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NewsAmy Williams Wins Howard Foundation Fellowship Amy Williams, Assistant professor of composition and theory, is the recipient of a $25,000 fellowship for music composition from the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation. The fellowships are awarded for the 2008–09 academic year. Williams is one of 11 recipients representing the fields of music (composition, performance, musicology), playwriting and yheatre studies. She will use the grant to continue work on her Cineshape series inspired by films. [April 7, 2008] Two Pitt composers are winners in the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society’s Pittsburgh Commissioning Project.Graduate student Mark Fromm and Assistant professor of composition and theory Amy Williams were chosen via online voting by subscribers to the Society’s Bridges: A Festival of String Quartets. Bridges subscribers also selected composers David Stock and Albert Glinsky. All four composers have received commissions to create new string quartets which will be premiered by the Biava Quartet during the 2008–09 PCMS concert series. You can find out more about the upcoming programs here. [April 7, 2008] 2008 Mellon Fellows AnnouncedThe Department of Music is pleased to announce doctoral candidates Colter Harper (ethnomusicology), Brandi Neal (musicology), and James Ogburn (composition and theory) have received Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships for the 2008–09 academic year. Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships are awarded by the School of Arts and Sciences each year to approximately 45 outstanding graduate students in the arts and sciences. They carry a stipend of $15,000 plus a tuition scholarship for two terms. [Mar. 5, 2008] Colter Harper's Photo Essay Published in Context MagazineEthnomusicology PhD candidate Colter Harper’s photo essay "Life, Death, and Music in West Africa" has been published in the journal Contexts, a publication of the American Sociological Association (University of California Press). Those in the Pittsburgh area can see some of Colter Harper’s photograph’s from West Africa on display at 709 Penn Gallery. The exhibit is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and runs through February 22. Heesun Kim Gives Recital of Contemporary Kayagum MusicHeesun Kim (PhD 2005) gave a concert of contemporary music featuring new compositions for the instrument kayagum (plucked long zither), on November 30, 2007 at the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts Hall, Seoul, South Korea. The concert was sponsored and supported by The Seoul National University Institute of Asian Music, Music Department; University of Pittsburgh Korean Alumni Association; Kent State University World Music Center; and Asia Research Institute National University of Singapore. She premiered five compositions by five composers from USA, U.K, Belgium, Korea, and Egypt. [Jan. 9, 2008] Dangdut Meets CountryAndrew Weintraub and the Dangdut Cowboys performed Dangdut music of Indonesia at the annual Gamelan Open House, December 2007. Weintraub is playing lead guitar You can see video of the Dangdut Cowboys performing Kegagalan Cinta (Your Cheatin' Heart) and Dangdut by composer Rhoma Irama. Weintraub provides lead guitar and vocals for the Cowboys. [Jan. 9. 2008] A Fond Farewell to Bach and the BaroqueProfessor Don Franklin led the Bach and Baroque Ensemble in a performance of J.S. Bach's complete Christams Oratorio for sold-out audiences at Heinz Chapel on December 15 and 16. It was the final performance in the series which Franklin and John Goldsmith launched 16 years ago. Lengthy ovations followed each performance as concert goers expressed their appreciation to Franklin and the ensmble. Previews of the event appeared in the Post-Gazette, Tribune-Review, and City Paper. The Post-Gazette provided a very positive review of the final concert. [Dec. 21, 2007] Moe's Siren Songs Released on Albany RecordsAlbany Records has released Siren Songs, a collection of song cycles by Announcement: Faculty Position in Jazz StudiesThe Department of Music of the University of Pittsburgh seeks to make a faculty appointment in Jazz Studies beginning September 1, 2008, pending budgetary approval. Title: Coordinator of Jazz Studies; full-time non-tenure stream. Duties: Teach undergraduate courses in jazz; administer jazz program and the Academy of Jazz-African American Music program under the supervision of the current Director of Jazz Studies. Share in departmental responsibilities. Qualifications: Master’s or higher degree in music; outstanding record of administration and peer-reviewed international accomplishment in jazz performance, recording, composition/arranging and publication; potential for distinguished leadership in the field of jazz studies; record of excellent teaching; successful experience in grant-writing; interest in working with colleagues in the department and in related disciplines. For the Coordinator of Jazz Studies position, we seek a colleague with a special combination of skills as dedicated teacher, musician, and administrator, who will continue and strengthen our program in jazz studies and who will work closely with other members of our faculty. Our jazz courses include History of Jazz, Arranging, Improvisation, and Jazz Ensemble. The jazz program includes the Academy of Jazz–African American Music; the annual Jazz Seminar, Concert, and outreach program; International Jazz Archives; International Jazz Archives Journal; International Jazz Hall of Fame; and William Robinson Studio. The Department of Music offers the Bachelor of Arts degree in a liberal-arts curriculum—including a jazz-oriented B.A. track—and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees with concentrations in composition and theory, ethnomusicology, and historical musicology, and additional strength in intercultural musicology. Further information is available at the Department’s Website:www.music.pitt.edu. Candidates should submit a letter of application, a curriculum vitae, samples of their work, and three letters of reference to: Coordinator of Jazz Studies Search Committee Department of Music University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (412) 624-4126 In order to ensure full consideration, applications must be received by December 14, 2007. The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity employer. We particularly invite applications from women and members of minority groups under-represented in academia. Eric Moe’s sit-trag (situation tragedy) Tri-Stan has been released on CD by Koch International Classics.Moe’s acclaimed mono-drama is performed by mezzo soprano Mary Nessinger and New York’s Sequitur Ensemble with Paul Hostetter conducting. Critics in Both New York and Pittsburgh have been uniformly positive in their reviews of Tri-Stan. Ann Midgett of The New York Times called Tri-Stan a "blockbuster" and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette critic Andrew Druckenbrod described it as "one of those rare works that transcends the cultural divide…" Tri-Stan is available at Amazon and other major retailers. Ethnomusicologist Andrew Weintraub was featured in an Indonesian television series produced by Voice of America.The series presented profiles of Americans with a passion for Indonesia. In August, 2007, these profiles were aired on numerous national and regional stations in Indonesia during Indonesian independence month. We invite you to watch them here. Department of Music Offers New Course—Lessons in Indian Percussion, Fall 2007Music 0540 - Course Number 22978
Each lesson will be 1.5 hours. Students can choose to attend one of two lessons: 9-10:30am or 11-12:30am. Lessons will meet twice a month, on alternate weeks during the semester, on the following dates: September: 10, 24 November: 5, 12, 26 October: 8, 22 December: 3 **To obtain a permission slip to register, please call the Music Department at 412.624.4126** In this course, students will learn to play the famous percussion instrument, Tabla, a set of two drums used in classical, popular, and religious music of North India. The tabla accompanies vocal music and instruments, such as the sitar and sarod. It can also be heard in modern dance music styles including ambient and electronica. Lessons will focus on hand techniques, fundamental patterns (bols), rhythmic cycles (tal), and accompaniment styles. Instructor Pandit Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso Tabla player of India. He travels widely across the world performing in festivals as a soloist or with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and western traditions. He can be heard on numerous recordings as soloist, as accompanist to many of India's greatest musicians, and in collaboration with western musicians of outstanding caliber. Pandit Samir Chatterjee lives in New York, where he has become a catalyst in the fusion of Indian and Western music, performing with Pauline Oliveros, Ravi Coltrane, Myra Melford, Steve Gorn, Glen Velez, Boby Sanabria, Ben Verdery, Dance Theater of Harlem, Da Capo Chamber Orchestra, Boston Musica Viva, among others. Pandit Samir Chatterjee has been teaching for the last 25 years. For more information about Pandit Samir Chatterjee, please see: www.tabla.org/samir.html For more information, please call the Music Department at 412.624.4126 or send an e-mail to Andrew Weintraub. [August 10, 2007] The Department has begun a search for a ternure-track faculty position in Ethnomusicology. The full advertisement is below.FACULTY POSITION IN MUSIC UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH The Department of Music of the University of Pittsburgh invites applications from candidates of exceptional potential for a junior-level, tenure-track faculty position to begin September 1, 2008, pending budgetary approval. Position: Assistant Professor in Ethnomusicology Qualifications: Ph.D. by June 2008; evidence of scholarly promise and demonstrated excellence in teaching; strength in popular music studies. Duties: Teach undergraduate courses and graduate seminars in Ethnomusicology, including but not limited to undergraduate survey courses on world music, undergraduate survey courses on American popular music and/or global popular music, culture-area-specific undergraduate courses and graduate seminars, and graduate theory and methodology courses in Ethnomusicology; direct theses and dissertations; conduct research and publish; participate actively in the profession; share in administrative responsibilities. We seek a scholar whose geo-cultural expertise complements the current faculty. Areas of particular interest include music of Latin America, South Asia, or Eastern Europe. Specialization in popular music, possibly with global or transnational focus, is preferred, but other areas of specialization will be considered. We seek a scholar who can work across sub-disciplines within the department and with colleagues elsewhere in the University. The Department of Music offers the BA degree within a liberal arts curriculum and MA and Ph.D. degrees in ethnomusicology, historical musicology, and composition and theory, with additional strengths in jazz studies and intercultural musicology. The graduate program provides students with instruction in the histories, methodologies, theoretical frameworks and analytical techniques of the subdisciplines, and encourages interaction across subdisciplines. Further information is available at the Department’s Web site: www.music.pitt.edu. Through this appointment, the Department seeks to strengthen its relationship across the university with other outstanding departments in the humanities and social sciences, and with university programs such as Cultural Studies, Film Studies, and Women’s Studies, as well as the University Center for International Studies with its five renowned Title VI centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education: Asian, Latin American, Russian and East European, West European and the European Union, and International Business. Candidates should submit a letter of application, a curriculum vitae, sample writings, and three letters of reference to: Dr. Andrew Weintraub, Chair Ethnomusicology Search Committee Department of Music University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (412) 624-4126 In order to ensure full consideration, applications must be received by November 5, 2007. The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity employer. We particularly invite applications from women and members of minority groups under-represented in academia. [August 10, 2007]
Opera Theater and Attack Theatre of Pittsburgh gave the premiere of Mathew Rosenblum’s multi-media opera, RedDust May 18–20 at the Andy Warhol Museum. A review of the production in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described RedDust as “a sweeping emotional experience” with “many moments of brilliance.” You can read the full review from the Post-Gazette here. [May 24, 2007] March 21, 2007The Music Library Association has awarded the 2007 Vincent H. Duckles Award to Mary Lewis for her three-volume work Antonio Gardano, Venetian Music Printer, 1538–1569, published by Garland Press. The award is given annually for “the best book-length bibliography or other research music tool.” The Awards Committee, chaired by Cheryl Taranto (University of Nevada, Las Vegas), stated in their recommendation:
The award was announced at the MLA’s 2007 business meeting, held in Pittsburgh on March 3, in conjunction with the MLA’s joint meeting with the Society for American Music. The School of Arts and Sciences has announced the 2007 Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship winners. The recipients include three graduate students from the Department of Music:
Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships are awarded by the School of Arts and Sciences each year to approximately 45 outstanding graduate students in the arts and sciences. They carry a stipend of $15,000 plus a tuition scholarship for two terms. Congratulations to music department Mellon Fellowship winners! February 23, 2007Iván Jiménez’ composition Ten Intermittent Lights Dancing for two percussionists will be presented on March 24th at “Sight and Sound: The Visual Imagination in Music” GAMMA-UT 7th Annual Conference. (GAMMA-UT is the Graduate Association of Music and Musicians at University of Jiménez will also give presentations on Henryk Mikolaj Górecki's third symphony at the university of Pittsburgh Grad Expo on March 1, and at the Music Theory Midwest Conference in Lawrence, Kansas April 13th and 14th. Current graduate students and alumni from Pitt have formed a composers collective to present and perform each other’s works. Alia Musica will give 11 world premieres in its inaugural performances on March 13th and 15th at Chatham College. Find out more about the composers of Alia Musica and their upcoming performances. The New Music Series of William Paterson University presented a concert devoted to works of Eric Moe and Frederic Rzewski on February 12. The concert took place at WPU’s Shea Performing Arts Center. The first half of the program featured Moe’s down the stream, merrily (2002) for two marimbas, Teeth of the Sea (2003) for congas, Legend of the Sad Triad (2004) for solo piano, and I Have Only One Itching Desire (2006) for six percussionists. Moe performed as piano soloist for Legend of the Sad Triad, and also performed with the ensemble in the second half of the program for Rsewzki’s Coming Together (1971). February 7, 2007Music on the Edge Presents Daron Hagen as Pitt’s 2007 Franz Lehar Composer-in-Residence Hagen will introduce and discuss some of his recent music during a performance by the Music on the Edge Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble led by Roger Zahab and made up of members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra. Soprano Gilda Lyons and tenor Robert Frankenberry will perform Hagen’s one act opera Broken Pieces (2003), a work receiving its premiere in a new version for voices and thirteen instruments. Frankenberry will be the vocalist for Songs of Madness and Sorrow then perform as pianist in the world premiere of Hagen’s trio Wayfaring Stranger. Frankenberry will be joined by Roger Zahab on violin and cellist Paige Riggs. During intermission, Music on the Edge co-director Eric Moe will interview Hagen about his music. The concert takes place at Bellefield Hall Auditorium on Monday, February 19 at 8 p.m. Tickets purchased in advance through ProArts are $10 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors. Call 412-394-3353 or visit www.proartstickets.org. Tickets at the door are $15 and $10. Pitt students are admitted free. Opera Theater of Pittsburgh will present an INFORMANCE of Mathew Rosenblum's RedDust February 16, from 4-6pm at Frick Fine Arts Auditorium (across from the Carnegie Library in Oakland) The INFORMANCE is free and open to the public. To artists, dancers, singers, musicians, choreographers, composers, scene designers, video artists, researchers, critics, writers, those interested in Gertrude Stein, and appreciators of new work. What are the challenges and processes in creating an interdisciplinary work that includes music, drama, dance and video? What technologies are used and what are some of the dynamics in realizing a work of this nature? The event will include excerpts from the work in progress and a discussion with the creators and performers. Artists Mathew Rosenblum – composer and sound designer Jonathan Eaton – artistic director Paul Hostetter - conductor Kurt Ralske – video artist Attack Theatre – choreographers and dancers Anna Singer, Kelvin Chan, Jo-Ellen Miller – singers
RedDust world premiere May 18-20 at the Andy Warhol Museum
Description of RedDust RedDust has intersecting narratives from the experimental writings of Gertrude Stein, Serbian writer Svetislav Basara, Ts’ao Hsüeh-ch’in’s “The Story of the Stone” a 1934 NBC radio interview with Gertrude Stein and dream literature from Barthelme, Lu Xan, and others. This multi-media music drama includes singers, musicians, dancers, the choreography of Attack Theatre, spoken and sung words with acoustic and electronic instruments, surround-sound audio, and real-time video. Many of these elements will be explored in the work-in-progress informance. Red Dust is focused through the perspective of the central character, a Chinese author, Shi-yin. Shi-yin is caught in a crisis of conscience and is unable to write: he had an affair with a young girl that ended in her suicide. He tries repeatedly to exorcise his feelings of guilt and confusion, and rediscover his creative impulse, by writing the story of a stone that comes to life as a young boy. The boy-stone is taken on a journey of discovery by the Taoist Fairy of Disenchantment. The mysterious Fairy of Disenchantment resembles the American author Gertrude Stein, The boy is led by the Fairy through life-defining experiences, confronts the inaccessibility of the future, the gulf between words and meaning, and the illusion of love, learning a lesson of detachment that helps author Shi-yin confront his own demons and set pen to page once more. Rosenblum’s original inspiration for RedDust was the work of Gertrude Stein. The idea was not simply to set Stein’s words but rather to reflect her philosophy of theater and opera as “sight and sound in relation to emotion and time, rather than story and action.” Fragmented narrative threads are therefore the foundation of the piece. The surround-sound audio is pre-recorded and processed text and computer generated sound. Scattered instrumental groups are also panned live through the surround speakers. The video is designed as a live and interactive performance. Video improviser and collaborator Kurt Ralske – who has worked with the Merce Cunningham company and others – designed the software (in the Nato.0+55 language) for real-time improvisation that reacts to live and pre-recorded music, and the live action on stage.
February 1, 2007Alumna Nancy Guy’s (PhD '96) book Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan (University of Illinois Press, 2005) has been selected by the editorial staff of Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries as one of their Outstanding Academic Titles for 2006. This is the second major award for Guy’s book which also received a 2006 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing on the subject of music. January 30, 2007Mathew Rosenblum’s Möbius Loop, a concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra, received a glowing review in the Boston Globe after its January 20th performance by the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet and Boston Modern Orchestra Project. According to the Globe’s Jeremy Eichler, “From the perspective of sheer sonic imagination, Mathew Rosenblum's “Möbius Loop” made the strongest impression as it packed the octave not with 12 tones but with 21, creating an ear-buzzing flood of sound, rich in unusual overtones.” The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet’s collaboration with Rosenblum began in 2000 when they commissioned him for a concerto. Möbius Loop was the result and the Raschèr gave the U.S. premiere of the work with the Music on the Edge Chamber Orchestra on an acclaimed 2002 concert at Pitt. Subsequently, the quartet commissioned Rosenblum to create a version for saxophone quartet alone. While in Boston, the group recorded Möbius Loop with BMOP. They performed the quartet version in visits to Pittsburgh and Cleveland during the continuation of their tour. Sister Marie Agatha Ozah’s article “The Iwali Child Queen Dance of Ogoja, Nigeria” appears in the most recent issue of The World of Music 49, 2006-1. In the Iwali tradition, a young girl is chosen to symbolize the embodiment of womanhood and women as custodians and transmitters of culture. She grows up separated from other children and is expected to live up to the community’s highest standards for artistic expression as well as personal behavior. Ozah’s article focuses on how music and dance are integrated to form vital aspects of the Iwali’s life. The article also explores the inherent balancing of irreplaceable traditions with varying degrees of change brought about by modernity. January 29, 2007Flutist Patti Monson will premiere Eric Moe’s Let Me Tell U About R Specials for flute and electronics on February 1 on New York City's North River Music Series. The program will also include music by Monson, Steve Reich, Elizabeth Brown, and others. Patti Monson is a critically acclaimed propnent of contemporary music for the flute. She is on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music, the Bang On A Can Summer Institute, and performs New York’s Sequitur contemporary music ensemble. Philip Thompson’s (PhD ’02) electroacoustic setting of Leslie Marmon Silko’s poem In Cold Storm Light was presented as part of “Free Play 6: Listening Chamber” at Grand Valley State University (Allendale Michigan) on January 25. A wide variety of electroacoustic music was performed amid a display a recent works by Dennis Nahabetian and Tara Stephensen at GVSU’s Art Gallery. January 17, 2007Wyatt True, who graduated from Pitt in 2006 with a triple major: music, physics/astronomy, and philosophy, is playing violin this year with L'Orchestre Symphonique d'Orléans, France. His first concert as a member of this professional orchestra was January 13th, an all-Gershwin program including Rhapsody in Blue, Piano Concerto in F, American in Paris, and Cuban Overture. During his time at Pitt, Wyatt studied violin with Roger Zahab and performed with the Symphony Orchestra as concert master. January 16, 2007On Friday, January 19, acclaimed composer Christopher Theofanidis will discuss his recent works in a colloquium sponsored by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Violinist and Pitt faculty member Roger Zahab will perform Theofanidis’ Flow My Tears (1997) as part of this special event. Christopher Theofanidis (b. 1967) has had performances by many leading orchestras from around the world, including the National Symphony, the London Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, the Moscow Soloists, the Atlanta and Houston Symphonies, the California Symphony (for which he was composer-in-residence from 1994 to 1996), the Oregon Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, among others. He is currently Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony. Mr. Theofanidis holds degrees from Yale, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Houston, and has been the recipient of the Masterprize, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Barlow Prize, six ASCAP Gould Prizes, a Fulbright Fellowship to France, a Tanglewood Fellowhship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Charles Ives Fellowship. Mr. Theofanidis’ recent projects include an opera for the Houston Grand Opera, a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre, and a work for the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus based on the poetry of Rumi. He has served as a delegate to the US-Japan Foundation’s Leadership Program and currently teaches at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Juilliard School in New York City. Schedule of Events For Christopher Theofanidis at Pitt. 4–5:30 p.m. Colloquium, 132 Music Building, 4337 5th Avenue, Reception to Follow (Free) 7–7:30 p.m. Pre-concert talk with Christopher Theofanidis, Andrés Cárdenes, and Pitt musicologist Anna Nisnevich 8 p.m. Concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Bellefield Hall Auditorium Ticket Information: Pitt students, faculty, and staff visit Pitt Arts at 929 William Pitt Union. January 3, 2007Amy Williams’ work, Cineshape 1 for alto flute and percussion, won the Audio Inversions Composition Prize. She will receive a cash prize and a performance by Audio Inversions in April 2007 in Austin, Texas. December 12, 2006On January 20th, 2007 the Boston Modern Orchestra Project will perform Mathew Rosenblum's MÖBIUS LOOP with the Rascher Saxophone Quartet at Jordan Hall in Boston. They will shortly thereafter be recording the piece for New World Records. The Rascher Saxophone Quartet will perform MÖBIUS LOOP (quartet version) on Pitt's Music on the Edge series on January 24 and in Cleveland on the Cleveland Contemporary Players Series on January 26. The work is published by C.F. Peters in an edition for saxophone quartet and orchestra and a separate edition for saxophone quartet alone. December 8, 2006Daniel Grimminger, a doctoral candidate in historical musicology, will give three papers in spring of 2007. In March he will give a paper during the joint meeting of the Society for American Music and Music Library Association titled “Pennsylvania Dutch Music and the Transformation of German Culture.” Grimminger will present his paper “Faithful to the End: Pennsylvania Tune Books and German Ethnic Identity in Kirche and Singschule” during the Forum on Music and Christian Scholarship at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music (also in March). In May of 2007 he will participate in the International Congress on Medieval Studies, giving a paper titled “Quintilian Redivivus?: Bach’s use of dispositio in the Sacred Cantatas.” That paper explores the ancient rhetorical ordering in Bach's cantatas. On December 2, Pianist Blair McMillen performed Eric Moe’s Hey Mr. Drum Machine Man for piano and boom box for a concert with the Da Capo Chamber Players at Tribecca Performing Arts Center. Yass Hakoshima, a celebrated mime artist, performed with Da Capo in a concert of works by Joan Tower, George Crumb, and Su Lian Tan. Blair McMillen is a driving force in New York’s New Music scene and performs Moe’s music on a regular basis. November 14, 2006Five graduate students will read papers at the annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, being held in Honolulu this year, November 15–18. They are Benjamin Breuer, J. S. Kofi Gbolonyo, Eun-young Jung, Dorcinda Knauth, and Marie Agatha Ozah. Bell Yung read a paper "Economic factors in the recent development of qin music in China" (in Chinese) at a conference on qin at the City University of Hong Kong, November 1–2, 2006. November 8, 2006Bach and Baroque explores the French Baroque This fall, audience members for the Bach and Baroque Ensemble will have the opportunity to compare the world of J.S. Bach with that of the French Court when Professor Don Franklin leads the group on its first foray into music of the French baroque. The ensemble will perform Henry Du Mont’s Magnificat and and a trio sonata by Marin Marais. Du Mont was raised and educated in Maastricht, but it was in Paris where he truly made his mark, first as organist at the church of Saint Paul and eventually, composer at the court of Versailles. Du Mont’s Magnificat is from a collection of motets composed in 1686 for the court of Louis XIV. Marais was a student of Lully and famous for his operatic and instrumental compositions. The German baroque will be well represented with J.S. Bach’s Cantata No. 131 and two works by Bach’s predecessor as cantor at Leipzig, Johannes Kuhnau: the cantata Gott sei mir gnädig (God be gracious to me) and motet Tristis est anima mea (My soul is sorrowful). Franz Tunder’s motet O Jesu dulcissime for bass and violins will feature soloist Sumner Thompson, a regular with the Bach and Baroque Ensemble and a rising star in the world of early music performance. He has been hailed as “the real thing” by The Cleveland Plain Dealer and praised for his “elegant style” by The Boston Globe. Led by Pitt Professor of music Don Franklin, the critically acclaimed series brings together leading baroque performance specialists from Oberlin, Indiana University (Bloomington), Boston, New York, and Pittsburgh for readings that transform current research into musical practice. The concert takes place at Heinz Chapel on Sunday, November 12 at 3 p.m. General admission is $12, Student and senior admission is $8. Pitt students are admitted free with Pitt I.D. October 24, 2006Mark Peters (PhD, musicology ’04) was awarded the American Bach Society’s 2006 William H. Scheide Prize for his article “A Reconsideration of Bach’s Role as Text Redactor in the Ziegler Cantatas.” His article appeared in BACH, Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, Vol. 36, Nr. 1. The William H. Scheide Prize honors a publication of exceptional merit on Bach or figures in his circle by a member of the Society in the early stages of his or her career. Peters is currently Professor of musicology at Trinity Christian College. October 11, 2006Two compositions by Eric Moe will premiere in New York during November. The critically acclaimed New York New Music Ensemble will perform Moe's composition Superhero on November 6 at Merkin Concert Hall. The NYNME commissioned Moe as part of their 30th anniversary celebration A Thirty Year Passion for the New 1976–2006. The second premiere, an Emily Dickinson setting titled She Goes Her Spacious Way, was commissioned by mezzo-soprano Mary Nessinger and pianist Jeanne Golan. The duo will present the work in a private performance at the National Arts Club, NYC on Tuesday, November 7, then to the public at Vassar College on Saturday, November 18. She Goes Her Spacious Way is part of Nessinger and Golan's Shadow Cycle series, wherein they commission composers to write a song that parallels one in a famous older cycle. Moe's contribution shadows Alban Berg's Sommertage from the Sieben Frühe Lieder. October 6, 2006Alumna Nancy Guy (PhD '96) won a 2006 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing on the subject of music, specifically the Bela Bartok Ethnomusicogy Award, for her book Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan (University of Illinois Press, 2005). The Awards presentation will take place on Thursday, December 7, 2006 at Lincoln Center in New York. Guy is currently Associate Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego. October 3, 2006Ethnomusicology graduate student J. S. Kofi Gbolonyo is among international music scholars, educators, and performers who have been invited by MENC (the National Association for Music Education) and the University of Tennessee School of Music to present at the National Symposium on Multicultural Music. The symposium takes place from October 11-14 at the University of Tennessee Conference Center in Knoxville. Gbolonyo will present two sections on African music and dance education, a workshop on African children’s games and songs, and an African music and dance performance with the Tennessee Children’s Dance Ensemble. His first section is entitled “Teaching West African Children's Games and Songs: An African Participatory Approach” and his second section is entitled “The Concept ‘Music’ as Defined in Ghana: A Traditional African Approach to Teaching Music and Dance in Western Classrooms." September 29, 2006Godwin Sodoh (MA musicology) has three articles forthcoming: "Hybrid Composition: An Introduction to the Age of Atonality in Nigeria" will be published in The Diapason in November 2006. His article "Thomas Ekundayo Phillips: Pioneer in Nigerian Hymn Composition" will appear in The Hymn in December 2006, and "Twentieth-Century Choral Composers in Nigeria" will be published in the Choral Journal in April 2007. Sadoh will direct the LeMoyne-Owen College Concert Choir in a Festival of Lessons and Carols, at the Second Congregational Church in Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday, November 29, 2006. For that event he will lead the premiere of his composition Keresimesi Odun de (Christmas Festival) for SATB choir and piano. September 27, 2006Graduate students in historical musicology Nathan Bowers and Joanna Smolko gave papers at the fall meeting of the Allegheny Chapter of the American Musicological Society. Bowers’ talk was entitled “‘The best friend of the hostess is the Victrola’: an Early Marketing Strategy for Music Machines.” Smolko’s talk was titled “Zion’s Walls: Copland’s Transformation of an Old American Song.” The meeting took place on Saturday, October 7 at the Creative Arts Center of West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. Prog Rock Bands Throw Concert to Benefit Pitt’s Music on the EdgeThe Beatles looked to Karlheinz Stockhausen for inspiration, Frank Zappa idolized Edgar Varese, and the Grateful Dead fund contemporary composers through their Rex Foundation. The history of experimental rock includes many fruitful interactions with contemporary concert music, so maybe it’s not such a surprise that several local prog bands are joining together for a concert benefiting Pitt’s Music on the Edge series. The brainchild of guitarist and Pitt grad Adam Rauf, the concert will feature Rauf’s band Kalon, The Binge Mechanisms, and Natura Nasa. All three bands have highly distinctive styles, yet share an affinity for sprawling instrumentals and dense, multi-layered textures.
The concert itself will celebrate the permeability of genres with works by Pitt composers and performers interspersed between the main sets. Eric Moe and Philip Thompson will project electroacoustic compositions, composer/violinist Roger Zahab will perform Moe’s Flex Time as well as his own work, and the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo will perform Steve Reich’s famous Piano Phase on electronic instruments with live re-mixing by David Hidek. Given the eclectic mix of performers and composers, the concert may turn out to be one of most unusual programs taking place in Pittsburgh this year. The Music on the Edge Benefit takes place on Saturday, October 7, 2006 at 7 p.m. in Pitt’s Bellefield Hall Auditorium (315 S. Bellefield Ave., across from Heinz Chapel). Admission is $5 (available at the door only). Come out and support Music on the Edge! September 11, 2006Assistant professor of composition Amy Williams recently completed a one-month residency at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study and Conference Center on Lake Como, Italy. While there, she composed First Lines for the Italian duo of Andrea Ceccomori (flute) and Emanuele Arciuli (piano). She is also one of just five local artists selected to receive an Artist Opportunity Grant from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. She will use the funding to partially finance a tour of Argentina with her piano duo in November 2006. This tour will include the South American premiere of her piece Abstracted Art I and II. August 10, 2006Professor of historical musicology Deane Root’s Voices Across Time project was the focus of a recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A joint effort of Pitt’s Center for American Music and the Society for American Music, the goal of Voices Across Time is to help educators use American popular song as a primary source in teaching American history, social studies, and language arts. This summer Root led the NEH-funded Summer Teacher Institute which trains educators in utilizing Voices Across Time. You can learn more about the project by following the links below. Visit the Voices Across Time Web site July 9, 2006Jessica Freeman directed the World Premiere of Godwin Sadoh's Ose Baba (Thank You, Father) for SATB with Piano Accompaniment, at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Fayetteville, New York, on Sunday, July 9, 2006. May 2006The Department is pleased to welcome Anna Nisnevich (PhD, University
of California, Berkeley) to the faculty as Assistant Professor in historical musicology. More May 2006Andrew Weintraub will conduct research in Indonesia during 2006–07
under the auspices of a Fulbright Senior Scholars Award. More Spring 2006Spring is the time when many fellowships and grants are distributed and several Department of Music graduate students have received significant awards. Benjamin Breuer (historical musicology) and Ivan Jimenez (composition and theory) received Mellon Predoctoral Fellowships for 2006-2007; Ron Horton (ethnomusicology) was awarded the K. Leroy Irvis Summer Research Fellowship; Dorcinda Knauth (ethnomusicology) received a J. William Fullbright Grant and a Foreign Language Studies Scholarship for Indonesian; Brandi Neal (historical musicology) won an FLAS Scholarship for German. Neal also won the prestigious 2006 Elizabeth Barranger Excellence in Teaching Award. April 6, 2006Wu Man gave the New York premiere of Eric Moe’s The Sun Beats the Mountain Like a Drum for pipa (a lute-like Chinese instrument) and electroacoustics on April 6 at Zankel Hall Carnegie Hall. Allann Kozinn of the New York times wrote that Moe “gave Ms. Wu pipa lines that had the spirit of a freewheeling rock improvisation.” The program included collaborations between Wu Man and traditional musicians from Uganda, Ukraine, and the Appalachian region of the United States. April 6, 2006Former music department students Paul Fitzsimmons and Skip Sanders are making headlines with Pittsburgh-based band Good Brother Earl. Fitzsimmons (guitar) received a Mildred Miller Posvar Scholarship in 1998, and Sanders (keyboard) received the 1998 Mellon Jazz Scholarship. Both were members of the Jazz Ensemble during their years at Pitt. Good Brother Earl’s recent CD, Perfect Tragedy is receiving regular airplay on local stations WYEP and WDVE. Read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s article on Good Brother Earl. March 4, 2006The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will hold a reading session for student composers from Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, and the University of Pittsburgh. Pitt doctoral candidate Michael Stephens' Oakland Overture was selected by the PSO for this year’s session which will take place March 4 at Heinz Hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PSO resident conductor Daniel Meyer will lead the readings. The experience will also include a dialogue amongst the three composers, Maestro Meyer, PSO composer of the year Jennifer Higdon, and the members of the PSO. For admission to the PSO student composer readings, please call 412-624-4125. The Department has a limited number of free tickets available for the event. Michael Stephens (b. 1967) holds a B.M. in music education and an MA in music composition from Kent State University. He has studied composition with Thomas Janson, Frank Wiley, and P.Q. Phan. Oakland Overture was written for Roger Zahab and the University of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra who premiered the work in November 2004. January 2006Mathew Rosenblum, Professor of composition, has been awarded a 2006 Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Music Fellowship Grant. Opera America has awarded a 2006 Repertoire Development Grant to Rosenblum and Opera Theater of Pittsburgh to workshop his new multi-media opera RedDust at CMU this fall. Rosenblum’s futuristic 00Opinions was performed in November by the California EAR Unit at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. The performance was in conjunction with an exhibit of costumes from the Star Wars films. Words/Echoes (2005) for percussion and pre-recorded CD will be premiered by Michael Lipsey later this season. December 29, 2005The 35th Annual Jazz Seminar and Concert, Bach and the Baroque, and Music on the Edge received recognition from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette for presenting some of the city’s best concerts of 2005. Bach and the Baroque and Music on the Edge shared the number 10 slot for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s selection of Best Classical Concerts of 2005. Don Franklin’s Bach and the Baroque Ensemble received recognition for performing Antonio Bertali’s Missa Novi Regis for the first time in 350 years. According to Post-Gazette critic Andrew Druckenbrod, the ensemble “performed it wonderfully.” Music on the Edge codirectors Eric Moe and Mathew Rosenblum collaborated with Bell Yung, director of Pitt’s Asian Studies Center, to present pipa virtuoso Wu Man who premiered a new composition by Moe. According to Druckenbrod, “Eric Moe’s The Sun Beats the Mountain Like a Drum was a highlight in this fascinating concert of traditional and new music for the pipa.” Druckenbrod also described Eric Moe’s Tri-Stan, performed last March by Sequitur, as one of the “best new works heard live” during the past year. Jazz critic Nate Guidry praised Nathan Davis and his annual concert for consistently being a “high mark of the year.” He noted Davis’ ability to assemble the “right mix of performers.” The Department of Music takes its places among the city’s premiere music organizations, sharing honors with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society, Opera, New Music Ensemble, and Manchester Craftmen’s Guild among others. Read more about the best classical concerts. December 17, 2005Roger Zahab, lecturer in composition and theory, instructor in violin, and viola, and director of Pitt’s Symphony Orchestra, gave a violin recital as part of New York’s Prism Projects, an organization dedicated to the performance, recording, and promotion of contemporary music. Pianist Robert Frankenberry joined Zahab for the recital which took place on Saturday, December 17 at St. Peter’s Church in Chelsea. The program included Zahab’s own compositions Chelsea Jigs, Strip District, and radiant, Pitt Professor of composition and theory Eric Moe’s Strange Exclaiming Music, and works by Hayes Biggs and Linda Caitlin Smith. December 2005Essays by Professor of music Don Franklin and Visiting assistant professor Jason Grant (PhD ’05) appear in the 2005 publication Passion, Affekt und Leidenschaft in der Frühen Neuzeit (Suffering, Emotion, and Passion in the Early Modern Period). Published by Harrasowitz Verlag (Wiesbaden, 2005), the volume includes a collection of papers presented at a conference held in 2003 at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbütteler, Germany. The aim of the interdisciplinary conference was to examine the connections between suffering, emotion, and passion with special emphasis on the Passion Jesu Christi. Grant’s paper, “The Rise of Lyricism and the Decline of BiblicalNarration in Georg Philipp Telemann’s Lukaspassion (1764),” explores the expansion of poetic passages in the Passion text, at the expense of Biblical narrative, and how this trend indicates a move away from Pietism toward Enlightenment ideals. Franklin’s paper deals with “Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s 1789 Matthew Passion as Pasticcio and Parody,” a work Franklin presented as part of Pitt’s Bach and the Baroque series in 2002. Though C.P.E. Bach’s work is a parody, with music drawn primarily from J.S. Bach and Gottfried Homilius, Franklin shows how Emanuel’s re-ordering of recitatives and arias creates subtle shifts in theological perspective. December 2005Godwin Sadoh, who received his MA in ethnomusicology from Pitt, recently published an article titled “Fela Sowande: The Legacy of a Nigerian Music Legend” in The Diapason (December 2005). The article identifies Sadoh as “a Nigerian church musician, composer, pianist, organist/choral conductor and ethnomusicologist,” and by earning his doctoral degree at Louisiana State University in 2004, “the first African to earn the DMA degree in organ performance from any institution.” November 24–30, 2005Professor of Music Don Franklin (musicology) will chair a symposium as part of the Bach Festival 2005 at the Bach Académie de Montréal. The focus of the symposium will be Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with papers on the historical background, its theology, and arias. Franklin’s paper will address “The Musical Planning and Structure of the Christmas Oratorio.” The Orchestra of the Bach-Académie de Montréal and the Choir of The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul will perform the Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 as part of the festival. Bach Festival 2005 takes place from November 24–30. For more information visit www.bach-academie-montreal.com. November 2005Virtuoso pianist Blair McMillen performed Professor of composition Eric Moe’s recent work Where Branched thoughts Murmur in the Wind to what New York Times reporter Bernard Holland described as a standing room only crowd at the West Village’s Tenri Cultural Institute. More November 2005Routledge has published the third and final volume of Historical musicology professor Mary S. Lewis’ book on the sixteenth-century Venetian music printer Antonio Gardano.Antonio Gardano, Venetian Music Printer 1538-1569: A Descriptive Bibliography and Historical Study describes the printing career of Gardano, one of the sixteenth century’s most important music printers. The three volumes discuss his working methods, the repertory he published, the impact of music printing on composers, patrons, and the musical public, and the musical culture in which the music was produced. The catalog gives a complete description of all 442 editions that Gardano published, along with locations of copies and concordant sources for the individual works. Some of the composers whose music appeared in Gardano’s books include Palestrina, Lasso, Rore, Willaert, Arcadelt, Gombert, Regnart. and many others. November 2005Professor of ethnomusicology Bell Yung has been very busy in Hong Kong during the month of November. On November 12 he gave a lecture on the biography of Tsar Teh-yun, master of the instrument qin, who celebrates her 100th birthday in November 2005 in Hong Kong. On November 19 Yung also participated in a concert of qin music performed by Master Tsar's students. On November 20, Yung chaired the discussion session as part of the “Meeting of the Gods: Festival of Experimenting Traditions 2005.” On November 27 Yung participated in a planning session to establish the Institute of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Hong Kong. November 2005An article by ethnomusicology doctoral candidate Eun-Young Jung, “Articulating Korean Youth Culture through Global Popular Music Styles: Seo Taiji's Use of Rap and Metal,” will be published in the first English-language book on Korean popular music, edited by Keith Howard. Korean Pop Music: Riding the Wave will be published in June 2006 by Global Oriental in the United Kingdom and distributed in the United States by University of Hawaii Press. In 2004 Eun-Young was awarded the AKMR Prize by the Association for Korean Music Research (an ancillary organization of the Society for Ethnomusicology) for the most distinguished student paper on Korean music presented at the annual SEM meeting. The title of Eun-Young’s paper is “Interpreting Musical Traffic: Influences of Japanese Popular Music on Korean Popular Music Since the mid-1990s.” October 21–22, 2005Bell Yung, Professor of ethnomusicology and Director of Pitt’s Asian Studies Center, will give two gallery talks and a recital on the qin (a type of Chinese zither) at the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian, Washington, DC, on October 21 and 22. Professor Yung’s presentations are in the exhibition “Virtue and Entertainment: Chinese Music in the Visual Arts”, which is part of Festival of China. For more information visit www.asia.si.edu. Fall 2005Articles from a Department alumnus and a current doctoral candidate appear in the most recent volume of BACH, Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute. Vol. 36, Nr. 1. PhD candidate in composition Federico Garcia published “The Nature of Bach’s Italian Concerto, BWV 971.” Mark Peters (Musicology ’04) contributed “A Reconsideration of Bach’s Role as Text Redactor in the Ziegler Cantatas.” Peters is currently Professor of Musicology at Trinity Christian College. Fall 2005The Music Department welcomes Amy Williams to the faculty as assistant professor in composition/theory. A featured composer and performer with the Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo, Williams’ works have been performed by renowned contemporary music soloists and ensembles. Her prizes include the Wayne Peterson Composition Prize, the Thayer Award for the Arts, and the ASCAP Award for Young Composers, as well as grants from the American Music Center and Meet the Composer. More August 2005Mary S. Lewis, professor of musicology, presented the closing address at the conference “Dedicating Latin Works and Motets in the Sixteenth Century” in Rome on August 20, 2005. The three-day conference was held at the Academia Belgica in Rome, and was sponsored by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. April 7–10, 2005 Music and Cultural Rights: Trends and Prospects This conference will be held at the University of Pittsburgh, Oakland Campus. For more information, visit the Music and Cultural Rights Web site. "Cultural rights" is a term that has received increased attention in recent years from scholars, musicians, cultural policy makers, commercial music producers, government funders, and activists alike. Claims surrounding music as a right have given rise to music rights language, music rights discourses, and music rights practices. This conference is designed to explore the meaning of cultural rights through the study of music as a cultural practice, a commercial product, and an aesthetic form. The conference will bring together 25 presenters to address the following themes: individual and community entitlement; globalization; music and cultural rights violations; promoting awareness of music and cultural rights issues; safe-guarding music as a cultural right; and alliances and partnerships. Our goal is to create a dialogue among people from different sectors of music including musicians, concert curators, cultural officials, policy makers, music industry executives, foundation directors, legal experts, and academics. The focus of the conference will be on musical genres from different parts of the world that are rooted in local histories and traditions, and the ways in which they are being transformed within the changing conditions of the contemporary era. The conference aims to develop a multi-dimensional understanding of this rapidly changing world by examining the ways in which scholars, artists, policy makers, and activists negotiate, accommodate, and counteract these changes. March 20, 2005Spring Concert, Bach and Baroque Series The concert will feature the first modern performance of the Missa Novis The Bach and Baroque Ensemble will be joined by members of the Spiritus Collective, an instrumental group recently formed to perform music of the 17th century. A New York Times reviewer wrote of the group (Oct. 4, 2004) "that the Spiritus Collective balanced three trombones against four human voices on the fulcrum of a continuo for theorbo and keyboard, and achieved harmonious, delightful equilibrium." Also included in the program are works by Heinrich Schuetz, Johann Bach, an ancestor of Johann Sebastian, and Johann Rudolf Ahle, a predecessor of J.S. Bach in Mülhausen, where Bach was organist in 1707–08. This program is sponsored by the Department of Music and (CWES) the Center for West European studies. For ticket information please call 412-624-4126 or 412-624-4125. March 15–19, 2005The U3 Festival, a week of new music by faculty composers and student ensembles from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University was held March 15-19. This collaborative effort included the following Pitt faculty, alumnae and Program I: Chamber and electronic Music, March 15, 8 p.m. PNC Recital Hall, Duquesne Music by David Cutler, Eric Moe (Hey Mr. Drummachine Man), Roger Dannenberg, Philip Thompson (Emergence), Eliyahu Tamar (Lo Od), Alan Fletcher Program II: The Duquesne Symphony Orchestra, Sidney Harth, Conductor, Cyrus Forough violin, and the Carnegie-Mellon Wind Symphony, Denis Colwell, Conductor, Wed. March 16, 8 p.m. Carnegie Music Hall Music bt Reza Vali, Alan Fletcher, Nikolai Lopatnikoff, Leonardo Balada, Program III: The CMU Contemporary Ensemble, Walter Morales, Conductor and the Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble, David Stock, Conductor, Thurs. March 17, 8 p.m. Kresge Theater, CMU Music by Lynn Purse (Premiere), Mathew Rosenblum (00 Opinionsi), Nancy Program IV: Alberto Almarza , flute, Walter Morales, piano, Fri. March 18, 8 p.m. Alumni Recital Hall, CMU Music by David Stock, Efrain Amaya, Nancy Galbraith, Reza Vali Program V: The Pittsburgh Symphony, Daniel Meyer, Conductor Sat. March 19, 10 a.m Heinz Hall Readings of works by Jeremy Sment, Federico Garcia (Passacaglia on a Theme of Bach), and Nicholas Batko March 14, 2005Congratulations to Sr. Marie Agatha Ozah and to Nathan Bowers for receiving the Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship 2005-2006. February 27, 2005Euba on Bartok: Akin Euba, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Music, University of Pittsburgh, will give a public lecture for the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, as follows: Topic: Bridging Musicology and Composition: The lecture is on of the activities connected with The Bartok Cycle, featuring the Takacs Quartet in the performance of the six string quartets of Bela Bartok. There will be two concerts, taking place on 27 and 28 February, each preceded by a pre-concert overview given by UCLA musicologist Robert Winter. February 13, 2005A CD with ties to the Pitt Music Department has been awarded a Grammy for "Best Traditional Folk Album." "Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster" (American Roots Publishing, 2004) was produced by David Macias. Released last August, it features 17 performances of Foster songs by artists ranging from bluegrass fiddler and singer Alison Krauss to classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Pitt's Center for American Music, directed by Professor Deane Root, chair of the Music Department, was closely involved in the project. The Center provided the producers with copies of Foster's original sheet music as well as images and documents that were used in producing "Beautiful Dreamer"'s album notes. People all over the world see Foster as epitomizing American music," says Deane Root, Center for American Music director and professor and chair in Pitt's music department. "He launched what we think of today as popular music, and his influence is still being felt." A century before the Grammys existed-decades before there was recorded music, in fact- Foster was composing such memorable songs as "My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight" and "Gentle Annie," both of which appear on the Beautiful Dreamer CD (along with the title song, of course). Macias currently is working on another project closely linked with Pitt's Center for American Music: a CD set of 50 songs spanning 400 years of American music. Supported by former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, whose niece's husband will co-produce the CD set, the forthcoming Song of America is scheduled for release in 2006. It is largely based on a Pitt project that Root launched several years ago, called Voices Across Time, which provides secondary school teachers with recorded music from various eras to help them teach U.S. history through song. From an article written by Sharon S. Blake, Feb. 21, 2005 edition of the Pitt Chronicle. February 1, 2005Visiting Assistant Professor Alan Shockley's orchestral work The Night Copies Me in all its Stars was recently chosen out of approximately 300 applicants for recording on ERM Media's "Masterworks of the New Era" series. The Kiev Philharmonic (Ukraine's national symphony orchestra) has already begun rehearsals, and the work will be recorded in mid-February for a commercial CD release slated for late spring 2005. January 12, 2005Pittsburgh Post-Gazette places the Music on the Edge Concert, David Krakauer, Clarinet, Roger Zahab, Conductor (Bellefield Hall Auditorium, Oct. 26) on their top ten list of 2004's Best Classical Concerts. "Hearing a Pulitzer Prize-winning composition in the same year it won is a treat. This concert offered that, Moravec’s "Tempest Fantasy," and more. Performed by a stout ensemble of PSO musicians and top area freelancers, this concert on the excellent Pitt new music series held a rare relevance for classical music. The lyrical piece was even written for clarinetist Krakauer, who performed it admirably here. Osvaldo Golijov's "Dreams and Prayers of Issac the Blind," one of the more celebrated new pieces, was also on the program. It received a stunning performance by Krakauer, who combined his talent for klezmer and chamber music. Roger Zahab conducted a spacious interpretation of Golijov's "Last Round." January 12, 2005Pittsburgh Post-Gazette places the Pitt Jazz Seminar and Concert (Carnegie Music Hall, Nov. 6) on their top-10 list of 2004's Best Jazz Show. "The 34th annual autumn University of Pittsburgh jazz concert featuring saxophonist Nathan Davis and guest stars was one of the best in recent memory. New or infrequent guests (including saxophonist Donald Harrison, trumpeter Lew Soloff and bassist George Mraz), bravura soloing and strong arrangements navigated with better-than-usual precision lifted this concert above the norm." August 2004Burckhardt Reiter, a Mellon Fellow and PhD candidate in composition, conducted the premieres of one of his works at the Wellesley Composers Conference on July 31 and August 7. The piece, a wind quintet that was commissioned by the Composers Conference, was performed at the two-week conference by amateur musicians of the Chamber Music Center, which meets in collaboration with the Composers Conference. July 12–August 13, 2004The Center for American Music, a department within the University of Pittsburgh's Library System, has been awarded a $146,705 National Endowment for the Humanities grant to host a summer institute for schoolteachers. The institute, entitled "Voices Across Time: American History Through Song," will be codirected by Deane Root, chair of the Department of Music and director of the center, and Mariana Whitmer, project coordinator at the center. The institute will allow 25 secondary schoolteachers to explore topics in American history through the lens of music. Voices Across Time will take place July 12–August 13, 2004, at the University of Pittsburgh, sponsored by the Center for American Music. In addition, the grant is one of 29 projects designated as We the People projects that will explore significant issues in U.S. history and culture for teachers and the general public. "NEH's We the People projects capture the imagination and articulate the guiding principles of our Republic. They reinvigorate our citizens' understanding of America's unique legacy of liberty," said NEH Chair Bruce Cole. "Music sends messages about the lives and values of the people who produced, performed, and consumed it," is how Root describes the philosophy behind the project. "Music is also an accessible medium, one highly desired by children and attractive to them." The Voices Across Time summer institute will expand upon previously completed research based on these two principles. Specifically created to help teachers use music to teach history to students in grades 7 through 12 and adaptable for other grade levels and subjects, Voices Across Time, which was funded through the support of the Vira I. Heinz Endowment and the Grable Foundation, is a resource guide consisting of nine units, each dedicated to a different historical era. Voices Across Time teaches skills that teachers and students can use to decipher the messages encoded in the music while attracting the attention of the students with original music from every era. Voices Across Time helps to broaden students' understanding of the people who lived the events they study in all their ethnic, political, and socioeconomic diversity. July 14, 2004Damian Pwono (PhD '92) has been appointed secretary general of the International Music Council of UNESCO, Paris. July 14, 2004Publication of a new book by Kwasi Ampene (PhD '99) has been announced by Ashgate Publication. The book, Female Song Tradition and the Akan of Ghana, is schedule for release in September 2004. Ampene is assistant professor of music at the University of Colorado at Boulder. July 14, 2004Mathew Rosenblum has been awarded a $40,000 Heinz Endowments Creative Heights Grant, jointly with Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, to develop and produce a multi-media chamber opera to be premiered in 2006. Rosenblum, a member of the composition faculty, will be on sabbatical this fall as he works on the opera. June 9–13, 2004Professor Nathan Davis's Jazzopera: Just Above My Head received its premiere performances by the Pittsburgh Opera Theater on June 9–13. The opera, which is written for soloists, orchestra, gospel choir, and jazz quintet, is based on the novel of the same name by James Baldwin. It presents a unique operatic fusion of jazz, gospel, Western classical music, and modern dance. The performances coincided with the 2004 National Performing Arts Convention in Pittsburgh. Davis also performed in the opera as part of the jazz quintet onstage. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reviewer said of the opera that all its musical “elements were woven wonderfully into the story line, providing tension, tenderness and jubilation.” The music critic from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Reviewcalled the opera “a masterful mix that makes use of harmonic, rhythmic and melodic strengths from both” the orchestra and the jazz quintet. June 10, 2004The Department of Music of the University of Pittsburgh and the Schools of Music of Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University cosponsored the opening "Tune Up Party" for the first National Performing Arts Conference at Heinz Hall on June 10. Two groups from Pitt performed—the Men's Glee Club and a student trio. June 6, 2004Ben Geise, a Pitt music major, is the winner of the 2004 University of Pittsburgh-Mellon Jazz Scholarship. Geise, who will be a senior this year, studies guitar at Pitt with Joe Negri, whom Geise calls "a fantastic teacher and an amazing human being." Geise has been a member of the Pitt Jazz Ensemble for three terms and recently traveled to Jamaica, where he and the other ensemble members, under the direction of Pitt Jazz Studies Director Nathan Davis, performed for children at rural schools. Geise was presented with this year's scholarship at the Mellon Jazz at Hartwood Acres concert on June 6. This is the 18th year that Pitt and Mellon have joined to fund the $5,000 scholarship, given to a current or incoming Pitt jazz student who shows the most promise. May 24–June 3, 2004Mellon Professor Akin Euba presented a series of lectures at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, May 24–June 3. The lectures concentrated on modern African and African American composers and their compositions, along with an introduction to the current situation of African traditional music. May 20, 2004Friends of faculty member and orchestra director Roger Zahab, many of them former students of his, converged on New York City from as far away as Seattle and Minneapolis to perform in two concerts titled Stroke and Strike at the historic St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Chelsea on Thursday, May 20 and Saturday May 22, 2004. The music for string, keyboard, and percussion instruments included New York City premieres of works by Pitt faculty members Eric Moe and Roger Zahab as well as by Pitt alumna Barbara White (PhD '97). |
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Instructor: Pandit Samir Chatterjee 