Baritone Michael Preacely '01 to Perform, Lead Talks at 91ֱ��</h1> <article> <h1>Baritone Michael Preacely '01 to Perform, Lead Talks at 91ֱ��</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:01:50 +0000</p> <span>Baritone Michael Preacely '01 to Perform, Lead Talks at 91ֱ��</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:01:50-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:01">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:01</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Michael Preacely’s first big break came while he still roamed the halls of 91ֱ��.</p> <p>It started with an appeal from Michael Morgan ’79, who had been music director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony for a decade. “I have it on good authority that you’re a fine baritone,” Morgan’s message to Preacely read. “E-mail me back if this is true.”</p> <p>Indeed it was true, and soon young Preacely found himself booked for a cross-country gig with a piece he had never performed: Rachmaninoff’s choral symphony <i>The Bells</i>. “I went to get the music, and I was like <i>this is mature</i>,” Preacely remembers thinking. His 91ֱ�� accompanist, Dan Michalak, gave him no time to feel uneasy.</p> <p>“Dan said, ‘You’re gonna sing the socks off this thing. Let’s do it!’ I have never been coached like that in my life. l went out and sang the socks off of that song, and they hired me immediately for the next season!”</p> <p>A decade and a half later, Preacely will make his first return to 91ֱ�� since his student years, to perform a recital alongside Michalak at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31, in Stull Hall. The program includes Copland’s <i>Old American Songs</i> and a series of Broadway tunes, as well as traditional spirituals. It will be followed by a question-and-answer session.</p> <p>“I am so looking forward to working with Dan again—it’s insane!” he says. “I cannot wait to collaborate with him again.”</p> <p>Michalak shares his enthusiasm. “The main thing I remember about Michael—aside from his being an incredibly nice guy with a great voice—is that he has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and always maintains great positive energy about the entire music-learning process,” the vocal coach says.</p> <p>Preacely’s visit, made possible by 91ֱ��’s office of <a href="https://new.oberlin.edu/office/student-academic-services/index.dot">Student Academic Services</a>, also includes a Friday, April 1, talk, part of 91ֱ��’s <em>First in the Family</em> speaker series. The 4:30 p.m. program takes place at Afrikan Heritage House (Lord-Saunders; 126 Forest St.). He will also lead a career-development talk in Kulas Recital Hall at 3:30 p.m., immediately preceding his <em>First in the Family</em> presentation.</p> <p>Preacely will be joined by his wife, LeTicia Preacely ’03, whom he met and married at 91ֱ�� in a ceremony presided over by 91ֱ�� Associate Professor of Religion <a href="https://new.oberlin.edu/arts-and-sciences/departments/religion/faculty_detail.dot?id=21017">A.G. Miller</a>. During premarital counseling, they became dear friends with Miller and his wife <a href="https://new.oberlin.edu/office/dean-of-students/staff_detail.dot?id=233341">Brenda Grier-Miller</a>, associate dean of Student Academic Services and founder of the <em>First in the Family</em> series.</p> <p>"Michael has always used his instrument, his personality, and his love for God to serve the people and places where he has been blessed to live and travel," says Grier-Miller.</p> <p>Launched in 2011, <em>First in the Family</em> brings back former first-generation students to speak about their experiences and to demonstrate to current students that they can make their own success stories. The Preacelys’ visit marks the first collaboration between Student Academic Services and the conservatory.</p> <p>Originally from Chicago, Preacely had only an uncle who attended college before him. “My mom and dad knew the importance of going to college, but they could never give me a clear sense of what it was like,” he remembers. “They weren’t able to tell me about the difficulties that go with it, and the triumphs as well.”</p> <p>Like many young singers, Preacely’s first exposure to music came in church, where his talent was recognized by his choir director and others. One day as a teenager, he received a brochure from 91ֱ�� with a photo of Hall Auditorium on the cover. “I said, ‘I want to sing <i>there</i>!’” Move-in weekend of his first year on campus marked his first-ever visit to campus.</p> <p>“I was like a lot of first-generation college students in that I didn’t go through the process of looking at colleges,” says Preacely, who studied with Richard Miller. “When I first got to 91ֱ��, I missed home big time because I had never been away before. I went home 10 times in my first semester, but I got over it quick!”</p> <p>Today, Preacely happily blends his regional performing career with a blissful family life raising three young sons. He has earned acclaim for his roles in operas ranging from <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i> to <i>Porgy and Bess</i>, on stages from New York to Russia. His wife, a former religion major, is communications director and a preacher at their church in Lexington, Ky.</p> <p>Why Lexington? It’s the home of the University of Kentucky, where Preacely earned a master’s degree—the first in the family, of course.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-03-17T12:00:00Z">Thu, 03/17/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2371">Speaker Series</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2401">Resources for Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2366">Guest Artists & Speakers</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=25421">Religion</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/arts-and-sciences/departments/religion" hreflang="und">Religion</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Voice Professor Salvatore Champagne Releases CD & Book on 91ֱ�� Music</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:01:50 +0000</p> <span>Voice Professor Salvatore Champagne Releases CD & Book on 91ֱ�� Music</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:01:50-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:01">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:01</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Championed during his lifetime by such luminaries as Toscanini and Heifetz, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco composed some of the finest Italian music of the early decades of the 20th century.</p> <p>A chance discovery of the composer’s unpublished Shakespeare Sonnets—as well as a song cycle on texts from Walt Whitman’s <i>Leaves of Grass</i>—led to 15 years of research and performance by 91ֱ�� Professor of Voice Salvatore Champagne ’85 and pianist Howard Lubin.</p> <p>In them Champagne found music of profound beauty and intimacy—and he became intent on sharing these treasures through his singing and in his work with students.</p> <p>The new recording that resulted, <i>What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand to Record?</i>, makes these songs available to a wider audience for the first time.</p> <p>It is accompanied by a 66-page book: a collaboration of Tedesco scholars and the International Center for American Music that provides fascinating insight into Castelnuovo-Tedesco's life, work, and his impact on a generation of American composers and musicians.</p> <p>“Throughout my work, I have enjoyed the support and encouragement of some of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s most noted experts and enthusiasts,” Champagne writes in the book’s foreword. “Yet the greatest impetus to my continued interest has always been the songs themselves. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s refined musical and poetic sensibilities are ideally suited to the Whitman and Shakespeare texts. Perhaps most striking is how vividly the abundant humanity evident in the writings of these two authors is reflected in the music of this remarkable composer.”</p> <p>Distributed by Naxos of America, <i>What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand to Record?</i> is available through select retailers and digital music channels worldwide. 91ֱ�� Music is the official label of the 91ֱ�� Conservatory of Music. Recent releases have included an 91ֱ�� Trio recording of piano trios by Antonín Dvořák, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Joan Tower, and Professor of Bassoon George Sakakeeny's <i>full moon in the city</i>, featuring works by Peter Schickele, Russell Platt ’87, Augusta Read Thomas, and Libby Larsen.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-03-11T12:00:00Z">Fri, 03/11/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2375">91ֱ�� Music Label</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/vocal-studies" hreflang="und">Vocal Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones '97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Miró Quartet to Perform March 10 as Part of 91ֱ��'s Artist Recital Series</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:01:50 +0000</p> <span>Miró Quartet to Perform March 10 as Part of 91ֱ��'s Artist Recital Series</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:01:50-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:01">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:01</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The Miró Quartet, the first quartet ever to be honored with an Avery Fisher Career Grant, will perform at 91ֱ�� as part of the Artist Recital Series at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 10, in Finney Chapel. The concert will feature Beethoven's notoriously challenging "Razumovsky" quartets.</p> <p>Formed in 1995, Miró still features two 91ֱ��-educated founding members: violinist Daniel Ching ’95 and cellist Joshua Gindele ’97. Today, the ensemble is quartet in residence at the University of Texas at Austin, where Ching and Gindele teach and coach chamber music.</p> <p>In advance of the quartet's visit, Gindele caught up recently with ClevelandClassical.com. The complete story can be found <a href="http://clevelandclassical.com/miro-quartet-to-visit-oberlins-artist-recital-series-on-march-10/#more-17123">here</a>.</p> <p>Tickets for Miró Quartet are $30 ($25 for 91ֱ�� staff, alumni, and seniors), and all student tickets are just $10. Learn more by calling 800-371-0178, online at <a href="http://oberlin.edu/artsguide/tickets/">oberlin.edu/artsguide</a>, or visit 91ֱ��'s Central Ticket Service (at Hall Auditorium, 67 N. Main St.) from noon-5 p.m.</p> <p>The performance is part of a busy week for the Artist Recital Series; on Sunday, March 13, 91ֱ�� trombone professor Robin Eubanks will lead his Mass Line Big Band to Finney Chapel for a 7:30 p.m. performance showcasing the ensemble's acclaimed new recording <i>More Than Meets the Ear</i>.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-03-08T12:00:00Z">Tue, 03/08/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2364">Artist Recital Series</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2366">Guest Artists & Speakers</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/strings" hreflang="und">Strings</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Michael Carter</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Violist Kirsten Docter '92 to Join 91ֱ�� Conservatory Faculty</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:01:50 +0000</p> <span>Violist Kirsten Docter '92 to Join 91ֱ�� Conservatory Faculty</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:01:50-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:01">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:01</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Kirsten Docter, a longtime educator and chamber musician with the award-winning Cavani Quartet, has been named Associate Professor of Viola at the 91ֱ�� Conservatory of Music.</p> <p>The appointment represents a sort of homecoming for Docter, who earned a bachelor of music in viola performance at 91ֱ�� in 1992 and has taught viola and coached chamber music as visiting faculty since 2006. She will begin her appointment July 1.</p> <p>“I’m a proud 91ֱ�� graduate, and I feel like I know what it means to be a student here,” says Docter, citing 91ֱ��’s dedication to social activism and entrepreneurship, as well as its pioneering support of the double degree.</p> <p>“Students today are asked to be much broader in their scope,” she says. “I love the thoughtfulness of 91ֱ�� students. They know what it means to be musicians."</p> <p>The same can be said of Docter. A first-prize winner of the Primrose International and American String Teachers Association viola competitions, she has performed on major series and in festivals throughout North America and Europe. She has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Robert Mann, Donald Weilerstein, Stephanie Blythe, and countless other prominent artists.</p> <p>With the Cleveland-based Cavani Quartet, Docter won the Naumberg Chamber Music Award and was named <i>Musical America</i>’s Young Artist of the Year. Cavani earned <i>Chamber Music America</i>’s Guarneri String Quartet Award for Artistic Excellence—and was the only ensemble to receive the honor twice.</p> <p>Since 1993, Docter has served on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. The Cavani Quartet has been ensemble in residence at CIM since 1988.</p> <p>Throughout her career, Docter and her Cavani colleagues have demonstrated tireless devotion to educational outreach, and they routinely perform free concerts for young audiences and others. The quartet is renowned for embracing a wide range of art forms, from master works to modern compositions, and for developing programs that incorporate poetry, dance, and visual art.</p> <p>“Kirsten is much admired as a violist, a chamber musician, and a teacher," says Dean of the Conservatory Andrea Kalyn. "Her work reflects all that we seek to instill in our students—the highest levels of artistry, professional flexibility, and imagination, and a commitment to taking great music into the world. We are delighted to welcome Kirsten to her new role on the 91ֱ�� faculty."</p> <p>At 91ֱ��, Docter will play a pivotal role in instruction of viola students, in addition to leading a weekly studio class and coaching chamber ensembles.</p> <p>As an undergraduate, Docter studied with Jeffery Irvine and Lynne Ramsey. She continued her education at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she earned an artist diploma and studied under Karen Tuttle.</p> <p>Docter lives in suburban Cleveland with her husband, arts administrator Paul Cox, and their sons, Sebastian and Benjamin.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-02-05T12:00:00Z">Fri, 02/05/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2365">Chamber Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/strings" hreflang="und">Strings</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� Trio Releases New CD of Expressive Chamber Music</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:04 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� Trio Releases New CD of Expressive Chamber Music</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:04-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The 91ֱ�� Trio, the acclaimed ensemble founded in 1982 by three members of the 91ֱ�� Conservatory faculty, has released a new CD on the conservatory's official record label, 91ֱ�� Music.</p> <p><i>Dvořák | Shostakovich | Tower</i> features three distinctive pieces that traverse disparate worlds en route to the same destination: Each one is an emotionally charged expression of its composer’s life.</p> <p>The recording opens with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Trio No. 2, a compelling tale of human endurance and tragedy, informed by the swirling emotions of the composer’s turbulent personal life and the toll of toiling in the shadow of oppressive Soviet Russia. It is contrasted by Joan Tower’s <i>Big Sky</i>, inspired by her childhood memories of horseback riding amid the bucolic mountain valleys of Bolivia. Rounding out the recording is Antonin Dvořák’s <i>Dumky</i> trio: a suite-like collection of movements, alternately joyful and melancholic, inspired by traditional Bohemian music.</p> <p>Originally consisting of violinist Stephen Clapp, pianist Joseph Schwartz, and cellist Andor Toth Jr., the 91ֱ�� Trio today features 91ֱ�� faculty members David Bowlin (violin), Haewon Song (piano), and Amir Eldan (cello). Together, they have presented recitals and master classes across the United States, Korea, and China. In keeping with the ensemble’s commitment to educating young artists, members of the 91ֱ�� Trio enjoy teaching at top music schools in the U.S. and abroad.</p> <p>Distributed by Naxos of America, the 91ֱ�� Trio’s <i>Dvořák | Shostakovich | Tower</i> is available through select retailers and digital music channels worldwide.</p> <p>91ֱ�� Music is the official record label of the 91ֱ�� Conservatory of Music. Other recent titles include <i>full moon in the city</i> featuring bassoon professor George Sakakeeny and <i>Gabrieli</i> by the National Brass Ensemble.</p></div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2016-01-11T12:00:00Z">Mon, 01/11/2016 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2375">91ֱ�� Music Label</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2365">Chamber Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=29541">Piano</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/strings" hreflang="und">Strings</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Tanya Rosen-Jones '97</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Herbert Henke '53, Longtime Conservatory Professor, Dies at 84</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:25 +0000</p> <span>Herbert Henke '53, Longtime Conservatory Professor, Dies at 84</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:25-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Herbert Henke devoted 36 years to teaching as a member of the 91ֱ�� Conservatory faculty, but his influence on students and colleagues spanned far beyond his conservatory years. He adored the life of an educator, and he embraced each opportunity he encountered.</p> <p>“I always found great satisfaction in teaching: children or adults, any subject matter,” the professor of eurhythmics told <i>91ֱ�� Alumni Magazine</i> shortly after his retirement in 1998. “I love the variety that teaching offers, the search for new ways of imparting information, and the development of skills.”</p> <p>Henke remained firmly rooted in 91ֱ�� for most of his life, but he traversed the globe frequently to share his gifts. In 1973 he served as music consultant to the National Center for the Arts in El Salvador. Five years later, he worked with the National Youth Symphony Program in Costa Rica. He led the chorale at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia, and he filled in for former students as a teacher at the American School in London, in addition to stints teaching in Sweden, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.</p> <p>"I didn't know I was going to come to 91ֱ�� and see the world," he quipped at the conclusion of his final semester in 1997.</p> <p>In his early years on the 91ֱ�� faculty, Henke taught conducting, keyboard skills, and techniques in secondary music education. With the retirement of 91ֱ�� eurhythmics professor Inda Howland in 1974, Henke began to devote great energy to the century-old Swiss approach to musical training that emphasizes movement. He became an internationally respected teacher of eurhythmics and found his expertise in great demand throughout the world. For nearly two decades before and after his retirement, he taught annual summer classes in eurhythmics at Carnegie Mellon University.</p> <p>“Herb brought a gentle passion for music and music education to his teaching,” says Associate Professor of Music Education Jody Kerchner, whose 91ֱ�� career began as Henke retired. “Herb remained committed to the cause of preparing future music teachers, frequently returning to our conducting and music education classes to share his expertise.”</p> <p>Kerchner and her colleagues honored Henke in 2002 with the conservatory’s first Distinguished Music Education Alumni Award. “We have cherished and will now miss his friendship, collegiality, musical sensitivity, and calm wisdom that were his hallmarks,” she says.</p> <p>Henke grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Parma and earned three degrees from 91ֱ�� Conservatory—bachelor’s degrees in music and music education, and a master’s in music education—followed by a PhD at the University of Southern California. Initially a teacher in the Cleveland public schools, he accepted his first faculty position at the University of Maryland, where he taught for four years before returning to 91ֱ�� to teach in 1962.</p> <p>An accomplished singer who was active in the local community, Henke served multiple stints as music director of First Church and performed for years as a bass soloist in 91ֱ�� and Cleveland. His well-rounded musicianship made him all the more beloved among those who knew and learned from him.</p> <p>“Herb was a wise and generous presence among the faculty and a legendary teacher to countless students,” says former colleague Steven Plank, 91ֱ��’s Andrew B. Meldrum Professor of Musicology. “His teaching, be it of music education or eurhythmics, was inspired by a deep love of music-making and, I suspect, an instinctive understanding of the ways in which music touches our humanity.</p> <p>“In this way, he touched us all, and he will be remembered with great fondness and admiration.”</p> <p>Henke died August 16. He is survived by his wife, Sabra Lee Chambers ’53, whom he met at 91ֱ�� and married the year they graduated; their daughter, Lia Lowrie; and six grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a son, Kevin Henke ’77, and daughter, Jeanine Neumann.</p> <p>A celebration of Henke’s life will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday, September 12, at First Church in 91ֱ��.</p> <p>In lieu of flowers, Henke’s family welcomes donations to the Herbert Henke Merit Scholarship in Music Education, which supports students who show great promise in the field of music education. Learn more at www.oberlin.edu/giving/donate or call 800-693-3167.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-08-22T12:00:00Z">Sat, 08/22/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Erich Burnett</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2412">Obituaries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2414">Faculty</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=28876">Music Theory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/music-theory" hreflang="und">Music Theory</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Karen Jesse '04 Returns to 91ֱ�� to Kick Off 2015 Vocal Academy</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:25 +0000</p> <span>Karen Jesse '04 Returns to 91ֱ�� to Kick Off 2015 Vocal Academy</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:25-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>91ֱ�� Conservatory welcomes the return of alumna soprano Karen Jesse ’04 for a guest recital at 8 p.m. Friday, July 24, at First United Methodist Church of Christ (<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/First+United+Methodist+Church/@41.290494,-82.219679,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x883a0a7984b92ce1:0xd17ca9960a0b3fef">45 S. Professor St.</a>) in 91ֱ��.</p> <p>The free performance serves as the launch of 91ֱ��’s 2015 Vocal Academy for High School Students, an annual summer program that offers training in technique, acting, and musicianship to aspiring young singers.</p> <p>Hailed by <i>Opera News</i> for her promising vocal talent and superior artistry, Jesse has enjoyed early success on the opera stage and has received numerous awards and scholarships, including first place at the district installment of the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions. In November 2013, she returned to campus to portray the Witch in Engelbert Humperdinck’s <i>Hänsel und Gretel</i>, presented by 91ֱ�� Opera Theater.</p> <p>The July 24 performance will include works by Mahler, Britten, and Richard Strauss. It will be followed by a reception with Jesse.</p> <p>For more information on the 2015 Vocal Academy and other summer programs at 91ֱ��, please visit <a href="http://new.oberlin.edu/office/summer-programs/index.dot">oberlin.edu/summer</a>.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-07-17T12:00:00Z">Fri, 07/17/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Julie Anna Gulenko</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2387">Conservatory Summer Programs</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-credit field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Christopher Weiss</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Gregory Ristow '01 Joins 91ֱ�� Conducting Faculty</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:25 +0000</p> <span>Gregory Ristow '01 Joins 91ֱ�� Conducting Faculty</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:25-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Conductor, teacher, and singer Gregory Ristow ’01 has been appointed Assistant Professor of Conducting and Director of Vocal Ensembles at the 91ֱ�� Conservatory of Music. He will begin July 1.</p> <p>“I'm excited to be coming to 91ֱ�� to direct the vocal ensemble program,” says Ristow. “For me, it's a return to the place where I first discovered the joy and beauty of ensemble singing, as well as its importance to my development as a musician.”</p> <p>Ristow comes to 91ֱ�� from DePauw University School of Music, where he has served as director of choral activities since 2011. Ristow also serves as conductor of the Interlochen Singers and previously was director of choirs at the Rochester Institute of Technology and at Lone Star College-Montgomery, where he received the 2008 Faculty Excellence Award. In addition to his work as a choral conductor, Ristow is in demand as a teacher of Dalcroze eurhythmics—a method of teaching music through movement—and he teaches eurythmics at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan.</p> <p>As a singer, he has received praise as a performer with "star quality" who was "striking whenever he appeared on stage" (<i>Indianapolis Examiner</i>). He has sung professionally with the Houston Chamber Choir and Houston’s Mercury Baroque, and conducted professionally as artistic director of Encore Vocal Arts in Indianapolis and as a guest conductor with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Houston’s Foundation for Modern Music, Rochester’s Gregory Kunde Chorale, and Rochester’s Voices.</p> <p>“I am elated that Greg will be joining the Vocal Studies Division,” says the division's director, Associate Professor Salvatore Champagne. “Greg brings a wide breadth of talents, accomplishments, and experience. His proven commitment to vocal music education and the care he demonstrates for his students' musical development are inspirational. We look forward to an exciting and productive collaboration.”</p> <p>Ristow will serve as director of vocal ensembles, including the 91ֱ�� College Choir and Musical Union, and will teach courses in vocal chamber music and conducting.</p> <p>The 91ֱ�� College Choir is a select ensemble of college and conservatory students that performs a wide variety of a cappella and accompanied choral literature. Each ensemble performs one concert at the end of the fall and spring semesters. Founded in 1837, the 140-voice 91ֱ�� Musical Union brings together students from both the college and community, and maintains the second-oldest continuing choral tradition in the United States.</p> <p>“It's an exciting time to be a choral musician and to be coming to 91ֱ��,” Ristow says. “I'm looking forward to working with the faculty to help structure a program that fits the needs of each of 91ֱ��'s singers, whether they're studying to be a professional singer or making music as a joyful complement to their life.”</p> <p>Ristow received his doctor of musical arts and master of music degrees from the Eastman School of Music, and his bachelor of music from the 91ֱ�� Conservatory. He also holds a Dalcroze certificate from the Juilliard School and a Dalcroze license from the Longy School of Music.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-05-20T12:00:00Z">Wed, 05/20/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Josie Davis</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2370">Ensembles & Orchestras</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/conducting-and-ensembles" hreflang="und">Conducting and Ensembles</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>Music You Can Feel</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:52 +0000</p> <span>Music You Can Feel</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:52-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><i>This profile is one in a series focusing on the careers of conservatory students after 91ֱ��. For more "After 91ֱ��" stories, visit the <a href="/news">News Center</a>.</i></p> <p>“Things made of sound usually can’t be touched,” says Ashley Fure ’04. “But I’m greedy as an artist. I want to provoke more senses than just hearing.”</p> <p>Fure creates visceral, almost tactile music for the concert hall and for multimedia installations, collaborating not only with top new music groups such as Ensemble Dal Niente and the Arditti Quartet, but also with visual artists, choreographers, and architects.</p> <p>In 2014, Fure was awarded the Kranichstein Music Prize—one of the most significant awards for young composers—for her septet <i>Something to Hunt</i>, a masterful and frightening rendering of a predator’s insatiable drive for prey.</p> <p>“Incorporating sight, touch, and space into my sonic practice has brought me into close contact with artists from other disciplines,” she says. “I find those acts of translation and collaboration inevitably challenging and inevitably fruitful.”</p> <p>Also in 2014, while on a Fulbright Fellowship in France, Fure explored the translation of music into movement and vice versa in a collaboration with choreographer Yuval Pick. Their hour-long electroacoustic ballet <i>Ply</i> was commissioned by the renowned Parisian school IRCAM, where Fure studied for two years.</p> <p>While in her second year there in 2011, she created <i>Tripwire</i>, her first multimedia collaboration, with visual artist Jean-Michel Albert. She describes the project as “massive kinetic sculpture made of spinning strings, moving light, and spatialized sound. It explores the phenomenon of vibration through multiple media, weaving moving sound, light, and rippling elastic into vibrant, synesthetic gestures.”</p> <p>Such “synesthetic gestures” are also an integral part of Fure’s 2012 piece <i>Veer</i>, in which participants move through an architectural installation designed by her brother, Adam Fure, setting off speakers and LEDs with their motion.</p> <p>Fure is now collaborating with Adam again, along with London-based director Patrick Eakin Young, on an upcoming “electroacoustic object opera.” Commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble, it will premiere at Darmstadt in 2016.</p> <p>“We want to make a music drama that explores the hidden lives of objects devoid of human gaze,” Fure says. “In place of human characters, a cast of custom-built objects will transform throughout the piece via sound, lighting, and kinetic effects, presenting themselves as characters with their own stories to tell.</p> <p>Fure’s forays into sonic “acts of translation” qualify her for her recent appointment as assistant professor of sonic arts at Dartmouth College. She will take up that position in the fall, after finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia. (She completed a PhD in composition under Chaya Czernowin at Harvard University in 2013.)</p> <p>“In addition to its Master’s Program in Digital Music, Dartmouth has just created a pathway for undergraduate music majors focused on music since electricity,” she explains. “I was hired to help shepherd in this new sonic arts curriculum.”</p> <p>Fure’s first teaching experience came at 91ֱ��, where she spent the spring of 2012 as a visiting professor of composition.</p> <p>“It was very invigorating and intellectually satisfying,” she recalls. “It was the first time I had really designed my own syllabus, as I was asked to teach a seminar and was essentially given free rein. The students are top-notch, they’re bright, they’re inquisitive.”</p> <p>Those exceptional students are one of the aspects of 91ֱ�� that she most enjoyed in her undergraduate years. “We always joked about the 'new music mafia'—that clan of virtuosic players all running around performing the most challenging contemporary music. Getting to be a part of that culture and getting to experiment with these amazing players who were also friends was a deeply formative experience.”</p> <p>She also emphasizes the integral role played by her teachers. “I had a very close and productive relationship with [Professor of Composition] Lewis Nielson, who was my private teacher for most of my time at 91ֱ��. His confidence in me, his insight, and his broad knowledge of the field in both America and Europe really opened my eyes and ears to all sorts of possibilities.</p> <p>“Composition at 91ֱ�� is unusual in its appetite for the experimental and avant-garde. My ears were really unbounded there.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-04-20T12:00:00Z">Mon, 04/20/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Daniel Hautzinger</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-programs field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?program=33031">TIMARA</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-departments field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/conservatory/divisions/contemporary-music" hreflang="und">Contemporary Music</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-image-caption field--type-string-long field--label-hidden field__item">As a student at 91ֱ��, Ashley Fure felt at home amid the conservatory culture she affectionately calls the "new music mafia."</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> <article> <h1>91ֱ�� Music Releases The Reckless Heart, Featuring Kendra Colton '83</h1> <p>eburnett — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:02:52 +0000</p> <span>91ֱ�� Music Releases The Reckless Heart, Featuring Kendra Colton '83</span> <span><span>eburnett</span></span> <span><time datetime="2016-11-07T13:02:52-05:00" title="Monday, November 7, 2016 - 13:02">Mon, 11/07/2016 - 13:02</time> </span> <div class="text-content field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Artists relish incubation time. In 1998, American soprano <a href="http://new.oberlin.edu/conservatory/faculty/faculty-detail.dot?id=20659">Kendra Colton</a> commissioned Welsh composer Andy Vores to write a collection of songs for her appearance on the Boston Celebrity Series. The success of that premiere, <i>The Reckless Heart</i>, inspired the notion that someday the collection would anchor a recording project.</p> <p>Colton has cultivated a career known for its tremendous versatility over the past 25 years. Now assistant professor of singing at 91ֱ�� Conservatory of Music, Colton is also an 91ֱ�� graduate. Originally trained as a pianist, she didn’t start studying voice until her second year at 91ֱ��. She is adept at a wide range of repertoire, and has developed a niche in oratorio and sacred works from Bach to Brahms, has given acclaimed performances of Handel and Mozart operas, and is recognized for her interpretation of contemporary chamber music and championing of little-known works written in the last century.</p> <p>In 2013, Colton joined forces with longtime collaborator and former 91ֱ�� classmate Kayo Iwama to record the remarkable set of songs by Vores in 91ֱ��’s Clonick Hall and recording studio. Iwama is associate director of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music.</p> <p>The five songs of <i>The Reckless Heart</i> are linked, in the words of Vores, by their “sense of a life lived, of experience gained, and of the unstoppable succession of events which make living reckless.”</p> <p>They are brilliantly curated with standout works by three other composers whose creations share Vores’ British Isle roots: Samuel Barber’s <i>Hermit Songs</i>, Ivor Gurney’s <i>Five Elizabethan Songs</i> and “Down by the Salley Gardens,” completed with Benjamin Britten’s “The Salley Gardens” and <i>On This Island</i>.</p> <p>Britten’s centennial birth year in 2013 naturally inclined Colton to record <i>On This Island</i> and therefore helped set the British theme of the CD. Colton exercised sentiment in her choice of Barber’s <i>Hermit Songs</i>—his settings of Medieval Irish texts she has loved since childhood. Her altruistic sensibilities, to make sure the art songs of Ivor Gurney are heard, motivated their inclusion in the project.</p> <p><i>The Reckless Heart</i> is now available through select retailers and digital music channels worldwide. Learn more at <a href="http://oberlin.edu/oberlinmusic/">oberlin.edu/oberlinmusic</a>. 91ֱ�� Music is the official recording label of 91ֱ�� Conservatory of Music and is distributed by Naxos of America.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-type field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item">News Releases</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-date field--type-datetime field--label-hidden field__item"><time datetime="2015-04-16T12:00:00Z">Thu, 04/16/2015 - 12:00</time> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Cathy Partlow Strauss</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2356">Conservatory</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2375">91ֱ�� Music Label</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news?tag=2974">Conservatory Alumni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-pin-school-page field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">Off</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-photo-gallery-top field--type-boolean field--label-hidden field__item">false</div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-media field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item"> </div> </article> </main></body></html>