masterpieces and some surprises for the
audience.
Among them was a contemporary work by R.
Murray Shafer, “String Quartet No. 4,” which
featured violinists Curt Thompson (TCU) and
Nathan Cole (Chicago Symphony), violist
Kirsten Docter (Cavani String Quartet), Brant
Taylor (Chicago Symphony), Stephen Rose
(Cleveland Orchestra), and Allison Whetsel
Ward (TCU alumna and current master’s
student). Thompson, who began off stage,
gradually worked his way on stage to join the
quartet; at the end of the work, Rose and Ward
closed the piece with surprising (considering it
is, after all, a string quartet) and breathtaking
sonorities off stage in PepsiCo Recital Hall.
Works by Haydn, Smetana, Beethoven, and
others rounded out the festival, which has
become an audience and media favorite event
during the heat of the Texas summer.
Other Mimir news includes our first runout concert to Granbury, at the Granbury
Convention Center. Thanks to the initiative of
TCU alums Ronald Moore and Max Jones, the
Granbury concert is likely to be an ongoing
event. In its first outing, Mimir enjoyed an
enthusiastic audience of 400. From the student
front, Mimir is proud to announce the arrival
of freshman bachelor of music student Rachel
Arcega (Seattle, WA), who attended Mimir for
the second time this summer and can now be
seen regularly in the halls of Ed Landreth.
Please mark your calendars for July 5–16, when
Mimir will celebrate its lucky 13th season.
PIANOTEXAS:
16 | Da Capo | Music News
POLAND
The Chopin Music University in Warsaw, Poland, invited Dr. Sheila
Allen (voice) to present a lecture and master classes on the American
art song in March. The cultural bridge was made possible by the joint
efforts of TCU and the Chopin University. Allen was accompanied on
the trip by soprano Kathryn Haney ’09, mezzo-soprano Micaela Davila
(junior BM), tenor Matthew Valverde ’07, ’09, baritone Derrada RubellAsbell (junior BME), and pianist Dean Peiskee, Jr. (artist diploma),
who presented a program of American song covering representative
repertoire from 1778 to 1996. The recital was greeted with enthusiastic
rhythmic applause, and Allen’s 16 hours of master classes were eagerly
received. The students of the Chopin University closed the residency
with an effective recital of American arias and Polish songs. While in
Warsaw, the TCU students visited Chopin’s birthplace and explored
the city in the company of Chopin University vocalists. Following the
residency, the group travelled to Krakow, where they were joined by
Christa Bentley (junior BA studying in Vienna). They visited AuschwitzBirkenau, and toured the old city, Jewish quarter, Wawel castle, and
St. Mary’s Basilica with its magnificent altarpiece by the Polish artisan
Wit Stwosz (Veit Stoss). Completing the group’s Polish experience
was a concert by the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, performing an
all-French program including Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps. In
addition to reinforcing the knowledge that music is the international
language, the trip made history palpable—including ancient and
modern, political, religious, and musical. Any trip where one flies into
Fryderyk Chopin airport and out of Pope John Paul airport can only
be memorable.
ANN GIPSON
TAKES OFFICE AS
MUSIC TEACHERS
NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION
PRESIDENT
Ann Gipson, associate professor of music
and director of piano pedagogy studies
at TCU, is now president of the Music
Teachers National Association (MTNA).
Her term began April 1, 2009, and will
continue until 2011. Gipson has been an
active member of MTNA since joining
as a collegiate member in 1978, while
attending Eastern Illinois University.
She has actively supported collegiate
members by serving as faculty advisor of
MTNA collegiate chapters at Oklahoma
Baptist University, Baylor University,
and now at TCU. As a member of the
Oklahoma MTA, she became active at
the state level holding the offices of
president, vice president of membership
and certification/president-elect, and
vice president of local associations
and collegiate chapters. She has held
positions in local MTAs, including serving
as a director on the Fort Worth MTA
board. Nationally, she was conference
program chair for both the 2004 and
2005 MTNA national conferences and
served on the task force for collegiate
certification and as chair of a program
sub-committee for the 2007 conference.
Music Teachers National Association is
a nonprofit organization of independent
and collegiate music teachers committed
to furthering the art of music through
teaching, performance, composition,
and scholarly research. Founded in 1876,
Music Teachers National Association is
the oldest music teachers association in
the United States.
MARILYN HORNE AT TCU
Legendary mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne was the Green
Chair Artist in Residence March 31 through April 2, 2009.
The voice division of the School of Music at TCU hosted
Horne for a series of master classes, private lessons, and
other public events. Among her activities at TCU were a
book signing of her autobiography Marilyn Horne: The
Song Continues, a recital of the students she coached,
and a reception and gala dinner in Horne’s honor. Students
were selected at fall juries to participate in the classes.
Vanessa Becerra, Corrie Donovan, Micaela Davila, Laura
Gastinel, Kathryn Haney, Hui Jin, Paige Myrick, Derrada
Rubell-Asbell, Ekaterina Stetsyuk, and Allison Whetsel
Ward were coached by Horne and performed in the closing
recital. Special guests at the gala dinner included Jonathan
Pell, artistic director of the Dallas Opera; and Darren Keith
Woods, artistic director of the Fort Worth Opera. The
Concert Chorale under the direction of Ron Shirey brought
the event to a close with selections including Bernstein’s
“Make Our Garden Grow” from Candide, an ensemble
Horne has often performed.
GARY WHITMAN
IS PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CLARINET ASSOCIATION
Professor of Clarinet Gary Whitman is currently serving a two-year term, from 2008 to 2010, as
president of the International Clarinet Association (ICA). The ICA has a membership of 4,000
clarinetists representing 36 countries worldwide. In August 2009, Whitman returned from Porto,
Portugal, where he presided over ClarinetFest, the annual conference of the ICA. Whitman is
happy to report that ClarinetFest 2010 will be held July 21–25 at the University of Texas in
Austin. The ICA sponsors competitions for young artists, orchestral performers, high school
students, research, and composition. More information can be found at www.clarinet.org.
TRIO CON BRIO IS FEATURED IN A PAINTING
TCU School of Music’s resident ensemble, Trio Con Brio (John Owings,
Misha Galaganov, and Gary Whitman), has been depicted in a new work
by Don Ray, one of the best-selling artists in the United States (visit www.
donrayartist.com). The painting was finished this summer, and unveiling
ceremony for this reputedly very large artwork will take place during a
Faculty and Friends concert on November 23.
DR. SHEILA ALLEN IN
SPRING ’09
ENROLLMENT
Last spring our music majors came from 16
foreign countries and 22 different US states.
The majority came from Texas, representing
67 different cities.
STATES (22):
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
District Of Columbia
Florida
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri
New York
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Washington
Puerto Rico
FOREIGN COUNTRIES (16):
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Estonia
India
Indonesia
Jamaica
Korea, Republic of
Liberia
Peru
Russian Federation
Taiwan, Province of China
Vietnam
TCU/FORT WORTH
SCHOOL OF MUSIC ADMITS
The TCU/Fort Worth Opera Institute, held May 12–June 3, 2008,
featured the addition of stage movement instruction provided by
Webster Dean and voice instruction by Metropolitan Opera tenor
Allan Glassman. The 16 young singers from six states also received
daily training in acting, music business, and character development
while attending master classes given by Fort Worth Opera singers
and artistic staff. The program closed with a presentation of arias and
ensembles at the Scott Theater in Fort Worth.
It has long been a goal of the school to develop a doctor of musical arts program. With the strong growth of our master’s
degree program, and the addition of new faculty in both applied and academic disciplines, we have finally been able to
make the dream a reality. Several years of planning has produced a series of degree plans, policies, and procedures that
have been approved by the university and accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. Degree plans are
in four major areas: performance, pedagogy, composition, and conducting. The DMA Task Force, which developed the
program, included Sheila Allen, Blaise Ferrandino, Ann Gipson, Richard Gipson, German Gutierrez, Michael Meckna, Brian
West, and Joseph Butler, chair.
OPERA INSTITUTE
FIRST DOCTORAL STUDENTS
Our plan for this program is to admit only a small number of the most qualified students, so that the prestige and value of
the Texas Christian University DMA will be unquestionable. Following a rigorous application process, four students have
been enrolled from a field of 25 applications.
DISTINGUISHED GUEST PROFESSOR OF CONDUCTING
RECEIVES GRAMMY AWARD
®
Miguel Harth-Bedoya, music director of the Fort Worth
Symphony Orchestra and distinguished guest professor
of conducting in the TCU School of Music, was involved
in a project that received a 2009 GRAMMY® Award and
two other nominations in a recent annual competition
sponsored by The Recording Academy.
The album titled Traditions and Transformations: Sounds
of Silk Road Chicago won in the category of Engineering
Album, Classical. The project was also nominated
in two other categories: Best Instrumental Soloist(s)
Performance (with Orchestra), and Producer of the
Year. The recording features Harth-Bedoya conducting
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and soloist Wu Man,
according to Trish Ciaravino, press and publications
manager of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
Established in 1957, The Recording Academy is an
organization of musicians, producers, engineers, and
recording professionals that is dedicated to improving
the cultural condition and quality of life for music
and its makers.
TCU SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Alice H. McDaniel
1911–2008
Alice H. McDaniel, 97, passed away at her home Monday, November 3, 2008.
McDaniel was a child prodigy and a violinist since the age of 5. She was a part-time teacher at TCU and
instructed private students at her home. She was a 40-year member of the Fort Worth Symphony and
played the Dallas Summer Musicals and Casa Manana. McDaniel was loved by students from the late
’60s to the ’70s—a whole generation. She was well known in Fort Worth for her long association as a
principal violinist with the Fort Worth Symphony and Fort Worth Opera for over four decades. She studied
with Leopold Auer (to whom Tchaikovsky dedicated his violin concerto) in the ’20s when he taught at the
American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.
Jo LeRue Black Todd
1940–2009
20 | Da Capo o | News
Jo LeRue Black Todd, 68, passed away Thursday, June 25, 2009. Todd began studying violin and playing
with school orchestral groups in elementary school. She graduated from Texas Christian University with a
degree in music education in 1962. She was a concertmaster with the TCU Symphony Orchestra and violinist
with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. After college, Todd taught orchestra in the Spring Branch ISD in
Houston and was director of the Spring Branch All-Region Orchestra. She married Gary O. Todd July 1969
in Fort Worth and had two daughters. In 1985, she resumed her teaching career in the Arlington ISD as
director of orchestras at Shackelford Junior High School and Hutcheson Junior High School, and conducted
the string orchestra of the Junior Youth Orchestra of Greater Fort Worth. Todd was a finalist in 2000 for
Outstanding AISD Teacher of the Year. Her Shackelford orchestra performed a concert for the prestigious
Midwest Clinic in Chicago in 2002. Todd became director of Lamar High School Concert Orchestra in 2004.
She was assistant director of Lamar High School Symphony when the group was named Honor Orchestra
by the State of Texas Orchestra Directors Association. She retired from AISD in 2005. In 2007, she began
teaching orchestral studies at TCU. Todd was a former president of Cecilian Club (of Fort Worth Junior
Woman’s Club), Interbrook Woman’s Club of Arlington, The Arts Organization of Fort Worth, and Ridglea
Hills PTA. She was a member of Mu Phi Epsilon sorority at TCU; Texas Orchestra Directors Association
and its honor fraternity, Mu Omicron; Texas Music Educators Association; TCU Fine Arts Guild; Fort Worth
Woman’s Club; and Whitlock Club. Published in Star-Telegram on June 28, 2009
This past spring, Martin Blessinger (theory and
composition) was named second-prize winner of the 30th
annual National Association of Composers, USA Young
Composers Competition for his Duo for Saxophone and
Piano. A press release can be found at www.newmusicbox.
org/article.nmbx?id=5914. The same piece has been
accepted for publication by Reed Music of Australia. This
piece (as well as music by Gerry Gabel, Till Meyn, and
Bob Garwell) was performed at the National Academy in
Kiev, Ukraine last April.
Jesús Castro-Balbi (cello) received tenure and promotion
to associate professor in April 2009. He served as artistic
director to the Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series’
2008–2009 season, featuring TCU artist-faculty and
musicologists, as well as distinguished guests, in four
concerts. The Miro Quartet, guests for the April 6 concert
of the series, also conducted master classes in violin, viola,
cello, and chamber music for TCU students. Find out
more about the 2008–09 season and about the upcoming
concerts at www.music.tcu.edu/facfriends.asp. On April 5,
2009, Castro-Balbi performed a program of Shostakovich,
Schubert, and a NY premiere by Mike Barnett in Weill Recital
Hall at Carnegie Hall with Clavier Trio (with Arkady Fomin,
violin, and David Korevaar, piano). Castro-Balbi served as
artistic director to the TCU Cellofest, from March 3–7, 2009.
Also, he received the Dean’s Award for Scholarship and
Creative Activities at TCU in December 2008.
Paul Cortese (assistant director) had a diverse and
interesting year. In October, he participated in the
Ukrainian Music Festival by performing the US premiere
of Ludmila Yurina’s “Perseus-Beta-Algol” for electric guitar
and synthesized/electronic soundscape. In the spring, Paul
traveled to Pennsylvania for a reunion with his high school
rock band, Tokyo Red, presented a lecture entitled “Using
Film Music in Music Education” to the Mid-Cities Music
Teachers Association, and mentored a HEB high school
senior interested in pursuing a career as a film composer.
Nancy Elledge (voice) has been very busy this year at TCU
and with her private voice studio in Dallas. Not only did
she have four students at TCU doing senior and graduate
Recitals, but she also was busy with four private students
who did recitals. Rachel Rice, who performed the role of
Cassie in Chorus Line graduated and spent the last summer
performing at Theater by the Sea, and she participated in
three different shows with lead roles in a couple of them.
Paige Myrick headed off to Seagle Colony, sponsored
by Fort Worth Opera. She joined eight other of Elledge’s
students who had parts or sung in the chorus for the Fort
Worth Opera Festival season that closed this past May.
Also, a former voice student of hers, John de los Santos,
directed Carmen with Fort Worth Opera Festival and will
do other directing with Fort Worth and Dallas Operas.
Stephanie McCranie was chosen to attend Opera Works,
a summer program for opera singers by audition only,
and she performed as one of the singer/dancers in Regal
Opera’s production of The Merry Widow. On the European
front, Laura Anne Ayres has been chosen to be a singer
with Zurich Opera Studio, and Christine Zimmerman
performed Suor Angelica, as well as Suzuki in Madame
Butterfly. Jennifer Chung just performed with the Garland
and Las Colinas Symphonies, doing a musical review;
plus, Elledge’s long-time student Jenni Till performed the
soprano solos in December with The Plano Civic Chorus.
In Dallas, Elledge has six singers who are members of
the Dallas Symphony Chorus, two students in The Dallas
Opera Chorus, and many other students doing parts in
local theater companies. When Theatre III presented Light
in the Piazza, Elledge was proud of her five students who
performed in that show.
2008–2009 was a very active year for Director of Bands
Bobby Francis. The year began as he served as the clinician/
presenter for all the band directors in the CarrolltonFarmers Branch (CFB) School District for their annual inservice training session. The invitation was extended by a
TCU alum and director of fine arts in the CFB district, Jim
McDaniel. In addition to conducting many concerts in Ed
Landreth Hall, Francis conducted the TCU Wind Symphony
as part of the Bass Hall Gala. A few short weeks later, the
TCU Wind Symphony, for the first time in TCU’s history,
performed at the prestigious American Bandmasters
Association Convention that took place in College Station,
Texas. At the previous convention in 2008, Francis was a
guest conductor for the Frost School of Music/University of
Miami Wind Symphony in Miami, Florida. In January, Francis
conducted the Honor Band at the Annual Band Festival at
the University of Missouri in Kansas City’s Conservatory
of Music. In addition, he presented a clinic for area band
directors in attendance and received invitations to conduct
several honor bands in the state and elsewhere. In July,
he traveled to Arkansas Tech University in Russellville to
conduct the top level band in a band camp and to lead a
master class on conducting for band directors. On campus,
he served on three search committees as well as serving
on the University Advisory Committee. Finally, he has
been invited to serve as artistic director of the Harmony
International Music Festival in Sidney, Australia in 2011.
He lives in Colleyville with his wife Teresa and two girls:
Tamsyn, age 11, and Breelyn, age 3.
Gerald Gabel (technology and
composition) was busy in the
summer with a 17-day tour of
Europe with the rock-and-roll
group Gonn. Gabel has been a
member of the group since 1966–
68. Their music has found a large
following in Europe, which has led
to three tours on the continent.
Gonn performed for large
and enthusiastic audiences in
London and Doncaster (England),
Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Geneva (Switzerland),
and Turin and Salsomaggiore (Italy). The performance in
Salsomaggiore was for the annual summer “Festival Beat,”
21 | Da Capo | News
In Memorium
FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS
Robert Garwell (composition and musicology) received
the 2009 Achievement in Music Award from the Ohio
University School of Music on May 28, 2009. The award
is presented annually to an alumnus of the School of
Music, and is voted on by the faculty and Alumni Board.
Garwell was named “Outstanding Alumnus” this year
by Mike Parkinson, director of the School of Music
at Ohio University.
In March 2009, Ann Gipson (director of piano pedagogy)
co-presented a session with TCU’s two graduate students,
Kara Bailey and Maya Cameron, at the Music Teachers
National Association (MTNA) National Conference in
Atlanta, Georgia, entitled “Motivating Group Piano
Students with Familiar, Favorite Literature.” Recently,
Gipson has also presented sessions at the Texas Music
Teachers Association State Conference, the Piano Texas
International Festival and Academy, the Fort Worth Piano
Teachers’ Forum, and the Mid-Cities Music Teachers
Association. She is currently serving a two-year term as
president for MTNA.
David Grogan (voice) has had a busy spring. On February
9, he joined the TCU orchestra and choir at the Bass Hall
for a performance of Carmina Burana. The next week, on
February 15, he sang Bach and Handel with the local early
music group, Texas Camerata, at St. Stephen Presbyterian
Germán Gutiérrez (director of orchestral studies)
was on a sabbatical leave in the fall of 2008 to attend
several invitations as a guest conductor. On June 7, 2008
he returned for the twelfth consecutive time as guest
conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Hispanic
Festival at the Meyerson Symphony Center. In September,
he directed two concerts with the Tolima Conservatory
Symphony Orchestra in Ibague, Colombia. On October
10 he performed with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Valle.
Gutiérrez was also guest conductor of the Peru National
Symphony and offered a conducting seminar for Peruvian
conductors at the National Conservatory of Music in
Lima, Peru. On December 2, he returned to conduct the
TCU Symphony Orchestra with vocal group Opus Cuatro
as soloists. A commercial recording of the program with
TCU Symphony and Opus Cuatro celebrates the fortieth
anniversary of this successful vocal quartet. The CD has been
produced both in Fort Worth and Buenos Aires, Argentina,
and it is available for purchase at the TCU School of Music.
This summer, Gutiérrez conducted Shanghai Symphony
Orchestra in Shanghai, China, with TCU’s bass professor,
Yuan Lu, as a soloist. It was a sold-out concert. Both Lu
and Gutiérrez received standing ovations and had to
return four times to the stage after the Dragonetti and
the Bruckner. The publicity was incredible: There were TV
stations making notes of rehearsals and interviews for the
daily news, and almost all newspapers in Shanghai had
concert announcements. It was a great night for Lu, for
Church. Grogan was heard on March 9 at the “Heroes of
TCU” concert, sponsored by Mu Phi Epsilon. The next
day, he was a guest lecturer on vocal pedagogy at the
University of North Texas. Later that month, on March
28 and 29, Grogan sang the role of Jesus in the St. John
Passion with the Dallas Bach Society. On April 10, he sang
Dubois’ “Seven Last Words of Christ” with the Hurst First
United Methodist Church (Leslie Detrick ’91 was the
soprano soloist). On April 13 and 15, Grogan sang the
Carmina Burana with the Arlington Master Chorale. This
May, he sang Mozart’s Requiem with the Columbia Chorale
in Missouri, Beethoven’s Mass in C at Texas Wesleyan
University, and he had a guest appearance with the Planobased Texas Voices. Grogan was also inducted into the
academic honor society, Phi Kappa Phi.
Gutiérrez, and for TCU. In August, Gutiérrez was included
in the Colombian national magazine Revista Poder as one
of the 50 most important Colombian educators abroad.
His guest conductor invitations for 2009–2010 include
Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, Peru National Symphony,
Puerto Rico National Symphony, and San Luis Potosi
Symphony in Mexico.
Yuan Lu (double bass) and German Gutiérrez performed
with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. This historic
performance featured two of our own TCU faculty members
as special guest artists with the Shanghai Symphony
Orchestra, China’s oldest and finest orchestra, on June 7,
2009 in the Shanghai Concert Hall. In the orchestra’s 130year history, Lu is the first guest bassist to be offered the
opportunity as a soloist with the orchestra. Lu also had
the privilege and honor to be
named visiting professor of
double bass at the Shenyang
Conservatory on November
12, 2008. This significant honor
had not been given since
the founding of the school in
1938. In addition, he received
a guest professorship of double bass from the Shanghai
Conservatory of Music on March 8. This is the highest
honor and award given to a double bass artist and was the
first appointment ever given by the renowned Shanghai
Conservatory of Music. Lu is organizing and hosting the
Texas Double Bass Symposium, held at TCU on October
23–25, 2009. He expects over 100 bass students, professors,
professionals, and colleagues from all over Texas and the
world to attend this exciting event. Due to Lu’s efforts, all
of the TCU’s string faculty, plus John Owings and José
Feghali, as well as Gary Whitman will perform in a chamber
music concert in the prestigious Shanghai Concert Hall on
December 19, 2009. All of the performers are also going
to visit the Shenyang Conservatory to set up a relationship
between the two schools.
Michael Meckna (music history) contributed entries
on Maynard Ferguson and Frankie Laine to the Scribner
Encyclopedia of American Lives; published “Satchmo the
Reader” in the Dippermouth News (the official newsletter
of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, Queens College),
reviewed books on American music and the history of
musical instruments for Choice: Current Reviews for
Academic Libraries; wrote program notes for the Bass Hall
performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana and for the Faculty
and Friends Chamber Music Series; continues to serve as
contributing editor of the revised edition of The Grove
Dictionary of American Music; and saw his 2004 Satchmo
Encyclopedia reissued in a handsome paperback edition.
Till MacIvor Meyn (theory and composition) had his
composition ZZZZing! accepted for publication by C. Alan
Publications; the premiere was performed in April 2009
by Brian West and the TCU Percussion Ensemble. Meyn’s
Jubilate Deo for SATB chorus and organ was published
by E. C. Schirmer Publishing, and was premiered by the
St. Stephen Choir under the baton of the composer for
the Easter service last spring. Meyn spent the summer
composing a work for TCU professors Misha Galaganov
and John Owings entitled Celestial Mechanics, and has
recently completed Urban Ragas for Jesus Castro-Balbi and
the TCU Cello Ensemble. Meyn’s composition Dominant
Curve was performed at the Kiev Music Academy in the
Ukraine last summer, and was also performed at TCU this
fall by Joe Eckert and Janet Pummill. His piece Red/Blue
was also performed at TCU this fall, by Gary Whitman and
Janet Pummill. Preludio Y Tango was performed in New
York City this summer at the National Flute Convention
by the Professional Flute Choir, directed by internationally
recognized flautist Carlo Jans of the Netherlands. Last fall,
Meyn’s composition Orion was premiered by the Trio con
Brio (Gary Whitman, Misha Galaganov, and John Owings)
at TCU; this winter the Trio con Brio will be performing
Orion in Shanghai, China. Meyn also continues to perform
with Schola Cantorum of Texas as a bass singer; this year’s
performances include Mozart’s Requiem at Bass Hall and
Orff’s Carmina Burana at Meyerson Hall in Dallas.
Sue Ott (administrative assistant) completed her master’s
of liberal arts degree at TCU and graduated in May of 2009.
Her undergraduate, a BS business/psychology degree, is
from Texas Wesleyan.
In September, John Owings (piano) played an all-Chopin
recital in Seoul, Korea, on the Kumho Art Hall Master Series.
He gave master classes at Munho Art Hall and the Korean
National University of the Arts. In October, he gave a master
class for the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Dallas.
He also played a solo recital at St. Stephen Church in Fort
Worth to dedicate their Boesendofer Imperial piano. In
November, Owings performed Verge by Sebastien Currier
with Curt Thompson and Gary Whitman on the Cliburn at
the Modern Series at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
In April 2009, he played a solo recital and gave a master
class at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. At
TCU, Owings performed on the Faculty & Friends Chamber
Music Series in September (Messiaen “Quartet for the
End of Time”), November (Orion by Till Meyn), February
(Bartok Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with Harold
Martina, Brian West, and Paul Rennick and Dvorak Piano
Quintet), and April with members of the Miro Quartet. He
also has been teaching in the Chamber Music Roundup
Academy every semester since the fall of 2008 and has been
on the faculty at the Chamber Music Roundup Festival for
the last several years.
Janet Pummill (coordinator of collaborative piano and
staff accompanist) continues to perform in many recitals
and concerts at TCU, including faculty, student, guest
artist recitals, ensemble performances, as well as new
faculty audition recitals. She also continues to perform
with Clavivoce, the four-piano/four-voice ensemble with
her three daughters, Sallie ’93, ’95; Amy ’96, ’00; and
Julie ’02, ’05. They were featured on the annual TCU Fine
Arts Big Band Gala, as well as the Fort Worth Symphony
Concerts in the Garden for the big band night in June.
23 | Da Capo | News
for which Gonn headlined the first night. They completed
the tour with performances in Munich, Stuttgart, and
Frankfurt (Germany), and Nancy and Paris (France).
Ron Shirey’s (choral music) performances included the
following: 1) A Poulenc Festival with Gloria and Organ
Concerto on October 26th, 2008, in Ed Landreth Auditorium
with Janet Pummill, organ soloist; the Fort Worth-TCU
Symphonic Choir with Allison Whetset Ward, soprano;
and a professional orchestra. 2) A St. Stephen Presbyterian
Church performance on November 23 with Concert Chorale,
guest conductor Sheri Neill, and student conductors.
(This concert took place during Shirey’s recuperation from
spinal surgery.) 3) Performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana on
February 9 with the TCU Symphony and TCU Symphonic
Choir in Bass Hall. Soloists for this performance were Ava
Pine, David Grogan, and Jay Smith. The performance was a
culmination of many weeks of rehearsal with the combined
choruses, totaling 125 singers on stage. His summer
activities included another three-week residency with the
Oregon Bach Festival (OBF), with Helmut Rilling as artist
director, for performances of the Mass in B Minor and St.
Matthew Passion by Bach. Some of our TCU alums now sing
with the 65 voices of the OBF chorus, and Shirey watched
student-conductors work with the several masterworks
in classes with Maestro Rilling. Shirey thinks that we also
should mention the move to Jarvis Hall digs this fall, as
students who read this Da Capo should know where to
find a number of our academic faculty on the third floor
of Jarvis. This includes Shirey, Blaise Ferrandino, Martin
Blessinger, Till Meyn, Michael Meckna, Robert Garwell,
and Sheri Neill. We are on that high floor of the oncefamous dorm where the ‘Jarvis Broads’ used to reside for
so many years,” writes Shirey.
Brian West (percussion) had a busier-than-usual
performance schedule this year. In February, the TCU
percussion faculty, Joey Carter, Jeff Hodge, Paul Rennick,
West, and Brian Youngblood, presented a chamber music
recital. In addition to several percussion-only chamber
In addition to his annual faculty recital at TCU, Gary
Whitman (clarinet) was a guest performer at the Cliburn
at the Modern series, presenting music for clarinet, violin,
and piano by Sebastian Currier with John Owings, piano,
and Curt Thompson, violin. He was involved in two world
premieres during the TCU Faculty and Friends Chamber
Music series. The first was performance of Orion by
Till MacIvor Meyn with Trio Con Brio, including Misha
Galaganov, viola, and John Owings. The second premiere
was “The Rapture of the Year” by Janet Pummill, with
a woodwind quintet and four singers made up of TCU
faculty. In the summer 2009, Whitman traveled to New York
City, where he was a guest of Buffet Crampon USA, Inc.
at the retirement reception for Stanley Drucker, principal
clarinet of the New York Philharmonic. He also begins a
consultation project for products improvement and new
reed design with Rico International in Los Angeles. As
president of the International Clarinet Association, he
traveled to Porto, Portugal in August 2009 to perform and
assist with ClarinetFest 2009. Whitman also continues to
perform as bass clarinetist with the Fort Worth Symphony.
As a member of the orchestra, he will participate in a fourCD recording project, Caminos Del Inca, showcasing the
music of South America. In addition, he participated in
the Texas premiere of Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie
during the 2009 Fort Worth Opera Festival. At TMEA 2009,
Whitman was clarinet sectional clinician for the All-State
Concert Band, and he continues to administer and teach
at the TCU Summer Clarinet Workshop for high school
students with Andrew Crisanti and Victoria Luperi.
Director of Jazz Studies Curt Wilson has had the following
works published this past year by REALLY GOOD MUSIC
LLC of Eau Claire, Wisconsin: “Blue Rondo Ala Turk”
(Dave Brubeck), an arrangement for clarinet ensemble;
Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra; “A New Homeland”
(from Ukrainian Dances) for wind ensemble; Duke Ellington
Centennial Medley for concert band; and “FantasyFare”
for brass and timpani. Notable performances of some of his
compositions include the world premiere of his Rhapsody
for Violin and Orchestra on October 7 with violin soloist
Curt Thompson and Maestro John Giordano conducting
the TCU Symphony Orchestra. On that same program
were Wilson’s Ukrainian Dances for Orchestra conducted
by Andres Franco ’02. These were performed later that
same month on the Ukrainian Music Festival. Director of
Bands Bobby Francis conducted the world premiere of
Wilson’s “A New Homeland” with the TCU Wind Symphony
on December 5. This piece was also performed at the
prestigious American Bandmasters Association conference
in College Station, Texas, by the TCU Wind Symphony
conducted by UT Arlington Director of Bands Emeritus Ray
Lichtenwalter. Wilson continues his engagement as director
of the Fort Worth Symphony Concerts In The Garden Swing
Orchestra, and he has received his thirteenth ASCAPlus
Award for the writing and promotion of serious music.
Brian Youngblood (director of the Horned Frog Marching
Band) had a very busy fall, adjudicating and consulting
with more than 20 high school marching bands. He judged
marching band contests throughout the last season and
served as on-site clinician for many of the bands that he
consulted with for drill design.
NEW FACULTY
Emily Ahrens serves as an adjunct
instructor in music theory at TCU. She
received a BM degree with a major in
music theory and composition and a
minor in Spanish and Latin American
studies. She also holds a MM degree in
music theory and composition from TCU. She has been
awarded several merit-based scholarships, grants, and
awards. In 2006, she was awarded the T. Smith McCorkle
Award for composition. Ahrens was named the Jonathon
Durrington Student Composer of the Year in 2007. She
participated in the color guard for the university marching
band and was a member of the Texas Christian University
Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra as a bassoonist
and contrabassoonist. Ahrens has also been a member of
several praise and worship bands as a singer/keyboardist.
She is a paid member of the Christ Chapel Bible Church
orchestra in Fort Worth as a bassoonist and has been
teaching bassoon in the Dallas/Fort Worth area since 2004.
David Begnoche is assistant professor
of trombone. Previously on the faculty
at the Longy School of Music, Begnoche
has also served as artist-in-residence at
Northeastern University and chamber
music coach at Harvard University.
Begnoche maintains an active performing career with
groups throughout the US and abroad. His extensive
professional performing experience includes titled positions
with the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra (Chicago), Sarasota Opera
(FL), Albany Symphony (NY), Spoleto Festival Orchestra
(Italy), Charleston Symphony Orchestra (SC), and AIMS
Festival Orchestra (Austria). He has performed with the
Boston Symphony Orchestra and has recorded with the
Boston Pops under John Williams. His commercial credits
include performances in a variety of styles and venues,
including appearances with Chet Atkins, Bill Watrous, and
Barry White. A recipient of the Priddy Fellowship in Arts
Leadership, Begnoche is a frequent and eager performer
of new music and a strong advocate for American music
in particular. He can be heard on premiere recordings
of works by John Harbison, Gian Carlo Menotti, Steven
Stucky, Virgil Thomson, and Charles Wuorinen, to name
a few. Contemporary music ensembles Begnoche has
performed with include Essential Music (NY), Fulcrum Point
(Chicago), and, as soloist, with the Tanglewood Festival of
Contemporary Music. Reflective of his advocacy of new
music, Begnoche has been active in the commissioning
of solo and chamber works. His work with Pulitzer Prize
winner John La Montaine resulted in the final version of
the composer’s “Trombone Quartet” (2006). Begnoche
is a founding member of trombone quartet Stentorian
Consort, whose debut CD Myths and Legends, released
on Albany Records in 2007, is comprised of world premiere
recordings of original compositions for trombone quartet
by American composers, including La Montaine’s quartet.
The consort’s second recording will again feature original
works as well as collaborations with guest artists Joseph
Alessi and Peter Ellefson. The Mystic, Connecticut native
has served as International Trombone Association affiliates
manager and AIM membership coordinator for two years,
and he serves on the ITA Competitions Committee. He
has written articles and conducted interviews for the ITA
Journal, the Brass Herald, and the American Composers
Forum. In addition to doctoral studies (University of North
Texas), Begnoche holds degrees from Manhattan School of
Music (MM) and the New England Conservatory of Music
(BM). His principal teachers include Douglas Yeo (Boston
Symphony Orchestra), John Swallow (New York Brass
Quintet), Steven Norrell (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra),
and Jay Friedman (Chicago Symphony Orchestra).
Stuart Cheney joined the TCU School
of Music in 2009 as assistant professor
of musicology. His BM degree in
composition and MM in musicology were
earned at the University of North Texas,
and he completed the PhD. in historical
musicology at the University of Maryland, where he also
directed the early music ensembles for four years. His areas
of research and teaching include the French Baroque, the
viola da gamba and its repertoire, and rock music. He has
presented his research at national and regional meetings
of the American Musicological Society, the Society for
Seventeenth-Century Music, the International Biennial
Baroque Conference, and at symposia in Versailles and
Limoges, France. Cheney’s articles on French Baroque
music have appeared in The New Grove Dictionary of Music
and Musicians (revised edition), The Journal of the Viola
da Gamba Society of America, Consort: European Journal
of Early Music, and, most recently, in A Viola da Gamba
Miscellanea. He also has published editions of 17th- and
18th-century chamber music for Éditions Minkoff and
Dovehouse Editions. A recipient of the Pomeroy Prize for
contributions to early music at the University of Maryland
as well as a one-year Chateaubriand Grant from the French
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cheney has served since 1999
as editor of The Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of
America. He has performed on viola da gamba, baroque
25 | Da Capo | News
Her composition, “Rapture of the Year,” was featured and
premiered on the November Faculty and Friends concert.
Pummill had many performances as pianist and organist in
other parts of the country throughout the year, and she has
had several of her compositions premiered and performed,
including performances by the Corpus Christi Symphony.
She was featured as organ soloist for the Poulenc Concerto
for Organ, Strings, and Tympani as a part of the fall
Poulenc Festival. In September, she accepted the position
of associate organist at the University Christian Church in
Fort Worth, Texas.
music pieces, West and Rennick performed Bartok’s Sonata
for Two Pianos and Percussion with guests John Owings
and Harold Martina on piano. The Bartok sonata was also
performed on a Faculty and Friends recital this past spring.
In March, Carter, Hodge, Rennick, and West performed
with world-renown percussionist Bob Becker on a concert
of his music. Additional performances this year included
appearances with the Fort Worth Symphony as section
percussionist. West also adjudicated two of the areas top
drumline competitions: the Crowley Drumline Contest
and the Lone Star Classic. His percussion arrangement
of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, movement IV, was
published by Drop Six Media this year.
Jessica Fulkerson serves as adjunct
instructor in music theory. Fulkerson
received her BM in flute performance
and music theory and her MM in music
theory from Texas Christian University.
She studied flute under Karen Adrian
and theory under Blaise Ferrandino and Gerald Gabel.
Fulkerson has taught music theory courses at the Fort
Worth Academy of Fine Arts, Dallas Baptist University,
Texas Christian University, and Columbia University. Her
interests are varied and include performance/analysis
of modern flute music, Schenkerian and linear analysis,
and diatonic set theory. An avid performer, Fulkerson
is a member of the Ravus Trio and principal flutist of the
Sinfonietta of Fort Worth.
Dave Hall serves as adjunct instructor
in percussion. He currently is pursuing
a doctorate in percussion performance
at the University of North Texas, where
he is a teaching fellow. He holds a MM
in percussion performance from TCU
and a BM in percussion performance from the University
of Nebraska. Hall’s experience in music is highly diverse,
beginning with piano at the age of 7 and later taking up
violin and horn before starting percussion. This diversity
continues today as he performs actively in the Dallas/
Fort Worth area as a marimba soloist, drumset player,
and timpanist. He has also performed abroad in Spain,
Puerto Rico, and at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia,
Italy. He has played snare drum for the Phantom Regiment
and Crossmen drum and bugle corps, the TCU PASIC
Champion Indoor Drumline, and the Dallas Mavericks
Drumline. At TCU he played piano and drumset in the Jazz
Bands and also performed in the Percussion Ensemble,
Symphony Orchestra, Opera, Wind Symphony, and
Steel Band. Hall appeared as a performer and teacher
on the reality TV show Tommy Lee Goes to College and
has also performed with Motley Crue. Hall is an active
composer, published through C. Alan Publications. His
work has been commissioned by and performed at various
universities and high schools around the country. His
percussion quartet Escape Velocity was performed by the
TCU Percussion Ensemble at the Percussive Arts Society
International Convention (PASIC), and it is featured on
TCU’s second Percussion Ensemble CD. His marching
percussion arrangements have been played by the TCU
and University of Nebraska Drumline/Front Ensembles as
well as several high schools. In addition to serving on TCU’s
Percussion Staff in 2008–2009, Hall served as assistant band
director and coordinator of percussion at Paschal High
School in Fort Worth. He says that he has been blessed
to study with some of the greatest percussion teachers in
the world, including Leigh Howard Stevens, Mark Ford,
Christopher Deane, Paul Rennick, Richard Gipson, Brian
West, Joey Carter, Al Rometo, and Tony Falcone. Dave
Hall is an educational artist for Innovative Percussion
sticks and mallets.
Amanda Musser is an instructor in string
music education. After receiving a BME in
1975 from TCU, Musser began a teaching
career in the Arlington Independent
School District (ASID) that spanned 34
years and included the supervision of
more than 30 student teachers. She retired in June 2009
after supervising the last two, who were both from TCU.
Nine of her former students are orchestra directors in
AISD. Musser’s orchestras were consistent UIL Sweepstakes
award winners, TMEA Honor Orchestra, and Best in Class
at national competitions. She is a Baylor and UTA camp
faculty member and a frequent adjudicator/clinician
throughout Texas. Musser is a member of TMEA, TODA,
TMAA, and a charter member of the honorary music
fraternity Mu Omicron. She resides in Arlington with her
retired band director husband, Steve Musser.
R. Eric Simpson is an assistant professor of
music education (instrumental), teaching
graduate and undergraduate music
education courses, supervising student
teachers, and assisting with the university
bands. He received a PhD in music
education from The Florida State University, a MM from
the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
(CCM), and a bachelor of music education from Stetson
University. His primary research interests include temporal
aspects of musical evaluation, teacher misconduct, and
sociological influences on music education. Simpson’s
articles have appeared in The Instrumentalist and The
Florida Music Director. Prior to his appointment at TCU,
Simpson served as director of bands/chairman of fine arts
at William R. Boone High School (Orlando, FL), associate
director of bands at Dr. Phillips High School (Orlando, FL),
and director of bands at Fort King Middle School (Ocala,
FL). His ensembles consistently received recognition for
outstanding performances at various festivals in Florida.
In addition, Simpson has served as an administrator for
FSU Summer Music Camps, and as a guest clinician for
numerous bands throughout Florida.
Jeremy M. Strickland is the assistant
director of bands at TCU, where he serves
as the director of the Basketball Band and
the University Concert Band, and assists
with the Marching Band, Wind Symphony,
and Symphonic Band. Before coming to
TCU, Strickland was the director of bands at Springtown
High School in Springtown, Texas. Bands under his
direction consistently received superior ratings at concert
contests and appeared at the UIL State Marching Contest
in 2003 and 2005. The Sound of Springtown received
recognition for their performances at festivals across the
North Texas area as well as performances for audiences
at Walt Disney World, the Fiesta Flambeau Parade in
San Antonio, and the Bobby Vinton Theatre in Branson.
Several of the students in Strickland’s bands have gone
on to major in music and now hold positions as successful
music educators across the state of Texas. He earned his
BA in music studies from The University of Texas at Austin
(in 2002), where he was a member of the internationally
acclaimed Wind Ensemble and the Showband of the
Southwest. Strickland is an active member of the Texas
Music Educator’s Association, the Texas Bandmasters
Association, the Texas Music Adjudicators Association,
and the College Band Directors National Association.
Timothy D. Watkins is an assistant
professor of musicology at TCU, where
he teaches music history, literature, and
world music. Prior to coming to Fort
Worth, Watkins taught ethnomusicology
and world music as well as music history
and literature at Rhodes College, Florida State University,
and Furman University. His research interests include topics
in Renaissance and Baroque music as well as the music of
Latin America, centering on the musical consequences of
the encounter between European and indigenous cultures
in the Americas. Watkins regularly presents scholarly
papers at regional and national meetings of the American
Musicological Society, the Society for Seventeenth-Century
Music, the Society for Ethnomusicology, and the College
Music Society. His publications have appeared in the
monumental Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Garland
Handbook of Latin American Music, and The Journal of
Musicological Research. His book, Performance Practice:
Issues and Approaches, is published by Steglein Press.
Angela Turner Wilson, instructor in voice
at TCU, has garnered critical acclaim and
international attention for her poignant
and lyrical performances. She performed
the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor for
the first time with the Lyric Opera of Kansas
City and was immediately re-engaged by the company to
return this past autumn as Leila in Les Pecheurs des Perles.
She has also performed to acclaim with the following
opera houses: New York City Opera as Norina (which the
New York Times described as “acted well and sung with an
admirably pure and light soprano, particularly in her upper
register”), Lisette in La Rondine, and Yum-Yum in The
Mikado; the Washington Opera as Susanna in Le Nozze
di Figaro, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the Infanta in Le
Cid (as seen on PBS), Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, First Flower
Maiden in Parsifal, Papagena in Die Zauberflöte, and Yvette
in La Rondine; the Dallas Opera as the Sandman and Dew
Fairy in Hansel and Gretel; New York City Opera, the Dallas
Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera as Musetta in La Boheme,
and many others. Next season includes performances of
Musetta for the Fresno Grand Opera. Wilson will also join
the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Konstanze in the
Abduction from the Seraglio. She attracted attention as a
finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council 1996,
New England regional auditions; winner of the Central City
Young Artist Award in 1995; and as the understudy of Norina
in Don Pasquale for the Glimmerglass Opera. Wilson is
also a winner of a grant from the Sullivan Foundation and
Washington Opera’s Artist of the Year for 2000. On the
concert stage, Wilson has appeared as featured soloist with
the National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Wind Symphony,
Mississippi Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Colorado
Symphony at the Vail Valley Music Festival, Binghamton
Symphony Orchestra, and Southern Methodist University
Meadows School of the Arts. She has also performed at
the Clinton White House as a featured soloist for a state
dinner honoring the prime minister of Italy. On film, Wilson
performed Caroline Jefferson in Cosair Productions’ Miss
Firecracker, which starred Holly Hunter, Mary Steenbergen,
and Tim Robbins.
ALUMNI NEWS
Charlie Patterson ’48 and his orchestra, Charlie Patterson’s
Dance Orchestra, play big band music two or three times a
week at ballrooms, country clubs, senior centers, dance clubs,
and other venues. Patterson is still very active at the age of 86.
He loves music and the happiness it brings to people.
Soon after graduating from TCU School of Music, William
Connor Grusendorf ’54 went on active duty as a second
lieutenant in the US Army. He served most of his twoyear term in Fort Bliss (El Paso, TX), in Special Services,
organizing and directing the Fort Bliss Soldier’s Chorus. He
also was president of the Post Theatre Guild and served
as the musical director for the Ft. Bliss production of the
musical Kiss Me, Kate. For his work with the Soldier’s Chorus,
Grusendorf received a direct Commendation Medal from
Secretary of the Army Wilbur C. Bruckner. From 1957–1972,
he was band director for the Rockdale ISD in Rockdale, TX.
Under his direction, the bands grew from 41 members when
he arrived to more than 300 students in grades six–12. The
ensembles received many awards and accolades with a
series of First Divisions and Sweepstakes honors during this
time. The high school band also presented several stage
musicals beginning in 1964. During this time in Rockdale,
Grusendorf also served as choir director of First Christian
Church, and he played trumpet professionally in the Central
Texas area. Grusendorf received a master’s of music degree
from the University of Texas at Austin in 1967, and he
continued post-graduate work in administrative education
and curriculum and instruction. Later, he earned the
supervisor’s certificate, mid-management certificate, and
superintendent’s certificate all at UT Austin. With this new
direction in his professional career, he became curriculum
director in the Lampasas ISD (Lampasas, Texas) in 1972.
Grusendorf moved to San Saba, Texas in 1974, when he
became superintendent of the San Saba ISD, serving for 20
years before retiring in 1994. During his time in San Saba,
he completed his theological education by extension from
the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, and was
ordained priest in the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of
27 | Da Capo | News
cello, vielle, and mandolin with the Smithsonian Chamber
Players, Orchestra of the 17th Century, Maryland Handel
Festival, the Bach Sinfonia, the Peabody Renaissance
Ensemble, and many others. Prior to coming to TCU,
Cheney taught at Southern Methodist University, Goucher
College in Baltimore, the University of Maryland, and
Vanderbilt University.
After a long career in the music
department at Hiram College, Damaris
Peters Pike ’54 continues to stay busy
with one-person shows, The Women of
Note, in which she impersonates women
with a connection to music. Beginning in
1988 with The Second Mrs. Bach, she now
has 11 different shows with characters
ranging from twelfth-century nun Hildegard of Bingen to
Doris Day (in the photo). Last winter, she performed 20 times
in eight weeks in Florida. Peters Pike continues to teach two
courses each year in Hiram’s Weekend College and directs
the Hiram Women’s Chorus. She doubts that many of her
classmates are having as much fun as she!
Larry Peterson ’64, ’69 retired in January 2009, but he still
teaches one course per semester on the main campus of
University of Delaware. He also teaches one opera course
per semester at the Academy of Lifelong Learning at
University of Delaware’s Wilmington campus. Peterson is
now active for the first time in politics: He is vice president
of one Democratic Party Club, chair of his representative
district, and state delegate in the Democratic Party. He is
also organist at Hanover Presbyterian Church in Wilmington,
Delaware. After five years of preparation, he is developing
a university website on queer music that should be online
this fall. Check it out at www.udel.edu/WomensStudies/
SexualityGender/QueerMusic.
L Edward Sizemore ’68 has moved back to Texas and
lives in McKinney now. His columns and articles have been
published by Dallas Morning News.
Inspired by Harriet Woldt, his cello professor at TCU from
1966–1970, Thomas Morehouse ’70 established the
UConn Cello Society at the University of Connecticut in
1992. After retiring from UConn, he learned to fly a plane,
and now serves as an archivist/researcher at the New
England Air Museum (www.neam.org), and as a teacher/
interpreter of 1830s New England history, agriculture,
and horticulture at Old Sturbridge Village (www.osv.org).
This year he has also added to his activities a community
garden in Pomfret, Connecticut. At People’s Harvest, they
raise vegetables for local food pantries and community
service organizations, as well as educating people about
the importance of growing, preserving, and consuming
local foods. Continuing his interest in classic sports cars, in
the last few years Morehouse has restored a 1976 MGB and
a 1959 Triumph TR3. He plans to restore a classic Mercedes
Benz and drive coast to coast, visiting the lower 48 as well
as family, friends, and former students. As once Professor
Woldt told him: “It’s delicious to be busy!”
Larry Brumley ’72, who, in addition to his TCU degree
holds a MFA in conducting (with distinction) from
California State University at Fresno, taught high school
and orchestra in California for 10 years and retired after 24
years as director of choirs at Panola College in Carthage,
Texas. He continues to teach at Panola in an adjunct
capacity. He also has completed 24 years as the founding
conductor of the Shreveport Chamber Singers, and he is
now the assistant conductor and a member of the Marshall
Symphony. Brumley is a choral adjudicator for Heritage
Festivals and Choice Music Events, and he has judged vocal
competitions in Texas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, and Florida. He has sung with
the San Antonio Mastersingers, Schola Cantorum of Texas
in Fort Worth, the Riverside Opera in California, the Tyler
Civic Chorale, and the San Francisco Festival of Masses
under Robert Shaw. Brumley has been a member of the
Bakersfield Philharmonic, the Riverside Symphony, the
Tulare Symphony, the Shreveport Summer Music Festival
Orchestra, and the Fourth US Army Band. He has played
percussion in the pit orchestras for Broadway musicals at
Shreveport Marjorie Lyons Theater and Performing Arts
Center and at the University of Texas in Tyler. He serves
as the president of the board of directors for the Marshall
Symphony; he is also on the board of directors for the
Shreveport Summer Music Festival and the Panola County
Project String Power, and he is a past president of the Texas
Community College Choral Directors’ Association. Brumley
is listed in Who’s Who in America and three editions of
Who’ Who Among American Teachers.
In 2008, Kelly Webb Ferebee ’73 performed five concert
recitals with her accompanist, April Stivener. These
concerts were held at The Coppell Conservatory of Music
in Coppell, Texas; the First Unitarian Church in Dallas,
Texas; Chapel in the Hills in Wimberley, Texas; and The
Price Center in San Marcos, Texas. The title of her concert
was “White Wigs to Feather Boas: Songs Across Time and
Genres,” and it included songs by Faure, Handel, Puccini,
Gershwin, Sondheim, Lloyd Webber, Webb Ferebee, and
others. She is preparing another exciting concert for the
near future and plans to perform in New York City, among
other stops. The Texas Association for Play Therapy
awarded her the prestigious Nancy Guillory Award for
outstanding contributions and service to the field of play
therapy at their conference in April 2009. Her sister-inlaw, Dayna Ferebee (also a TCU graduate) and she are
collaborating on publishing a set of children’s Halloween
songs this fall. Dayna is illustrating the poems that Kelly
set to music for voice and guitar. They will also have a CD
to go with the book. Kelly Webb Ferebee is also the proud
grandmother of Eamon Francis Griffin, son of Heather
McLeod and TJ Griffin.
Carol Cappa ’74 worked from 1997–2005 at the software
help desk for Sabre Holdings, a company that supported
calls from travel agents who used the American Airlines
computer system. In 2005, his department was outsourced
to South America, and he was laid off. Cappa chose to
re-train for a career as a respiratory therapist at Tarrant
County College, NE Campus. He graduated in May 2008,
and he is working full-time in that field. Music is still an
important part of Cappa’s life. He just completed his tenth
season as a member of the Dallas Symphony Chorus. He is
also a member of a hand bell quartet, and he does some
occasional freelancing on flute. While he was back in school
as a full-time student, he enjoyed teaching flute lessons for
the Azle ISD for two years. Fellow classmates and friends
may contact Cappa via e-mail at [email protected].
He looks forward to hearing from them.
Susan (Barrow) Carter ’74 is the 2007–2010 AT&T
Chancellor’s Award recipient. In May 2009, she graduated
with a DMA from Texas Tech University and, in August 2009,
began her appointment as associate professor, director
of vocal studies at Missouri Western State University, St.
Joseph, Missouri.
Arlene Anderson Jones ’74 completed her first year as
principal of Reicher Catholic High School. Her daughter,
Lauren, graduated from TCU in May ’08 with a BBA in
supply chain management and marketing.
Marilyn Merle ’76 has been called as the senior pastor
of First Christian Church, Kingfisher, Oklahoma. Along
with the role of pastor, she continues to use her education
and love of music by conducting the Chancel Choir at the
church she serves. Merle lives with her husband, John, in
Guthrie, Oklahoma.
V. Laura Bozeman ’78 is an adjunct professor in the
Department of Music and Dance at Tyler Junior College.
She continues to teach applied piano and class piano this
year. She has been on the faculty of the Choir School of
East Texas as a piano instructor for the past two years in
addition to teaching private piano students. Bozeman
attended the 13th World Piano Pedagogy Conference
in 2008 as an adjudicator for the “Most Wanted” Piano
Competition and was a presenter for a town hall forum
entitled “Realistic Expectations for the Adult Student.”
Pianist John Salmon ’78 has had a
busy year. He performed at the Festival
for Creative Pianists in Grand Junction,
Colorado; for the California Association
of Professional Music Teachers in San
Mateo, California; and at the Wilton
Public Library in Wilton, Connecticut.
He also played the jazz piano part
in the world premiere of Libby Larsen’s opera Picnic at
the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. NPR’s
All Things Considered broadcast portions of his piano
transcription of Dave and Chris Brubeck’s symphonic
work, Ansel Adams: America during an April 2009 feature.
Alfred published his edition of Dave Brubeck at the Piano.
Two of his articles, “No Time to Take Five” and “Dave
Brubeck’s ‘Remembrance of Madeleine Milhaud,’” were
published in Piano Today’s summer 2008 issue. His three
CDs of Dave Brubeck’s piano music (from Phoenix and
Naxos) were broadcast on 12 stations in six states in the
US, and in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and New Zealand,
on 95 separate days. Salmon’s CD of Nikolai Kapustin’s
piano music (Naxos) was broadcast on 22 stations in
12 states in the US, and in Australia and Holland, on 42
separate days. Critical reaction to Salmon’s recording has
been widespread and enthusiastic: “Ideal, in its range
and scope, for introducing the rarefied music of Kapustin
to newcomers...” (allmusicguide.com); “A jazz pianist
blessed with virtuoso classical chops … accomplished
and committed performances.” (classicstoday.com); “CD
Of The Month … Salmon tosses these difficult pieces
off with an ease as if he himself had composed them.”
(Stereoplay, Germany); “I was thoroughly enchanted from
beginning to end. This is highly listenable, very engaging
music. John Salmon’s enthusiasm for this music is evident.”
(American Record Guide); and “With this Naxos release,
the brilliant pianist John Salmon steps up to the plate with
virtuosic performances. Kapustin may have met his ideal
interpreter.” (Fanfare).
Johnnel Wright Hench ’79 resides in Annapolis, Maryland.
With her relocation to the east coast she began a vacation
from her 30-year career in information technology and
enjoys sailing with her husband, Steve, on the Chesapeake
Bay. She now has time to work with local musicians as an
accompanist and substitute organist; teach piano lessons;
sing in the Naval Academy Chapel Choir under organist/
director Monte Maxwell, ’86; and practice on one of the
most beautiful pipe organs in the world. Her daughter,
Stephanie Park, is a senior at Texas Tech University
and is a captain on the Texas Tech Pom Squad. Fellow
classmates and friends may contact Hench via e-mail at
[email protected].
Former School of Music alums Brenda Brown Perez ’80,
soprano soloist; Fr. Greg Labus, conductor; and Robert
Cruhm, bass soloist, performed Durufle’s Requiem with
the Basilica Schola Cantorum at the National Shrine and
Basilica of the Virgin of San Juan del Valle in San Juan,
Texas on November 2, 2008. The organist was also a TCU
alum, Tom Helms of Florida. Labus is the music director and
29 | Da Capo | News
West Texas on his 50th birthday, June 23, 1981. He is still
serving as vicar of St. Luke’s Church in San Saba. Shortly after
moving to San Saba in 1974, Grusendorf became involved
in the legislative process and served as a school finance
consultant to several members of the Texas Legislature.
This led to him being selected by the Comptroller Bob
Bullock to serve on an Equity Coalition that rewrote the
public school finance articles, which later became known
as House Bill 72. This legislation is the foundation of
the current Public School Finance Code for the State of
Texas. He served as a plaintiff intervener in the school
finance lawsuits of the 1990s, and he organized the Texas
Association of Rural Schools (TARS) in 1990 as founding
president. Grusendorf has continued with TARS since that
time, serving currently as executive director, school finance
consultant, and lobbyist for approximately 668 small Texas
school districts. He has been able to secure several special
legislative initiatives for small schools, including the small
school adjustment for the diseconomy of scale in small
schools. Now 78, he has no plans to retire from TARS or
St. Luke’s Church. As for TCU, he is thankful for the music
education he received and the financial gift that helped
him achieve that goal. He shall always appreciate Dean
McCorkle, who gave him a scholarship without an audition.
He repaid the scholarship several years ago with a gift, and
he plans to give another one this year.
Terrie McKenzie Preskitt-Brown ’80 recently finished her
fifth year at Highland Park United Methodist Church in
Dallas as coordinator of children’s music and voice teacher.
This year she coached five voice students to become Texas
All State Choir members, bringing her total number of allstaters to 30. Five of her students are attending TCU next
fall: four will be music majors, and one (her son, Brian) is a
Chancellor’s Scholar and will be majoring in engineering.
(She’s a very proud purple-blooded mom!) In her spare
time, she is one of the conductors of the Children’s Chorus
of Greater Dallas and serves as soprano section leader for
the professional chorus, Orpheus Chamber Singers.
Al Dee Holcomb ’84 is associate professor at the University
of Central Florida. He is active as a presenter, clinician, and
conductor, and he is also director of music at Winter Park
Presbyterian Church.
Alicia Shirley ’87 was named the Texas Music Teachers
Association’s Teacher of the Year in 2008 for outstanding
pre-collegiate teaching achievement. In addition to
maintaining a private piano studio, she is also on the faculty
at the University of Houston as instructor of applied piano
as well as a teacher in the undergraduate and graduate
pedagogy programs.
James Collins ’89 finally figured out what he was meant to
be when he grew up. He has been married to the love of
his life, Denise, for 16 years. He has two wonderful children
(Jacob, 14, and Maddy, 13). Both are involved in a band,
and the band directors and the choir director are all TCU
alums. Collins writes, “Just wanted people to know that I
am still alive.”
Mary Jane Phillips ’89 still lives in Watauga with her
husband Troy (TCU bachelor of arts in journalism, ’90) and
her beautiful 6-year-old daughter, Zoe, who is starting first
grade this year. Phillips still teaches choir in Birdville ISD at
North Ridge MS; she finds it hard to believe that she just
finished her 20th year! She judges numerous UIL contests
and other festivals. Phillips had the privilege of watching
her own former middle school choir student take her choir
to TMEA this year, and they even got to clinic them. “What
a great feeling!” she writes. Phillips will be presenting
a workshop on sight reading games at the 2009 TCDA
convention as well.
Jennifer Cahill Clark ’95 is now on the music faculty at UT
San Antonio.
Scott McClean ’97 is band director at Creekview Middle
School in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD.
Carissa Reddick ’98 is joining the
music theory faculty at the University
of Oklahoma in a one-year, full-time
instructor position. She will also be
presenting a paper at the Society for
Music Theory’s national conference
in Montreal in November. She and
her husband had their first child
this summer: Robert Charles Thibodeau was born in
Farmington, Connecticut on July 14, 2009, weighing 6 lbs.,
12 oz., and measuring 19.5 inches long (PHOTO).
Ava Mason Pine ’98 sang the role of The Angel in the Fort
Worth Opera Festival production of Angels in America,
May 16–June 7, 2008.
Marcus Brunt ’98, ’00 graduated in May ’09 with an EMBA
from University of Texas in Dallas. He is engaged to Charlsye
Lewis (TCU ’04 communication studies, ’06 MLA). They will
be getting married this fall. Both continue to grow their
companies, Note Consulting and Metro Animals Depot
and Daycare for Dogs, based in Fort Worth.
Hannah June Smith ’00, ’02 serves as company manager
of the Fort Worth Opera.
Julián Gómez-Giraldo ’01, ’03 has been named director
of orchestral activities at Easter Washington University.
Sarah Klopfenstein-Wear ’01 sang as a core chorus
member in Cincinnati Opera’s summer 2009 season for a
second year. Productions included Carmen, The Marriage
of Figaro, Verdi’s Don Carlo, and the Spanish opera
Ainadamar with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya and
soprano Dawn Upshaw. In the fall, Klopfenstein-Wear enters
the young artist program with Kentucky Opera in Louisville
as their resident mezzo-soprano, where she will perform
the roles of Flora in La Traviata, the Sandman in Hansel
& Gretel, and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly. Next spring,
she will resume her pursuit of a DMA at the University of
Kentucky in Lexington.
Melissa Sky-Eagle ’01 has a new CD entitled Christmas Joy.
Andres Franco ’02 has been named associate conductor
of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
Jorge Gregorio García ’02 writes music in Bogotá. His
email address is [email protected].
Since graduating from TCU, James Mick ’02 taught
elementary and junior high orchestras in Arlington, Texas
before accepting a graduate assistantship at Ithaca College
(New York). There, in 2005, he earned a master of music
degree with an emphasis in music education. Subsequently,
he returned to Texas and taught for two years as a head
middle school orchestra director in Plano. Thereafter, Mick
moved again to New York, where he spent the past two
years teaching orchestra, chamber music, and jazz band at
Fayetteville-Manlius High School outside of Syracuse. This
fall, he accepted another teaching assistantship at Florida
State University and started working towards his PhD in
music education at that institution.
Christi Thomas ’03 is certified in nutrition support and
is working as a clinical dietitian at the Methodist Hospital
in the Texas Medical Center. She also works as internship
coordinator for the dietetic interns completing their clinical
rotation at the Methodist Hospital.
Jessica Smythe Koebbe ’04 just completed her third
year of teaching piano at Texas Wesleyan University. She
works with piano students in all areas: majors, minors,
and secondary, and she teaches the class piano sections.
She is also the president of Fort Worth Music Teachers
Association. Koebbe still teaches piano in the Prep Division
at TCU and continues to perform with other area musicians
in duo piano and chamber music recitals.
After graduating from TCU, Jonathan
M. Thomas ’04 moved to New Orleans,
where he worked as library assistant
at Tulane University while singing
with the university’s chorus as a choir
member and soloist. Following this, he
relocated to Portland, where he secured
employment as an administrative
assistant with VLMK Engineers in downtown Portland, and
joined the Oregon Repertory Singers as a choir member
and soloist in 2005–07. Beginning with the 2007–08 season,
Thomas won one of about 14 paid staff singer positions
with the 130-member Portland Symphonic Choir. This
ensemble presents a full season of shows each year, in
addition to at least one joint collaboration with the Oregon
Symphony Orchestra. There, he has performed as both a
chorus member and soloist, while helping to anchor the
tenor section. Notable tour performances with the group
included the 2008 ACDA convention in Vancouver, BC, and
the 2007 Cascades Music Festival in Bend, Oregon. Thomas
also spent the 2007–08 season as a member of the David
York Ensemble, a chamber music choir of approximately 16
singers. After two seasons with Portland Symphonic Choir,
he is taking a break so that he can dedicate his time to the
pursuit of a master’s degree in library science at Emporia
State University. Thomas’s dream job upon graduation is
to find employment as a music librarian with a university
or college. He continues writing music in his free time,
mostly choral or vocal solo, as well as refining his abilities
on classical and folk guitars.
Following his graduation from TCU, John Angeles ’05
performed for two years with the Moscow Circus in South
Africa and Taiwan as part of their percussion show. In
October 2007, he became a performer with the touring
company of STOMP, performing all over the US and
Canada; he is still with this company at the present time.
Ezra Hood ’05 graduated from George Mason Law School
in Arlington, Virginia this month.
Rumen Cvetkov ’06 won the solo viola position with the
Tilburg Chamber Orchestra in Holland. He has also signed
contract with Virtuoso Artist Management, and he has
many solo and chamber music recitals in Europe and the
USA. Last June, he married Desislava Marinova ’06.
Evangelina Iola Frazier ’06 taught first grade and dyslexic
students at the Fine Arts Academy in White Settlement
ISD. Last summer she got married and began a new job as
a music teacher at Townley Elementary School in Everman
ISD.
Jeanene Johnson ’06 has served as adjunct clarinet
professor at Tarleton State University since fall 2007. She
has also done recordings for numerous short and fulllength feature films.
Manny Arciniega ’07 just finished his graduate work at the
Royal Academy of Music (London, England).
Pablo Benavides ’07 completed his master’s in jazz
studies at the College-Conservatory of Music at University
of Cincinnati. He had a full graduate scholarship and
assistantship, and his responsibilities included directing a
combo, working as an assistant director of jazz lab band,
and teaching Latin jazz piano lessons. He has been steadily
freelancing with several salsa groups in Cincinnati area, has
been hired for jazz arranging and composing, and recently
accepted a part-time elementary music teacher position
starting in late August.
Fernando Valcarcel ’07 has been named music director of
The Peru National Youth Orchestra.
Dave Hall ’08 just finished a year as assistant band director
and director of percussion at Paschal High School in Fort
Worth, Texas. In addition, Hall was on the TCU Drumline
staff helping to achieve much success last fall. Next year
Hall will be starting his DMA degree at the University of
North Texas. His piece “Escape Velocity” was published by
C. Alan Music and received its PASIC premiere in November
by the TCU Percussion Ensemble.
Jacqueline Leung ’08, who was a graduate student
in piano performance with Tamás Ungár and studied
conducting with Germán Gutiérrez, won important awards
in Hong Kong last year. Her list of achievements includes
the following: Secondary School Girls’ Choir, under 16
intermediate singing in English, first prize; Secondary
School Girls’ Choir, senior category singing in English, first
prize; Best Girls’ Choir of the Year; Hong Kong Television
Broadcasts Ltd. Choral Prize; and String Orchestra Senior
Category, second prize.
Loren Novak ’08 works for the Cliburn Foundation.
Matt Rush ’08 just finished his first year as assistant band
director and director of percussion at Newman Smith High
School in Garland, Texas.
31 | Da Capo | News
conductor of the Basilica Schola Cantorum in South Texas, a
fully professional SATB choir. The group is preparing for its
first CD, featuring Marian Antiphons, as well as rehearsing
for choral tours of Mexico and Rome in the near future. For
further information you may contact Brenda Brown Perez
at 956-454-0058.
Tahle Kirk ’09 is the new assistant band director and
director of percussion at Granbury High School.
Sarah Millen Walsh ’09 married Erik Walsh in June. She
is now attending Southern Methodist University’s graduate
program as a viola major.
Jackie Weitz ’09 was a leading soprano in Mozart’s opera
Impresario, on Saturday, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Babcock
Theater. She was also in the chorus and had a couple of
lines in Sister Angelica on the same night.
STUDENT NEWS
Conducting students Andres Felipe Jaime and Danaila
Hristova were invited to conduct the Fort Worth
Symphony Orchestra.
Drum Corps International
The Phantom Regiment (Rockford, IL) won the coveted
high percussion award and the Drum Corps International
title. TCU students who performed with the regiment
include Mike Garcia, Kelsey Svirsky, Tanner Trigg, Buck
Palmer, and Daniel Allen. Paul Rennick (TCU faculty)
was the percussion caption head and instructor/arranger.
Russell Wharton performed with the Cavaliers Drum
Corps (Rosemont, IL). Zac Robason was on the percussion
staff for Spokane Thunder Drum Corps (Spokane, WA).
Percussion Studio News
In 2008, the TCU Percussion Ensemble once again won the
Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble
Competition (PASIC). The ensemble won this competition
in 2005, and 2008 was the first year they were eligible to
compete again—this means back-to-back wins for the TCU
Percussion Ensemble. This competition is a refereed blind
audition process open to all percussion ensembles in the
world. Each year, three university ensembles are chosen to
perform at PASIC. The concert in Austin, Texas, included
the world premiere of two new pieces commissioned by the
ensemble and its director, Brian West: I Ching by Dwayne
Rice, and Symphony for Percussion (movement I) by Eric
Ewazen. Another new piece, written for the ensemble
by TCU alum Dave Hall and entitled “Escape Velocity,”
was also included on the program. A special treat for
everyone was the addition of a guest conductor, Richard
Gipson, on the concert. Gipson conducted the classic
“Diabolic Variations” by Raymond Helble (commissioned
by Gipson). In addition to the Percussion Ensemble’s
appearance at PASIC 2008, the TCU Indoor Drumline
competed at the PASIC Marching Percussion Festival.
The drumline performed the world premiere of TCU alum
Dave Hall’s original composition entitled “Death by Black
Hole.” The drumline placed third in the competition,
winning the best cymbal caption award. Besides regular
concerts each semester on the TCU campus (one for the
Percussion Ensemble I/Steel Band I and another one for
the Percussion Ensemble II/Steel Band II), the Percussion
Ensemble I and Indoor Drumline performed a fall tour
with stops at Juan Seguin High School in Arlington,
McCallum High School in Austin, Pflugerville High School
in Pflugerville, and Leander High School in Leander. The
spring Percussion Ensemble I concert featured three world
premiere performances. Symphony for Percussion by Eric
Ewazen and “A Ceiling Full of Stars” by Blake Tyson were
commissioned and premiered by the ensemble; the other
piece premiered was ZZZZing!, written by TCU faculty
member Till Meyn. The following TCU percussionists
presented recitals this past school year: Jessica Garrow,
Tahle Kirk, Mike Dooley, Jason Jerger, Zac Robason,
Alyson Holley, Phillip Richardon, Steven Washington,
Cara Wildman, Matt Bibb, Angel Briseno, Evan
Dabbs, Michael Rareshide, and Pat Wynne. In February,
legendary percussionist Bob Becker spent three days at
TCU presenting workshops, giving lessons, and rehearsing
with the Percussion Ensemble. Topics presented included
tabla drums (from India), orchestral cymbal techniques,
and ragtime xylophone history and performance. Becker’s
stay culminated with a concert of his music performed by
him and the TCU Percussion Ensemble I. Last year senior
music education major Jake Remington ’09 successfully
completed an audition for entrance into the graduate
program at England’s Royal Academy of Music (RAM). Jake
spent the fall at RAM participating in our study abroad
program and enjoyed it so much that he re-auditioned
and was accepted for graduate study beginning in the fall
of 2009. In May, Jessica Garrow and Tahle Kirk earned
master of music degrees in performance. Jake Remington
and Zac Robason earned undergraduate degrees in music
education. Congratulations, graduates!
Trumpet/Trombone News
Congratulations to graduate trumpet performance major
Micah Bell, and senior music education major (soon to
be a graduate trombone performance major at TCU)
Scott Sidway for having their trumpet and trombone
etudes selected by the Texas Jazz Education Association
to be included in the 2009 Texas All-State Jazz Ensemble
Audition Etude packet. The very best high school trumpet/
trombone players in Texas were practicing these etudes all
summer for the final All-Region and All-State auditions in
the fall 2009.
Congratulations to Sarah
Bauza (trumpet) and Scott
Sidway (trombone) for being
selected through a national
audition process to perform
in the Disneyland InterCollegiate Band in Anaheim,
California this summer. Sarah
played third trumpet, and
Scott played first trombone. They performed professionally
all summer at the Disneyland theme park in California, and
also attended master classes every week with some of the
top professional studio musicians in the Los Angeles area.
Viola Studio News
We are now on Facebook: Please visit and join our group
at the “Texas Christian University Viola (and occasionally
violin) Studio” page. Andrey Yarovoy won the TCU
Concerto Competition and performed with the TCU
Symphony. He will be performing a solo with Fort Worth
Symphony orchestra on November 14 and 15. Our alum
Rumen Cvetkov ’06 married Desislava Marinova ’06.
Sarah Millen Walsh was accepted to SMU’s graduate
program with a full assistantship award. Peter Kutin spent
the whole summer of 2009 in China. Rebecca Trefny’s
article “Antonin Dvo ák: His First American Year and the
New World Symphony” was selected to be published in
the TCU Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creativity.
Last year’s guest master classes included those by Barbara
Sudweeks from Dallas Symphony, Megan Fergusson from
Bowling Green University, John Largess from Miro Quartet,
and Goichi Yoshikawa from Japan. Goichi Yoshikawa, an
instructor of Suzuki method for violin and a board member
for Nagaoka International Exchange Association, and Kazue
Mitomo, a viola orchestra player in Japan and Yoshikawa’s
daughter, participated in a joint studio class for TCU violin
and viola students on November 14. They also met with
Richard Gipson, director of the TCU School of Music, and
German Gutierrez, TCU’s director of orchestras, to discuss
plans for future collaborations.
This year, our viola students came from Russia, Bulgaria,
Taiwan, Columbia, and the United States. Also this year,
Brandon Polson, Andrey Yarovoy, and Peter Kutin will
play their recitals in the fall of 2009, and Wendy Daugherty
will perform in the spring of 2009. Please check the TCU
School of Music website at www.music.tcu.edu for dates,
times, and program information.
TCU Pianist Wins National Competition
Artist diploma piano student Anna Bulkina was named
the national winner of the 2009 MTNA Young Artist
Performance Competition in Atlanta. Bulkina is a student
of TCU Professor of Piano Tamás Ungár. The competition
in Atlanta was the culmination of a process that involved
state, regional, and national competitions open to
students ages 19–26 throughout the country. The Music
Teachers National Association Young Artist Performance
Competition in Piano is sponsored by Steinway & Sons.
Bulkina’s grand prize for winning the competition is a new
Steinway “M” grand piano valued at $54,000. In addition to
Bulkina’s win, Ungár’s high school student, Michael Taylor,
from Arlington was named the national winner of the 2009
Senior Performance Competition in Piano for students
ages 15–18. This marked the first time in the competition’s
more than 40 years that students from the same teacher’s
studio won both the National Senior and Young Artist
piano categories! Taylor also received first prize in the
MTNA Senior National Composition Competition.
Congratulations to Dr. Ungár, Anna, and Michael!
TCU Pianist is on a Winning Streak
As a result of his winning the 2009 Fort Worth Symphony
Young Artist Competition, Sahun (Sam) Hong, senior
piano performance major at TCU, performed Beethoven’s
Piano Concerto 3 with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
on September 12 in Waxahachie, with Miguel HarthBedoya conducting. He also won first prize in his division
at the Texas Music Teachers Association Solo Contest in
Houston. Out of the 56 young pianists from across the state
of Texas who played in the semi-finals, 10 were selected for
the finals, from which the three prize-winners were chosen.
Two days prior to this, Hong performed his program at a
presentation for the Campaign for TCU at the Museum of
Contemporary Art in Chicago. The program at the museum
included Variations on the TCU Alma Mater for piano four
hands, written by and performed with his teacher John
Owings. In April, Hong won first prize in the 2009 Gifted
Young Pianists Concerto Competition sponsored by the
Leschetizky Association in New York. In addition to a cash
award, Hong performed the Beethoven Piano Concerto
3 with Camerata New York in Merkin Concert Hall on
April 21, and, for an encore, the Toccata by Leschetizky.
In review of the performance in the summer 2009 issue of
New York Concert Review, Howard Aibel wrote, “Sahun
Hong is certainly a pianist to watch.” In January, Hong won
first prize in the Piano Division and overall grand prize in
the Juanita Miller Competition in Dallas, sponsored by
the Texas Association of Symphony Orchestras (TASO). In
addition to his cash prize, Hong will perform this season
with the Irving and Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestras.
He was also a featured performer at the TASO annual
convention in April. Hong has also been invited to perform
on NPR’s program From the Top this fall.
33 | Da Capo | News
Jordan Warner ’08 was awarded a full graduate scholarship
and assistantship at the College-Conservatory of Music at
University of Cincinnati. His master’s in music education
assistantship includes such duties as co-teaching the
undergraduate woodwind methods classes and helping
with the freshmen music education colloquium. He hopes
to complete his coursework and graduate in the spring
next year.
Harp Student Wins American Harp
Society Competition
Congratulations to TCU harp student Rachel Lamb, winner
of the 2009 American Harp Society (AHS) in Dallas Student
Scholarship Competition. Rachel was named the winner in
the advanced division, performing the Hindemith Sonata
for Harp. The competition was held Saturday, April 18 in
Irving, Texas. Rachel received a scholarship award and was
a featured soloist on the AHS in Dallas Student Recital on
May 3.
The 32nd annual TCU Jazz Festival (held March 27–28)
hosted 28 middle school and high school jazz ensembles
that performed and were adjudicated by nationally and
internationally known jazz performers and educators. This
year, our guest artist was the world-famous Howard Johnson,
a New York-based jazz tuba player, baritone saxophonist,
and penny whistle artist. Johnson performed with the faculty
jazz combo on Friday evening. The program included
music that he wrote for baritone saxophone ensemble and
tuba/euphonium ensemble. On Saturday night, Johnson
performed with Curt Wilson’s big band. Also on the program
were bands led by Joey Carter and Micah Bell. In addition,
Johnson presented a tuba master class, and he interacted
with Richard Murrow’s tuba studio while on campus.
On February 9, the TCU Jazz Ensemble performed at Bass
Hall along with the Wind Symphony, Symphony Orchestra,
and Choir.
Horned Frog Marching Band Ranked
Second in the Nation
The TCU Horned Frog Marching Band was selected as
one of the top five college marching bands in the country
by the College Band Directors National Association
(CBDNA). It was eventually ranked number two out of the
five selected groups. The CBDNA has a biennial call for
videotapes, and the recordings are judged by a panel of
college band directors. The top five groups are identified,
and these tapes are presented at the national convention
of the CBDNA.
The TCU Jazz Studies program released its 17th CD in
September, entitled Just Friends and containing nearly
30 great big-band and combo tracks, including the music
of Patrick Williams and Mark Taylor. It features faculty
members Joey Carter, Joe Eckert, and Gary Whitman,
as well as special appearances by Los Angeles jazz
trombone artist Andy Martin, and Director of the USAF
Air Men of Note Senior Master Sergeant Joe Jackson.
The TCU Jazz Ensemble is also included on the new School
of Music Christmas CD performing the great Les Brown’s
version of the Nutcracker Suite.
During the fall of 2008, the Horned Frog Marching Band
delivered exhibition performances at the Region V UIL
Marching Band Contest on October 20 and at the Region
23 UIL Marching Band Contest on October 24. The band
was invited to perform at the UIL State Marching Band
Contest on November 3. The band also performed for
over 200,000 people at the opening ceremonies of a major
NASCAR race at the Texas Motor Speedway on November
8. The band’s performance of the national anthem was
broadcast on national television.
Opera Studio News
Fall 2008 saw Fort Worth Opera’s Clyde Berry lead the TCU
Opera Studio in an evening of opera scenes presented
on November 21. Berry is education director and director
of the Young Artist Program at Fort Worth Opera. TCU
appreciates its continuing relationship with the Fort Worth
Opera.
The Marching Band will be presenting “ROCK STAR!” for
their fall 2009 season. The production showcases rock music
form Jimi Hendrix, Queen, and DemShop Boyz. The show
opens with “VooDoo Child” and ends with “Party Like A
Rockstar.” An exciting schedule has been planned for the
fall, with invitations to perform at many special events.
TCU Jazz Ensemble
The TCU Jazz Ensemble was the featured musical group (also
accompanying all singers, dancers, and actors) at TCU’s 2008
Fine Arts “Big Band” Gala held on October 23, which raised
around a quarter of a million dollars for the School of Fine Arts.
The fall 2008 jazz concert featured local jazz trumpet
artist Brian Standridge, plus three student big bands
directed by Micah Bell, jazz studies graduate assistant;
Joey Carter, professor of percussion, theory, and
jazz piano; and Curt Wilson, director of jazz studies.
TCU Opera Studio presented Francesco Cavalli’s 1644
comic opera L’Ormindo in Ed Landreth Auditorium
March 5–7, 2009. The 10 principal roles were filled by
TCU undergraduate and graduate students along with
guest artist Bert Johnson of Granbury. The orchestra was
conducted by J. David Brock, and stage direction was by
Richard Estes.
TCU students and alumni in the Forth Worth Opera
Company for the 2009 Festival Season were Vanessa
Becerra, Meredith Browning, Corrie Donovan, Joanna
Fernandes, Annie Laing, Allison Ward, Paige Myrick,
Devin Drerup, Michael Rausch, Blas Canedo, Will
Mattox, and Caitlin Sapaugh.
TCU Opera Studio alumna Ava Pine will star in the Fort
Worth Opera’s production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore
May–June, 2010. Pine appeared last season in Dallas Opera’s
production of Die Fledermaus and Fort Worth Opera’s
Angels in America. Other TCU opera alumni working in
opera companies around the country are Christina Hager,
recently seen as Despina in Shreveport Opera’s Cosi Fan
Tutte; and David Guzman, heard as Hoffmann in Tales of
Hoffman for Opera Boheme in New York and, in May 2009,
as Don Jose in Carmen for the Natchez Festival.
If you have news of opera activities of other TCU alumni,
please send the information to Richard Estes, director of
TCU Opera Studio, at [email protected].
Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band,
and University Concert Band
By Bobby Francis
Imagine a week like this: Four days, four concerts, six guest
conductors, four guest composers, a guest soloist, and a
concert for an audience of the best band directors in the
world—it makes me tired just remembering it!
The TCU Concert Band program had a very active year
culminating in a performance at the American Bandmasters
Association (ABA) convention in College Station. This is a
very prestigious organization that has only accepted some
700 band directors in the country into its membership
during the last 80 years or so. The annual event featured
concerts by three college wind ensembles (Texas A&M,
Host; University of Texas; and Texas Christian University),
one high school band (Austin Bowie High School), and
one military band (United States Navy Band). This is the
first time in the history of the TCU band to be invited to
perform at this important event. The week consisted of a
short concert tour, including performances at the White’s
Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Trinity
High School in Euless, Brenham High School in Brenham,
and the ABA Convention in College Station. A tradition
for ABA concerts is to have series of guest conductors
for the performances. We were privileged to have some
of the finest conductors in the country perform with thet
TCU Wind Symphony, including John Whitwell (director
emeritus, Michigan State), Ray Lichtenwalter (director
emeritus, UTA), Jay Gephart (director of bands, Purdue
University), Mark Fonder (professor of music education,
Ithaca College), Gary Green (director of bands, University
of Miami), and Eric Rombach-Kendall (director of bands,
University of New Mexico). We also featured our new
professor of saxophone, Joe Eckert, on the concert. The
members of the Wind Symphony had a few days of getting
to work with some very prominent composers while on this
tour, including Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, Christopher
Tucker, and our very own Curt Wilson. We were proud
to feature a new setting of one of Wilson’s compositions
entitled “A New Homeland” (from Ukrainian Dances for
Symphonic Band). It was a big hit with the crowd!
In addition to that incredible week, the three concert
bands performed a total of nine concerts throughout the
year. With an unexpected resignation of the assistant band
director (third position) in August, we put our talented new
graduate conducting associates Jeremy Strickland and
Heath Baker to work conducting the University Concert
Band during the spring semester—and they did a great
job! After a national search for a replacement for the
assistant position, we hired Jeremy Strickland to serve in
that capacity starting in the fall. We look forward to many
successful concerts this next year. We will be performing
a new composition (that we helped to fund) by TCU
graduate alum Arturo Rodriquez, and we will feature, as
guest soloist, Jesus Castro-Balbi on cello. The ensemble
will travel to New York in early spring 2011 to perform a
concert in Carnegie Hall. Finally, we welcomed TCU’s
first student ever to be admitted in the new doctorate
of musical arts (DMA) program in wind conducting, Mike
Davis. He is a veteran Texas band director with over 20
years of experience.
Basketball Band
The Basketball Band at TCU is made up of 50 students who
love to cheer on the Horned Frogs, and it has long held
the tradition of being one of the most spirited bands in
the nation. The band appears at all home games during
the fall and spring semesters for the men’s and women’s
home games, where they join with other fans and spirit
groups in support of the teams. In March, the band splits
into smaller bands and travels to the Mountain West
Basketball Tournament held in Las Vegas, as well as the
NCAA tournament. Membership is based on audition.
SCHOOL OF MUSIC JOINS
AA BUSINESS PROGRAM
TCU School of Music (SOM) is now a member of American
Airlines Business ExtrAA program. Simply put, if you enter
the SOM Code (778230) into the Business ExtrAA field when
you book air travel on American, the SOM will benefit. This
works whether you are booking professional or personal
travel—anything on American Airlines.
This will in no way affect your personal AAdvantage
miles—they will continue to be awarded as always; by also
entering 778230 in the Business ExtrAA field, the SOM will
receive points at the same time you receive miles. We hope
to gather enough points to help pay for student travel.
35 | Da Capo | News
2008 Wildeman Piano Competition Winners
The 2008 Wildeman Piano Competition was held at
Centenary College of Louisiana in December. Zhao Lei Xie,
a student of John Owings, received the bronze medal and
the $1,500 award; Anna Bulkina, a student of Tamás Ungár,
received an honorable mention and the $1,000 award.
Non-Profit Org.
US Postage
PAID
Ft. Worth, TX 76129
Permit No. 2143
TC U SCH O O L OF M USI C
Texas Chri s t i a n U n i v e r s i t y
TC U Bo x 29 75 00
For t Worth , T X 7 6 1 2 9
Mitchelmore Masters Series
Cavani String Quartet Residency
March 22 – 24, 2010
Fort Worth Comes Alive
with the best of Latin music!
Nov. 13-20
With performances at TCU and Bass Performance Hall
Featuring conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya,
and his Carminos del Inka project
UÊ
UÊ
UÊ
UÊ
UÊ
UÊ
UÊ
UÊ
UÊ
The celebration will include:
A traditional tiple, guitar, and bandola trio from Colombia
Maria Luisa Harth-Bedoya, the renowned Peruvian guitarist
Composer and conductor Arturo Rodriguez from Mexico
Tamborimba, a percussion group from Colombia
The tenor David Guzman from Colombia
Electronic Music chamber groups from TCU, Dr. Gerald Gable, director
The TCU Wind Symphony. Mr. Bobby Francis, director
TCU Percussion Ensembles. Dr. Brian West, director
TCU Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Germán Gutiérrez, director
For a complete schedule of events, please visit
www.latinarts.tcu.edu

the 2009 Da Capo - TCU | The School of Music

Transcription

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